Is My car tuned?
 

Hello, I have bought myself my first scooby about a month ago, First Jap can infact

It's a WRX bugeye 53 reg (late 2003)

I have read that stock PSI on these mini beasts is 13.5 ish PSI , now mine shows around 12/13 in lower gears and around 15/16 PSI in the higher gears (Boost Gauge)

I don't think the boost gauge is inaccurate as its level on 0 when off, and bang on 20 when on vacuum at idle, Speaking to the previous owner he says the car has never been mapped but has had a Decat Up Pipe

Now all my friends are telling me this car is quicker then it should be but they haven't had scooby's either.

In a nutshell I'm not after whether a decat up pipe increases BHP without tune as there is many pages on that - My question is does having a Decat Up Pipe without a tune still increase the Boost Pressure PSI? if so that explains the 15 psi on the boost gauge

thanks People!

(Prev 420 bhp 335i, e46 M3, CL55 AMG and more)

When you say with or without a tune are you referring to a remap?

Yep That's right dude, so does it make sense that my scooby is hitting 15/16 psi without a remap and just an up pipe - or is it likely that it's been tuned/Mapped?

Did the last owner own it from new? Maybe a previous owner remapped it.

Nope he didn't He had owned it since 2014, before that it was owned by a company called Turbo Monkeys in boston but i doubt they'd remember.
Hmm i take it just an up pipe change wouldnt increase the turbo PSI unless it was mapped?

Don't you mean a decat downpipe, there is no point in changing the uppipe. You can tell if the downpipe from the turbo to the exhaust is changed because it will probably not have any heatshielding on it and will be the same size all the way down with no bulges.

When I first changed mine I noticed a quicker spool and did't have it remapped.

Nope definitely the up pipe - not sure what benefit this has but it was changed to a stainless decat up pipe by the last owner - but i don't want to spend money on a tune to find that the previous tune (if it has one) is quicker lol - I guess the only way to see if it's been tuned is the dyno?

Some of the newage WRX had a cat in the up pipe so yes quite possibly would/could increase boost.

I see Would it increase the boost even without a tune/Map?

Anything that makes it free er flowing can and probably will.

Would definitely make a difference in spool time.
I remember changing mine to sti catless uppipe and it spooled quicker.
Its probably over boosting if it's not remapped.
I had mine re mapped after.

Hmm make sense, iknow overboosting is a bad thing but would it make the car quicker? It feels very fast but ive never been in a scoob before.. anywhooo booked in at surrey rolling road tommorow for a power run- we shall see what happens

Good move, Charlie will soon tell you what's going on after a dyno run, not sure what stock WRX figures are but a stock UK classic on a TD04 was around 218, providing it hasn't messed the fuelling up the cat in the down pipe may well stop it from over boosting.
If all is good tomorrow and it's on a standard map the simplest steps for more power are a decent panel filter, bin the cats or get a high flow sports cat down pipe, an upgraded fuel pump for piece of mind and a remap and it should make 280ish with no problem.

Yep Charlie was awesome! Saw a bmw 140i owner said it should be 420 bhp stage 1... it was actually over 475bhp 😳 never been to a dyno before but yeh my car hit 290 bhp in third gear at the flywheel, charlie says its defo had a good tune as fueling and such is bang on.... now i wonder if the car has had any other mods other then the decat up pipe as 290bhp seems like it must have more kit! Told the last owner that was under the impression the car was stock.. damn did he regret selling it lol

290hp on a 2.0 with the standard TD04 is very good going and has definitely been remapped.

Is it decatted after the turbo too?
Checked in the airbox for a performance filter? or an induction kit?

Any pics you can share?

I have no idea how to check dude, i can see that under the car it has the shielding for where the cat would sit, but no idea if its in there or has been gutted out-

It had the standard wrx panel filter but last week i had popped in a Ram air panel filter, it does have a dump valve but im not sure how to check for other stuff, its got a loud pump on ignition i dont know if thats normal or if its an uprated fuel pump?

I can get pics of the dyno sheets as soon as im home, I have no idea what anything like the graphs mean, just the bhp number ha.
For now heres some pics of the car featuring the cheap ebay headlight tint and diy splitter i had popped on for like 15 quid all in lol. Exhaust backbox I had bought from a member on this forum on the for sale thread, tornado or something its called lol
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.sco...6e35b25bf3.jpg
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.sco...cc03fbb0c8.jpg
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.sco...9b926592c3.jpg

If you open the bonnet, then take a pic down to the rear left side of the engine bay, the turbo sits there.

Thats a blobeye btw, not a bugeye. :thumb:

290 with an OEM cat on a standard TD04 would be a really good result. The main Cat on an Impreza is in the downpipe under the turbo rather than under the car, I know the classic has a secondary cat under the car but not sure about the newage stuff.

Also has an STI bonnet scoop

According to your MOT history the CAT was missing in 2014, may be that it was taken to a "friendly" tester to get it to pass after that or it was refitted.

Hellooo sorry hadn't gotten to the car in a couple of days, oh wow i think the cat may still be in the car or been re put on as it doesnt sound that loud at all its got a decent rumble but its fairly quiet- how do i know if the turbos been upgraded? It does look tiny the turbo so i doubt it has and the intercooler is stock i take it would have needed a bigger one if it had a upgraded turbo- also the cars fuel pump is fairly loud when turning the key too ignition , could my fuel pump be upgraded or are they all like this heres a pic of what looks to be the turbo and the dyno sheets.

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.sco...002af769c9.jpg
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.sco...85517cc16c.jpg
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.sco...c0f23bc642.jpg
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.sco...27e18302f0.jpg
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.sco...08e38bc356.jpg

How did you manage to check when i tried to cover the reg! Although i left it in the recent pic ha

Ah yes, your previous test on 26 Feb 2014 showed a cat missing. I can see that on the vehicle history too. But only that test and not shown on a test since.

From the looks of the replies i take it this as kind of at the limit of power for this set up? turbo stock intercooler etc any thoughts on if the fuelpump is upgraded sounds like a mini jet on ignition lol

At the mileage of your car it would be good practice to change the fuel pump for a new decent branded one anyhow. You don't want to push a car on an old pump.

Have a look at the Scoobyworx website at their SWRD 290 pump, it's good value for money and I believe you still get a SNET discount off the list price. https://scoobyworx.com/swrd-colossus...ty-16421-p.asp

If you wanted to push power above 300 then you'll need a bigger turbo like the VF34 or VF35 plus STI TMIC, scoop under tray etc. But then you're getting close or over the limits of the standard 5 speed box and may also need a new clutch.

Your noisy fuel pump is either a dying stock one or potentially something like a Walbro 255 which is pretty decent - worth checking it out either way.

Car has a Pink Exedy clutch kit which was changed around 10 thousand miles ago - Found the receipt and the installation receipt A place called triton motorsport which after looking on google looks to be a scooby specialist have like 4 years of paperwork from these guys.

Its super heavy like really really heavy but definitely feels sporty, yep i hear the 5 speed gearbox is a pain! but i did find a receipt for removal and refurb of gearbox parts doesnt say what parts though hmm i'll have to look into the fuel pump stuff, it doesn't sound broke though just loud like a race car lol.

car has eibach springs which surprise me as it's actually really comfy and wishbones look polybushed

290 is okay for now however I may have to sell the car soon as i'm getting crazy insurance quotes like double what my M3 insurance was and 4x my 335i insurance :(
smoked a golf r dsg the other day, surprised the hell outa me lol - anyone know if the dyno graphs look good?

1.0Bar of boost through a standard TD04 should not get you anywhere near 290hp, you'd need 1.4Bar as a minimum whether there's a cat or not.

I say thats a different turbo. Also it appears to spool late compared to a standard TD04. 1.0Bar should be reached much sooner than 3500rpm.

Hmm how do i check if its had a different turbo? sorry if its a silly question - turbo does look tiny like the size of a tdi turbo lol

Does look like a td04 compressor cover (even has the TP marking etc that the standard turbo has).

Could be a hybrid td04 :)