Ok I currently have an 04 WRX wagon. I have a borla hush cat back, and I'm waiting on Cobb to send me Down and up pipe. (Down pipe is back ordered) When I install the Down/up pipe I'd like to install an EMS. Right now I'm looking for an STi donor wreck to do a full swap. (if anyone can help me find one I'd appreciate it) initially I'll be swapping everything, but the engine. Which will go to the machinist for head work and boring and sleeving. This is all down the road, but I figure I might as well invest in a really good Ems now. So my question is two part. One I've been looking at the UTEC, AEM and Element systems, are there any others I should consider. And two, Which should I get and more importantly WHY?

The mechanic that I'll be doing all this with has a lot of experience with the AEM, but I notice that it doesn't seem to be too popular with the Subaru crowd. I normally don't care to much about going against the grain, but in this case having a large community of users to share experiences with could be a real plus. The UTEC seems to be the most popular, but that may have a lot to do with the fact that it's also the cheapest of the three. I'm not worried about the price, only about getting the best product with the best support.

Thanks

 

if your not worried about price get both a ecutec and a utec and run them in tandem....im sure some one can explain this concept better than i ....i do how ever know that this combo is very potent as there are many local subbies running it and all of them love it..

 

I think for the cost, features, and headache of tuning an EcuTek AND UTEC system, you would be better off with a stand alone ECU. A stand alone will give you all the functionality that UTEC has to offer, as well as EcuTek.

I personally have never heard of someone running both systems. What would that give you? IIRC, UTEC has launch control and I think anti-lag, thats about the only features that *I* personally know of, but I have never had a UTEC system.

I do know a couple people that switched from UTEC to EcuTek though, and they are happy.


As for what EMS I would go with if money were not an issues, I would get Hyrda or Autronics or some type of stand alone and have that tuned, and/or learn to tune it.
If that is not something you want to do, get a Cobb Access Port, find a tuner, they can even be remote and just tell them what mods you have and they can get you going.

 

Well I went ahead and ordered a hydra. I wanted a standalone unit cause I'll be doing a lot to the car and I want something that I won't have to replace later. I went with the hydra cause there's a lot of information on nasioc and Phil was really cool about answereing my questions. Now I just gotta find an STI wreck to get an engine and tranny from.

 

If cost weren't an issue I'd hire subaru or whoever the SWRT uses to make an ECU that did everything I ever wanted it to do.

 

http://www.innovatemotorsports.com/products/st12.php

This thing is bad ***. Wish I had one.



Mitch

 

Just to shed a little background.... I had a 99 2.5RS with a stock internal motor, upgraded fuel delivery setup; 550cc inj, fuel rails, etc. Turbocharged 10psi daily for about 40k+ miles (until small accident totaled it) You could say I was a guinea pig for Vishnu's 2.5L turbo setup back in the day. If you've ever seen one of those kits in person, you will know it meant 'uncompromised'.

Back to the point, I ran the Electromotive TEC series engine management computer for many reasons, for one, the insanely accurate timing capabilities it had... as most stand-alone setups that don't rely on the stock crank trigger do. (@ almost $3k, it wasn't price! ) It reads about 60 samples per rotation. If something goes wrong, I dunno, you get an air bubble in your fuel line... anything stupid, it can ID & react before 1 full crankshaft rotation. This is the kind of technology that saves motors from catastrophe. This is the kind of technology that allows you to make the most of whatever setup YOU have. N/A, Turbo, Catback, up-pipe only, aggressive cams, whatever. A car with identical mods will not be as fast and reliable as yours, because YOU have full control of your VE and can nurse it in the weak spots and let 'er sing in the strong ones. You decide the balance of power vs. life of the engine. Your motor will love you. You will love you.

Priceless.

I'm in the middle of a 2.5L turbo motor build. With the hands-on experience I have, lurking on most EFI discussions, comparing variables of price, reliability, added features, and USER INTERFACE... I've found THIS EFI SYSTEM from 034 Motorsports. They are Audi tuning gurus. They have that market on lockdown. Their EFI system is amazing! When first discovered, it did everything the TEC did, better, easier, with more user support. The interface is easy to use, while having the ability to use more advanced configurations. The customer service is incredible, and the price is right. Research in hand, This is the system I will be using very soon.

You should email any questions you may have to those guys. Tell em "Subaru Dan" sent you. Enjoy turbo subaru glory. I did. I shall again.

Happy Boosting!

-Dan