Thanks to you all I know I want Up and Downpipes, pulleys, and some type of EM System but cannot choose between Cobb or going to SoG for Ecutek. All I know is that Ecutek will likely be more customized for my car and I hear Scott does a great job. On the other hand though, the Cobb appears to allow me to use more maps and download additional ones over time. ( I have no idea what the Hell I am talking about) I am going to move on the up and downpipes this weekend and likely try to install my self and go for the EM next month.
the questions you need to ask yourself is- 1- do you want to follow cobb's upgrade path? 2- are you looking to maximize the power your car makes to the nth degree using 100% of the parts you bolted on? 3- do you have the money and/or time to dyno tune? me? i went with cobb... i don't feel the need to squeeze every last drop of power outta my car. i don't feel like spending any more time at the dyno with this car. i'm not ever planning ( i may change my mind) on going much bigger than say a vf34...my g-friend drives the car 5 out of 7 days and what i have is enjough for me and planty for her. accessport does well enough for me
Well, let's add something here. It _used_ to be the case that you had to follow Cobb's (limited) upgrade path. Now, with Street Tuner and Pro Tuner out, you basically have the best of both worlds; you can get the relatively inexpensive AccessPort and have a good base map, then use the new software to get it tuned or tune it yourself to get a sweet custom tune ala ecutek. Unless ecutek really allows for a better tune than Pro Tuner or Street Tuner for some reason, I really can't see why you wouldn't go with the Cobb approach.
Yerrow / Moose; Thanks for the feedback. I believe I am going to order the Cobb tomorrow. Any issues in combining the access port with an up/down that is not a part of their package? Also, would it be better to go with the access port or exhaust first?
Depends on what year your car is. The 04/05 WRXs suffer from a horrendous CL/OL switch issue which essentially makes your car run lean under full boost... it's exaggerated with uppipe/downpipe, but I can't tell you whether it would really hurt the car any in the long run. If I could do it over again though, I'd get the AccessPort before doing anything else, just to be on the safe side. You can get any UP/DP; even Cobb themselves will tell you it doesn't matter what brand you use.
So you are getting UP/DP this month, and getting EM next month??? Why not wait little bit more and do both at the same time?? Sounds like you got pretty good financial situation. As moose said, 04/05 ECU does allow engine to run LEAN under full boost which will cause detonation. So it's good idea to get EM first if possible. Accessport Stage 1 map will make similar power to stock ecu with UP/DP (assuming that you will still have stock axle back) and will be run under safer environment. Some cars like Accessport. Some cars Don't. So if you want to extract max power out of your engine safely, I recommend Ecutek custom tuning OR COBB Protune which is also custom tuning. Unfortunately there is no Protuner in GA, but we do have great Ecutek tuner in ATL. It's your choice.
I have a full exhaust, intake and accessport stage 2. I had my car dyno'ed a few weeks ago with the wideband 02 sensor hooked up to monitor AF. The tuner at batlground told me that the accessport is the best tuned "off the shelf" programming he had ever seen. He said at best he could get another 10-15 hp out a custom tune. So, in my opinion, accessport is the way to go if you don't have plans to mod outside of their predefined maps. If you do go into the custom tune world, i understand that you can tune with streettuner on the fly, so it may take less time than other EM systems.
Mine was actually one that had some issues; wasn't building enough boost. Turned out to actually be a hardware thing: I had to tighten the wastegate arm a bit and all was well in the world. I've seen some people on clubwrx gripe about the AP not working right with their car, but in pretty much all cases they've failed to mention having aftermarket intakes etc (which Cobb specifically advices against). I'm sure there are a few cars out there that just don't run well with the standard Cobb maps, but they are definitely few and far between. Re: ProTuner... I don't know anybody who does it locally, but pretty sure Scott said he'd tune a car with Street Tuner.
I love my Ecutek tune, I have had no trouble out of it since SS tuned it. I'm not bashing Cobb, its really up to you rather or not you want to be able to mess with the setting yourself. I just feel like the Ecutek is a set it and forget it tune. M2C
Usually you can get a used AP for around $500. Street Tuner I think is $400 on top of that, so it comes out to about the same. However, you can easily turn around and resell the stuff should you want to. APs are very easy to get rid of for pretty much what you paid. Not sure how easy it is to resell your ecutek... With the AP you can pay the $500 to get going with a base map which is going to work very well for 99% of cars. Then add the Street Tuner later, or just have somebody ProTune the car for you. If you get Street Tuner you can also tune yourself all you want. I think that today going with Cobb really gives you the best of all worlds... before Street and Pro Tuner came out, you were limited in what you could do with the AccessPort (certain maps, certain sets of mods only) but now it's open to do anything you want. Ecutek had the advantage of being a custom tune to your car; now you can get the same thing with Cobb's stuff. You have all the advantages and none of the disadvantages.
I hate to sound like I'm touting Cobb over everything here, but the AP can be the exact same thing. Set and forget the base stage 2 map, or set and forget a ProTune map your tuner made. It's just a more flexible solution. It doesn't force you to tune or not tune or have somebody else tune... you can do either!
That's something Scott could probably answer. I have never had the privilege to play with ecutek tuning software. I suspect ProTuner would be closer to Ecutek though; I think Cobb simplified a few things in Street Tuner to make it easier for non-professionals to do their own tuning. It's still a pretty complex and complete package however; take a look at the manual that's downloadable from Cobb's site to get an idea of what you can do. Edit: I pinged somebody who knows the Cobb software better than I do, I'll see if he'd be willing to post up his opinions and information here..
You have the ability to recoup some cost of the AP and Street Tuner by selling them should you ever wish to go back to stock/sell the car. With an Ecutek, it's much more difficult to do as ecu's have to be swapped. With my WRX i spent a net of $100 for my AP (buying/selling) and was able to get a nice "stage 2" map. I'm sure a local tune would have netted me ~ 10-20more hp. But when I traded my car in, I would have essentially lost $850. It all boils down to what you want and your plans. If you going to do just UP/turboback, an AP is very nice solution. If you are gonna mod more, it makes sense to do ecutek or AP/ST as you or your tuner can customize to specific mods.
ecutek could be a strong selling point when u sell your car, i know if i ever bought another wrx,sti i would ask if it had EM included.
If mods were a strong selling point people wouldn't spend hours and hours putting their car back to stock before selling it.
streetTuner can do almost 95% things that ecutek can. Protuner version can do exactly the same thing, but at much faster way (due to realtime tuning). StreetTuner does have great potential. Under the same tuner, i'm pretty sure that both Em will make very similar power.
with the 02 and 03, people would trade their ecutek'd ecu for a stock ecu + $$ if they were planning on putting it back to stock... dunno if u can do that with 04+
nope, cant remember completely, but it has something to do with ur wiring harnass in 04+. maybe SS will chime in, he is the one that told me.
Cobb Update Only took about 20 mins to read instructions and install. No more studder in the torque and turbo spools sooner. Not sure if anyone recalls but I posted some frustration with this a few months back and it is gone! All around feels like a different car. The engine is so much smoother from a creep to full throttle. Again, thanks for all the advice guys; I am one happy WRX'r