Ok, I have been reading and trying to learn from you guys for a few months now. I am ready to modd my 06 sti. I have experiance working on my old 02 ss, but I am worried about jumping into this motor. Could I have some advise on the do it your self items vs what to take to SS and let them install. Like TB exhaut, FMIC? Any advise would be appriciated. Maybe I could supply beer & food for instructions? Thanks
Power: Turboback, Engine Management(Something like Cobb AccessPort) Handling: Coilovers, Swaybars We can do this all of this at an install day
Well I'll go for it, for engine mods the first thing you're going to want to do is an exhaust and engine management (the order really more a preference than anything else). For engine management, if you want to diy without too much trouble, I'd say get an AccessPort. You can use a preprogrammed map that they provide until you decide to get it professionally tuned. It isn't all that important which turboback you choose, just as long as the downpipe has a bellmouth or divorced mouth (although lately I've been hearing that bellmouth is better). As for the fmic, that's really something you'd probably want to do in conjunction with a bigger turbo. The benefits of it on the stock turbo wouldn't be that great, and fmic's have a tendency to create greater lag. And yes, there are quite a few people on here that will help you with just about any install for beer and/or food. Edit: Just to clarify, a fmic isn't neccesarily going to hurt you, it's just not really worth it unless you plan on getting an upgraded turbo in the near future.
First thing is to get a 3" cat back exhaust (or the whole turbo back [TBE] if you can afford it). That'll get the sound you've been missing and make you happy 'till you can afford more. You can add the 3" downpipe later to make it a full TBE. The choices are limitless... There's too many great mods.
I feel the same way, this is the most money I have ever spent on a car and I definetly don't want it to turn out like the civic I had..The best advice I can give you is to take your time with EVERYTHING. Ask all the questions you need too untill you feel comfortable with the install of your choice. If I could afford to have everything installed at sog I would, unfortunatly that can get really expencive. BTW all those guys up at sog are cool as hell and will answer any questions you have.
Why not work on your suspension first? The motor, in stock form, is pretty stout as it is, though the handling can def. use some improvement. If you're wanting motor mods, then I agree with everyone else. Get a Turbo-back setup and some engine management. Then you can get ready for the turbo swap.
Thanks Guys, I will do the TB and get some sways for front & rear. Any advise on the best place to order from. I have checked out Cobb tb & Turbo XS. I like a nice deep sound, but not to bad as the car will be an everyday driver. Let me know if these 2 choices are not the best. And I know the bigger the better on the sways. Best place to order these? And brand name? I will do an intake at the same time. I know it won't add much power, but I love the sound. Any suggestions of this? I will spend the money and let SOG do the tune. I know a Header is down the road, but I would like the idea of completeing each section of the car at a time. Is it difficult to change?
^^^Exactly what Ped said. Also, do it all yourself, besides tuning, but that won't be for a while. That way, when or if something breaks, you know exactly how to fix it because you have spent many of hours under the hood. Whiteline sways are the best and biggest. There are local vendors on this forum you can use. There is also fastwrx.com and gruppe-s.com that I like to use. Stay away from intakes and headers they are worthless for our cars. The exhaust that has significant gains is after the turbo. Not to mention equal length headers make the boxer sound go away, and isn't much to gain from a different unequal length header. Most intakes aren't compatible with Cobb AP and don't reward you with much power. If you have to do an intake, go with Cobb or SPT, because they are compatible, although my AEM short ram hasn't given me much problems with my Cobb AP. When choosing turbobacks, go with the sound more than the look. It will be what you have to live with in those long drives. They have threads with different exhaust sound clips. "Power is nothing without control" Aston Martin modo.
SOG sold me my front and rear sway bars and it ended up being cheeper to buy from them. The lady up at parts will work with you a little..
Autospeed Turbo-Back Exhaust is much cheaper than the others? Is this a sign to stay away from it? ASP has too big of a tip on it for me. Turbo xs & cobb looks like a good choice.
^ +1 w/ped... handling is just as important as power (and more so to some... let's not forget about brakes too ) start with some sways (i have whitelines, but there are plenty of good bars out there), and see how it feels. then go from there later. power bits? oh, the same as above. just stay away from short rams-unless you're running a tmic, and bov's (for the love of god), if you want turbo sound get rid of the silencer. if you want CAI, then think about it just before you have EM or just after you buy an EM. but really, the stock intake is plenty for quite some time. but the biggest and bestest thing you could do for speed? take some racing classes in YOUR car. siegel does a bang up job, talk to him about it. it never ceases to amaze me, just how many people have quick-to-fast cars and just don't know how to drive the things. unless of course, you're going in a straight line. everyone's an interstate expert but if you want to do more than plow the throttle, take it to the track and find out what the car (and/or you) are really lacking. okay... i really digressed there, sorry lol. anyways, go to SoG and tell them you're with wrxatlanta. that should help on price. but do some price shopping before you get there so you know if you're actually getting a good price
The turboxs is a quality exhaust. I've seen them lately for pretty cheap (800ish) on a couple of sites too (I'm searching right now). I have yet to get a full exhaust, but I keep coming back to the turboxs as my favorite. Here we go: http://www.cvrmotorsports.com/view_product.php?product=WS-TBE&id=158 $739.00 :eek3:
i lucked out and got a 3" full tbe w/uppipe for 300 bucks. Aside from looks i dont see much of a difference in quality between the helix DP etc. and the expensive bits. I'd look around for a used exhuast first and you'll see some modest gains of around 20hp and way better feel to the top end. Sways/springs work wonders as well.
Yeah, just look around for good deals... I got my TurboBack and UPpipe for a whopping grand total of $600.....Invidia and PDE..
^ another +1 for what pEd said. I spend all of my time driving on local roads. 1 minute out of 120 is spent on "wide open throttle." I do two dozen 90 degree turns a day, maybe one a day finding the hole in traffic. For sport, autocross takes a day worth of time, $30 of money, and it's all turning in second gear. I've done two track days. I've used the straights to take a rest. I dig the turns. I've done springs and sway bars, and I'm glad I did it.
I dunno, I'm most definitely not opposed to suspension mods and love some mountain twisties, but I think acceleration is used MUCH more in daily driving than being able to hug a turn. Hell, are you guys really taking turns during your daily driving that are fast enough to where the stock wrx couldn't handle? If so that's a little ridiculous. I say if your just want a daily driver, power before suspension. If you want to track it or autocross it competively, then go suspension.
SOG has the sway bars cheaper than anyone else. Stage 2 Sways and RCE TII Coilovers and a set of good Brake pads. Then all you need is track time. Matt
If you want to do a Front Mount, I would be more than happy to cut apart your front clip to allow fitment of a FMIC. I greatly enjoyed doing Milos, but now that I know the secret, I can do even better of a job. If you are interested in seeing what will need to be done, PM Miloman or Weapon wrX. Both have FMIC and needed to cut the front clip for fitment. I did Milos, just a couple weeks ago.
I'm still convincing myself that I can do a 90 degree right hand turn, into my lane, at 45 MPH. The car can do it, if I can. The brakes are now just for weight transfer.
Thanks for all your advise guys. I kind of hate to tell you this, but I just traded my 06 sti in on a new C6. I had $8000 to modd my sti, but got side tracked when I saw the C6 with every option for a good price. If anyone knows of a good performance shop to trust a new C6 with, let me know.