Prodrive ECU programming
23 November 2008, 09:07 PM
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Prodrive ECU programming
Hi, as a recent and first time purchaser of a 06 Hawkeye 2.5WRX I am looking at trying to get hold of a second hand Prodrive PP ECU and if I get hold of one will need it programmed to the car. I live in Llanelli and would like to know if you can recommend either an independant or franchised workshop to do the programming for me, can anybody give me any recommendations as well for servicing? I will post some photographs of the car soon as it it going to have an STI spoiler fitted with some Perrin wing stiffi's added for good measure.
23 November 2008, 10:13 PM
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Thanks for the pointers, I am really enjoying the forums and have found some really useful tips and advice, Impreza drivers are a friendly bunch as well; the last time I got waved it when driving was when I used to own a 74 plate VW Beetle 8-)
Last edited by Cannon Fodder; 23 November 2008 at 10:15 PM.
23 November 2008, 10:18 PM
#4
This can be a hive of information and a good way of emptying your wallet 
The pointers I would give are brakes ( uprated pads ) suspension ( springs and certainly anit-roll bars and drop links if nothing else) this will allow you to drive the car naturally quicker and safer without tuning the engine at all.
Subaru's are undertuned greatly and with a few tweeks it will come alive.
My tip of the day is to get yourself to a meet and have a look around and a chat as everyone in here has a modded car and will be able to show you first hand what the tweeks are.
Simon
The pointers I would give are brakes ( uprated pads ) suspension ( springs and certainly anit-roll bars and drop links if nothing else) this will allow you to drive the car naturally quicker and safer without tuning the engine at all.
Subaru's are undertuned greatly and with a few tweeks it will come alive.
My tip of the day is to get yourself to a meet and have a look around and a chat as everyone in here has a modded car
and will be able to show you first hand what the tweeks are.Simon
23 November 2008, 11:05 PM
#5
Hi mate, welcome aboard!
I have owned and have been slowly modifying an 06 WRX since March 06 so i can give you a bit of advice on which way to go.
As Si has said, brakes and suspension make a huge difference to the point to point performance of the car, it really will be noticably quicker even without power mods. I have only got Eibach springs and fast road geometry so far in terms of suspension mods, but it has made a big difference. I have had the brakes and discs swaped for a set of Sti brembo discs and calipers which look great and tend to be relatively fade free next to the WRX calipers, which are very good too. If you do a little searching on here you can find a full set for around £500 and fitting would be paid for by the old calipers.
In terms of power, i personnaly wouldnt spend time looking for a ppp ECU when you can get yours remapped. If done with a road legal exhaust system (remove one cat and pop in a sport cat) you should see big power gains. Mine was recently mapped by JGM and had a de-cat and sport cat system and made 282BHP and 320LBFT on powerstations rollers.
What i forgot to say was if you do go for a brembo conversion, the WRX wheels wont fit so you would need aftermarket ones, but this was one of the first things i did anyway.
There are probably lots of things i have left out but there are others on here who have modded the 06 WRX and are producing 350bhp+.
Hope some of this helps mate,
Ian
PS. More detail is in the view my scoob section
I have owned and have been slowly modifying an 06 WRX since March 06 so i can give you a bit of advice on which way to go.
As Si has said, brakes and suspension make a huge difference to the point to point performance of the car, it really will be noticably quicker even without power mods. I have only got Eibach springs and fast road geometry so far in terms of suspension mods, but it has made a big difference. I have had the brakes and discs swaped for a set of Sti brembo discs and calipers which look great and tend to be relatively fade free next to the WRX calipers, which are very good too. If you do a little searching on here you can find a full set for around £500 and fitting would be paid for by the old calipers.
In terms of power, i personnaly wouldnt spend time looking for a ppp ECU when you can get yours remapped. If done with a road legal exhaust system (remove one cat and pop in a sport cat) you should see big power gains. Mine was recently mapped by JGM and had a de-cat and sport cat system and made 282BHP and 320LBFT on powerstations rollers.
What i forgot to say was if you do go for a brembo conversion, the WRX wheels wont fit so you would need aftermarket ones, but this was one of the first things i did anyway.
There are probably lots of things i have left out but there are others on here who have modded the 06 WRX and are producing 350bhp+.
Hope some of this helps mate,
Ian
PS. More detail is in the view my scoob section
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You beat him too it Si, I was expecting him to be along to blow his own trumpet.
24 November 2008, 10:40 PM
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Thanks to everyone for their welcome, I just have one further question will standard STI wheels clear the Brembo calipers? Evil.Soup that road where you took some photos of your car is it the one between Hirwaun and the lakes between Merthyr & Brecon? I work in Pontypridd and sometimes take it as a 'shortcut' on the way home, ok it is in a van but what a cracking road, the only one that beats it in this area of wales is between Llangadog (half way between Llandeilo and Llandovery) and Brynmawr, if both these roads are good enough for Top Gear then they must be ok. Mind you I would love to catch Clarkson, Hammond or Captain Slow on these roads, just to show them how to drive them properly...
24 November 2008, 10:51 PM
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Thanks to everyone for their welcome, I just have one further question will standard STI wheels clear the Brembo calipers? Evil.Soup that road where you took some photos of your car is it the one between Hirwaun and the lakes between Merthyr & Brecon? I work in Pontypridd and sometimes take it as a 'shortcut' on the way home, ok it is in a van but what a cracking road, the only one that beats it in this area of wales is between Llangadog (half way between Llandeilo and Llandovery) and Brynmawr, if both these roads are good enough for Top Gear then they must be ok. Mind you I would love to catch Clarkson, Hammond or Captain Slow on these roads, just to show them how to drive them properly...
24 November 2008, 11:20 PM
#12
Thanks to everyone for their welcome, I just have one further question will standard STI wheels clear the Brembo calipers? Evil.Soup that road where you took some photos of your car is it the one between Hirwaun and the lakes between Merthyr & Brecon? I work in Pontypridd and sometimes take it as a 'shortcut' on the way home, ok it is in a van but what a cracking road, the only one that beats it in this area of wales is between Llangadog (half way between Llandeilo and Llandovery) and Brynmawr, if both these roads are good enough for Top Gear then they must be ok. Mind you I would love to catch Clarkson, Hammond or Captain Slow on these roads, just to show them how to drive them properly...
By the way, although the Sti wheels will fit over Brembo's, the Sti wheels have a PCD of 114 and dont fit the WRX as the PCD is 100. The Brembo discs and calipers have to be machined to fit the WRX.
Get yourself on a run and take a look at some of the cars, the one in the link was the one i was talking about, its my benchmark for power
25 November 2008, 10:24 AM
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BTW i wouldn't bother with a PPP ECU either just get yours re-mapped, you'll probably end up getting it done a couple of times LOL
Last edited by turboDean; 25 November 2008 at 10:26 AM.
25 November 2008, 11:32 PM
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Yeap my rear brembo's were off a bugeye STI and fitted straight on with no drilling Front's were off a Forrester STI. Not 100% sure of the year the PCD changed think it was on the Version 8.5 where they add the arch extension on the rear archs.
Front's were off a Forrester STI. Not 100% sure of the year the PCD changed think it was on the Version 8.5 where they add the arch extension on the rear archs.
26 November 2008, 07:43 PM
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Hi, as a recent and first time purchaser of a 06 Hawkeye 2.5WRX I am looking at trying to get hold of a second hand Prodrive PP ECU and if I get hold of one will need it programmed to the car. I live in Llanelli and would like to know if you can recommend either an independant or franchised workshop to do the programming for me, can anybody give me any recommendations as well for servicing? I will post some photographs of the car soon as it it going to have an STI spoiler fitted with some Perrin wing stiffi's added for good measure.
, any advice i could give would depend on a few things,1) im asuming as your car is an my06 the warranty isnt going to be an issue for you, 2) what sort of power figure that you would be aiming for, 3) budget, as already said by some of the others i wouldnt consider the ppp ecu on a car coming to the end of its warranty as you will get much better results custom mapping your ecu, what ever level you decide to go for be it 280ish on the std turbo, up to 320bhp on a hybrid td04 or 370bhp+ on a td05-20g ect, plan your mods and do them in one hit saving you ££££ in the long term, any specific advice your after please dont be afraid to ask
Last edited by Black-Hawk; 26 November 2008 at 07:47 PM.
26 November 2008, 11:09 PM
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Hi there , any advice i could give would depend on a few things,1) im asuming as your car is an my06 the warranty isnt going to be an issue for you, 2) what sort of power figure that you would be aiming for, 3) budget, as already said by some of the others i wouldnt consider the ppp ecu on a car coming to the end of its warranty as you will get much better results custom mapping your ecu, what ever level you decide to go for be it 280ish on the std turbo, up to 320bhp on a hybrid td04 or 370bhp+ on a td05-20g ect, plan your mods and do them in one hit saving you ££££ in the long term, any specific advice your after please dont be afraid to ask
, any advice i could give would depend on a few things,1) im asuming as your car is an my06 the warranty isnt going to be an issue for you, 2) what sort of power figure that you would be aiming for, 3) budget, as already said by some of the others i wouldnt consider the ppp ecu on a car coming to the end of its warranty as you will get much better results custom mapping your ecu, what ever level you decide to go for be it 280ish on the std turbo, up to 320bhp on a hybrid td04 or 370bhp+ on a td05-20g ect, plan your mods and do them in one hit saving you ££££ in the long term, any specific advice your after please dont be afraid to ask
26 November 2008, 11:11 PM
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Oh also forgot I have got to get rid of the crappy standard Kenwood CD Radio, why do they fit such rubbish to modern cars - and why the hell do they have a tape player? Who still uses tapes? 
26 November 2008, 11:26 PM
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26 November 2008, 11:33 PM
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27 November 2008, 02:36 PM
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Thanks for the advice, I am not really looking for massive BHP as I still want the car to be driveable and not lumpy like some examples of the classic I have driven but that might be because they were not set up properly. About 280bhp is what I am aiming for at the moment, that is why I was considering the Prodrive PP ecu as I have already bought a prodrive rear silencer and am looking for a sports cat to match it up to, after uprating the BHP I will then sort out the handling, wheels and brakes. As I only use the car at the weekend I just want a good handling, a good amount of torque and good looks to boot.
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27 November 2008, 05:59 PM
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If thats all you are aiming for then just the remap, filter, remove one cat and a sport cat will get you there. Personally i think you would be better off going for a performance package from Powerstation or simular, rather than cobble some bits together, its quicker and its tried and tested. Have a look at the link below for details or pop along the Powerstations openday on Saturday, there are a few of us going down for a run
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27 November 2008, 09:30 PM
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Just found another thread in this forum for a group re-mapping by JGM I cannot make the 3rd, but I would definitely like to go down this route if there is another date in the future.
27 November 2008, 10:49 PM
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Yeap this a regular (at least once or twice a year) thing to have JGM or Andy F come to Cardiff to do group mapping sessions. I have organized 3 and a couple of the other boys have organized them aswell.
27 November 2008, 11:01 PM
#25
I went with a group buy myself with JGM and arranged a group buy with Prospeed (exhaust specialists) and saved £200 over the Powerstation package, you just have to have all the things come together at the same time for it to work out. An extra 50-60bhp for £1200 is quite a reasonable return.
Simon at JGM is a top block too, really knows his stuff
27 November 2008, 11:09 PM
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I went with a group buy myself with JGM and arranged a group buy with Prospeed (exhaust specialists) and saved £200 over the Powerstation package, you just have to have all the things come together at the same time for it to work out. An extra 50-60bhp for £1200 is quite a reasonable return.
Simon at JGM is a top block too, really knows his stuff
Simon at JGM is a top block too, really knows his stuff
28 November 2008, 08:01 PM
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I've got a 100 cell sport cat for a my06 wrx sat in the garage, been on car a few hundred miles, cost iro £400 from revolution yours for £200
Last edited by Black-Hawk; 28 November 2008 at 11:01 PM.
28 November 2008, 11:17 PM
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Would the sports cat you have be able to be connected into the standard system, would i need a de-cat pipe for the second cat and how much of a difference does the sports cat make? I was considering getting rid of the prodrive silencer and having a custom system made by Prospeed in Cardiff.
29 November 2008, 10:29 AM
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Would the sports cat you have be able to be connected into the standard system, would i need a de-cat pipe for the second cat and how much of a difference does the sports cat make? I was considering getting rid of the prodrive silencer and having a custom system made by Prospeed in Cardiff.
Last edited by Black-Hawk; 29 November 2008 at 10:31 AM.
