Call up Topspeed or Forged Performance. Not in the middle of Ga but worth the drive to Atlanta to get the car tuned right.
I'm in warner robins near Macon. I was on topspeed site and I thought they just tuned Cobb. I really don't feel like spending 500 for a Cobb then tune. They do related then? Would also like to learn how to use open source.
They can tune straight to the ECU. That's how they did mine. I have a 06 WRX with a stock ECU and STI EJ257 motor. CobbAP won't work on my car because of the swap.
TSM also has tune packages that include the purchase of a Cobb AP. The AP can be a handy little tool...it also has a bunch of cool, helpful features. Call and speak to Mike...maybe they can work something out with you to fit your budget. The time that is saved by using Cobb will almost be the same $$$ as an Open Source tune. It just takes that much longer. I know from experience.
The CobbAP will "work" as in it will plug into the car and be somewhat functional. None of the maps will work though. It tries to flash WRX maps to the cars ECU and locks out maps that work with the EJ257 because the car still has the WRX ECU. The AP will only work with a custom tune installed onto it first....which made it somewhat useless in my case.
There are plenty of shops out there that have off the shelf maps for EJ257 swaps. All you have to do is call and get a map. The Cobb AP is perfectly functional you just need a map. If you have the AP it doesn't make sense to go open source, you still have to have either tuned.
So you're saying the stock maps wouldn't work? That makes sense. But the ap shoukd be great for tuning an ej257 swapped wrx as far as I know.
FWIW, dyno tuning is dyno tuning. its still gonna cost you the same labor rate to have TopSpeed tune your WRX or STi regardless of setup (some shops may even charge more for open source as my understanding is Cobb is easier to tune on/takes less time to tune). the only savings is not having to buy the Cobb AP up front, but then again you could always find a used one at deep discounts on various websites, and if your open source takes longer than it would have with an AP then you didn't save anything. so getting an open source tune to save money vs a Cobb really isn't a valid argument
I have a "swap" in my wrx as well. Same AP too. It works. Maybe other issues are the culprit. I've had...quite a few tunes done as well by Doug.
The Cobb mates to the ECU. Not to the engine. The Cobb cares NOTHING about what the engine has on it or what displacement is. That's the map/tune's responsibility.
I believe there is a firmware difference between wrx/sti or ej20/ej25. Sent in my AP one time to get it repaired at cobb, when it came back - Doug and I didnt find out until it was strapped on the dyno that whoever was fixing my cobb ap, reloaded the wrong firmware and Doug couldn't communicate with my ecu