" cost effective upgrades "

Tony Burns

You were there on Saturday with the rest of the lads at the rolling road meet when my reliable 03 WRX made 366HP and you witnessed it with your own eyes?? Hmmm maybee not?? well heres the figures just to remind you then http://www.ladsoc.co.uk/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=4232

Oh and i managed to drive to London and back this week without the gearbox blowing up also!! Clutch is also fine as long as i dont intend to run the WRC this year!

So i really dont know what tree youre barking up mate?? Andy F who also mapped it is running his 03 WRX at 380HP on the standard internals and 5 speed transmission so i suggest you give advice from a reliable source rather than making sweeping statements as it really does not help others who are asking for genuine answers. Besides the obvious, STIs have much stronger gearboxes, larger turbos, better brakes which generally get replaced anyway in the pursuit of serious power but as far as internals go the limits are marginal between them. They are both great cars, granted the STI with the more sporting heritage but tuning wise for HP the engines can make very similar levels once modified! Did you also know that WRXs are Lighter than the Standard STI ?? Sorry Admin but it had to be said!! Hese talking twoddle again and its not fair on others who want a valid opinion!!


Hi Paul you are correct mate, the PPP option for the STI also had an uprated fuel pump, i took it for granted that it had a cat less than the WRX albeit a nasty "High Flowing Catalyst" to quote their own words from their brochure. So i do stand corrected mate! p.s. dont sell the Brembos[]

 

Don agree Kris - Do you know whats INSIDE your engine ?

You have thrown a lot of money (and a lot of mods) at your car (WRX) to get 366 / 347 - where as Edmy (STI) changed his headers and exhaust, reampped it and got 357 / 361.

The STI has uprated internals therefore allowing it to cope with higher revs - modding may get similar results, but time would show whos engine lasted / coped the best.

All IMO of course []

 

Chris again, im hearing this info from people who drive these cars rather than people who actually / professionally tune them for a living!! I took a lot of very very carerful advice before i modded the car to which i beleive is correct based on the mods actually undertaken on previous cars which to my knowledge have been totally relaible. What are the thresholds & tolerances of these so called "Uprated STI Internals compared to the WRX ones??" Does anybody actually know?? Albeit they probably are penultimately a stronger cast, id be very interested to compare durability against HP which is probably marginal!! Lets get back to the main issue. A sweeping statement was made that the WRX gearbox would not take 366 HP, i am clearly stating that it does, infact very comfortably with the corresponding clutch. The issue of a higher torque figure on another vehicle is not what we are discussing here.!!

 

but at what point does the WRX gearbox let go ?
AFAIK The STI box is good for 500 bhp.

 

Yes mate ive always said that, i mentioned it in the main post above. Its common knowledge that the WRX gearboxs are the weak point!! To what level i wouldnt like to guess! Probably not much more over 400HP, Anybody sell me a 6 speed??[]

 

So for the same / similar result -

STI - lightly modded (low cost) - can handle the power / torque no problem.

WRX - highly modded (expensive) - needs brakes, gearbox and clutch uprating.


About right ?

 

Your diversifying again chris!!

STI - lightly modded (low cost) - can handle the power / torque no problem.

WRX - highly modded (expensive), <font color="red">Mods chosen by choice for eventual future levels way beyond the stock STI power<font color="red"></font id="red">) - needs brakes NO Ok for everyday road use, trackday yes different matter), gearbox and clutch uprating (NO) Not at this level, car drives fine with no major issues, driving style permitting.</font id="red">

As ive said unless someone "Factually" States me the thresholds of the "internals" for both the WRX and STI and we can compare durability against HP, then Im sticking to my advice taken that there will be minimal difference between the two!

 

I think your taking it the wrong way Kris ?

Im trying to say the stock STI is a better starting point.
IF your target is circa 360 - 400 then (IMO) the STI would be th eobvious choice.
Better brakes, wider track, better suspension, better internals, wider wheels / tyres, etc etc etc all mean that you save on having to upgrade later.

Surprisingly STI know what their doing []

YES you CAN mod a WRX to STI power levels, and it will cope, but why would you when you can buy it off the shelf for less.

 

Its all irrelevant anyway - the guy who asked the question has to have a wagon.

 

Ok Id agree and say its a better starting point if you want a trackday/rally car as you correctly say youve got the "STI" Development behind it, the suspension setup / bigger brakes / stronger gearbox but as far as a street car purely HP Based then im still sticking by my guns from the advice taken and saying that they can "Engine-Wise" be tuned to a similar level! So weve both agreed on something finally!

Now then Classics.....where shall i start!![][]

 

Cmon you two, calm down[][][]





[]

 

Ill start []

Classics - lighter, faster , better - why does your favorite mapper not race a newage ? []

 

Hi Kev!! Good to see you mate, Friendly constructive critisism mate !! No hostilities here hey Chris!!

By the way kev is your 380HP beast an STI or WRX ?? Or Shall I shut up now !![][]

My favourite mapper incidently was your saviour too a few weeks back [] Im not biting[][]

 

Its a UK - so neither [][]

 

Its got a UK gearbox m8!!!!![][]

 

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Scooby Towers</i>
<br />Ill start []

Classics - lighter, faster , better - why does your favorite mapper not race a newage ? []
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">


EXACTLY Chris, well said[]

 

Youre just ganging up on me now you two!! Grown men of your ages !![]

 

No hostilities at all Kris [] - banter is what this club is about - each to their own.

I find people will mod to a certain level then stop to concentrate on other things (styling, brakes, handling etc) - then they return to the engine only to find they wish theyd have bought a STI to start with - Im one of those !
I stopped modding last year because Id got to a safe level of power for the car - anymore and its big turbo, headers FMIC etc etc etc - something I wouldn have to think about with a STI.

In the summer I should be swapping my car - IF a new classic was available Id probably buy it - but to keep up with the years Ill probably end up with a lardy arsed newage myself [].

STI or WRX - Ill let you guess []

 

He was my saviour - although I wouldn have bothered him if I hadn been fed duff info by so called experts []

 

Kris, not ganging up on you m8, just having a laugh!!! Its quite obvious that we
e all busy today[][][]