Plan for the car.

So here is the plan for my car so far. I want to go with APS for most of my parts and with that being said here is the parts list so far.

-APS Cold Air Intake system
-APS turbocharger Inlet Pipe
-APS DR 525 Front Mount Intercooler System
-APS steel UP pipe
- I was thinking of an AMS turbo back exhaust
- Not sure of the BOV
-Kartboy short shifter
- Nice tune

This is only a beginning list for what I call my stage 1 project which will be done within the next few months.

 

why are you going front mount if you're not changing the turbo?

 

FM will increase TB lag for no reason.

 

Not a bad plan... I would do the Cold Air Intake last (does not do too much on a Stage I setup) and I would not do the BOV. Not to mention the Front Mount is overkill for your setup.

Good Luck!

 

The reason I am doing a front mount is I plan on doing a turbo upgrade and I figured get it out of the way first. There will not be that big of a difference in turbo lag you most likley will not even tell a difference.

 

My turbo upgrade wil be done in my stage 3.

 

What are your future plans? How much power do you want to make?

 

Good plans, but I would do suspension first.

 

I want to do autocross with the car and be able to drive it to work. I am not really hung up on the HP numbers I just want the car to feel good and perform better than the rest.

 

i would really recommend calling Matt Ball at TopSpeed and going over your build with him. If you're on a stock wrx motor / tranny, I hope you have budgeted in as well. You will notice a bigger difference than you think, the stock TD04 turd turbo doesn't have the umph to help you out

and before power, don't forget
brakes
suspension
brakes
drivetrain
brakes
fuel delivery
brakes

 

My stage 2 is minor suspension work, fuel delivery. I have to do brakes now since the ones are the car are starting to go.

 

That is correct " my stage 2". Since everyone has a different view of what stages are.

 

Not really...there is a pretty defined stage route on these cars.

 

Do you have a link to what the different stages are and what each stage has?

 

Your second step ≠ stage 2, as far as power anyway. The terminology seems like it'd work, but it's pretty specific in our case.

Here's a start for stage 1 and 2 definitions: http://www.cobbtuning.com/products/?id=2304
It gets a bit looser as it goes up, but includes stuff like turbo upgrades, fuel delivery, IC upgrades, built engine parts, etc. I can't find anything more concrete on this. Maybe someone who's higher than stage 1, like me, can chime in with the intelligence.

 

If your plans are to auto x, you will make up tons more ground with suspension than power. Sways, brakes, coils, and tires. Thats what i would do. Then add power after you learn what your car is capable of.

 

Fixed.

 

Thanks for the great advice everyone! It really helps.

 

Why not get the turbo instead of getting the FMIC. The money you spend on the FMIC, you can spend it on a turbo upgrade. :squint:

 

I personally would forget the FM and the BOV, while I noticed NO difference in lag from my hyperflow to the aps FM it is a shit ton of money to spend for no return and you would be surprised what can be done with a custom tune with the other mods I approve.
you would be where my bugeye started...I added the inlet and the up, my car already had full turbo back and intake (co's too but I got lucky there) baseline run was 182 once Doug at TS was finished she put down 251/251, you should make more tq withe the 2.5.
play with that a few months save money for more as you will want it sooner rather than later.

 

I put down 252hp/247tq with just a turbo back, Cobb APv1, small dia header, TGV deletes and match ported everything on a otherwise stock tired 2.0L. We have yet to see where the mods will end since

 

and $20-40k... :wtc:

 

I am going to have to do something about the BOV since it has a POS ebay one on it right now and I don't feel comfortable having it on the car. I am also not going to get a stock on to put back on.

 

stock one will hold 18lbs of boost

 

I may have a spare Stock BPV in a box if you are interested. Let me know and I will check my storage containers.

 

I don't have the stock one so I need another option. Other than getting a stock one.

 

nothing wrong with stock, aftermarket on a stock setup is just a noise maker

 

Either stock or a Forge Recirc I think they run right around $180.00

 

I came into this with a plan of action. Now after talking with everyone I have no idea what I am going to do now. I guess back to research.

 

nothing wrong with research. but honestly, THIS is the BEST way to figure out which direction to go. ask someone who has ALREADY done it.

 

We're here to help, as agonizing as it is.

 

Its all about the ultimate goal and building toward that.

For instance if you want 400whp in the future then I would save your pennies and go rotated. If you are going to go rotated then there is no point in doing a downpipe, turbo inlet, etc....

Now if you don't think you want 400whp then I understand...however....are you really sure.

Just make sure you think long and hard about what your goals are and how you want to achieve them.

There are better intercooler choices out there if you are going rotated and also better ones if you are staying stock location.



The APS stuff in my opinion is good but there are better options.

 

Depends on how you define fun I guess. After a thorough trashing of all the OEM bushings and sways go on a shopping spree at TIC or the like for better replacements. Next would be pads, rotors, and fluid followed by better struts and springs, Tein, RCE, Tokico D-spec or KYB AGX struts and then of course tires.
Bolt on parts with a good tune, suspension and brakes will leave you with a very competent and trustworthy car.

 

Don't forget gears or 6 speed in the whole goals list That 5 speed's days are numbered once you get into a bigger turbo. I would put that high up on the upgrade path. While you can get away with the 5 speed for a while....once you crank up the power it is on borrowed time.

 

Maybe this will make it a little easier I have $2k to start with for mods right now. I know my list that I posted will cost way over $2k but that was a plan for a few months down the road. I am also not a fan of parts just because they are cheap I want only the best for my car and I am willing to pay more for quality.

 

spend that 2k on going stage II (turboback & tune) and get sway bars, good brake pads, and decent tires. That should hold you over for awhile if all you really want to do is autox.

 

^^^

this

it will also make it more fun to drive, especially if you head up to the mountains

 

My favorite setup for Stage II cars and one I've sold quite a few of lately is the one below.

Invidia Catless downpipe

Borla Hush Exhaust with 3 inch adapter

Cobb AP2

We are about to run a special on this setup, its $2K installed and Pro-Tuned

 

That's the right track right there

Sent from my Nexus One using Tapatalk

 

May want to throw in a sway bar to sweeten this deal.

 

It's simple. If you want to do track, auto x or w.e. go with the suspension mods, sway bars etc. Like stated above, suspension will help you a whole lot more than the power. And remember, you gotta spool up to get the power. Now if you want power over suspension, simple, get a 18g or 20g, or something bigger if you have big pockets, slap it on there with bigger injectors, fuel pump, get a pro tune and be set.

Not sure what you have in your car now, but I'll have my vf43 up for sale maybe next week or so.

Just my 2 cents.

 

I have not taken my car up in the mountains yet but I did take my girls 05 WRX up and it was a lot of fun. I know that I want the car to be faster and handle better but I have to decide which one I want to do first. Some are going to say go faster and some will say you need to have it handle like it is on rails before you can go fast. I guess to start I want a good combo for both.

 

Having a good combo for both would be a very good end. But I think for AutoX, it's probably smarter to go for suspension and handling first over any sort of power increasing modifications.
Even without any sort of real power increase, your car will be faster than some of those that focus more on power over handling because you can take those corners just that much faster.
For me, I'm a more "take the corners and hair pins like it's nothing" kind of guy, so handling comes first for me.

 

So I am thinking of getting a turbo back exhaust, up pipe and inlet pipe plus a nice tune. I will also get some stuff for the suspension.