The STi Wagon- taking care of business

Everyone cross your fingers. It will fire up today, oh yes it will.

 

good luck man

 

nice...cant wait

 

ITS ALIVE!!! Couple of little things I still need to work out, its got a couple of CELs right now. One of which is putting the car into limp mode and keeping boost from building but thats fine, that'll keep knock away until I get it tuned.

Initial observations, even in limp mode, engine response under 3K revs is much improved. Engine braking is much harder than on the 205; when revving the engine the second you let off the gas the engine immediately starts slowing down. This could be attributed to the lightweight flywheel as well as slightly different engine tuning.

Needless to say I'm giddy that its 99% done now.

 

Did you drive it from Mike's? I am sure the little bit of wire issues will solve the problems once figured out.

 

Beat your post by a second. We got it to run on the JDM ECU and then took it out for a drive, blew a coolant hose off and then got the rescue crew to come out and meet us roadside to top it off. It's throwing a CEL that I've never heard of before, I'm going to pull it again tomorrow and post it up on nasioc to see if anybody else has a clue.

 

probably my drunk ass left a hose loose. OOOps
I cannot wait to take a ride once you have it tuned.

 

the code its throwing is

p006'8": Driver too tall.

I think the code is specific to jdm cars.

 

Ha!!!

 

Great to hear guys!

:rofl: at that CEL

 

:rofl:

 

LMAO....this is true!!

 

Engine bay pic.

 

Sweet! Any luck on finding what that CEL is?

 

Yeah, my wiring harness was incorrectly setup. Talked to IAperformance and they're sending me some new connectors so in another day or so when they get here I'll fire it back up and hopefully not have anymore cels. Then take it to BG to get the DP fixed and probably leave it there until SS gets a chance to tune it.

STI top-mount is on there solely for trouble-shooting purposes. The APS will be back on the car as soon as I get the AVCS stuff fixed and can figure out a better way to mount it since it wont line up on the JDM bracket and the USDM bracket hits the turbo.

 

Just rewired everything for the third time and I guess third time was the charm and Alex and I drove around for a couple miles without a CEL. Tuning time ASAP, I'll have the car up at VIP tomorrow night for those that want to see it up close and personal.

 

Still running great? When is the tune scheduled?

 

Yup, hooked the boost gauge up yesterday and I'm making a couple psi from 2500rpms and on. I'm picking up a Crucial Racing 160 degree thermostat today from JJang12 and a Perrin EBCS tomorrow from Kingwrex. Once both of these are installed on the car I'm going to get it tuned. Still dont have anything scheduled.

I'd say I've got almost 100 miles on the swap now with no CELs. I'm getting really antsy to push it really hard but cant until its tuned. I could feel the ECU yanking timing on saturday due to the heat and 93 octane gas.

 

Sweet. I wouldn't push it. Jap gas is better than our 93 octane and that ECU is obtimized for that. I can't wait to see it. Will you be at Nopi this year?

 

I think I spotted you at Felini's tonight. Was that you parked in the back? I wasn't driving my wrx, in my roomates colorado

 

LOL nice. I guess he prob served me tonight then. I'll have to say what up next time

 

Yeah that was me. I got the APS intercooler on tonight but have a nasty boost leak somewhere in the system. All of my IC and BOV gaskets are old as hell and the Y-pipe might be leaking, I'll be getting new gaskets tomorrow and hopefully that will fix it. Overall the car feels like it likes the bigger top-mount even with a boost leak, power under 3K picked up a bunch driving to and from work tonight.

 

Gettin it tuned on monday. I'll give a thorough writeup on the 207 swap once I get a chance to thrash the car a bit. As of right now, its running my old APS top mount and a Perrin EBCS boost controller. I'm going with an Ecutek tune since Cobb wont make a custom JDM accessport. I dont think ECUedit will do this car justice since the JDM ECU has a shitload more tables regarding cam timing and ignition timing. It even knows what gear the car is in, although I dont know how that effects the tuning aspects of the motor.

 

I can't wait to see the new transformed wagon Bobby.....It will be BA fo sho...


Mark

 

Picked her up earlier today but have yet to take it over 6K rpms. Right now the car is decievingly fast, its so quiet and smooth that the revs just creep up on you without even knowing it. Honestly it doesnt feel as fast as the old setup, its just that smooth. I'll write more after I drive it around more tomorrow.

 

Tuned? What did she put down? Did they run the 8500rpm redline?

 

270whp/280wtq. I'll post the dyno as soon as its in my possession. Yes I'm running it all the way up to the factory redline. Peak tq was around 3700rpm, peak HP was around 6K rpm with a smooth taper down to 250whp by redline.

Just got back from goofing around on this fine saturday morning. This car is smooooooooth as butta, spools about identical to my VF29 but with a lot more power on tap. 8K rpms is fun in subarus but there is no point in going past that on this turbo so I didnt, hell shifting at a hair over 8 still puts me back into the power at 5700rpm or so. And my car sounds like a honda at high revs. I really cant emphasize how smooth the power is on it, my EJ205 felt frantic at WOT, the 207 just feels relaxed yet still makes more power, I cant really put it into words that well. Even highway cruising this motor is silky smooth cruising a 4-5K rpms. I credit an excellent JDM motor and an even better Siegel tune for it.

I guess using Milo's approximation of BG's dyno reading 12.5% less than SOGs, I'd be putting down 303whp up there but thats just a number.

 

Mmmmm powerband.

Updated mod list:
03 JDM STI motor
VF37 twin-scroll turbo with equal length headers
APS TMIC
Perrin EBCS
Catless DP
STI catback
Scott Siegel tuned ECU

I'm wondering how much topend power I could pick up with a full 3" exhaust but I'm kinda enjoying a quiet car for now.

 

Very nice, Bobby!

 

Very nice indeed. Now you need a GT35R twinscroll. :devil:

 

:drool:

 

AWESOME! Congrats dude... Can't wait til I get my car back.. and umm.. you know. =D

 

nice bobby!! like the numbers!!!

 

A Full-Race Twinscroll 30R setup on that car would be super gangsta

 

Dude, that's impressive. Very cool. Looks like one of the most tastefully done cars I've seen in awhile. Rocks the white really hard, I must say.

"Dude, you just got passed by a wagon..":fawk:

 

Homer voice: "Oooooo 7.9k rpm's" drooling

Glad you got it all going again Bobby.

 

Woohoo I passed emissions!! And you can run a JDM motor on a USDM ECU assuming that you've got a tuned map on it, you just lose the AVCS. The motor would stall occasionally on startup with the US ECU but other than that it drives fine.

For the record these cars take ~400 miles to clear enough emissions checks to pass emissions. I'm not sure which of the 3 counts I still failed on since you only need to pass 2/3 checks. I was failing on O2 sensor, Evap system, and Catalytic converter. At 300 miles the cat code was gone and at 400 one of the others was gone.

Time to go swap ECUs back and reclaim my VTEC. Running without AVCS for 2 weeks really makes me appreciate the system, the motor is so laggy without it.

 

You still had a CEL and you passed emmissions?

 

No CEL. They run checks on the OBDII system to make sure that everything is working properly. You have to put miles on the car so that the ECU learns that the emissions equipment is in place; until it learns that you wont get a CEL but you'll fail emissions because your car is "Not Emissions Ready."

Some cars will learn it within 150 miles, my car took 400 miles. The emissions tester's Volvo took 1000 miles, I think he said they had some Camry that was coming up on 500 miles and still not emissions ready.

 

Finally getting around to hooking up the other two gauges in my gauge pod. Originally I had bought 3 Autometer gauges, mechanical boost, electrical EGT, and electrical transmission temp. The trans temp gauge has never been installed as I blew up the automatic shortly after installing the gauges, EGT has not been installed since I put the new motor in. Finally made a run to Summit Racing 2 weeks ago and bought a bung for my EGT probe along with an oil pressure gauge, also Autometer. Its electric since you dont want hot oil being routed through your cabin, only problem is that Autometer does not supply you with much for installation. This is where the guys at www.wrxtra.com came in, they make a really easy install kit for oil pressure, as well as a boost gauge. I bought both install kits since I'd used the cheap Autometer vacuum hose before on my boost gauge. The picture below is what was included:


Oil pressure gauge came with just the gauge and temp sender
WRXtra supplied a 2000psi rated SS oil line, oil galley plug, mounting bracket for temp sender, zip ties

Boost gauge install kit came with 300psi rated vacuum line, appropriate barbed fittings, plastic clamps, zip ties, and a new firewall grommet with a hole already cut into it to feed the vacuum line through. I'll probably use this new grommet since it'll look much cleaner than mine which just has a big X cut into it.

The EGT bung is also pictured but its nothing to look at, unlike the rest of the install kit.

Sometime next week I'm going to install both of these as well as drain and swap tranny fluids; I'm trying out Uncle Scotty's cocktail. I'll post up a review when I get it all installed.

 

Installed the gauges but still need to hook up the oil galley plug for oil pressure to work and tap the header for EGT.

My review on Uncle Scotty's cocktail: it increased shifter effort along all axes (forward, back, and side to side for the neutral check). I had a small grind going into 3rd gear, it still feels like its there but is much more subdued feeling, reverse is easier to get into, 2nd is harder to get out of, goes into 1st easier from a roll and stop. Downshifts feel like they take longer to sync up than with OEM fluid. Overall I would not recommend it from my experience, my only gripe is that before on 2-3 shifts I'd get a little grind going into 3rd, now it feels like I need more effort to get the car out of 2nd but it goes into 3rd easier. 4-3 and 3-2 downshifts feel like they take a hair longer to get the car into the lower gear, and this is without revmatching. In 15-20K miles I'll go back to OEM Special S fluid, if you've got grinds give it a shot but I liked the way it felt before even with a little grindness. No clue which would be better for long term reliability, I'd assume OEM.

 

Don't you have a 6-speed?

 

JDM ver5 STI 5speed. Close ratios and 4.44 final drive.

 

hey we have the same Transmission

 

Hello shitty gas mileage but hello never having to downshift to pass :bowdown:

I'd imagine that our gears are different, maybe similar ratios but different chemical makeup. This tranny blew with a 7K redline, I can only imagine how short the gears are with a 6500rpm redline like you've got (is it even that high?). Its geared just like the first 5 gears on the 6spds but with no double overdrive.

Dude, lets tap our headers for EGT next week. I'll bring the keg, you bring the tap.:rofl: