Funny subaru comment

[WRXlerate]

So I meet up with Rob to hook him up with my extra can of brake fluid and after he leaves the guy at the gas pump says to me: That car sure didn't sound good.
I respond with: What do you mean?
Him: It sounded like it was running on 3 cylinders.
Me: It's supposed to sound like that.
Him: I don't think so, he'll find out when he goes to smog it that somethings wrong.
Me giving up at this point: Well, you may be right, take it easy.


When I got my first WRX my friend asked me if I already put cams in it because of the loppy idle. I Love the way subarus sound.

[van]

Some dope at my work kept telling me I had a misfire. This is the same guy that told me his suzuki convertible suv thingy has 3 timing chains, and like 19.x.x compression ratio

[knucklesplitter]

Originally Posted by WRXlerate

When I got my first WRX my friend asked me if I already put cams in it because of the loppy idle. I Love the way subarus sound.

I know what you mean, but not all Subarus sound that way. NA cars (all?) now have equal-length exhaust manifolds. The Japanese WRX and STI have twin-scroll turbos so they do not burble either. Also the new 2010 turbo Legacy GT has a centrally-relocated turbo along with an equal-length header, so "the sound" is gone. And since the new WRX/STI are based on the LGT platform I would guess that is the future for them too. Enjoy it while you can.

[knucklesplitter]

I have an idea for N.A. cars that would make them "sound like a Subaru". It is an electronic ignition/fuel box that rhythmically drops out the fuel injector and spark to the cylinders. It would go through all the cylinders one at a time in a certain order and drop them out in a certain way to get "the sound". It would only do this at idle and maybe low throttle.

[100_Percent_Juice]

Robs car sounds like grim death. Its definately not running right.

[bigrobwoot]

Haha thanks Joel

John, part of his comment may have had to do with me just resetting my ecu, so my idle drops really low and dies a lot until it relearns. It does give me better mileage when I reset my ecu, so that's why I did it. Either way, I'll take it as a compliment

The other funny part is that I'm registered at my parents' house in Carson, so I don't have to smog. Thank you for telling me this story or I never would have had the chance to find out my car is broken! Lol

[Dean]

If you get better mileage after reset, there likely is something wrong! Stock settings should be overly rich and retarded timing compared to learned.

[100_Percent_Juice]

I think he has intake and exhaust on the stock map so it doesn't run too well. I think.

[Dean]

Rob, put the stock intake back on. CAI adds nothing without tuning, and hurts on NA cars...

[bigrobwoot]

Juice is right. And I feel more top end with the cai, and it only hurts it at wot below 1800 rpm's. And the stock one has spider webs on it and it's icky

[bigrobwoot]

Also dean, I have an RS not a WRX, if that changes your opinion about my intake. If not, lemme know why you think it's bad.

Edit: oops, for some reason I read "our cars", thinking he meant subarus in general, but it really said "NA cars", meaning my car

[Kevin M]

You should bail on the intake.

http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/show....php?t=1471819

[Dean]

You likely feel a leaner mixture in open loop which is bad as the knock sensor stops working at high throttle.

Until you get well over 300WHP, and even then it is questionable, the stock intake is fine and flows better than the engine needs and most importantly, that flow is what the ECU is calibrated to!

Unless you have a tune with a map specific to that intake, you should not change intakes. On a MAF car, they and their corresponding map are critical to basic engine function.

It took many hours of logging to get my intake map remotely close to accurate compared to the stocker.

[bigrobwoot]

Originally Posted by Kevin M

You should bail on the intake.

http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/show....php?t=1471819

I've read that before, and just read it again. I came to the same conclusion both times: the problem only exists below 1800 rpm's, and then the intake just offers more power than stock after that. Maybe I'm being an idiot, but I'm not convinced I need to remove my intake.

Also, williaty is a bit of an alarmist when it comes to tuning. I PMed him one time about his tuning services, and he seemed to think it's a miracle the engine doesn't blow from the stock tune, and I never even told him my mods. While I do trust his knowledge, I take it with a grain of salt.

[sperry]

It's cool, the motor will only blow up under 1800 rpm. So as long as I just make sure to sidestep the clutch at redline Everytime I'm leaving a stop and make sure to haul ass everywhere at all times, I should be fine, right?

But seriously, I never understand why people bother to take risks like this. Is 5 hp really worth the risk? Or even worth the poor idle and other issues?

[bigrobwoot]

The motor won't blow under 1800. It'll run rich. And the problem is really only at WOT under 1800. Is that really risking blowing the motor?

And as for risking poor idle for power, I guess you'd have to ask anyone who's ever put upgraded cams in anything...

So far, the only real evidence (including anecdotal) I've seen about the effects of an aftermarket intake on an NA, maf-based Subaru is the thread on nasioc by williaty (http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/show....php?t=1471819)

[sperry]

Originally Posted by bigrobwoot

The motor won't blow under 1800. It'll run rich. And the problem is really only at WOT under 1800. Is that really risking blowing the motor?

And as for risking poor idle for power, I guess you'd have to ask anyone who's ever put upgraded cams in anything...

So far, the only real evidence (including anecdotal) I've seen about the effects of an aftermarket intake on an NA, maf-based Subaru is the thread on nasioc by williaty (http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/show....php?t=1471819)

All I'm saying is "my idle drops really low and dies a lot until it relearns" doesn't sound like the intake is worth it. How much power has it given you? My guess is it's not 20+hp, and if it's not more than 20hp, you're not really going to feel it anyway.

So what you've got is a placebo noisemaker that makes your car run poorly.

[WRXlerate]

I bought a CAI for my first wrx before I did any research. After researching but before putting it on the car I sold it and stayed stock. I know you're talking NA here but at the time, I didn't find anyone that had anything good to say about theirs on a wrx. Sounds like that's the consensus with NA cars as well. "placebo noisemaker"

[Dean]

If you have to reset your ECU to make your car run in some particular manner, well, better, whatever, it says something you have done has confused the sensors and thus the ECU and it's learning process.

The stock reset parameters are very safe... Something you have done has made your ECU unable to compensate or learn correctly. That IMHO is a bad position to be in as the ECU is what protects your engine.

If you do not believe us, go log. Even without a wide band, you can get some real good data about how your car is running. If your multiplier is down and fuel trims are all over the place, that would explain what is going on.

Just a suggestion. YMMV...

[bigrobwoot]

Do you have a tactrix I could borrow? And I do trust your knowledge (dean and Scott in particular here, but really just about anyone on here), but you weren't proving to me why you were right, which made it hard for me to just believe you. Now it's getting somewhere, so thank you.

And John, I'm sorry we took your thread out back and bent it over a cardboard box and had our way with it

also Scott: that "you won't feel less than 20 hp" comment is more for people who drive cars that come with a lot of power stock. I've felt an increase with all my mods. My intake gave me more power up high (the cai, short ram did nothing), my headers and trackpipe gave me more everywhere, but especially down low, etc. So while it's nothing earth-shattering, it helps a little bit, and will help even more after the cams. I've heard aftermarket cams are really the only thing that warrants an aftermarket intake for NA

[100_Percent_Juice]

Rob I can help you log when I get back in town.

[bigrobwoot]

Sweet. You're gonna have to hold my hand every step of the way, but in the end, I think we'll both be happy we did it

[cody]

[bigrobwoot]

Sorry Cody, didn't mean to leave you out. You can come too

[100_Percent_Juice]

It will cost you $20. Actually $22.50 because of interest charges.