harvey_smith

Avoid the APS. You may be disappointed. For over 400 bhp I would NOT recommend the TD05-06 20G although I did get 420.7 bhp on my 95 WRX Wagon, with STi heads, Sigma ECU and Optimax plus 2mls/litre. Various other of my own mods, headers etc. There is more to come as we stopped a little over 6k due to a plug issue and it will be on V- Power next time. This result is the exception for a 2 litre not the rule. Consider a GT30 with the 44lbs wheel. Choosing the right turbo is not easy because you often do not know what will happen until you try it unless you are lucky enough to try a car with VERY similar spec and the turbo you want. I put the Ion Turbo off the STi 6 Wagon that had done 585 bhp with race fuel onto the WRX Wagon when it had WRX heads. What a disaster. Would not get 1 bar in 4th until over 4,000RPM and max power was improved over the 05-06 but nothing extraordinary. On the STi 6 Wagon it was achieving 1 bar at 3,200 and 1.85 bar around 3,600. For Gems mapping, contact Steve Simpson. He is prepared to travel and was in Scotland mapping Tuesday and Wednesday as far as I know.

The Classic tyre size on 16" rims is 205 50 16. As I wanted to raise top speed by 3 or 4 mph, I cannot remember now, when I had a 7K rev limit, I went to 205 55 16. You may experience the tyre rubbing the rear inner wing under heavy cornering if you go to 215 55 16. Exercise great care and check it out carefully before you purchase. I fitted 225 section to try out (Pirelli) I did a test run to a total of less than four miles and one of the rear tyres, which I thought was "just" rubbing was destroyed. Worn through to the sidewall cord on a sharp bit in the inner wing arch. I had to buy the tyre which with VAT was nearly £130 from memory. BTW my 205 55 16 are Vredestein Ultrac. Excellent in inclement weather.

There will be many competant tuners who will not make it as mappers. It requires a number of skills and thorough understanding of many complex issues. I think you will never stop learning but the learning process is strewn with failures for some mappers. A small error or oversight on the part of a mapper could be terminal for the engine being worked on. The mappers I know are self taught, having started on their own vehicles and developed from there. Maybe, mappers are born not taught.

I use an LM1 with an aluminium bracket attachment to take the wide band lambda up the exhaust tail pipe. This means it is quick to swap from car to car. Power is from the cigarette lighter socket. With a little planning we could organise to do a fair number of AFR checks at a suitable time/location in one session. If you want to investigate this, drop me an e-mail. harveysmith1@btopenworld.com

I think he is from the Falkirk area but I am not sure. I need him to get in touch urgently to save him a wasted journey tomorrow. 07860 302020

Has anybody checked AFRs after fitment.

Just to explain a bit further : O/E Subaru headers without heat shields are all interchangable M/Y 93-06. However, 93-95 had a sensor in the collector and their design was more bulbous, allowing for a gentler exhaust tract. On many of these cars the lambda sensor has been moved to the downpipe when an after market downpipe has been fitted. The hole is obviously plugged. I suspect performance from these headers may be marginally better than from later variants. From about 96 to 00 the headers were the same design as the latest cars. More compact with no sensor hole as the O/E car has the lamda sensor in the down pipe. These headers are a few kilos lighter than the early design. From 01 onwards the design is the same as 96-00 but there is now a sensor hole back in the collector. Porting O/E headers will improve spool and greatly increase gas flow resulting in better power and torque. With tubular headers there is usually a loss of spool but more top end gains. the loss of spool is typically 200-400 rpm. Ported O/E headers with an Option 2 up-pipe are performing well over 400 bhp.

Does anybody have contact details for Raymond Hastings??? I need him to get in touch urgently. Thanks, Harvey. 07860 302020.

Sorry to hear this Russell. I have been very happy with the bits you have done for me and the service provided. Don't let them grind you down and be intimidated. When I came to the Scooby community the supply and tuning options were pretty limited and it was a bit of a closed shop. An FMIC was £1300 and tubular headers about a grand. Some of these suppliers were taking owners for a ride. The experts knew it was impossible to get 400 bhp out of a Scooby engine and for 350 bhp you needed a closed deck block anyhow. What a load of Sh1t. Don't give up mate. Stuff it up them. Best Regards and Good Luck.

Put the old filter back on the car and see how it performs. The O/E filter gives good filtration ability AND good performance.

All credit to Gerry for getting to the bottom of it and letting everybody know. cyp_rock: I am in Edingurgh regularly and Glasgow less frequently. If you e-mail me with your contact details I will let you know when I am next up. Checking your AFRs would take 20 minutes from start to finish. harveysmith1@btopenworld.com

I have seen this happen on a few occasions where the AFR readings on the rolling road bear little relationship to what happens on the open road in the real world. On MAF sensor equipped cars I believe the problem is the way the air is fed to the induction system and MAF. The forced air feed which is very good at Dastek may not represent the actual air flow to the filter on the open road causing the sensor to miss read and give readings which bear little relationship to the actual situation on the main road. It would be worthwhile, at the earliest opportunity, to attatch a wide band lambda up the tail pipe connected to an LM1 or similar to cross check readings during a full power run in 4th or 5th gear on a suitable road. To answer the original question, the effect of running 12:1 or similar on full boost on the open road for 4 months...........well your engine won't last 4 months and it will be an expensive experience when a piston picks up in the bore or whatever. Getting a check as outlined above is only a 20 minute job for someone with the right equipment. If you were close to me I would happily do it for you.

Be very careful about putting on a stronger actuator. This is almost always not necessary and the stronger spring makes boost control very difficult and gittery. What is helpful is a threaded actuator to assist in setting up the W.G .

Unless you are going for biggish power, (400 plus) stick with the O/E filter box, snorkle and air duct in place.

Higgy and Nikki st3ph3n imy Marty. Gus Russ & Jackie Dale(thefastone) & Nici Harvey and Dawn.

Any alteration to the inlet tract is likely to alter the air flow presented to the MAF Sensor. It could cause rich running which relatively speaking is not a problem and you see the black smoke anyway. However you could get weak running and this will lead the VERY high combustion temperatures. In that condition you will not necessarily see any KNOCK or DET before serious damage is done.

JC. : A really neat job. Tidy and impressive. As Al has outlined above, it is imperative that you have the MAF Sensor rescaled by Andy F or whoever and this should be done sooner rather than later. CERTAINLY before you rag it. About five years ago I fitted an APS CAK. 11mls later I had picked up #2 piston in the bore. This was the beginning of my excursion into Scooby tuning. APS at both M.D. and Technical Director level denied it could be anything to do with the CAK. However, some short time later after work with Bob Rawle we realised that when the inlet tract was altered the air flowpast the MAF Sensor also altered, hence the problem. Take care until you remap.

How many would you like? What pressure? No. They make no difference in most circumstances. Putting on a hard WG actuator can lead to all sorts of boost control issues. It can be very sensitive and it often makes it difficult for the boost controller to pick up the boost and hence control during the spool.

I have had several sets of Goodyear F1 GSD3. 215 40 ZR17. I have also had two sets of Toyo T1R. Both are very good in the wet and cost me similar amounts, £320 for a set, balanced, new valves and fitted. The Goodyears seem to have softer sidewalls but that has not caused any problems to me but I did send two tyres back to Goodyear which they replaced because of cracking around the rim close to the wheel edge. What goes on next will depend on price and availability and could be either F1 or T1R. I would try Michelin if they were available at the right price. The Khumo Ectas (sp???) that were highly recommended and relatively cheap were a big disappointment in the rain. I have also tried various Bridgestone, RE07, SO2 and SO3, Firestone and Uniroyal all in this size. In 205 50 (R and ZR)16 and 205 55ZR 16 I have been very impressed with Vederstein, (55 profile to raise gearing a margin for top speed runs) Goodyear NCT5 and Yokohama Advana.

Did you get my e-mail??? If not, please e-mail me : harveysmith1@btopenworld.com

You could try Steve Simpson from TEG Sport. Well known for GEMS also building rally cars and competing in them. 01524 733837 they also have their own ECU launched recently with lots of features including anti lag etc. Very competitive.

At high speed the air is still going into the scoop. Put some bits of wool on your bonnet with sticky tape and prove it for yourself. The TMIC is not big enough or efficient enough to cool the compressed air charge. Anything above .2 bar of boost on my STi3 Wagon and the charge temperature will rise very slowly. From fully warm and 0-100mph and the charge temp. is 50 +, some spirited driving to 80 mph and then a sprint to 100 and the charge temp is 65 Deg C!!! In the cruise at say 80mph with Charge temp under 30 C (varies due to ambient ) and apply throttle for a max speed run and by the time you get to around 135mph the guage is reading --. It stops reading at 69.9. Before I had a charge temp guage I have seen 165 on the clock and still rising. Probably neare 155. The high charge temps are what kills Scoobs and even uprated TMICs cannot cope. Consider getting a charge temp guage, about £45 and drive accordingly to preservr the engine. Ignorance is bliss but it could all end in an expensive BANG.

What up-pipe is it??? If it has gone several times, chances are the flange on either the headers or up-pipe are buckled. (Not the headers if still O/E Subaru.) Does the up-pipe have an expansion joint/flexi???

Not Inverness but you will not be disappointed. Alan Kostric AK Sunroofs Stirling. www.sunroofsscotland.co.uk 01786 479479

Good. We can all move forward, Gaz included, and a Chinese speciality is on the cards next visit to your area. Look forward to meeting you. Harvey.