Old member, new car! (pics)

What's going on y'all?  My name is Andrew, been a member of EPAWD from near the beginning, but I have been deployed since December '12.  Before this I had an '05 WRX, but sold it right before I deployed.  All it had was a Cobb catted DP, SPT catback, and AP stage 2 OTS.  

In JAN/FEB 2013, I ordered a MY2013 STi thinking it was going to be the last model year of the current gen, and I didn't want to buy a first year model to avoid possible issues, and come to find out that they were extending the current gen one more year.  I received my car in early June, and it has been sitting in a storage unit ever since with <40 miles on it.  I have been slowly ordering parts through AndrewTech and can't wait to get back and put everything on the car!  

Mod list:
-Perrin turbo inlet
-Cobb SF Intake
-Cobb AP V3
-TurboXS EWG
-Invidia catted DP
-Invidia Q300 catback
-Grimmspeed EBCS
-(AEM) Wideband and (Defi) Boost guage in SMY Clustermaker
-Pioneer AVIC-Z150BH GPS headunit
-Kartboy short-shifter
-Hella Supertones

I want to order Enkei Raijin's, but unsure of the width to order them in.  I WANT 18"x9.5" but I'm not sure if I'll have to tuck my fenders at all.  I'm not doing suspension at this point, so the ride height won't be a factor.  Will 9.5" fit with no issues, or should I roll with 8.5"?  (8" is stock)  

My plans are to get back, install whatever I can that won't need a tune, and then have CAMTuning install and tune everything else.  Anyone have any feedback with CAMTuning?  I'm trying to do this the right way from the beginning, so please give any feedback.  Looking forward to getting back from deployment (end of November) and picking it up from storage (around Christmas)!

'05 WRX (sold):



My sister took a couple photo's of my car.  Not a whole lot, but once I get it, I will take many more pictures.

'13 STi:









More to come later!

I want your rims lol I got the 12 wrx if you want to one for one

Haha, I hear ya. My plan is to make the stock wheels more of a 'winter' setup and swap them out in the spring with the Enkei's.

The WRX's and STi's have different bolt patterns, right? Or were you talking one for one car swap, lol

Very nice! Congrats on the new car. But, you are right, WRX is 5x100 and STI is 5x114.5 (save for the 04)

I was just playin, I love my stock rims, other then the bbs honey combs the wrx rims are my favorite

Its gonna be great putting all those parts on! I havent heard of too many peoples experience with CAMtuning but I always recommend TurboXS. I love their tunes and have never had an issue with any work they have done for me. Jermaine knows what he is doing and wont stop until the car runs safely but very powerful! You can probably run a 9", possibly 9.5" wide rim but you will have to have some pretty low profile tires.

STi2eNvy wrote:Its gonna be great putting all those parts on! I havent heard of too many peoples experience with CAMtuning but I always recommend TurboXS. I love their tunes and have never had an issue with any work they have done for me. Jermaine knows what he is doing and wont stop until the car runs safely but very powerful! You can probably run a 9", possibly 9.5" wide rim but you will have to have some pretty low profile tires.

The wheels I want only come in 8", 8.5", and 9.5". I think I might just go with the 8.5" to be on the safe side. I wish they had a 9" option (thats what she said).

My goals are to basically hit 300whp and leave it at that. I want a tune that is safe and will last a long time. I'm not looking to make it a track car or auto x, but a solid daily driver. I'll share the mileage with my GSXR.

You'll be pretty close to that 300 whp mark with the mods you listed, depending on the tune. Everyone has their preference with tuners.

Once upon a time I had an 08 WRX and actually got better gas mileage when I swapped over to a tuned VF52 + other mods (torquedperformance.com) than with the TD04 with both stock map and stage 2. Weird how that works.

Chaz2.5 wrote:You'll be pretty close to that 300 whp mark with the mods you listed, depending on the tune.  Everyone has their preference with tuners.

That's what I'm hoping. I don't want too aggresive of a tune, but not something understated. I don't want to push the engine to it's limits.

On another note, I think I'm going to buy the Enkei Raijin's 18"x8.5" wheels. I don't want to risk putting them on if they have a chance of rubbing, and I don't want to have to change anything else. An extra half inch wider shouldn't hurt!

If I didn't go with CAMtuning, does anyone recommend another place close by (within 4-5 hours) for tuning? Just curious.

The only two protuners that are within distance that I know of are Cam and Clark. I was 100% content with my tune from Eric Minehart @ TorquedPerformance (it was an e-tune though). He's actually the one that tuned my RS as well. Used to be out of Colorado but now is in Portland Oregon.

Are you looking at getting a road tune or dyno tune?

I was planning on once I get back to the states, installing the cobb SF intake, the invidia turbo back, and various other parts (that won't require a tune), slapping the OTS stage II map on it, and then drive up to CAMtuning to have the EWG and EBCS installed there, and dyno tuning it.

I would imagine dyno tuning is more accurate, is it not?

Accuracy as far as HP and TQ readings yes. As far as which is better for tuning I have no idea. I would think you would tune your car according to the conditions you intend on driving it. I'm sure doing a bunch of 3rd gear pulls would be great for 1/4 mile driving but what will it do for everyday driving around. That's what I liked about Eric, I had to datalog 3rd gear pull as well as 30+ minutes of city/highway. Then again, I'm not a tuner and when I look at mapping parameters/plots I'm as lost as a 25 yr old who took his sister to a Jonas Brothers concert.

If you go to the El Paso Peeps thread on NASIOC there is a member wgr73, I think his name is Wynn (sp?) He can probably give you more info as far as CAMtuning goes.

I like the thought of Eric @TP and doing all the 3rd gear pulls plus the highway driving. I might have to talk to someone about that. I'm just curious as to how it would work with installing everything, and driving it without a tune before etuning it. I'll have to research it a little more I guess. I appreciate all your help along the way.

I'll see if I can talk to wgr73 and what he thinks about CAMtuning. But I'm interested in this etuning now...

I'm sure the other tuners do something similar with the cruising and idle logs along with 3rd gear. With the etune you just contact the tuner and give him your list of mods along with make and model. They'll send you a base map for the mods you listed so I would wait to have the map on hand before install anything. The downside is that it takes considerably longer to get everything fine tuned as the maps are sent via e:mail as opposed to the tuner being right there in the car making on the spot adjustments.

I had asked Cam about etuning and he said he doesn't do it but does make the occasional trips to Cruces.

What kind of equipment do you need to do an etune? Would having my AP be of any use, or would it just sit collecting dust?

All an e-tune is basically is a custom tune via e:mail. Along the lines of a protune except the tuner is somewhere else and not sitting in your car.

If you are using your AP you may need AccessTuner Race software.  At least with Eric you will need it.  It's free from Cobb.  It will be linked directly to your AP Serial #.

Cobb AcccessTuner

It's pretty easy to use.  The tuner will send you the map.  You load it into the AccessTuner program. Save the map as a separate file (this will mate the serial numbers.  You will want to click on one of the parameters to display the settings first and then save.  For some reason if you don't do that then the map will be blacked out on your AP and you'll have to redo it).  Load the newly saved map on AP through your AP manager and then just reflash.

Etuning definitely sounds doable. So it seems the overall process of etuning takes a couple weeks and maybe more to get right. That shouldn't be too bad if I do it right. I'll do some more research into it and see what's right for me.

I have 2 more months until I even get back to the states, which is plenty of time to make my decision. Thank you for your help, Chaz! I'm sure I'll have more questions later, haha

Normally it takes 3-5 revisions to get the tune optimal. So it really depends on how much time you have. It took me 2 weeks just to get the logs for the 2nd revision because of work and what not but knocked out the final three logging sessions on a Saturday. Definitely doable through a weekend. Once the datalogs were e:mailed I would normally receive a revision within an hour at most.

Not nearly as bad as I thought. I might go that route as long as the installation goes well. I know I'm going to need to recruit some people to assist with the install, and then hopefully already have a map pre-installed and start the etune. Sounds like the etune would be significantly cheaper too!

I'm down to help install parts since I've installed everything you listed before lol

I'll be down to turn some wrenches as well.

Thanks for offering to help with all the parts. I'll buy some beer, pizza, and strippers! Okay, maybe not strippers, but you get the idea, haha.

I'll be back in the states by Thanksgiving. I should get my car just before Christmas. And chances are I won't be able to work on it until after New Years. I'll keep everyone posted once I get it, and post more pictures too!

Back from deployment in 10 days!

Seeing my '13 STi for the first time on 17 DEC!

CAN. NOT. WAIT.  

WooHoo! Time to set up an install meet!

Chaz2.5 wrote:WooHoo! Time to set up an install meet!  

Oh, it'll be a meet alright! Just gotta figure out which beer I'll bring to the meet and install everything...that and a good etune!