legacycentral bbs

Great, thanks for the heads up on an estimation of time.

Any long term impressions with the stage 1 chip on a stock car?

long term impressions on stage 2 with only 3rd gear on my auto. Very quick significantly quicker actually. I can not imagine what 2nd gear would be like haha. Can't wait till my tranny is changed. I didn't meet requirements so I get knock above 10psi. I figure once I do the dp, remove resonator, and probably most importantly the fuel pump shouldn't have any knock at 14psi that would turn down the octane factor at WOT. Regardless resetting the octane factor and going for a WOT run is alot of fun, then I tried out power mode recently haha, just laughs.

Latest update:

spoke with Mike yesterday. he's working on the user tunable ecu right now and we will try one of the first prototypes on my car here. He said he has about a month work left and waiting on some boards that he ordered.

cheers.

Onur

Awesome!!!! Thank you very much for the update.

Just ordered mine. I will wrap it up and place it under the tree like a patient & good boy.

Oh man, just found out about this, I'm gonna have to sell some e30 leftovers so I can pick one of these up

But over a year and still no dyno for stage 1 kinda has me wondering

I have and can post dyno scores. The reason I haven't is mostly because ppl are going to be telling me that something is wrong w my car/dyno and finally me. Numbers that I have are from dd and stock sti makes about 215hp and wrx 165. Our legacies make about 130-140hp and around 150tq. These numbers are with tbe and Revtronix chip

Now you got me even more worried

The gains are the important part, what were those? And with 91 or 93 octane?

I don't want to drop $200 on something that the best answer I can get from anyone is "you'll just think my car's broken"

To be fair, he has the Stage 1 chip. I'd say that the Stage 1 chip is meant to be more of a fuel economy booster, rather than a performance chip.

I have the Stage 2 chip and while I don't have any dyno information, the car is SIGNIFICANTLY faster with it.

asc_up wrote:To be fair, he has the Stage 1 chip. I'd say that the Stage 1 chip is meant to be more of a fuel economy booster, rather than a performance chip.

I have the Stage 2 chip and while I don't have any dyno information, the car is SIGNIFICANTLY faster with it.

Well I don't have an intercooler or an MAF, and I have no immediate plans to get an intercooler, so stage 1 is what I wanna know about...

I'm debating whether I should get this or a MBC right now.

The power just really bothers me atm, because my e30 had 8 more hp and weighed 200lbs less, so it wasn't a whole lot faster(15.5 1/4) but it's what I got used to so now it just feels...wrong, I guess. So I'm hoping to bump it up 10-20hp if I can.

You can always throw on a Saab intercooler for cheap (they pop up for sale all the time). I personally would not add any type of chip on a non intercooled car. Your efficiency with warmer air vs. air-to-air cooled with pretty significant.

MBC:
Pros:
1. Higher boost than stock (max of 13psi b4 hitting fuel cut).
2. Cheap - manual MBC are <$20. (Get a boost gauge too!)
Cons:
1.No fuel or spark/advance management.
2. Loss of partial boost - turns boost into on/off switch (in my experience).

Revtronix:
Pros:
1. (from site) ....remapped the factory boost control to optimize turbocharger operation. Fuel and spark timing maps are also fine-tuned to deliver better performance while preventing knock and maintaining safe exhaust gas temperatures.
2. Retain factory BCS.
3. Better MPG (if you don't turn into a boost addict!)
4. Peace of mind that you're engine is running better, not just w/more boost.
Cons:
1. Cost - $220
2. ?

For the record I never ran Stage 1. I installed the TD04/Intercooler shortly after my swap. Used an FCD/MBC @ 14psi for a few months and the car ran fine....except for the loss of partial boost (scary on snowy roads). But I was always wondering if the EJ22T was suffering.

For me, a tuning neophyte, the chip was an easy path to reliable power. Especially once I decided to go Stage 2-TD04 (440/IC/TBE/JECS/resonator and snorkel delete, etc).

wtdash wrote:MBC:

Revtronix:
Pros:
1. (from site) ....remapped the factory boost control to optimize turbocharger operation. Fuel and spark timing maps are also fine-tuned to deliver better performance while preventing knock and maintaining safe exhaust gas temperatures.
2. Retain factory BCS.
3. Better MPG (if you don't turn into a boost addict!)
4. Peace of mind that you're engine is running better, not just w/more boost.
Cons:
1. Cost - $220
2. ?

Don't forget that the most compelling reason to go with the chip (Stg 2) is that you can use uprated injectors and MAF with the proper tuning. This keeps your engine safe and running more efficiently than trying to just let the factory tuning compensate once you hack the items in.

I get the same mileage with the Stg 2 setup with a VF-8 as I did with the stock setup. With a good deal more HP.

i've had stage 1 and i have stage 1.5. Mike calls it that because he personally tuned it. I will have stage 2 when my injectors get here and i pop over to see mike.

i can tell you stage 1 feels like a 25-40 hp gain and stage 1.5 like a 40-60 hp gain. I'm thinking stage 2 should put me around 70 - 80 more horse and hopefully 100 on the torque.

i wanna be above 300 but i dont think the heads or td04 can handle it.

You're absolutely correct. You need to change out to at least the EJ25D heads, but the EJ205 heads w/ intake manifold are a better bet because the intake runners are designed to fit the straight inlet turbo (TD04). If you get very lucky and manage to locate a set of EJ20G heads for sale, jump on the deal! They are the very best option you can go for w/o using the STi's EJ257 heads.

As for the turbo, you can always source out a VF-39 as a "nearly new" take-off from one of the NASIOC gang for pretty cheap. This will get you closer to the 300hp goal you are searching for.

Personally, my setup in within the next few months will be EJ20G heads, STi 550cc injectors, STi VF-39 turbo, TurboXS high flow top mount intercooler and Walbro 255lph fuel pump. I'm realistically shooting for 325chp when it's all said and done. I'm just waiting for the user tunable chip to be released and then I can push forward with installing all the goodies I have sitting in my garage patiently awaiting install.

onur wrote:Latest update:

spoke with Mike yesterday. he's working on the user tunable ecu right now and we will try one of the first prototypes on my car here. He said he has about a month work left and waiting on some boards that he ordered.

cheers.

Onur

BTW, does Mike have a retail price in mind yet? Just curious so I know how much to budget for in the coming month or two.

I'm still trying to decide if I want to wait for this tunable chip or just use my LINKecu I have sitting here.

sell the link.

dropdfocus, it should be within $50 of the stage 1 chip

So $300 or less is what they are figuring then huh?

I think originally when this was in concept stage they were talking the $350 range. As long as the product execution and software interface shows quality and easy to use, I would have no problem paying that. Given the results of the initial Stage chips, I would expect this to be the case.

I have to agree on that factor. If it retains that price or lower I'm 100% on board! I've been putting cash aside each paycheck preparing for it's release...

I'll probably get one too even though I'm a total noob with engine management and will have no idea what I'm doing lol.

Eh, what's the worst that could happen besides blow up the car you've spend SOOOOO much time working on... That's why you stay in contact with the guys at Revtronix and get a base map designed for your setup emailed to you and upload it to their program.

I was hoping someone from the board or a shop could help me set it up and explain it all to me.