New member with alot of questions

[luvenMyX]

First of all i bought my WRX yesterday, its red(which i have never seen here in VA) and i love it

it is an amazing car, the owner i bought it from did a couple upgrades on the car it has
-upgraded intercooler
-BOV
-boost controller
-boost guage
-manifold back 3in exhaust
-cold air intake

the boost is up to 15 PSI and some say the stock boost is 8 and others 13 what does it come with stock??

I am very curious to see how much horsepower the car is making, any ideas?

second someone told me that i need to be carefull with the tranny cause the WRX has the same tranny as the base impreza and the gears can go easily, mainly 2nd, is this true??

and third for this car i plan to upgrade the turbo and wastegate then bump the boost up to about 19 or 20 psi, would the engine handle this or do i need to upgrade anything else?

thanks guys,
im glad to be a proud WRX owner

[ajd111]

Congrats, and Welcome to the club.

First off, get rid of the BOV. Get the stock BPV. Your car will run much nicer without it. Secondly, since the car isn't heavily modded, you don't need a boost controller. You can take that out and sell it. CAI isn't really needed either. All it really does is let you hear your turbo spool up a little better.

Other than that, congrats on the purchase and have fun!

[luvenMyX]

Congrats, and Welcome to the club.

First off, get rid of the BOV. Get the stock BPV. Your car will run much nicer without it. Secondly, since the car isn't heavily modded, you don't need a boost controller. You can take that out and sell it. CAI isn't really needed either. All it really does is let you hear your turbo spool up a little better.

Other than that, congrats on the purchase and have fun!

how much will it cost to get the BPV and how does it help the engine run better?

and thanks man i look forward to having alot of fun in this car haha

[D0WNxSH1FT]

First of all i bought my WRX yesterday, its red(which i have never seen here in VA) and i love it

I've had San Remo Red and Lightning Red. Red is great on the WRX.

it is an amazing car, the owner i bought it from did a couple upgrades on the car it has
-upgraded intercooler
-BOV
-boost controller
-boost guage
-manifold back 3in exhaust
-cold air intake

Get rid of the BOV, Boost Controller and CAI. All of those are causing negative effects on the car. BOV is causing the car to run rich, pause between shifts, idle poorly, etc. BC is upping the boost w/o increasing the fuel ratios and timing. CAI can distort the MAF sensor readings.

the boost is up to 15 PSI and some say the stock boost is 8 and others 13 what does it come with stock??

2002 - 2005 WRX = 13.5 psi
2006 - 2007 WRX = 11.7 psi
2008 WRX = 11.3 psi (i think)

I am very curious to see how much horsepower the car is making, any ideas?

Get the car dyno'd

second someone told me that i need to be carefull with the tranny cause the WRX has the same tranny as the base impreza and the gears can go easily, mainly 2nd, is this true??

The WRX tranny is fine, just don't abuse it.

and third for this car i plan to upgrade the turbo and wastegate then bump the boost up to about 19 or 20 psi, would the engine handle this or do i need to upgrade anything else?

thanks guys,
im glad to be a proud WRX owner

Engine can handle it w/ proper tuning and maintenance. Keep an eye out for oil levels.

[SonicWagon]

how much will it cost to get the BPV and how does it help the engine run better?

and thanks man i look forward to having alot of fun in this car haha

the BOV causes the car to run rich in between shifts, you have probobly noticed it backfire? it is a good idea to get rid of it.

when you say upgraded intercooler is that a front mount intercooler?


also you NEED engine management Cobb, Romraider, utec, any will work. and the manual boost controller is not a substitute.


Welcome to the club

[luvenMyX]

the BOV causes the car to run rich in between shifts, you have probobly noticed it backfire? it is a good idea to get rid of it.

when you say upgraded intercooler is that a front mount intercooler?


also you NEED engine management Cobb, Romraider, utec, any will work. and the manual boost controller is not a substitute.


Welcome to the club

its an upgraded top mount intercooler

and how much would an engine management system run me? and where can i purchase it from?and what makes it a necessity?

im thinking about replacing the manual boost controller with an electronic one, i was looking at the Greddy spec-b, would that be wise?

also where can i pick up a stock BPV and how hard would it be to install?

and heres a really noob question---what does BPV mean? lol

thanks again guys

[McGizzle]

Congrats on the car and welcome to the club.

From what I've learned, Cobb AP is a good and economical route to take in regards to EM. Plus it's simple to use. You can pick them up new for around 650(ish). If you poke around the classifieds here you may run into one for as low as 400. BTW, what year is your car?

BPV= Bypass valve.

If you research the forums a little bit, all of your questions can be answered without waiting for replies (even though this is one of the most active forums I've ever been a member of).

[SonicWagon]

the easiest thing for you to do is get rid of the BOV get a stock BPV

get a Short ram intake or a stock intake, then again what you call short cold air might be a Short ram. so take a pic or tell us the model of intake so i know if its Short ram or Cold air.

Get rid of the Manual boost control, no electronic boost control needed either

then you have 2 options

1. a ready made EM solution with preloaded maps like the Cobb Accessport

2. you can get an open source Dyno tune from a reputable tuner this will alleviate the need for engine Management. this will be cheaper but wont give you the ability to switch ECU maps like the cobb would


if you have a 2.0l you also need to check and see if the stock uppipe is on there, that needs to be replaced or Decatted

[sbzenth]

Welcome and congrats on the car.
I know of one person who has a red one and he is in VA also. RedRex06 is his username here i think. Red def. looks good.

For the questions;

like the guy above me said, one of the easiest things you can go with is an accessport by COBB tuning. My friend just got one for his 07 wrx and its great. you can definitely feel the difference.

I would also get rid of the BOV. Go with a BPV

And you dont need the boost controller. You can make some money by selling that and then can put it into getting lets say the AP.

maybe after that you can go with a downpipe or uppipe.

Again, congrats.

[luvenMyX]

the easiest thing for you to do is get rid of the BOV get a stock BPV

get a Short ram intake or a stock intake, then again what you call short cold air might be a Short ram. so take a pic or tell us the model of intake so i know if its Short ram or Cold air.

Get rid of the Manual boost control, no electronic boost control needed either

then you have 2 options

1. a ready made EM solution with preloaded maps like the Cobb Accessport

2. you can get an open source Dyno tune from a reputable tuner this will alleviate the need for engine Management. this will be cheaper but wont give you the ability to switch ECU maps like the cobb would


if you have a 2.0l you also need to check and see if the stock uppipe is on there, that needs to be replaced or Decatted

Its an Injen CAI i am pretty aware of the difference lol, i think i will invest in a short ram intake tho. also i was looking at the COBB access port and i like that idea, i found some under 700 brand new and ill look on the forum for one cheaper.

as for the BPV does it still make the noise after shifting like the BOV?

[SonicWagon]

as for the BPV does it still make the noise after shifting like the BOV?

yes and no, it makes noise, the noise is less and different. the SRI and Uppipe and downpipe removal is going to give you a ton of added turbo noises though

The Cobb is sweet they really are easy to use and totally universal, you can have specialty maps made for it later on if you do new mods as well.

[sbzenth]

yes and no, it makes noise, the noise is less and different. the SRI and Uppipe and downpipe removal is going to give you a ton of added turbo noises though

well said. And i personally think the sound you will get from the pipes and the BPV will sound better than the exaggerated sound of the BOV.

[SonicWagon]

And i personally think the sound you will get from the pipes and the BPV will sound better than the exaggerated sound of the BOV.

without question, the BOV sounds uber Ricey without ton of turbo noise to back it up.

[Sasquatch]

Greetings and welcome to the club!

Looks like you already have help with getting everything straightened out.

I would agree on the stock BOV and intake.

[luvenMyX]

well i already have a 3in downpipe and catless cat-back should i invest in a new turbo manifole or leave the stock manifold?

and i am thinking about replacing the CAI with a short ram intake, would this be a good choice? and what would yall recommend?

would the BOV valve be easy to uninstall and stock BPV easy to install?

as for the COBB engine management does that come with everything i will need to tune my engine, i noticed you can get different stages and maps?

thanks again guys

so far yall are definitely a great help