Got friends WRX

[Kyle F]

He has WRX 5-speed with Cold Air intake and adjustable wastegate at 18PSi(he sayes)
I was with Stock Chip at 17PSI.. everything else stcok with an extra person in my car.

We went form a 5Mph roll from a stop sign, bith slammed it... I pulled about 3 or 4 cars on him to 60 and then held about the sma edistance until 80 when we let off.

He has an 87 Z28 with a nice modified 305 with a 125HP shot of NOS to. It keeps pace with my TTA when I have the stock chip.

Cool guy, I am glad I fot him with a stock chip, just means more distance with the Thrasher.

 

[turbofrank]

 

[ez at nova]

Originally posted by Kyle F
He has WRX 5-speed with Cold Air intake and adjustable wastegate at 18PSi(he sayes)

That sounds about right then... If all he has is an intake while running 18lbs, I'm sure there's enough knock going on to make it run 15's. Even with plenty of computer management to remap timing and fuel, you shouldn't run more than 17 lbs on a stock turbo wrx or you start to hit turbo inefficiency and fueling limitations.

 

[Kyle F]

It runs strong with no knock. I know what it feels like from when my TTA was trying to post boost into the 22lb range.

It pulls all the way until he shifts up to 4th gear. Haven't tried 5th, had it running about 135-140 on an airstrip. Damn sweet daily driver.

 

[ez at nova]

That's odd that he's getting no knock, impressive! Wonder what the EGT's are. Also, it's strange that you say it pulls up until the 4th gear shift. Normally, the car doesn't make full boost until 4th, so 4th should keep going strong (5th is ho hum). If he has a manual boost controler hooked up, he may be getting full boost in 1-3 which will make it fly (and make 4th seem much slower), but I can't give a thumbs up for the longevity of the drive train having it set up that way. Subaru limits boost progressively less in 1-3 with tapering down boost towards redline for a reason!

 

[Kyle F]

He has a manual adjustmen for his. Not like our where we change the rod length. He bought a kit for like 15 bucks where he can ajust it with a screw like and ajustable fuel pressure regulator.
I dorve it once on a back road to see how in handles and what a 5-speed turbo car feels like. I was truely impressed. I am considering getting one for a daily driver. I mean its capable of solid 13s with only a few mods, all wheel drive, plenty of room for someone with out kids, and handles great. The only hurdle for me to get over is it is still an imprezza on the inside and looks like a cheap car on some accounts.

Pete, the guy who owns it, got is to replace his dail driven RAV4 that got totaled. He seems to think its a mid 13sec car now. Which could be if he could launch it properly. I am not sure about how his boost is staggered accross the gears I just know that when sitting in the passengers seat it pulled all the way through 4th and then he let off.

 

[Turbo6inKY]

He's going to blow it up

I have a WRX. On 93 octane premium at redline in second gear on a hot day (97 degrees) with a heat-soaked intercooler, it knocks at 14psi.

You cannot reliably raise the boost on those cars past 17psi without engine management, new injectors, and a bigger turbo. The stock TD04 isn't efficient past 17.

Besides, you don't need to raise the boost. I put a new computer in the thing, turned the boost DOWN a pound, and gained 30 horsepower at the wheels.

 

[ez at nova]

I agree with 95% of what tubo6 said. You just don't want to touch boost much without engine management. as we all know, turbos = cheap tuning hp, but also the ability to grenade the engine easily if you don't know what you're doing.
Anyway, turbo6, it sounds like you're missing a piece of the puzzle. That new ECU, or piggyback, or whatever you have as long as it's one of the mainstream ones, should net you about 20-30 hp, but also allow you to run a minimum or 16 lbs very safely, on 93 using an ABC or EBC. Then you're getting up to more of a 30 - 45 hp gain. Add on your quality DP and turboback (and appropriate ECU retune) and there's your safe, easy 60 - 70 hp gain.

 

[Kyle F]

WEll, what can I say. I was in the car, I saw the gage. Seems like 17psi is obtainable. Dunno... he claims 18, but I have not personally seen it, but he is looking while driving. The resolution on a 2.5" gage is not that easy to differientiate 1 PSI in between major units when your running at 60-70mph or higher.

He a pretty good tuner. Got a 305 on NOS running decently as his first project car. So, hes got some experience with Forced Induction.

 

[Turbo6inKY]

Originally posted by ez at nova

Anyway, turbo6, it sounds like you're missing a piece of the puzzle. That new ECU, or piggyback, or whatever you have as long as it's one of the mainstream ones, should net you about 20-30 hp, but also allow you to run a minimum or 16 lbs very safely, on 93 using an ABC or EBC. Then you're getting up to more of a 30 - 45 hp gain. Add on your quality DP and turboback (and appropriate ECU retune) and there's your safe, easy 60 - 70 hp gain.

It's a Unichip. I was running 16 psi up until 4500 rpm, then dropping it down to 14. Problem with that was if I was in 4th or 5th gear and mashed it, it'd hit 16, and then start slowly creeping up. Once it hit 17, the ECU dumped the wastegate and threw a code. EGTs were getting too high as well.

So I took some timing out and dropped the boost a pound. With no other modifications, the car went 8.7 @ 79 in the 1/8th. Pretty respectable, and the car can still protect itself, unlike a car with a standalone boost controller set up for a constant 17psi. Sure, it was probably faster before, but what good is fast if it puts a rod through the side of the block?

Even after the adjustment, running an autocross on a hot day, on the last run, I was detonating at 14psi at the top of 2nd gear. Granted, that's an extreme situation, but the example still stands. High boost on the stock turbo is risky. Too risky for me, but obviously not too risky for the party in question. To each unto his own.

 

[NEARING]

A former GN owner runs a black WRX at richmond and runs 11.00's
@125mph!
Says it reminds him of his GN

 

[ez at nova]

Originally posted by Turbo6inKY
It's a Unichip. I was running 16 psi up until 4500 rpm, then dropping it down to 14. Problem with that was if I was in 4th or 5th gear and mashed it, it'd hit 16, and then start slowly creeping up. Once it hit 17, the ECU dumped the wastegate and threw a code. EGTs were getting too high as well.

So I took some timing out and dropped the boost a pound.

I'm still running Unichip too. There should be NO WAY the unichip allows boost to creep up in higher gears if everything is installed correctly. You are using the ABC provided by TXS, and cranked all the way in, right? I've never heard of that happening with the EG and throwing a code. You might double check for leaks if all that is ok. Also, how are you taking timing out of the unichip, short of sending it back for a reprogramming?
Good luck!