[B0Osted16rex]

Hey fellas. This is going to be a build thread but is more for my personal record than anything else. The short of it is I have a bunch of parts coming tomorrow and just want to use this thread to catalog everything.

What Do I Have?
2016 DGM WRX 6MT Base. My only option, the home-link auto dimming mirror.

Order Date:
June 3rd, 2015

Delivery Date:
June 23rd,2015

How Much Did I Pay?
MY OTD price was $27,160 in the fine state of Colorado.

Where Am I Starting From?
Well, I have done no real performance mods other than the Perrin brass shifter bushing and shift stop since I took delivery back in June of 2015. As of, 9/15/16, I have 10,937 miles on the car. All of my mods up to this point have been minor cosmetic items but that is about to change.

Sooo what have I done? As of 4/25/18
Engine:

• GrimmSpeed Stealthbox Intake
• GrimmSpeed TMIC
• GrimmSpeed Chargepipe
• GrimmSpeed EBCS
• Torque Solutions EGR Delete
• Torque Solutions TGV Delete
• MAPerformance Ceramic Coated J-Pipe w/ HFC
• MAPerfromance Exhaust w/ Mufflers
• IAG Air-Oil Separator (AOS)

Drivetrain:

• Perrin Brass Shifter Bushing
• Perrin Shift Stop
• ACT HD Performance Street Sprung Clutch Kit w/ Flywheel
• DIY Transmission Removal Thread
• Group-N Transmission Mount
• Whiteline Positive Shift Kit
• Torque Solutions Billet (Red) Pitch Stop Mount

Suspension:

• N/A - TBD

Wheels/Tires/Brakes:

• N/A - TBD

Interior:

• All Diode Dynamics Red Interior Bulbs (Map, Vanity, Dome)
• Miscellaneous Inlays/Stickers

Exterior:

• Debadged Trunk
• RA Mud Flaps (Black w/ Red Lettering)
• Morimoto H1 HID Retrofit
• Diode Dynamics C-light Switchbacks w/ DRL Harness
• Diode Dynamics Tail as Turn
• OLM LED Reverse Lights
• 3M Window Tint (20% back 3, 30% front. I will be redoing this eventually as it is too light for my liking.)
• REAL Carbon Fiber Badges (Black w/ Red Lettering) - Not Installed Yet

Tune:

• COBB AP v3
• Current - Dyno Tune by Harvey @ The Boost Creep (275WHP/298WTQ on a heartbreaker Mainline Dyno)
• Old- Bren Tuning E-Tune (260WHP/271WTQ on same dyno, same day. This was a baseline run before Harvey's tune.)

Future Plans:

• Suspension - Swift Spec-R Springs
• Wedsport SA-20R RLC 18X9.5 Wheels
• Tires TBD
• Brake Master Cylinder Brace
• Pitch Stop Brace
• BBK
• Some Sort of Gauge Pod
• IAG Stage 3 Block
• Port/Polish Turbo or Turbo Swap

Total Mod Cost To Date: ~$7,838

What Are My Goals?
This is my DD so I want a reliable car. I will be doing full bolt-ons and a Bren Tuning e-tune (temporary). I am leaning towards safe/reliable tune vs highest HP/TQ numbers right now. This car will remain my DD but i do plan on purchasing a Mustang to satisfy my "go fast" needs sometime in early 2018. Once i have a second car I want to get a built block from IAG and see what this little Subie is capable of. I plan on keeping this car till she don't run no more....or i blow it up, whichever comes first :beerchug:.

Onward to some pictures!
D-Day, June 23rd, 2015: My dealer called me while i was at work and said that my car had come in almost a month and a half early. I had ordered the car on June 3, 2015 and it was delivered June 23, 2015. According to them, it was the first 2016 WRX sold in Colorado (I never did check the validity of that statement.) Needless to say, I promptly left work early to go pick up the car. #priorities





July 12th, 2015
My RA mudflaps arrived along with the taillight tint and emblem inlays from SubiSpeed.






July 28th, 2015
The tail-as-turn module from Diode Dynamics arrived along with my OLM LED bulbs. (Need to dig up some pictures) In the meantime, here is the video from DD. You get the idea.

Her first winter.
Admittedly, I didn't take a lot of pictures. I was actually pretty busy all winter.




April 14th, 2016
Windows are finally tinted. Back 3 windows are 20% and front windows are 30%. I don't like this. It is still too light. In the spring I plan on replacing the rear windshield with 5% and the front windows will go to 20%. I am also going to either tint my entire windshield or do a 6" strip up at the top.



My fantastic wife decided she wanted to work on my car so I let her install the Perrin brass shifter bushing under the car. The Perrin shift stop was also installed.


August 31st, 2016
Morimoto H1 HID Retrofit was installed as well as the Diode Dynamics C-lights w/ switchbacks and DRL harness.
My DIY thread, DIY: Morimoto HID Retrofit - 2016 WRX Base, has gotten 0 comments
The entire headlight albumn can be found here.

Here is a daytime pic:

And some pictures I took up in the mountains:



September 9th, 2016
The IAG AOS was installed. This was a royal pain in the ass and i dumped almost a gallon of coolant on the ground but I got it done. I strongly recommend having a second set of hands to clamp off the hoses and it should be a lot less messy...or just pick up some hose clamps first. By far the hardest mod to do on this car so far.


All the stuff i had to take off to get the AOS on...



September 16th, 2016
The bulk of my recent parts list is out for delivery!

• Grimmspeed 3-Port Boost Control Solenoid - Scheduled delivery 9/16/16
• Torque Solutions TGV Deletes - Scheduled delivery 9/16/16
• Torque Solutions EGR Deletes - Scheduled delivery 9/16/16
• MA Performance Catted, Ceramic Coated Downpipe - Scheduled delivery 9/16/16
• MA Performance Catback Exhaust w/ Mufflers - Scheduled delivery 9/16/16
• Cobb Accessport - Scheduled Delivery 9/16/16

 

[B0Osted16rex]

September 16th, 2016 (continued)
Just a few quick pictures. Will take some better ones tomorrow.






September 17th, 2016
Today I got the very stuborn j-pipe off and then reinstalled the MAPerformance Turboback Exhaust. I had the j-pipe/downpipe ceramic coated. Not sure what, if any benefits this has, but hey, it sounded like a good idea. Here is the link to the two dozen pictures and 3 videos i took. I will post just a few below and some videos of course. I loaded the COBB stage 2 map so i could take the car for a quick spin. I took the wife to Coldstone since it requires me to get on the highway, go up one exit, and then get off. It's a good mix of city and hwy for testing purposes.





Very First Startup. Cold start, no revs. Can you tell i'm excited. Definitely being a little creeper in the middle of this video (22 seconds long):

This is an in-car clip of me accelerating onto the highway (after a couple minutes of city driving). There are cars in front of me so it is not a smooth acceleration but you get the idea. I think this started recording in 3rd gear.
See post 11

And the last of the videos, some revs when we got back to the parking garage. Even had a little burbling going on.
See post 12

Additionally, after about a 3 hour break, I installed the GS 3-port EBCS, and the GS stealthbox intake. While i had the intake off I took the opportunity to clean up some of the wiring for my headlight retrofit. my ballast is now zip tied under, and out of the way, in the heatshield of the GS intake. I also completed the EGR delete and managed to get the passenger side TGV delete done before I lost the light. All that remains is the driver side TGV delete and the GS TMIC at this point. Then I need a tune. As she stands now, I can't start her since I have not purchased my e-tune from Bren and unfortunately COBB doesn't have an OTS that would cover these mods. No biggie. That will get taken care of on Monday or Tuesday.

I took a few pictures but a lot of these mods aren't really worth a picture. Here's what I do have.






September 18th, 2016
Driver side TGV delete and GS TMIC was installed. This completes my modding for now. The e-tune was ordered from Bren Tuning and should arrive in the next 48 hours.

September 19th, 2016
Base tune arrived!


September 20th, 2016
Went for my maiden voyage with the base tune this morning and that was way more exciting then i wanted it to be, not in a good way. About three blocks from my house, while just beginning to get into boost, I heard a pop, the engine shuttered, and then the car went dead. Thankfully, i had just put the clutch in because i was approaching a red light and was able to use my momentum to pull off into a parking lot. There were no CELs or any other indications of an issue on the dash. I tried to start the car, it started, stuttered and died. Still no CELs. At that point, just about every worst case scenario was going through my head. I quickly checked under the car to make sure i wasn't leaking any fluids. No fluids there. Then i popped the hood. No visible holes in my engine block. Turns out, the charge pipe blew off the GS TMIC inlet so the engine was not getting any air. That was a big relief. I still had all my tools in the trunk so 2 minutes later I had the charge pipe secured. Car started right up without any further issues.

I have gone through 3 tune revisions with Bren today. I have to say they have been on point with customer service. Within 30 minutes of sending them logs they had another tune for me. I am waiting on my 4th revision but as of right now, the car is very driveable. I have a long day tomorrow so the rest of my fine tuning will need to wait until Thursday. I am loving the tune up to this point if for no other reason than being able to accelerate without all the jerkiness of the stock tune. I can definitely feel the power increase but again, I am not going for huge numbers. Also, I was relatively unprepared for the amount of intake noise I would get. I will try to get a video of that in the coming days but it is definitely not quiet!


September 27th, 2016
Settled on rev7 as my final tune. Numbers look good and the car feels great. Review to follow.

October 5th, 2016 - Bren Tuning E-Tune Review
Purchase
I purchased the e-tune and sent them the required mod/car/AP info over a weekend. I received my base tune at 11:30 Monday morning with clear instructions for data logging and the do's and don'ts. 5/5 here.

Communication
The communication varied with Bren depending on the day of the week and their workload but overall was very good. It was not uncommon for me to send them my data logs and have a new revision within an hour. A lot of the time they were waiting on me to get my data logs done. All my questions were answered to my satisfaction and they never took longer then 24 hours to respond (excluding weekends). They made me aware of a gas quality issue as soon as i sent back my first data logs. Fortunately I was running low on gas anyway so a fresh tank fixed those issues. 5/5 here as well.

Driveability
From the moment I loaded the base tune I noticed a huge difference in driveability. My wife even made the comment that she wasn't feeling my shifting as much, especially in the 1-2 shift which always seemed to be problematic at low speeds. This was largely in part due to how Bren mapped throttle response. When I am just needing to accelerate normally, boost doesn't kick in at all until I hit 4th gear which lends to nice, smooth acceleration. I would imagine this would have a positive impact on fuel economy as well, not that I really care about that. I have been thrashing on the car since my final revision, it is just too much fun. At heavy throttle the car comes alive. It almost feels like two different cars because of how tame it is at partial throttle compared to how much of a beast it turns into at WOT. The exhaust roars to life, the EBCS is fluttering away, and the intake noise overpowers my radio. I have not dyno'd the car and probably won't until next year, but the car finally feels correct. Again, I was not going for huge power as I am weary of pushing the limits of an e-tune so Bren gave me a middle of the road option. I am extremely pleased with the tune overall, albeit a temporary one, and will enjoy it for the next 6-8 months until I get a protune done by Harvey @ Boost Creep up in Longmont, CO. 5/5 here also.

 

[B0Osted16rex]

Well, here we are many months later. I haven't done anything new to the car but I did finally put it on the dyno. And before anyone says anything, no i don't have a stock dyno chart and yes, i know the dyno doesn't really mean much to anyone. It satisfied my curiosity.

Here's a video of the first pull.

And my dyno chart. I was running pig rich from what i can tell. It didn't help that the car was heat soaked and ambient temp was about 92 degrees here in Colorado.

Update as of 4/9/18 -Installed the new ACT Clutch and Streetlite flywheel along with the Grimmspeed chargepipe.




Dissasembly (25,326 Miles on the ODO):








4/18/18
The added drive train movement was bothering me so I ordered the Group-N transmission mount, whiteline positive shift kit, and the torque solutions pitch stop bar. Definitely an increase in NVH but nothing that is annoying or intrusive. The exhaust resonates into the cab around 3k-3500RPM and then goes away. I don't think there is really any additional vibration, at least that i can feel. In my case, the biggest change is hearing flywheel chatter when letting off the throttle. This is not necessarily a bad thing, it's just something i need to get adjusted to. I will make a video eventually of what all of this sounds like. For now, here are some pictures.

 

[B0Osted16rex]

Also reserved for updates

 

[Steemax]

Woah... this should be good. Sub'd

 

[Goose42]

:thumbup:

 

[B0Osted16rex]

Welllll. Parts are here as of ~noon. I got the catback off today as well as the rear section of the j-pipe. That only took me 45 minutes. I proceeded to work on the front j-pipe section connected to the turbo. Three of the nuts came off with a lot of persuasion, one of which pulled the stud with it. The last one, the really impossible one, is still steadfast on the car. After 3.5 hours of trying different extensions, knuckles, and even power tools i surrendered for the evening. I will try again in the morning. Pictures will be posted tonight....ehhh, probably tomorrow. I'm going to enjoy my Henry's Hard Soda and relax.

 

[WRX-maniac]

Looking good man. Kudos on the IAG aos. The best aos on the market. Had one on my wrx, will have another on my STi on my next visit to IAG.

 

[B0Osted16rex]

Looking good man. Kudos on the IAG aos. The best aos on the market. Had one on my wrx, will have another on my STi on my next visit to IAG.

Thanks!! Yea, when I lived in Maryland a few years back I used to drive by their shop all the time. My roommate at the time, had a BRZ and had some work done by them. I've never heard anything bad about em' and from the the IAG stuff on my roommates car, the build quality was always top notch.


As a morning update, I finally got the j-pipe off!


Unfortunately, I am left with a single stud with its nut still attached. Unlike the GS downpipe (my original choice before I changed my mind) which gives you new studs, the MAPerformance kit does not. I currently have the stud and the other nuts soaking in a wine glass full of penetrating oil. I'm sure my wife will be thrilled when she sees that :rotfl:. I will say, for only having 10k on the odometer, a lot of these nuts/bolts where far more oxidized then i had anticipated. I can only imagine how much more difficult this would have been if I had waited a few more years.

 

[strudinox]

Sub'd for progress!

I remember taking that J-pipe off... what a pita. Looks good so far :thumbup:

 

[B0Osted16rex]

For whatever reason I can only have 1 video per post so here is the acceleration video:

 

[B0Osted16rex]

Here is a video of some revs:

 

[B0Osted16rex]

All done for the day. Was pretty productive I think. I've updated post two with a summary and some more pictures. Exhaust videos are also posted above. Tomorrow, after football, i'll finish up the two remaining items. :beerchug:

 

[B0Osted16rex]

Driver side TGV delete was installed this morning along with the GS TMIC. I am out of stuff to install! E-tune has been ordered from Bren Tuning so at this point I am just waiting for my base tune. I did turn the car over for about 30 seconds which, as expected ran ridiculously rough. I just wanted to make sure i didn't have any leaks. Updates will slow down now. I don't have anything else planned until the spring. I want to enjoy the car as is for a while. The only thing I may do is get some gauges installed over the Fall/Winter but I have to figure out what gauges I want first. I'll keep this post updated though. Until next time, cheers!

 

[B0Osted16rex]

The base map from Bren Tuning arrived yesterday morning. Unfortunately, Monday's are my long days at work so i didn't get home till 7:30 and then I had to watch my Eagles game so I didn't do anything with it. This morning I will be loading the tune and doing some data logging to send back to Bren for adjustments. I will try to make a few more videos but we will see how they turn out.

 

[B0Osted16rex]

updated main

 

[B0Osted16rex]

Just a quick update. Car is officially tuned. I am using my 7th revision of the base tune as final. Overall it was a fairly painless process. Had some gas quality issues initially that were causing the AFR to lean out. I have done a ton of driving, put almost 1000k miles on the car since i've done the mods just to make sure everything was running as it should. I have no major complaints with the exception of the GS EBCS. It flutters like crazy when at WOT. From what i researched this is normal, albeit irritating lol. I still haven't gotten any good driving videos but will try to do so in the coming week or so.

 

[Steemax]

Just a quick update. Car is officially tuned. I am using my 7th revision of the base tune as final. Overall it was a fairly painless process. Had some gas quality issues initially that were causing the AFR to lean out. I have done a ton of driving, put almost 1000k miles on the car since i've done the mods just to make sure everything was running as it should. I have no major complaints with the exception of the GS EBCS. It flutters like crazy when at WOT. From what i researched this is normal, albeit irritating lol. I still haven't gotten any good driving videos but will try to do so in the coming week or so.

Nice, and yeah took me a quick minute to get used to the GS EBCS flutter lol now i kinda like it. It's definitely worth the piece of mind.

 

[B0Osted16rex]

Nice, and yeah took me a quick minute to get used to the GS EBCS flutter lol now i kinda like it. It's definitely worth the piece of mind.

It is growing on me, but still catches me off guard. Every time I hear it I think something is getting ready to detonate haha. I am sure with time I won't even notice anymore.

I have been dying to hear what the car sounds like from outside. My wife doesn't drive standard so she can't drive the car while I listen. I will have to find somewhere open enough that she can record a drive-by video.

 

[B0Osted16rex]

I just uploaded a video of my Dyno session this afternoon along with the charts to the first page, here. Best run was 310whp/302wtq. Running very rich.