T0MMY

Just took my MY99 Aussie Import WRX for a proper spin today and thought I'd post my impressions and see if there's any good advice going

I've been told on here that it's probably Turbo 2000 spec so about 215bhp. It feels quite quick at lower speeds and pulls quite well in the midrange but seems to get a bit breathless at higher revs. Not sure if it's just that the turbo is too small or maybe the standard exhaust and airbox strangle it a bit? I don't really want to tune it up much but if there's an easy solution to help it breathe at higher revs I'm all ears (like airbox mods for example).

Also, the brakes are a bit wooden, feels like they don't have much servo assist. They're quite strong but need a hell of a shove...is this normal with the 4 pot calipers? It does make it easy to heel and toe smoothly when you're not braking at 100% which is good although the pedals are too far apart to use the side of your foot.

Finally, I've come from RWD cars and had never driven a 4WD before. It seems like it doesn't want to power oversteer at all with this level of boost but does lift of oversteer very nicely and is quite controllable. I can't decide if I should be planting the throttle (like in a FWD) or modulating the throttle (like in a RWD) to control it but I just need to experiment more. How is the power split between the two axles?

TonyBurns

iTrader: (3)

The standard car isnt exactly the fastest thing on the earth, the exhaust is restrictive, the airfilter is ok for the level you have, you can change it to a nice dry panel filter, oiled ones are not recommended due to the delicate maf sensors (or induction kits), so exhaust and a remap are your best options for improvements

Brakes suck, the 4 pots are not brill, even when they were new, I would suggest uprated discs and pads, none of this drilled crap, just some nice grooved ones with good pads should improve things, along with braided hoses and decent brake fluid.

Split is F45 R55, so its quite neutral, you will notice they understeer a fair bit, steering feel isnt the best, you may find it lacking at times as it can feel quite numb

Tony

T0MMY

I wanted to keep it quite standard, or at least nothing obvious from the outside and I definitely don't want a noisy exhaust. Could get a panel filter but if you reckon the exhaust is the bottle neck there's not much point.

By the way, I just remembered that with the old S13 200SXs, removing the snorkel and padding from the airbox revealed really nice (but subtle)wastegate chatter; any little tricks like that with these cars?

stuartaw11

I would totally agree with the comments above, I have owned mine for 1 month, I have just fitted a backbox and an updated air filter and it seems to rev much better, handling wise the back end will push out in the wet, but the steering is so light you do have to put alot of faith in the front tyres. Tyre pressure is also really important with these cars a couple of psi can make a huge difference. Remap next for me, then I will be happy for a while

T0MMY

Did you do the filter and the exhaust at the same time or separately? Just wondering what a filter on it's own would do?

TonyBurns

iTrader: (3)

You can do the filter on its own, but the exhaust is the biggest problem if you look for a scorpion/Prodrive PPP exhaust (they are the same) they are not noisy but above 4k they sound really nice without being intrusive and they remove the centre cat (you have 2 cats on your car, one in the downpipe and one in the centre section), it improves flow and will be more responsive, add a remap to that and away you go

Tony

T0MMY

Is a remap essential for safety or will it just improve drivability and economy? In other words can the standard ECU provide sufficient fuel and timing retardation to match the increased boost?

How much is a remap?

Also, what about keeping the standard back box but just decatting? Any good or not worth it?

Sorry for all the questions but I don't kow much about these cars.

stuartaw11

I did the air filter first, it didn't make much difference apart from a bit of woosh and chatter when coming off the power, The backbox I bought was a cheapie eBay jobbie from a company called japspeed, it's not too noisey and has 2 smallish tailpipes, the build quality is decent and it fits well, performance feels much stronger in the mid to high revs, my only gripe is the tail pipes arnt quite straight, but for the price I paid I can't complain

stuartaw11

Oh forgot to mention, the car seems to need a couple of days of use after doing these mods before the performance improves, I don't know if the ecu takes a while to recognise any changes.....could well be in my head though! Ha

f1_fan

iTrader: (9)

TOMMY,

Listen to Tony as his advice is sound.

Sort the brakes first. No need to go mad but uprate the pads, hoses and discs and change the fluid to something decent. You will be amazed at the difference.

Then I would look to get a geometry set up and maybe uprate the rear anti rollbar and drop links - reasonably cheap upgrades and will make the handling a lot sharper. You can tune geometry to help with the oversteer too.

And a good exhaust and re-map will do wonders for the power or more importantly how it is delivered.

You will then have the basis of a very nice car... as others will tell you though you may just get the modding bug.

midnight

iTrader: (10)

[quote=
Also, what about keeping the standard back box but just decatting? Any good or not worth it?

Sorry for all the questions but I don't kow much about these cars.[/quote]


You can do that but rather pointless imho as the turbo will spool up quicker due to the de cat,and the gases will flow through your exhaust quicker , but then you will hit the restrictive backbox which will try and expel the gases through your pea shooter back box,which will in turn lead to more back pressure . .If you are going to go for a decat at least get yourself a prodrive or scoobysport backbox ,which as said above are not really loud,quite subtle in fact and will benefit the decat much more than your o/e system.

T0MMY

I think I'm heading for a slippery slope here I should probably just leave the power standard as was my original plan with this car. To be honest, however fast your car gets, you soon get used to it and then you want more so it never really ends. I used to find my CBR600 slow at times and that did 0-100 in like 7.5 seconds

f1_fan

iTrader: (9)

Lot of truth in that. Spend some money making it stop and handle and then take it on a track and have some fun. Cornering fast outweighs the lack of out and out power on the straights.

Always rememebr watching a DC2 Integra being driven hard at Oulton Park. It was lapping quicker than things with twice the power becuase it handled so well and the driver knew what he was doing.

Curtis450

Its not wastegate chatter, its the boost hitting your turbo fins and it cutting it up. - Not good really can shatter spindles. But mine does it as the dump valve only works if the boost level is fairly high.