Forester tuning

[-Lummox-]

Afternoon all,

Thinking of buying a '99 Forester S Turbo, and wondering what they are like to drive compared to a similar age Impreza? I used to own a 1999 UK spec turbo, tuned to around 240 bhp. So I'm thinking the Forester will be similar, if a bit slower and a bit wallowy in the corners?

Also, since the Forester uses an essentially detuned version of the same engine, what modifications would I need to do to get the power up above 200bhp? Not looking for silly power, just would be nice to have a bit more grunt than standard. Can this be achieved with a TD04 turbo and a 1.0 bar actuator?

Basically can I do much in relative safety without shelling out for a remap? The car itself is worth less than £2k so don't really want to spend £500 on a remap if I can help it.

Cheers

[-Lummox-]

ScoobieWRX said:

Same mods you'd do for an Impreza you would do for your Forester. You then need to find yourself an EcuTek dealer to do the remap. Try Simon (JollyGreenMonster) for remapping.

How much is a EcuTek remap normally?

[-Lummox-]

jr502 said:

Start with an import, they have more power as standard than the UK ones.

I have a UK car in mind. Bit apprehensive of the grey imports because of questionable/unconfirmable history, higher insurance and sometimes difficult parts supply.

[-Lummox-]

Doubt I'm going to spend that on a car worth around £1800.

What can I do to get the car closer to the 200bhp mark without unduly risking damage to it?

Obviously I accept that a remap would be best and a bleed valve is a bad idea, hence why I'm asking if I can just fit a higher pressure actuator and possibly a TD04 turbo to get a bit more grunt. All ECUs have a certain amount of flexibility programmed into them, what can you get away with on the Forester before you start running unreasonable risks?

[-Lummox-]

Well I've been to see the car, it looks like a good one and I've put a deposit down. It's a '99 model with 56k on the clock, cambelt changed at 45k. Mostly standard except it has a Magnex exhaust, WRX rear ARB and uprated drop links.

On a Forester forum it seems quite a few people are using HDI electonic boost controllers to increase boost to around 15 PSI, these units come with their own boost solenoid so can get around the fuel cut on the original solenoid. Lots of people saying they have used this setup without any problems, plus it gives the option to effectively switch between an economy boost level and a performance boost level to suit the journey. Does anyone on here use a similar setup?

I know the remap would be the better / safer option but for a '99 car it would also cost well over £500 wouldn't it? I got the car for £1675, not really looking to spend over a third of the car's value on a remap. Plus at that price, I think I'm willing to gamble a little bit with it.

[-Lummox-]

Is there anywhere that does remaps for a '99 car that don't cost 500 quid or more? I'm not opposed to paying for a remap, but the cost seems high for these cars. I exchanged a remapped ECU on a previous Saab for under 300 quid, and I had a very satisfactory remap on my old Fabia vRS for not much over 200. Why are the remaps for the Scooby so expensive?

[-Lummox-]

Carfiend said:

Same reason they are expensive for Skylines, because people pay it because "it is specializt innit".

You'd think they might twig that the cars are pretty old by now. It's to be expected I suppose trying to get away with a "mug tax" on new performance cars, but when they are ten years old, it's unlikely the owners are going to be prepared to spend the same cash.