Well if you really dont have a dyno/tuner within 600 miles of where you are, you can either considering learning to tune yourself, which can be complicated if you dont know what you are doing. Or you can go the 600+miles to a tuner.
With the mods people are suggesting, and the FMIC you already have, you NEED Engine Management. Theres no ifs or buts about it. Its a must have and should be your next purchase. To complete a turbo upgrade (for the 02-05 WRX's), you will need the Turbo, bigger injectors(the cc's of the injector depends on the size of the turbo), a fuel pump (walbro 255 fuel pump is the most common and fairly cheap, and Engine Management. Those are the minimum requirements to an upgraded turbo. You already have a FMIC, for a turbo the size you are looking for (a turbo that gives a slight more HP, not something crazy), the FMIC is a little much, but, you can be tuned for it. So you already have it, you might as well keep it, you just will have a little more lag than a TMIC.
The size of injectors I would recommend for a 16g or BIG 16g would be around 650cc. 650cc will flow very nicely for either of those turbos. STi 'pink' injectors, which are 550cc, would probably also flow enough for the 16g but going bigger is always better than smaller with injectors. You cant buy 'too big' injectors.
Another thing some people upgrade while doing turbo upgrades is the fuel rail. Some people say its necessary, some say its not. Im going to be doing an 18g turbo upgrade soon and Im leaving my fuel rail stock.
Now on to Engine Management. There are 4 main, most popular forms of it.
1) Cobb Accessport
2) UTEC
3) EcuTek
4) OpenSource
1) The Accessport is by far the easiest form of EM. You quite literally plug it under your steering column into the OBD-II port and you 'flash' your ECU with a new base map. The Accessport comes with a few maps on it, you can also download other maps off the internet if it is a closer match to your car. The most popular map for the AP would be a Stage II flash (on either 91 or 93 octance gas). Someone who flashes to stage II would have a Turboback exhaust (downpipe and catback), and the AP. Thats all someone needs to be at stage II. The Accessport is custom tuned with another device called a StreetTuner. I have no experience with it but it is how a custom map is created for your car by a qualified tuner, or by yourself if you know what you are doing.
2) UTEC - I believe it stands for User Tunable Engine Computer, or something close to that. UTEC is the most expensive form of EM, but, also provides the most options to the tuner and thus usually giving the best possible results. Im much less familiar about UTEC but I believe its a 'piggyback' device that sits on or next to your cars ECU and by doing so, it controls it.
3) EcuTek - Another form Im not completely familiar with. People who have it, love it. If you want good info on it, ask Ian. Hes a moderator and can explain it much better than me.
4) Opensource - This is the newest form of EM. Its also the cheapest. And by far the best bang for buck. It works the same way as the Accessport, using the OBD-II port, except instead of buying the actually Accessport device, you just buy a Tatrix cable and you need a laptop with some software you can download. The full How-To on Opensource can be rear here
http://wrxtuners.com/forums/showthre...ensource+cable
Hope this helps ya alittle.
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