WOW, look at that torque increase! Amazing what you can accomplish just by hacking the ECU... Those numbers look great.

Oh, and lose the intake :-)

 

Crap that dyno reads high... Did you have the exhaust on before the reflash? Doesn't seem like a big leap in top end, but the torque gain is healthy. And yeah, ditch the intake and retune on the stock airbox. It's just plain better.

 

Brainstorm Performance in SoCal.

--
0==WW==0
"…axles of evil…" - george w. bush

 

I have a question.

How can torque and hp numbers be so much higher at the start of the dyno? 2500 rpm jump in numbers see suspect to me.

 

That's normal on a small turbocharged engine

 

Ban,

What I mean is....how can there be so much of a hp/torque difference at the start of the dyno run? ie: is there that much hp/torque gain with the ECUtek upgrade at 2500 rpm?

 

Yes. by advancing timing and tweaking fueling, there is a huge difference in low end torque and faster spool on a reflashed car. If you ever get a chance, drive a stock WRX back to back with a lightly modded or stock WRX w/reflash. With a good tune, the flashed WRX will feel light years ahead of the stock car.

 

After looking at the before-and-after charts at a local tuning shop here in town, I'm convinced that WRXs (especially 02 ones) come from the factory with an EXTREMELY conservative tune that is excessively rich. They are tuned so rich that often the MPG of the car goes UP, not down, when you retune for +70-80 hp. The charts I have seen for ECUTEK reflashes of 02 WRXs typically gain 80lbs of torque right at 2800-3300 RPM and 60+ hp with just a high-flow filter and a catback.

 

60+ hp gains would require an extremely optimistic dyno or very aggressive (read: pinging) tune. On an average dyno with a safe tune most WRXs add about 35 whp.

 

Sorry, I wasn't clear; that gain came from an ECUTEK tune, a 3" catback (B&B exhaust) and a high-flow filter being added to a totally stock car, not just from a reflash alone. With the 02 WRXs especially I've seen shockingly low dyno numbers on their stock runs; some of them seem to be running sub-200 HP from the factory! Perhaps the ECU is adapting incorrectly to the altitude and crappy gas we have here in AZ, combined with the heat...

 

Makes more sense. Also, resetting the ECU before a "baseline" dyno run often costs 10-15 whp, as the ECU hasn't had time to get the advance multiplier up.