FilthyRich's '93 WRX

[filthy-rich]

Well I finally bought another WRX....

I am in New Zealand for a bit, and went to the auctions to pick up a car. There was a silver '93 WRX there, and I picked it up for a bargain!

We have a warrant of fitness test here, but nothing like aircare. I bought it with an expired WOF, and took it in for testing.... It has sat for a bit and the tires were cracked, wiper blades were hardened, and there was a little rust in the trunk (knew about that)

It was on the stock 15 inch rims (yuck) so I picked up a pair of 17" Legacy B4 rims off of my buddy - they will do for now.

Got the rust fixed - it was pretty easy, and did the wiper blades, and I was set.

My Dad owns a workshop, so once it was road legal, I took it in and gave it a full service. Up on the hoist the car looks sweet. I'm really happy with my purchase.

After the service, I had the confidence to start driving it properly...

I gave it a bit and BANG - felt like hitting a brick wall. I picked up a Blitz boost gauge off of a local forum, and just as I thought - overboosting... It has a custom exhaust on it.

So I went to a local performance store and picked up an MBC. I installed that and limited the boost and its going fine for now - with a slight 5k rpm splutter. I picked up some GD coilpacks. Just waiting on them coming in the mail.

In the meantime, I picked up a divorced downpipe and threw that on. Even with my limited boost its CRAZY! Boost comes on so much faster, and the sound is siiiiiiiiiick.

While the stock downpipe was off, we checked out the turbo. There is a small amount of shaft play but plenty of life left in it. It does look like the gasket under it isnt the greatest though, so thats on the to do list.

Its a long weekend here, and I spent today installing a stereo. The Addzest tapedeck that was in there wasnt really rocking my world. I installed a panasonic deck, 6.5 inch splits in the front and 3 way 6x9's in the back. It sounds really decent.

Yesterday a batch of 27C1028 eproms arrived in the mail. Tomorrow I am installing one of my ECU upgrades for it. I wanted to try out one of Rob's tunes, but despite sending a few emails, he never replied. I'll do it myself. I know my tune is good, and I now have the code for launch control, overheat protection, antilag, and CEL flash on knock (No - not from one of Rob's chips) I copied over all of the maps from my old tune that I did for my last car, and we will see how we go. The boost cut is gone, so it will really test the coilpacks!

On that note, if anyone wants to try one of my roms, feel free to PM me!

I bought some lowering springs from a local forum.... I'm picking them up and installing them next week. Can't wait to lose the skyjacker look! I might swap them out for coilovers in the future - we'll see.

Future plans for the car include
- respray (paint is ok but not the best)
- cf hood and trunk
- new rims (nice and flush)
- 550cc injectors, Z32 AFM and a tune for that
- updated interior - anyone selling LED kits yet?

[filthy-rich]

This is as it sits right now:

[FtGF]

Awesome man, looking good. Nice plans with it. Keep us updated.

[koalorka]

Very nice.

The divorced down-pipe with a smaller diameter at the exducer is a great idea in bringing the turbine to life in the low rev-range. How did you learn to program the ECU?

[filthy-rich]

Yeah the downpipe was a great mod.

I've been doing ECUs for about 12 years now... I got the addresses for the rex from the creator of the scooby ecu.

[filthy-rich]

So I chipped it, and its still falling on its face. Its fast as hell until it cuts though!

I ordered the gasket for the turbo - installing it on Wednesday. Hopefully the coilpacks arrive soon... I have to get this fixed!

Anyone have any other ideas what it could be?

[Xanicron]

Could you describe it a little more?

It could be fuel cut due to stock pump not being able to keep up with the tune.

If the coil packs don't help I would suggest replacing your fuel pump with an aftermarket one(walbro 255 seems to be very popular) .

[filthy-rich]

Yeah a walbro is in the mail to me as we speak...

It was doing it on the stock tune also, so unless the pump is failing, its probably not that.

Its a very violet cut. Kinda feels like you rear ended someone. Rarely it stalls, usually it doesnt.

One click on the boost controller is the difference between it happening or not.

I'm wondering if its from the gasket under the turbo. I have ordered a new one and will get that done this week.

[Speed Stick]

This for sure sounds like the common problem of bad ignition coils. When I first got my wrx I could only boost to like 6-7psi before it would misfire. Let us know what happens after you get them coils changed out, it makes a world of difference.

[filthy-rich]

Yeah hopefully they should be here on wednesday (same as the walbro)

I think I will spend wednesday doing:

Walbro / fuel filter
Coilpacks
New gasket under the turbo
FULL leak test

If that doesnt solve it I'm pretty stumped.