Hello All,

Much to my delight I have recently purchased a UK '96 Impreza Turbo . The car was totally standard when I bought it and in need of a few mods. I have de-cat'd the exhaust with a new down pipe and centre piece and this has given a slight increase in power.

In all honesty I don't know a lot about these cars or what the best line of approach is when it comes to modding it. After skinting myself out buying the car I don't have a lot of money to spare so I could do with some fairly cheap tips to improve the cars power.

My first instinct is to up the boost. As I say I'm not that mechanically minded and could do with some help on this. First off, how do I do it?? Will I need a bleed/relief valve and boost gauge and is it expensive/hard to do?

Also, what boost do they run as standard and what's a safe PSI to up it to?

Any advice from you guys is appreciated so please make any suggestions as to what mods I should make priority. Bare in mind I haven't a lot of money to throw at the car but I would like it to be a bit faster (dare I say it but it's not as fast as I thought)

Hope you can help

Thanks - Conrad

Hi and welcome :D
Not many tips for you I'm affraid, but one is to run on optimax for a couple of tank fulls, reset the ECU and then only ever use optimax.
Makes for nice smooth acceleration and better running.

Cheers mate - will do.

Might sound daft but how do I reset the ECU ?

Do I remove a fuse for a few seconds and then replace it?? That's how I used to do it on my Celica GT4.

Also, after looking on net I have read that you can get a manual boost controller and and boost gauge to up the boost. Is this Ok to do and where can I get such parts??

Plus, what are the best Scooby sites for me to look at?? I can't seem to find many (UK ones anyway)

My UK scoob felt slow to me well slower than my cossie when i bought it. I reckon its because the powers to smooth you dont realise the speeds your doing. I no its deffintkley not slow as i managed a 4.8 to 60 at a magazine shoot out day with it. With only filter back box and centre section.

Hello :D

You say you have de-catted the exhaust and mention the downpipe and centre section, have you got the standard backbox still in place? If so swap it, if for nothing but the sound alone.

A cheap way to start would be with a replacement panel filter - K&N or ITG.

I drive a MY00 and can now say the modifications I have got the most pleasure and :D:D:Ds from have been those that have improved handling. Decent geometry settings and the bumpsteer mod's alone made a huge difference. After these Eibachs, rear anti-roll bar, solid drop links etc.

Use the search function for info on any of the above.

I would recommend ensuring you have 4 pot brakes at least before upping the power. Standard stoppers aren't up to much.

Good luck.

Cheers mate - advice appreciated

Not sure of the make but there was already a performance back-box on the car when I bought it. I have just de-cat'd the rest of the exhaust since.

I forgot to mention that I have bought a panel filter as well - fitted it last week-end.

Just a couple of questions,

How do I reset the ECU, is it a fuse??

Also, how do I turn up the boost or is this not wise? My last car was Celica GT4 and for less than £100 I bought a releif valve and boost gauge and upped the boost - this made a huge difference to the car. Is something similar not possible on the Scooby?

Use the search function for all the info on ECU reset and for turning the boost up try - Dawes.

To reset the ECU just disconnect the battery for an hour :)

If you want a boost guage - lurk around the for sale section for a couple of days and one will pop its head up b4 long ;)

ECU Reset instructions

To up the boost, you can use a mechanical boost controller like a Dawes device, though you need a boost gauge minimum to keep an eye on it.
There are a couple of Dawes in the For sale forum at the momment.

As for sites, do you mean tuning company websites?
Have a look in the Scoobyshop, there are plenty of companies advertising in there. Link's at the top of the page:)

Oh, and welcome to Scoobynet!!!:D:D:D

Iain.

Thanks Iain - will do.

Will check out the dawes devices as well

Thanks for your help

Conrad

Welcome :)

As mentioned above if you want bang for bucks modest power increase the best option is a Dawes Device (mechanical boost controller) plus boost gauge. I think you may find that because of the model year of your car, you won't be able to increase the boost much (I think fuel cut is around 1 bar on your car), but the Dawes significantly improves spoolup and allows boost to be held into the higher rev range where the ECU gradually reduces boost as standard. A disadvantage of the Dawes is that you lose the ECUs ability to cut boost if something goes wrong, for example if you get sustained det.

If you had £300 pounds to spend you could easily get the boost gauge, Dawes MBC and a knocklink. With this lot installed, all you'd need would be a fuel cut defender and some octane booster to then run higher than 1 bar boost. I think ScoobyECU also do a chip upgrade for your model, which is pretty competitively priced.

A word of caution however, doing these sort of things will increase the risk of premature engine failure particularly if things like det aren't monitored for.

Try www.j-w-racing.com for Dawes stuff (MBC and FCD) and David Wallis at www.scoobyecu.co.uk.

Cheers

Simon