ScoobieNoobie

Hey all,

As written above ive just happily taken delivery of an MY93 Jap Import WRX. It's completely standard (even down to the crappy Jap radio which doesnt recieve Radio 1 ) except for a sport CAT an S/S exhaust which were fitted in Jap land and some pretty swish braided breakpipes.

Now the question, im wanting a reliable hike in BHP from the standard 240 what routes are there to take to get around 300bhp without being rap*d in the wallet area

Been lookin around the forum and have heard abit about the ESL ECU going for £195 on eBay and the (rare) ScoobyECU. Theres obviously a r/r remap price on top of this but are these ECU's any good? Also will the TMIC have to be upgraded/replaced to be able to cope? Dont want her blowing up on me...

Im totally new to impreza's (coming from a Zetec S fiesta ) but am learning as fast as i can...Any help or info on worthwhile and usual upgrades to a standard MY93 WRX would be a big help. Having purchased the car i was reliably informed this was the best place on the net to have my queries answered.

Cheers all and hello

ScoobieNoobie

....one other thing, would a 555 ECU board be a good cheapish upgrade? there 260bhp standard arent they?

TonyBurns

iTrader: (3)

Check your insurance first, thats all ill say on that point as alot dont like modified cars.
As for 300bhp, well start with the brakes, they really do suck, nothing like not being able to stop when your going fast.
Then get use to the car before you even want to go any further, you have CONSIDERABLY more power than a fiesta Zetec S and these cars flatter the driver alot.
Any modifications and your insurance co need to be informed, that includes those to cosmetic as well as changing to different subaru items like 4 pot brakes.

Tony

orbix

I'm new to impreza's myself but what little info i know i'll share.
I think the first things to change is how your engine sucks and blows.
You mentioned a sports cat exhaust what about a panel filter or induction kit.
Also a lot of people do away with the cats altogther in the exhaust especially the downpipe.
I don't know much about the scoobyecu but I think WRXshaneWRX is selling a z4 with one that doesn't require a remap. You'll need to find out which turbo you have.
If you have a tdo5 I think you'll be near the 280 figure. These parts can be bought for less than £350 second hand.

ScoobieNoobie

Cheers for the replies guys.

It is a TD05 Turbo. The standard MY93 Jap WRX run 240bhp on 100ron, im using optimax (98ron with octane booster) so its prolly slightly below that....that is if the engines running to its full potential still

Ive got all the specs for the car (right down to turbo part no', bore and stroke figures, model no', engine number, transmission codes etc etc) and i know the 555 special edition runs at around 260bhp on the same engine number and turbo so was thinking i could pop the ECU from one of those in to my WRX for a quick 20bhp hike. Theres one for sale on ebay at the mo?.....

The brakes are sh*te i agree, whats a good upgrade path, are the standard 4 pot subaru brakes relatively painless to get hold of and fit or is there a better third party choice for around the same money?

Cheers for any info....

GC8

The car wasnt designed to run on 100RON; thats a myth. 100RON fuel only became available long after A, B & C-Series Imprezas were built. A quick and easy upgrade would be a Z4 ECU; 260PS as standard (before a sports-cat) and itll run well on Optimax (as used by Prodrive for early Classic PPPs actually). You definatley want to upgrade the brakes to later 4 pots and a Whiteline rear ARB and metal droplinks all around wouldnt go amiss: Id consider the camber kit too (aka ALK).

Simon

ScoobieNoobie

I stand corrected , cheers for the info bud. What RON fuel was available in japan at time of production then?

Ok....woah there!! Whiteline rear ARB, metal droplinks, camber kit....i am newbie to this....very keen to learn tho. A little more info on all these would be great.

Is the Z4 ECU whats used in the 555 special edition (96) since that runs at 260bhp???

Cheers again, keep the replies comin!!!

oscarprezza

555? do u mean the various special editions of wrx vlimited sti etc in that flat crappy blue colour, i would recommend either a z4 ecu or an esl/scooby ecu which both r very similar, my mate has just put one in his wrx and its alot smoother with a bit more power , it also seems to have removed the overfuelling in the lower revs etc, so it'l prob be a bit better on the go go juice ! just remember to check that the brakes r tip top before u start to give it any warp speed

GC8

The Z4 was used in STI V2 'Wagons but the Saloons used the 6K or 7K.

borat52

I'm not sure that information is correct. The Z4 was used in 95-96 WRX saloons, not STi's. Is the 555 an sti variant? If it is the ECU from it will be no good to you, never replace a WRX ECU with an sti ECU, engine wont like that for long.

Your best bet by far is a Z4 or Z5, the Z5 is the Z4 with the rev limiter at 8000 instead of 7000 on the Z4, WRX RA's used the Z5. Just dont go through redline with a Z5. Z5's are safe on UK super, I've run my 1993 WRX wagon on sainsburys super since november 2004 and done 9000 miles with not a single issue. I now run an ESL ECU, this raises power to around 285BHP with a decat and sti panel filter, but it has to be run on optimax.

The Z4 boosts to 12.7 psi(pretty sure on this but it may be 12.4) whereas the ESL map boosts to 16.5psi. A Z4 with sports cat should give you about 260BHP-265BHP on UK super. Dont pay any more than £100 for one, anyone who tries to tell you theres is worth £150 -£200 is trying to rip you off, pleanty sell on ebay for £75 or less from time to time. Its a good idea to upgrade the fuel pump when adding one of these ECU's, not really needed for a Z4 but I would with an ESL chip.

The Z4 is completely plug and play with your WRX and TD05 and is probably the best engine upgrade you can make for cheap. As said prodrive used the Z4 base map once upon a time.

Your sports cat will be fine, should costs you no more than 3-5bhp over no cats and you'll get through the MOT with zero problems.

As for induction, get a decent 'dry' panel filter (dry = no oil) the STi ones are best but hard to get hold of. If you need one but cant get one PM me and i'll send you a company in japan's details who will export them to the UK for about £40 incl delivery. Induction kits sound good but dont provide any benefit due to the fact that they draw in warm engine air on impreza's, so would not advise unless you plumb a cold air feed in and then you'll need a custom remap anyway.

Changing the intercooler is a must for over 300BHP but once again you need a custom ECU map if you do this.

Long and short,
To get 265BHP add Z4(£100) = £100
To get 285BHP from where you are is easy, just add ESL chip (£200) and a new panel filter(£40) high flow fuel pump(£150 fitted)= £390

To get 300BHP you'll need an Apexi ECU (£500 ish with a map) new intercooler(Front mount will be £500 fitted) New fuel pump(£150 fitted) and possibly new headers(£400 fitted). That would probably get you 300 on the nose with optimax, but little if any more. Cost = £1500+
You may even need new injectors.

300 is not easy for a classic WRX
285 is a walk in the park.

GC8

I am sure that its correct. As an aside: the Z5 was also used in C2 Type-RAs and some STI Type-RAs too (along with the 7K).

Interesting ECU reference page here...

Its a common mistake to assume that GF8 STIs are mechanically similar to the equivelant GC8 model. The V2 STI '555' 'Wagon also used the Z4 ECU btw.


Simon

Ritch96

Mind if I jump in and ask a related question chaps?

I imagine its ok to fit a z4 ecu into an early UK saloon and then run it on super? If that is the case what happens with the 112mph limiter? Will it still function? If it does then what did prodrive do about it in the PPP? Did they use the same map as the z4 but without the limiter? If so, what was that called?

Ritchie.

GC8

Early JDM cars use a mechanical speedometer; UK cars all use an elctronic speedometer... The ECU receives a signal from the speedohead in a JDM car and if its lost then the car goes into 'get you home'. Youre asking a very good question arent you?

borat52

I take that back then, good ref for ECU's to boot.
Z4's were definately used in WRX saloons though.
Out of interest what turbo's did the early sti wagons run then? I know the WRX wagons run the TD04 but the STi's must have been running TD05's, is this correct?

ScoobieNoobie

Cheers for all responses guys, keep em comin!

borat52, cheers for the no nonnsense info bud. Think im gonna go down the ESL route once ive saved some pennies up, car and insurance has skinted me this month . PM has been sent about the STi panel filter supplier too.

Couple more questions. Dump valves....i can get my hands on a relatively cheap Forge Motorsport DV...what if any are the beneficial effects of a dump valve?....is there any point other than for the WOOOSH?

Also thinkin it prolly is best if i upgrade the brakes first too, 2 pots arent doing it for me. Is there a place someone can recommend to me that sells the standard scooby 4 pots? Also what disk and pads do you peeps use?

If im bein lazy just tell me and i'll do a search, always good to get proper info from actual people tho...

Cheers all.

GC8

Now what we need is an interesting turbo reference page.....

jaytc2003

iTrader: (1)

Brakes and suspension will make the car faster quicker than engine mods. the only engine mod I would do beforehand is a panel filter. Like someone has already said, get used to the car first before looking for increases in engine power. (will probably only take a few days with the amount you will be driving it!!)

StiX

iTrader: (4)

I used to own an M-Reg MY95 WRX.

It had the Z4 ecu, and TD05.

With a full-decat and green panel filter, the boost was upped naturally to 14.7 (think - can't remember exactly).

Had a knocklink, no activity whatsoever on Optimax - used to use booster+Optimax before this, then realised I didn't need to.

Never had it on a RR, but from memory about as quick as my current MY00 which is running 273/273.

Oh, and if the loophole is still there, pre Sep 95 imports (WRX/STi etc.) are not an exact match on the DOT register. Therefore, they can do the much easier non-cat test at MOT time. Had personal experience of this, not a myth. So junk all cats






4 pots from Jap Performance Parts - £350 with disks and pads:

http://www.japperformanceparts.co.uk...u%20tuning.htm


Grade A do them for £525:

http://www.gradea-subaru.co.uk/3.html

myblackwrx

iTrader: (1)

My mates 94 wrx makes 310bhp with
1 Apexi power FC (mapped by JollGreenMonster).
2 Uprated headers(already fitted when he bought it).
3 HKS induction kit.
4.Decat/ HKS super drager backbox
5.Running optimax
You don't need a front mount intercooler or uprate the fuel pump as the above figure was using standard top mount and standard fuel pump.
He uprated the fuel pump and had to get the Apexi altered he lost a few bhp but got more torque.
But every car will behave differently even if you do the same mods to exactly the same car
check www.jollygreenmonster.co.uk for Apexi power FC mapping

ScoobieNoobie

Cheers StiX!!!

Anyone any comments on whether a Dump valve is worth the aluminium its made out of? Can get one for a cheap ish price thats all???

Thanks again.

myblackwrx

iTrader: (1)

Had a dump valve on my 93 wrx (Blitz) made a nice harsh noise but started to seriously f**k up my fuelling got a recirculting one and now fuel economy has gone back up and car pulls a lot harder still get a little ptooosh noise as I had the snorkel from the wing removed to let a little more air get to my apexi induction kit.
If you get one fitted I think should get a remappable ecu to take in the effect the VTA has on fuelling

Ritch96

So is it possible to defeat the limiter if the Z4 is used in a UK car? How is the limiter ordinarily defeated in an import?

Ritchie

T5OLF

iTrader: (4)

Hi mate,

Just up the road from me (Settle) welcome to SN

I bought my 240 brake 93 type ra about 8 months ago. I was in the same boat as you, I knew nothing about Scooby’s but have a good engineering background to make up for my lack of Subaru knowledge.

First thing I added was a panel filter - £45
255 pump £80
Full 3” decat - £220 second hand
Scott T (scoobyecu) chip - £250 off flee bay

It made 274 brake on racinglines rolling road with the above mods. About 4 weeks later it pulled the centre out of the clutch not sure if it was the upgrades or just old age that made it fail. I then added a lightened flywheel and uprated clutch from API - £850 Inc fitting

Next I added an induction pipe to replace the resonator box - £35 off SN and a large K&N filter - £40 off SN

Had to fit a Manuel boost controller as it was hitting the fuel cut after the last 2 mods.

Made 287 brake at Teg sport,


I’m now looking for over 300 brake, so far I have bought:
An apexi power fc ecu £510 – second hand - remap would be around £300/400
Apexi AVC-R boost controller - £280 new
550 injectors and fitting kit £160 second hand
Front mounted intercooler - £300 SN group buy
Ported and wrapped my headers, free to port - £80 for heat wrap also have an up-pipe of Harvey smith -£140 new,
Turbo blanket -£50 of flee bay
The intercooler pipe runs over the turbo and needs to be kept as cool as possible, hence turbo cover.

The car gets mapped by Andy Forrest on Friday so we will see how close to 300 I get.

The standard brakes are really bad…as you know, had mine glowing orange the other week so I bought a set of 4 pots and vents off flee bay - £350 with pads and discs.


Next comes your suspension, all that extra power will need controlling.
I bought:
Tien coilovers - £350 used
Anti lift kit £130 new
New bushes to tighten up any play £150
Maybe look at some antiroll bars £250 ish

So as you can see it’s not cheap getting over 300 brake. I was going to leave mine totally standard as I was sick of pulling cars to bits in my drive and working till god knows what hour putting them back together, but once you start you just get carried away.

New_scooby_04

iTrader: (4)

My two cents (and apologies for being a merchant of doom, but someon has got to say it)!

We are talking about a 13 year old car here, an import, so maybe one where a good proportion of its history is unknown. Dollar to a dime it will have been used reasonably hard (that's what they're for, after all).

Now, I'm guessing that -given the cars value- the owner won't want to be spending lots on it!

So, my question is: is it particularly wise to be considering upping the power so significantly on this car? What if the engine or gearbox gives up the ghost?

I also note that the owner is new to the marque. I really can't emphasise enough how important it is to get used to the car for a decent while first before modifying it to any serious degree. You can't have a properly informed input into what you'd like the car to do when modded untill you know what it can do as std. This modding game is expensive (we're going back to the value of the car again) and it's easy to get caught up in the "must go faster" mentality for the hell of it and get stuck with ineffective mods that don't really add to the car and may -at worst- damage it e.g. VTA dump valves!!

My advice, for what its worth: stick a decent backbox on there (if there isn't one on there already) enjoy the car for a while, treat it very well and see how things pan out untill you're fully prepared to say a) exactly what you want changed -not what someone else on here thinks you should change- and untill you can foot the bill should things go wrong!

Best wishes,

Ns04

StiX

iTrader: (4)

Extremely good advice Ns04

Money wise, if you look at the route T50LF has took:

£595 to get to 274bhp - which believe me is plenty quick enough in a classic, and will not put undue stress on clutch/engine/gearbox. You probably don't need the fuel pump either.

or

£2490 to get to 300bhp ish - which will probably not feel that much quicker, but will certainly be putting a lot of strain on your clutch/engine/gearbox.


Those prices are without money for any braking/suspension mods too!


I have stopped power wise at 273/273, mainly for the reasons Ns is talking about. Anymore, and gearbox problems would be round the corner probably.


I would get some 4 pots, change the panel filter.

Do some miles, and then think about ScoobyECU etc.?

neilswrx

first thing to do if you are going to mod the car

take out a second mortgage

i too have an import my95 wrx (apexi ecu full decat remap ind kit and new headers guessing at 250-280 bhp now as it is 11 years oldl)sitting at 100,000 miles i was tempted to put new injectors fuel pump and reg in but on comming to my senses i,ll probably blow the engine (so of to sell that lot)so i am sticking with doing up the suspension side ,as above rear arb front arb and drop links as orginal are plastic plus alk had the godspeed brembo kit fitted and it makes a real differance .

borat52

Dump valves are all show and no go, wont help performance at all on your impreza. Some say they make fuel economy worse, personally I have not experienced this. I have a HKS on a '93WRX, ESL chip and sports cat downpipe with no other cats, drove 230 mile round trip on the motorway 3 weeks ago at 90-100 all the way and hit 23MPG, apalling but no worse than the standard car.
Leave the sports cat on the car, changing to a straight through pipe would give you less than 5BHP and costs you time and hassle changing it.

Worth noting is that because of the top muont intercooler its rumoured that above 120mph the air gets deflected off the bonnet and over the intercooler which can cause det in the engine and send your WRX out with a bang.

Standard 4-pots should do the job, I'd get them from someone reputable and honest like API, I bought some off ebay and have never been happy with them, they just dont feel right even after new pads, braided hoses and the whole system bled.

I say if you want to jazz the car up a bit then go for it, I wish I had added the ESL chip and downpipe much sooner - just drive sensibly, go fast when its safe and be carefull when its wet or in built up streets and you'll be fine.

GC8

Someone like Scott.T may know the answer there but Im afraid that I dont. I assume that the limiter was removed in the Prodrive boards.

The limiter isnt removed in WRXs; its simply moved to 180mph from 180kph when the 1.6:1 drop gear is fitted to the speedo drive cable.

Simon

ScoobieNoobie

Thanks for everyones pearls of wisdom. Gonna go for the Panel filter and the 4 pots, been noticing their inefficiency alot more since it was brought to my attention how cack they really are.

The Rex has done around 70k and for what i paid for it, doesnt warrant a stupid amount of money being spent on it...though the ESL board is very tempting....maybe a couple o months down the line for that.

Seen some 17'' Team Dynamics Pro Race 1.2's in black which are begging to be put on too when ive got the reddies for em. Those standard 15's dont do owt for the cars looks or more importantly, handling. Some crazy person put 205/60's rubber on em too 'Surely shome mishtake....'

Cheers all

Hi buddy, will wave if i see a Type RA over in this neck o the woods. Cheers for the info too matey

benji100

dont bother with 300 bhp is too much for the engine, u will have endless amounts of problems as i have, stick to around 280 its better suie to the handling of the car and will be alot more reliable.