The Mod bug is dug in deep and I'm looking for some advice. I'm debating about what to do next and it's making my head spin. Here is what I'm considering but would like to keep it (in total) around $1000 for whatever I do next.
Here is a list of things I've been thinking about lately:
Engine Management? 700 (AP) - $900 (cp-e)
Corksport Exhaust (CB $500 or TB $800)
Electronics (Defi Boost in Vent Pod) = $250 and DashHawk $300
Suspension (Cobb Stage 2) $590
Fuel Pump (cp-e = $600)
*Of note, I'm hitting what I believe to be fuel cut but only at very cold temps and WOT around 5000 RPMS. I'm not sure that adding a HPFP is the correct solution as (correct me if I'm wrong) fuel cut is caused by the ECU registering too much air at the MAF sensor and then killing fuel delivery to avoid engine damage? I'm a newb at this but it seems like shoving more fuel without an engine management system or fuel management system would not be a good idea.
Thoughts/Advice?
What to do with $1000?
-
Rich
- Senior Member
- Posts: 1206
- Joined: Thu Sep 20, 2007 9:14
- Location: The Conservatory - Aurora, CO
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If fuel cut is your issue, it can be caused by a variety of factors. Your fuel pump may not be flowing enough volume to support your mods, causing your ECU to shut off your injectors and cut boost so that a super lean condition is stopped before knock gets out of hand. In this case, a HPFP is needed. However, if CFM is the issue like you mentioned, only an ECU reflash will cure that. Your best bet is to combine the two....a flash and a HPFP. With CP-Es FullControl Flash and a HPFP, you're right around $1k.
Keep in mind that the CPE EMS may only be about $1000 for the PnP unit, but you are also looking at another $700 in flashes and whatever it cost to get the thing tuned, maybe another $300 to $500.
2006 SPEED6 Liquid Platinum Sport w/ Nav
Mods Completed - VG Sharkfin, 3M Clear Bra, SU Motor Mount, SU Test Pipe, 35% tint, VEI Digital Boost Gauge, Custom Defrost Vent Pod, PG Exhaust Manifold, CPE Turbo Inlet Pipe, CPE FMIC, Hacked Mazdaspeed CAI into SRI, Synapse BOV, Cobb Accessport EMS Tuner, CPE Dual 3" Catback Exhaust
Mods Needed - Catted Downpipe and finally a tune.
Mods Completed - VG Sharkfin, 3M Clear Bra, SU Motor Mount, SU Test Pipe, 35% tint, VEI Digital Boost Gauge, Custom Defrost Vent Pod, PG Exhaust Manifold, CPE Turbo Inlet Pipe, CPE FMIC, Hacked Mazdaspeed CAI into SRI, Synapse BOV, Cobb Accessport EMS Tuner, CPE Dual 3" Catback Exhaust
Mods Needed - Catted Downpipe and finally a tune.
Rich wrote:If fuel cut is your issue, it can be caused by a variety of factors. Your fuel pump may not be flowing enough volume to support your mods, causing your ECU to shut off your injectors and cut boost so that a super lean condition is stopped before knock gets out of hand. In this case, a HPFP is needed. However, if CFM is the issue like you mentioned, only an ECU reflash will cure that. Your best bet is to combine the two....a flash and a HPFP. With CP-Es FullControl Flash and a HPFP, you're right around $1k.
Thanks Rich. Here's what I'm struggling with; I don't know if it is enough of an issue to spend $1K on...it has happened to me about 4 times, all when the temp is around 25 degrees and I'm WOT in 3rd. This morning I tried to get it to cut and nothing...car pulls hard through all gears.
That's when I got it every day.-
roninsoldier83
- Posts: 664
- Joined: Wed Sep 24, 2008 9:14
- Location: Lakewood, CO
- Contact:
What do you believe the car is currently lacking? What would you like the car to do better? Ask yourself the following:
-Do you autoX? If so, how often? If not, how often do you actually drive 10/10ths on the street? In many cases, people add suspension mods to a car when they can't/don't even extract the car's stock suspension potential out of it. IMO, upgrading your suspension without ever actually pushing the stock suspension to it's limits is a waste. You would be better off spending that money on a driving school or lots of track time to learn to work with what you've got.
-Do you drag race? If so, how often? Are you looking to hit a specific 1/4 ET or trap speed? If so, what is it? If not, if you just want bragging rights, are you actually looking to make more horsepower, or just more noise? A specific horsepower number on a certain dyno you're trying to hit?
-^^Related to the question above, do you want to make more power, or do you just want your car to sound like it's making more power? Most of the time, on modern turbo cars, bolt-ons do VERY little in the way of horsepower, typically tuning is needed to see "justifiable" gains. This is evidenced by the LARGE number of modded cars out there that run no faster than stock cars. The real exceptions to this rule are downpipes & boost controllers, as DP's (getting rid of the stock cats) are likely to cause boost spikes, and boost controllers well... raise the boost. Either way, raising your boost (and helping your car HOLD higher boost pressures) is the key to making more horsepower. However, without proper tuning, this can also be dangerous.
-Do you want your car to handle better or are you just looking for the "slammed" look? If you're more interested in lowering your car than handling, that's something to keep in mind, as you'll hear MANY reports online of people claiming after a spring install their cars "handle WAY better", but they don't have lowered lap times or any other measured event to prove it. Many times, people equate Different=Better, which when it comes to suspension mods, is often times not the case.
-Do you just want your car to "feel" different in some way? If so, how? I know I do, and have already decided on my next mod... I'll be picking up a Whiteline ALK (anti-lift kit), and while installing it, I'm also planning on reversing one of my control arm mounts (common on 04-06 STI's referred to as the "free caster mod"). Why you ask? The overly light/numb steering drives me crazy on the freeway. My solution, the ALK & FCM will both increase my car's positive caster by about 0.5 degree, for a total of an extra 1.0 degree of positive caster... which will increase self centering, slightly increase turn in & give the wheel a more weighted feel. My point in all of this? If you find the car lacking in a certain area, rather that buying "popular" mods, address the issue itself. If you have issues with understeer, you might find a much simpler solution to an expensive suspension setup is to merely play with your car's front end negative camber. Many cars have camber/eccentric bolts up front from the factory... and even if not, camber bolts are dirt cheap.
^^^The positives with playing with camber? Unlike stiffer springs, you get to keep your factory ride quality & ground clearance. Not to mention save money. In the Subaru world, I've heard of people (with an alignment of course) getting an additional -1.5 degrees of negative camber out of factory bolts.... talk about greatly increasing front end grip for dirt cheap! More front end grip=less understeer. Can't get enough negative camber out of your front end to make the car rotate easier? Find a way to get your rear end to swing around a little easier, a couple of easy ways: decrease negative camber in the rear (not always recommended depending on what you're doing with the car), or, install a much larger than stock diameter rear sway bar
Steering to light/numb for you? Positive caster and/or toe-in alignment settings can make a world of difference (although I prefer keeping toe at 0 on a street car). A LOT of these settings can be customized drastically with a good set of camber/caster plates assuming you have them available for your car (not familiar with the MS3's aftermarket).
Seriously, before you spend any cash, find an area you think the car is lacking in, and go from there. Who cares what anyone else wants to do to their cars, it's about making YOU enjoy YOUR car more. If horsepower is your thing, on the factory turbo, you're not going to find ANY combination of parts that's going to make more power than a full Turboback exhaust+Engine Management+Tuning, and TUNING is the key. Even if it's only adjusting boost pressure (which technically, is a form of tuning), tuning is the key to more horsepower, and getting rid of your cats will make it easier to hold higher boost pressures, and make those boost pressures with lower (read: safer) EGT's, which will in turn lead to longer turbine life.
If it were my car (which it's not), and I wanted more power... well depending on how much more you're looking for... I would pick up a Cobb AP, a TBE, and when Cobb releases their Protuner software to individual tuners, I would get the car dyno tuned. That's where you're going to see your biggest gains- dyno (or road if your have the software/WBO2 ect) tuning. IIRC, when my car was dyno tuned over Cobb's OTS "Stage 2" map, we picked up 20+whp, and eliminated any knock that was affecting the car's long term fuel trims. OTS maps leave a LOT to be desired, tuning for YOUR car is the key. At that point, even if you decided to run a larger turbo later, you already have a larger TBE & EM device to help support & maximize gains out of the larger turbo... and last I checked, ATP now makes a stock location GT30 for the Mazdaspeed 3, which means you could still use any TBE that was designed to work with the factory flange.
Either way, decide what's important to you, and go from there. Hope that helps. Just my $.02
-Do you autoX? If so, how often? If not, how often do you actually drive 10/10ths on the street? In many cases, people add suspension mods to a car when they can't/don't even extract the car's stock suspension potential out of it. IMO, upgrading your suspension without ever actually pushing the stock suspension to it's limits is a waste. You would be better off spending that money on a driving school or lots of track time to learn to work with what you've got.
-Do you drag race? If so, how often? Are you looking to hit a specific 1/4 ET or trap speed? If so, what is it? If not, if you just want bragging rights, are you actually looking to make more horsepower, or just more noise? A specific horsepower number on a certain dyno you're trying to hit?
-^^Related to the question above, do you want to make more power, or do you just want your car to sound like it's making more power? Most of the time, on modern turbo cars, bolt-ons do VERY little in the way of horsepower, typically tuning is needed to see "justifiable" gains. This is evidenced by the LARGE number of modded cars out there that run no faster than stock cars. The real exceptions to this rule are downpipes & boost controllers, as DP's (getting rid of the stock cats) are likely to cause boost spikes, and boost controllers well... raise the boost. Either way, raising your boost (and helping your car HOLD higher boost pressures) is the key to making more horsepower. However, without proper tuning, this can also be dangerous.
-Do you want your car to handle better or are you just looking for the "slammed" look? If you're more interested in lowering your car than handling, that's something to keep in mind, as you'll hear MANY reports online of people claiming after a spring install their cars "handle WAY better", but they don't have lowered lap times or any other measured event to prove it. Many times, people equate Different=Better, which when it comes to suspension mods, is often times not the case.
-Do you just want your car to "feel" different in some way? If so, how? I know I do, and have already decided on my next mod... I'll be picking up a Whiteline ALK (anti-lift kit), and while installing it, I'm also planning on reversing one of my control arm mounts (common on 04-06 STI's referred to as the "free caster mod"). Why you ask? The overly light/numb steering drives me crazy on the freeway. My solution, the ALK & FCM will both increase my car's positive caster by about 0.5 degree, for a total of an extra 1.0 degree of positive caster... which will increase self centering, slightly increase turn in & give the wheel a more weighted feel. My point in all of this? If you find the car lacking in a certain area, rather that buying "popular" mods, address the issue itself. If you have issues with understeer, you might find a much simpler solution to an expensive suspension setup is to merely play with your car's front end negative camber. Many cars have camber/eccentric bolts up front from the factory... and even if not, camber bolts are dirt cheap.
^^^The positives with playing with camber? Unlike stiffer springs, you get to keep your factory ride quality & ground clearance. Not to mention save money. In the Subaru world, I've heard of people (with an alignment of course) getting an additional -1.5 degrees of negative camber out of factory bolts.... talk about greatly increasing front end grip for dirt cheap! More front end grip=less understeer. Can't get enough negative camber out of your front end to make the car rotate easier? Find a way to get your rear end to swing around a little easier, a couple of easy ways: decrease negative camber in the rear (not always recommended depending on what you're doing with the car), or, install a much larger than stock diameter rear sway bar
Steering to light/numb for you? Positive caster and/or toe-in alignment settings can make a world of difference (although I prefer keeping toe at 0 on a street car). A LOT of these settings can be customized drastically with a good set of camber/caster plates assuming you have them available for your car (not familiar with the MS3's aftermarket).
Seriously, before you spend any cash, find an area you think the car is lacking in, and go from there. Who cares what anyone else wants to do to their cars, it's about making YOU enjoy YOUR car more. If horsepower is your thing, on the factory turbo, you're not going to find ANY combination of parts that's going to make more power than a full Turboback exhaust+Engine Management+Tuning, and TUNING is the key. Even if it's only adjusting boost pressure (which technically, is a form of tuning), tuning is the key to more horsepower, and getting rid of your cats will make it easier to hold higher boost pressures, and make those boost pressures with lower (read: safer) EGT's, which will in turn lead to longer turbine life.
If it were my car (which it's not), and I wanted more power... well depending on how much more you're looking for... I would pick up a Cobb AP, a TBE, and when Cobb releases their Protuner software to individual tuners, I would get the car dyno tuned. That's where you're going to see your biggest gains- dyno (or road if your have the software/WBO2 ect) tuning. IIRC, when my car was dyno tuned over Cobb's OTS "Stage 2" map, we picked up 20+whp, and eliminated any knock that was affecting the car's long term fuel trims. OTS maps leave a LOT to be desired, tuning for YOUR car is the key. At that point, even if you decided to run a larger turbo later, you already have a larger TBE & EM device to help support & maximize gains out of the larger turbo... and last I checked, ATP now makes a stock location GT30 for the Mazdaspeed 3, which means you could still use any TBE that was designed to work with the factory flange.
Either way, decide what's important to you, and go from there. Hope that helps. Just my $.02
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