2015 STI - first little up-grade

2015 STI - first little up-grade

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Discussion

stubbsey

Original Poster:

546 posts

182 months

Tuesday 8th December 2015
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Fitted and running an AEM cold air intake set up - and gotta say that's it seems to be a good place to start!

Happier with the early spoil up of the turbo now, and a bit more power! Feels like I now have more torque throughout.

tonyb1968

1,156 posts

146 months

Tuesday 8th December 2015
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Be warned that may mess up your maf sensor as it will let too much air in, that means lean running on the standard map, and apart from invalidating your warranty, it "may" cause engine "issues".
2 ways around this, bin the CAIK or remap the car for it.

rb5er

11,657 posts

172 months

Tuesday 8th December 2015
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Yep, get a remap

stubbsey

Original Poster:

546 posts

182 months

Wednesday 9th December 2015
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No issues so far - and AEM don't suggest any other changes are required

my understanding is that this simple change shouldn't require a re-map.

if I changed the pipe from front to back and lost the cat then the stand ECU couldn't cope and a re-map would be required at that stage

rb5er

11,657 posts

172 months

Wednesday 9th December 2015
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Better a 600quid remap than a 3k engine rebuild whens its running lean. But yeh just trust AEM if you want.

I suggest asking a specialist, they will likely suggest driving it gently until remapped.

Magic919

14,126 posts

201 months

Wednesday 9th December 2015
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tonyb1968 said:
Be warned that may mess up your maf sensor as it will let too much air in
How does that work?

tonyb1968

1,156 posts

146 months

Wednesday 9th December 2015
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Magic919 said:
How does that work?
Subaru STI's have always been very sensitive to changes, this one is no exception.
CAIK's increase the volume of air going into the engine, this has a tendancy to exceed the limits of the MAF sensor which then cannot adjust enough to compensate, it means too much air in the fuel mix which leans it out, and that means the top quality cast pistons used in this fragile 2.5ltr engine suffer because of it. Its no doubt one of the reasons Subaru Japan wont authorise any performance mods on this model and why they only run them at 265ps in their domestic market cars.

Magic919

14,126 posts

201 months

Wednesday 9th December 2015
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The bit about the MAF 'adjusting enough' doesn't really follow. It just measures airflow and feeds that to the ECU. Maybe the MAF is pegged, but seems like a small change for that to occur.

tonyb1968

1,156 posts

146 months

Wednesday 9th December 2015
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Magic919 said:
The bit about the MAF 'adjusting enough' doesn't really follow. It just measures airflow and feeds that to the ECU. Maybe the MAF is pegged, but seems like a small change for that to occur.
Welcome to the world of Subaru smile
14 years of experience of this marque, 3 STI's and a UK turbo, one of the reasons I didnt go for a 2.5 is the engine issues they suffer from, even forging them doesnt fix the problems, plus you get to understand what you can and cant do when modifying them, CAIK's need mapping, a panel filter doesnt, decatting needs mapping but changing the exhaust pre cat doesnt.
WRX's are more tolerant to mods due to not being as "highly strung" as STI versions.

stubbsey

Original Poster:

546 posts

182 months

Thursday 10th December 2015
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Tony - if it was leaning out too much, wouldn't that show up via an engine management warning?

tonyb1968

1,156 posts

146 months

Thursday 10th December 2015
quotequote all
stubbsey said:
Tony - if it was leaning out too much, wouldn't that show up via an engine management warning?
No, not necessarily, you would need something that specifically spotted a change in afr, the ECU is set up for a standard car so its designed to compensate for that, a caik lets far more air in than a panel filter so will struggle with it, hence you need a remap.



Konan

1,833 posts

146 months

Saturday 12th December 2015
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stubbsey said:
No issues so far - and AEM don't suggest any other changes are required

my understanding is that this simple change shouldn't require a re-map.

if I changed the pipe from front to back and lost the cat then the stand ECU couldn't cope and a re-map would be required at that stage
I don't think it's a worry that the MAF can't read airflow at higher rates, it's that change to the inlet tract can mess with the calibration.

In closed loop, the car will adjust to correct AFR (up to around 15%). So if you drive around gently for a few hundred miles and then read the AFR learning and it's only correcting by a few per cent, the intake kit hasn't thrown it out. If they're all stuck up around 15% then it's reached maximum correction and you're going to need a rescale on the MAF.

I removed the plenum chamber on my car for a while (because I wanted to run a duct through the wing rather than chasing any gains) and under logging it had quite a variable MAF reading for a fixed RPM/load/throttle - put it back in and all sorted. They can be fussy.

  • I've not seen a 2015 management system yet, so this might have changed in some way*
  • oh... I'm not a professional tuner either*

AntiLagGC8

1,724 posts

112 months

Sunday 13th December 2015
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Good post Konan.

Ah yes, this is a common one.

Many modifications without a suitable remap have destroyed many Impreza engine's over the years never mind the 2.5 that is very fragile in comparison to the 2.0. I personally wouldn't risk it as a proper rebuild costs serious money.

I've always had the mods fitted and then the car has been immediately remapped before been driven.

My car has an Alcatek mapped by EngineTuner and its worth pointing out that a remap will make a very significant difference to your car in terms of the increase in power. I kept having issues with the MAF so in the end I elected for an Alcatek so I could go MAF'less.

Kedlestone

333 posts

123 months

Friday 25th December 2015
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Echoing again what others have said really, get yourself a map tweak for piece of mind if anything else. Open source mapping can be had as little as £250-£300 these days which is a bit cheaper than the £500+ for the major ecu names.

Vixpy1

42,622 posts

264 months

Friday 25th December 2015
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Eek , reduction kit without remap . Noooo

stubbsey

Original Poster:

546 posts

182 months

Wednesday 6th January 2016
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Cheers all - taken it off until such time as I can get it mapped or added to additional up-grades then get it all re-mapped

Herkybird

82 posts

113 months

Friday 8th January 2016
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There's no real need for a change from the standard air box unless your going for big power, front mount, etc.
I've got a JDM Hawk running 400bhp on the standard air box with a Cosworth Panel Filter. The std box is good for up to 420sih bhp, after that it becomes restrictive - or so i was told.

MuscleSaloon

1,548 posts

175 months

Thursday 21st January 2016
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Some posters here seem to have good knowledge of the 2.5 engines.

It is widely said that the 2.5 is fragile, but do you guys see them as being OK if left completely standard and as Subaru intended?

Vixpy1

42,622 posts

264 months

Thursday 21st January 2016
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We had a 2013 saloon in the other day on its 3rd rebuild, it was standard .

MuscleSaloon

1,548 posts

175 months

Friday 22nd January 2016
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That's not good. Covered by warranty presumably? What were the issues with it?