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Rough cost to hit 300+hp in a 2012-2014 wrx

57K views 20 replies 11 participants last post by  TankerTruck 
#1 ·
Not a mechanic and am trying to decide what to do. I was looking at a used sti, but everything points me in the direction of walking away from it. I know I can buy a new wrx for 26k roughly, and was wondering how much money I would have to sink into it to obtain around 300+ hp safely. Im guessing the price of this can range pretty widely depending on parts, brands, do it yourself, or have a pro do it. Just looking for a rough guess on cost range. This would be more of a casual project car, garaged, and drove every once in awhile. As I said I am not a mechanic, but wouldn't mind learning and working on it myself. Unless that is all together a bad idea being as I have no experience working on cars in depth. Thanks
 
#3 ·
Are you talking about hp, or whp? If you're just wanting 300hp you should be able to hit that with just a tune. Stock Subaru has the car listed at 265hp, Cobb stage one tune advertises 13.5% hp increase, a custom stage one tune should put you over 300hp by Subaru's standards.


So it depends on what tuner you want to use and how much they charge. You're looking at between $300 and $500.
 
#4 ·
Either the 2009+ WRX is underrated from the factory or the 2008+ STi is overrated from the factory because both put down about 225-235whp in stock trim.

I can make a dyno plot for the OP that will read 350whp on his stock WRX. ;)
 
#13 ·
kdeitrich said:
you wont need an aftermarket exhaust or CAI to hit 300hp, or whp at that
Both would make it easier.

Without specifying what dyno you want to hit your "300+hp" on, no one can help you.
 
#15 ·
Read kdeitrich's thread. This subject was beaten to death. There are variables....like EJ257 said, it largely depends on the dyno. You also have to take into account climate and altitude variable, yada yada. Imo, the safest way to make that power reliably is to set up your car to run E85 if that's an option in your area. I put down 301whp/335wtq on a very safe and conservative tune this way. I skipped the cai and catback for the time being because I reached my goal without them. End cost was roughly $4200. I also did my research, communicated with my tuner, bought quality parts, and put in wrench time as opposed to paying for part install.
 
#16 · (Edited)
i know a TMIC would also be needed with that setup, or strongly suggested. and you could probably get more then 300 hp with that setup. With an aftermarket BOV, 3 port ebcs on there, a CAI, DP, upgraded fuel system and TMIC with a solid pro tune, you could reach your goal no doubt around $2.5 for all that prob if you get recommended parts
 
#18 ·
I've spent around 1200 in new and slightly used parts.

For that I have a cat less dp, ebcs, fuel pump, injectors, new tmic, aos.

Nothing is installed yet as I am waiting for my tuner to get an opening for me to bring the car over to get everything put on (both me, him and our other friend doing the install), plus we're doing tgv deletes.

I'm looking for around 330ish to the wheels hp/tq.

Meth or corn is going to fall into the mix.
 
#19 ·
kdeitrich said:
True. but for that money he could upgrade the fuel system and buy an intake, could he not? most of what i know i learned from you and mainframe haha so please correct me if im wrong
Yes. There are always tradeoffs. Again, he hasn't even commented on what he really wants and where he wants to make his power. He could simply be looking to be at stock STI power, at which point a simple reflash would more than do the trick.
 
#21 ·
I recommend you look at some of the build threads that ended up dynoing their build. If you find a comparable dyno to the one that you want to use, you can get an idea of what parts are needed, and then reverse engineer the price from there.

You could also talk to a good tuner.

When I got on the dyno, I was at 325/385 (on a higher-reading dyno, so probably 300/350 on a mustang or equivalent), and that's exactly what I wanted from the car.
 
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