$500 to spend...Tune or Dump Pipe?

[PoidaGT]

A good Tune after the exhaust has installed is really good.

Stealth exhaust is definitely the best way to go for a wagon.

How long will it be until you start looking at bigger turbos and intercoolers?

[west_minist]

So to close off this story I ended following a windy path to enlightenment. Here is how it went:

1) I decided on the cheap tune from XRT. This was a big waste of money.
2) Back to stock tune and installed an Ultrex Turbo back exhaust (minus mufflers = stealth back). Greatly improved the driveability. There was a really noticeable reduction in turbo lag but no huge power gains.
3) $400 tune from Matt @ Kido_Tuning. <Insert Expletive Here> AMAZING!!! Car drives like a completely different beast. Strong and smooth. Great gear shifts and oodles more torque. Worth every single penny and more.


So in hindsight...if I only had the $500 I would got the Kido Tune on stock setup ($400) and still have $100 to spend on fluffy dice. But ideally, the best plan would have been getting a dump (ideally dump+mid+Y) and then get Matt to do his magic (that's all up about $1500 worth). But if you only had $500 and didn't plan to spend anymore then the tune along would make the biggest difference.

Well that my story anyway

Sheik, I have emailed you.

The scheme of things you highlighted does not make since and your major issues seems to be have been fix after serious exhaust mods. At the end of the day you are a happy customer. Let me just saw to you that a chattering wastegate will cause a wavy look in boost and engine load. I was not about setting a knock threshold to cover up any mechanical issues. If you said this was tuned out, I dont know how one can tuned out a mechanical issue where the wastegate is chattering on its own unless in the ecu logic, the turbo dynamics for wastegate operation was causing it in the first place.

Again, I am glad to see you are happy and I will consider. Its not about cost for me but the principle behind the issues. Thanks for your follow up.

[CarDoc]

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[KiDo_Tuning]

Sheik, I have emailed you.

The scheme of things you highlighted does not make since and your major issues seems to be have been fix after serious exhaust mods. At the end of the day you are a happy customer. Let me just saw to you that a chattering wastegate will cause a wavy look in boost and engine load. I was not about setting a knock threshold to cover up any mechanical issues. If you said this was tuned out, I dont know how one can tuned out a mechanical issue where the wastegate is chattering on its own unless in the ecu logic, the turbo dynamics for wastegate operation was causing it in the first place.

Again, I am glad to see you are happy and I will consider. Its not about cost for me but the principle behind the issues. Thanks for your follow up.

Just to re-iterate... I lowered the engine load knock threshold to lower than stock to listen for noise earlier in case it was true knock. When there is minimal exhaust gas flow on the stock dump pipe but there is hot gas in the manifold, the wastegate can push open against spring pressure to relieve the pressure in the pipe work before shutting. This was the scenario encountered. I sent Sheik a tune to show how good the gearchanges can be, just happens that the base tune highlighted the issue. More fuel and less timing made the noise worse, basically because the fuel was igniting in the exhaust manifold which was creating a high presure scanrio which pushed open the wastegate

[shav]

this is a great thread. Hearing what some of you have had to go thru or are going thru is providing me with some food for thought.

I currently just have a Kido tune and HKS panel filter. Everything else is stock. I plan to do a DP, bigger center pipe and Y piece all in mild steel, as well as a bigger TMIC. (thinking of a second hand wrx STi tmic if they are an improvement on stock and they fit, might need confirmation on that). Get Matt to do a retune for me after that. As well as F&R sways. Seems as though those bolt on's alone will make the biggest noticeable difference. Is there a better way? Hoping to keep the costs well under 2k. Possible?

[KiDo_Tuning]

this is a great thread. Hearing what some of you have had to go thru or are going thru is providing me with some food for thought.

I currently just have a Kido tune and HKS panel filter. Everything else is stock. I plan to do a DP, bigger center pipe and Y piece all in mild steel, as well as a bigger TMIC. (thinking of a second hand wrx STi tmic if they are an improvement on stock and they fit, might need confirmation on that). Get Matt to do a retune for me after that. As well as F&R sways. Seems as though those bolt on's alone will make the biggest noticeable difference. Is there a better way? Hoping to keep the costs well under 2k. Possible?

Personally, go for a dump pipe, 3 port solenoid and a Process West Intercooler, best bang for buck.

[shav]

this is a great thread. Hearing what some of you have had to go thru or are going thru is providing me with some food for thought.

I currently just have a Kido tune and HKS panel filter. Everything else is stock. I plan to do a DP, bigger center pipe and Y piece all in mild steel, as well as a bigger TMIC. (thinking of a second hand wrx STi tmic if they are an improvement on stock and they fit, might need confirmation on that). Get Matt to do a retune for me after that. As well as F&R sways. Seems as though those bolt on's alone will make the biggest noticeable difference. Is there a better way? Hoping to keep the costs well under 2k. Possible?

Personally, go for a dump pipe, 3 port solenoid and a Process West Intercooler, best bang for buck.

can u please explain what a 3 port solenoid does Matt? what percentage improvement could i expect with this setup?

[KiDo_Tuning]

Boost is controlled by a 2 port solenoid from factory, which bleeds air away from the turbos wastegate. 100% power and the vacuum inside the pipe between the airfilter and turbo sucks the air away from then wastegate so you could feasibly run more boost(unlimited at 100%). That Black STi from dyno day, we diagnosed the wastegate was faulty/rooted spring etc when we had 100% power yet it would not go over 15psi.
So instead of bleeding the boost away, the alternative is having a 3 port solenoid fitted which BLOCKS air from reach the wastegate which can bring on boost earlier by 200rpm to 300rpm and then maintain boost at higher RPM with more accuracy.

[shav]

Awesome. Thanks for that explanation mate. Much appreciated.

Would u recommend this 3port unit? http://www.grimmspeed.com/catalog/produ ... cts_id=145

I don't mean to hijack this thread either but is there any reason you suggested the process west tmic over say an avo or perrin tmic?

[Sheik Jabooti]

To continue the divergence of this thread...

How do you coordinate the boost controller install and remote tune. Instructions say it requires an engine tune. But you need to install it and drive it first before getting the logs to tune by?

Can the tune be done remotely or do you need to an onsite tune immediately after installing?