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SPT Intake

28K views 103 replies 32 participants last post by  Jamo06TR 
#1 ·
I know that this subject has been beaten to death. However, most of the information is speculation. I installed the intake and heat shield on my 06 WRX wagon a couple of days ago and I thought I would share my first-hand experience.

First off, the fit and finish is excellent. Installation was a breeze. It took me all of 30 minutes. The hardest part was applying the rubber trim to the heat shield, which wasn't hard. The stock box and hose came off easily, and the heat shield and intake went on very easily. The fit was perfect. No problems - as is to be expected on a factory-sanctioned part. The kit comes with the CARB label and three SPT decals. If you are going to apply the CARB label, I would advise that you carefully clean the spot where you are going to apply it. Everything has a light film of oil on it.

I was a little concerned about the sound, since I am an old fart who has to act my age at times. I didn't want it to be too loud, and I wasn't looking for sound effects. As it turned out, the sound is perfect for my tastes. You can hear a little more engine growl, and with the radio off, you can easily hear the hiss of the turbo spooling, and occasionally hear a sharper hiss when coming off throttle from the BPV. It is enough to let every passenger know that the car is a turbocharged performance car, without any gimmicky squeals or whistles.

As for performance, it is probably a bit early to tell for sure, since I reset the ECU during installation. However, I have noticed an obvious increase in power and quicker turbo spooling. It is subtle, but it is definitely there. I hope this gets better asthe ECU adapts. I am still running stock exhaust, but will install the SPT cat-back next weekend.

On a side note, the parts guys at the dealer told me that I needed to reset the ECU after install. They told me to go talk to the service guys about how to do that. I played dumb and went along. The service guys told me that I could not reset the ECU myself, even after I asked about disconnecting the battery, and they told me that I would need to pay them $40 to do it. I asked specificially if they would just reset the ECU or reflash to a newer map, and they said reset only. They said that the battery disconnect would *not* reset the ECU. I got pretty testy about them trying to charge me $40 to do something that I was pretty sure I could do myself, and they told me I could go to AutoZone and they could hook up a reader and reset it for free.

It was at this point that I realized that I know more about my car than they do. I must say that they did not inspire a lot of confidence for any future work they might do.

At any rate, I like the intake, and it definitely will add a modest amount of hp to a stock 06.

Tim
 
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#30 ·
some dude posted a review on the spt intake at genuinesubaruparts.com and said that the spt intake will void the factory warranty on the wrx? is he true or is he talking out of his ass? he also said that having it installed in an 07 rex will make your car run rich and you will lose mpg.
 
#34 ·
You could get some form of engine management to change the settings on your ECU. Most popular brands around here are.......Cobb Ap, Opensource Tuning w/ tactrix cable, UTEC, Hydra, and list goes on. Seeing as you have an 07, EM in my opinion should be the FIRST mod you do. Its kinda pricey but well worth it.
 
#43 ·
hmmm...

sorry guys for my ignorance, but i think this site rocks and very informative. but what is a EM? is it some kind of electro management thinga magiggy? this is my first WRX and want to learn more about it. before i start putting $$$ in it...

i also found the girlfriend post by kh15 very amusing. good thing my wife likes to MOD cars too. she owns a RSX-S (to me i think is a overpriced honda civic). i own a corolla before and she would always smoke me. now i can smoke her easily.
 
#51 ·
I have tons of logs in this computer, I just reviewed my before and after intake logs...almost identical in respect of IAT. That was mixed driving leading up to a third gear pull. My intake temps were not dramatic either, about 20 degrees above ambient. Even during dyno tuning they never got seriously hot. Burscher (sp?) racing posted something about nuclear fusion hot intake temps blah blah blah but then again they make their own CAI so their info is biased towards their own product.

C/N for me IAT (logged and reviewed) no change with installation of SPT short ram. Injector duty cycles and super rich running condition did occur however.

I still recommend (based on my 0 hp gain after tuning, and screwed up tune before tuning) that people not do this mod. It's useless.
 
#52 ·
alright well with that post if that doesnt kill it, as in this debate, I duno what will

lol the intake mod is so tempting but useless but I guess its because other people have had good experiences with it on other cars, I believe it works quite nicely for the first mod on some cars
 
#53 ·
Actually I was just going through my logs...my stock airbox seemed to have produced higher IAT temps than the SPT short ram while doing pulls. The only thing I can think of is because of location of the air inlet. The SPT sits right where some air sneaks under the hood, and the stock airbox intake with snorkus removed was rather low, and out of any real airstream.
 
#61 ·
I was doing some monitoring with my actron scan tool, the outside temps were around 60-65degress. While letting the car idle the hightest IAT that I saw was 88-92 degrees and once I started moving the temps quickly dropped to 73-75 degrees. I also have the heat shield though so I don't know what the IAT temps would be w/o it.. I think the heat shield really helps with the IAT's more at idle than while moving. I also think that the SPT turbo heat shield will help to keep the IAT's down at idle.
 
#66 ·
Here's my 2 cents on the SPT intake after getting one (and later removing it)... I'm thinking it messes with the mass airflow sensor or something because my times went to from 13's to 14's (I'm in El Paso with near 3,000 ft elevation) Ended up going to the track and did another run with the SPT (14.4 sec) then swapping it back to the airbox and stock filter and my times went back to the 13's (13.8 if I recall correctly). Go figure.. Another possability is that it was taking in alot hotter air even with the heat shield. The only real plus to it is that it adds alot of spool-up sound to the car but otherwise if your into quarter times then save the money and get a drop in filter.
 
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