Just purchased a 09 satin WP WRX

[Gizzaw]

Had an accident in my 94 W/P 3000gt Vr-4. Needless to say it was very painfull to let it go as i love the cosmetics of the car.

Went out and bought an 09 WRX with 82 miles on it =) Love the car so far it is amazing to drive... Though not nearly as fast as the vr-4 it still has a lil bit of balls.

Was just scowering the forums for the last few days here and on Clubwrx.net and trying to learn as much as i could about this car.

Just a quick question for anyone who might know. Does an aftermarket intake void my warranty? also what HP gains are we looking at if any at all. I know with the vr-4 it had very very minimal gains but just made it so u could hear the turbo's a bit better.

Also what does the 09's boost at? Vf-52 turbo if my research is correct. What year STI was that from?

What type of Boost controllers work for these cars and what kinda of boost levels can the stock turbo be pushed to? Also what piggybacks are good for tuning or is it all done through ECU Flash Tools following specific Steps...I would like to be able to tune on the fly instead of buying XXX parts for XXX stage tune.

This is all just informative questions as i will not be modding the car for some time due to warranty restrictions.

I have a Greddy Profec Spec 2 in the vr-4 ill be taking out either to sell or to install depending.

[man show]

Welcome! You missed our discussion about 3000GTs a little while back... it seemed to be somewhat of a love/hate topic (I happen to like the way they look). I know that the third gen WRX/STI (08+) can benefit from an intake, and like you seem to understand, hp/tq improvements will likely be minimal. As far as whether or not it will void your warranty, that's between your and your dealership. Some don't care, but others do. An intake is an easy enough part to swap back to stock if you have to take your car to the dealership for any reason. I'll let others chime in on the rest.

If you haven't already seen it, this is a great resource too: Unabomber's Manifesto - NASIOC

[booosted09]

Modding=bye bye warranty...unless you go with SPT parts. They dont make an intake fort the 08-09 wrx's and all their other parts are big bucks. An intake is easy enough to put on and if you run into problems, put back to stock.

[mosc]

The VF-52 was never used on any year STi. It's a new turbo for the 09 WRX.

As far as boost control, leave it to the ECU. These ECU's are pretty re-programmable. There are lots of ways to put a different map on the ECU to raise boost or adjust nearly anything.

[basco]

just off topic...how bad off is the VR-4...is it still driveable...are you selling it?...back on topic WELCOME TO THE CLUB!!!

[turmic]

Like what mosc said. The VF52 never came on a STI, but. It is based off the VF48 STI turbo (08-10 turbo).

Leave it ECU and if your knowledgeable. (Which it sounds like you are ) You can road tune it yourself with Opensource. Of course you'd have to log it and all of that. Which I'm not knowledgeable with, but that's your option if you don't want staged upgrades or protunes.

Congrats on the new ride and my friend had a VR-4 yellow (the multi-toned color. If you've seen it you'd know what I am talking about. He said it was a factory color.) but it did have a synchro problem getting into 2nd gear. Great car and a load of fun. He sold it after it got him too many tickets. Hope you get to enjoy the wrx just as much.

[newtothegame]

Welcome to the club. Check out Boost Addicts "story"' about his 08 WRX. Lots of research and modifying done to it. Very informative to the newer model WRXs.

[Gizzaw]

Here are some of the pics from the accident. It has a 98 front bumper on it. Just had all the dents removed and entire car repainted back in march as well as the rims / Nitto invo Tires which btw are amazing!

Aye my buddy has a evo 8 and he is saying alot about the Evo scan tool also good for the WRX's unknown if that pertains to the 08+'s seeming they have some different things going on.

Nice info on the Turbo id like to find some more spec's about it so i know what it can push. As far as the Accessport does that leave any imprint of code set in the ECU even if u flash back a stock tune that the dealer or whatever could see? I like the idea of Economy mode just being flashed in and driving away so i can cruise for gas saving.

Yeah ill have to look into the warranty voiding. I would realy like a nice Cat back for the sound obviously ..... loved my Vr-4 it was the loudest thing on the road but i always would look and drool when a subby would rip by. I like the Perrin Accessport Tune with the drop in filter deal they have going seems to have some legitimate gains for minimal money.

I think with those simple mod's i would be happy with it for quite some time. I realy miss the torque my vr-4 had it would rip pretty good but 3'rd gear was a slug considering the tiny stock turbo's. Had 19t Hl wrx hybrid turbo's 7* clip exaust side ported and polished sitting powering my closet lol with supporting mod's.

If your interested in any of the parts from the car I will be ripping it apart i also have a few people interested in drivetrain / just strait buying the whole car.
Had 104k on the clock with a realy nice 6 speed with MR gearing and 5 speed rear. No grinding through any gear.





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[newtothegame]

The AP wont leave anythingbehind if you go back to stock. As far as the economy mod goes, its crap. You can get just a gas mileage with a stage 1 or 2 map. Economy mod just lowers boost and all that, so you are actually losing power. On good days (when my right foot is light) I get better gas mileage with my bigger turbo than any previous setup I used.

[Gizzaw]

Quoted from the Above Unibomber Link with lots of juicy info


"Can the dealer detect my reflashed ECU (AccessPort/EcuTek/Open Source)?

YES the checksum of the ECU changes.
YES the dealer can easily read the checksum."

Though apparently they can't see if anything was actualy changed they just know it was tampered with .... so i guess its that grey area where u have to wonder how much of a ########## the person is your dealing with... when they can obviously see there is no major engine destroying mod's done to the car. Is this all true?

Sheesh i realy wouldn't mind the accessport thing just unsure about them detecting it god forbid something goes wrong etc with my car.

Also what is this opensource... is that linkable through the accessport or is that an entire new program in itself. If so how much does the software cost to communicate with the accessport to make my own custom tunes? I'm assuming this can all be done real time while monitoring Knock and at least the narrowband readings.
I have a fairly experienced tuner at hand if so. Also have a AEM wideband guage just need a new sensor it went bad about 2 weeks before my car accident.