tune or no tune

SeanZ

New member
hey im 17 new to Subaru and i just sold my 96 ricer civic got a 05 subaru sti i had lots of knowlege about hondas but now i got into this scene where i dont know anything at all. its a 05 sti with bc racing coilovers, carbon fiber hood,trunk,roof and got a aps cai the guy i bought it from had no idea if it was tuned or not because i heard any aftermarket part you put on a subaru you would need a tune is there anyway i can find out if i have one? the car runs perfectly and i want to install a exhaust from the cat back with stock downpipe and cat would i requre a tune? or not if so i live in washington state and i hav no idea where the tuners are located and how much it would cost to tune a subaru for just the intake and exhaust. plz help thnx :D
 

Lenny2005

New member
I doubt it has a tune. Just so you know, subarus are Japanese just like Hondas, so your Subaru is just as ricer
 

Alin

Diehard Car Enthusiast!
First of all, welcome to IGOTA!
Second, you're lucky to have an STi at 17, I had mine at 18! :D
Third, if it didn't come with a COBB AccessPort, you're still running on a stock tune, therefore meaning no tune was done with the intake. I recommend you buy an AccessPort and a stock intake if it didn't come with one as soon as possible. With catback exhausts, you do not need a tune. Tunes come in play once you start messing with turboback exhausts. So, once you have the stock intake on and have purchased an AccessPort ($250-$400 for V2 ones), you will want to flash the car to stage 1. Whenever you get the catback exhaust, all you would have to do is directly bolt it one. Later on in the future, when you want to add a downpipe, you'd be ready to go. All you would have to do is install the downpipe and flash the car to stage 2. After all that is done, you can appreciate stage 2! :tup:

Then as you get older and wiser, you can start messing with more power. Since you have coils, you won't need to do much suspension modding. Stick to the AP, intake, and the exhaust for now. You already bought the car with a few goodies on it to make it last a few years before the mod bug rails you so hard that you have to pour your wallet's heart into your dear car! :lol:

Please post picture of the ride and start a member's journal! I'd love to follow along on your progress!

Any questions you have, search on the forum and if it hasn't been asked, we would love to help you so you can avoid stupid mistakes that we have all done in the past. Just another way to keep your car safe and in good condition! WRX/STi's are our passion here! :D
 

Spamby

Meat Product Toy
Welcome to the site.

Yes, Subaru's are picky about mods and tuning. She may run perfectly but it doesn't mean it is running perfectly, if you catch my drift. A CAI leans out your mixture, if your going WOT you may have too much air and not enough fuel and that creates problems like piston failure. Your CAI should require a tune. A catback will not require a tune. I have no idea ideas where a tuner would be at in WA, as I am not local but maybe someone on the boards that is local can chime in, or just do some google searches. I know Cobb Tuning-Surgeline is in Portland, OR so if that is close there is an option. Cobb is a very well respected tuning and parts shop and they shouldn't steer you wrong. They also make a hand held tuning type device called the Accessport. This comes preloaded with a few maps that can give you extra performance plus they are capable of diagnostics and logging, among other things. They can also be used for custom tunes. They are about 600 dollars.
Opensource tuning is via something like a tactrix cable and laptop. These are usually cheaper due to that you won't have to buy the accessport.
Tuning prices vary depending on what you are having done and how long it takes. A few hundred bucks to around 600 seems to be the norm.
 

Alin

Diehard Car Enthusiast!
Oh, by the way, how many miles did you get the car at and how many previous owner's does it have?
 

Alin

Diehard Car Enthusiast!
Damn... quite a bit. Hopefully the car wasn't beat on too much. Did the previous owner tell you how well he kept up with maintenance? Also if you don't mind me asking, how much did you pay?
 

Lenny2005

New member
127k is not that bad, I have a few friends that didn't start modding their car until 158k miles, on stock motor and are making upwards of 300whp. so don't worry, if it was taken care of you will be okay. and running one or the other (Exhaust or intake) without a tune is fine IMO. I had a wideband and my AFRs were very acceptable with a CAI without tune. just don't do both without a tune. but spamby is right, a tune Is always better. Acessports are not the greatest when it comes to tunes, the tunes are very general and just not for every car, so Opensource is probably the better option.
 

HolyCrapItsFast

Drinks beer!
hey im 17 new to Subaru and i just sold my 96 ricer civic got a 05 subaru sti i had lots of knowlege about hondas but now i got into this scene where i dont know anything at all. its a 05 sti with bc racing coilovers, carbon fiber hood,trunk,roof and got a aps cai the guy i bought it from had no idea if it was tuned or not because i heard any aftermarket part you put on a subaru you would need a tune is there anyway i can find out if i have one? the car runs perfectly and i want to install a exhaust from the cat back with stock downpipe and cat would i requre a tune? or not if so i live in washington state and i hav no idea where the tuners are located and how much it would cost to tune a subaru for just the intake and exhaust. plz help thnx :D

It is possible you have an open source tune on it but unless you connect to the ecu you may never know. The CIA, more than any other mod you have, is the one thing that requires a tune because the flow past the MAF is not the same as stock and it could mess with the fuel trims pretty badly. For this reason I recommend you seek out a tuner near you and pay to have it tuned. However if you do that then you might as well get the most out of your money and just go stage 2 which is a turbo back exhaust and a fuel pump. That will give you quite a bit of great sane power.

Allow me also to give you some more advice. Go down to your local mechanic or dealer and have a compression test done. This will give you insight as to the health of your motor and if it is in a good condition to be tuned. It is possible to drive around with broken ring landings and not even know it.

Do change your oil frequently and I recommend you use AMSoil or Redline.

George.
 
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SeanZ

New member
Ya thnx guys the car its alright i mean better than a wrx lol but ya i need to get her tuned before i start anything just to be on the safeside the engine bay looks pretty clean to have 127k he did say part of it is rebuilt but idk
 

Alin

Diehard Car Enthusiast!
Do you know exactly what was rebuilt?

Also some more pictures! I'm interested to see the roof more than anything. I'm curious if it's actual CF or CF 3M wrap like mine is. :tup:
 

Lenny2005

New member
What you should do (this is what I did) buy all of your parts, put them all on at once, and then have it tuned. Saves $$$$
 

SeanZ

New member
Ya good idea lenny im do that and ya its cf wrap lol from the hood,roof, and trunk from far it looks black but once u come close it looks cf lol
 

Alin

Diehard Car Enthusiast!
2005's came as Crystal Grey Metallic, right? I think the 06-07 is Urban Grey Metallic. Looks good! show us some interior shots!
 

Lenny2005

New member
Nice STi man. 127K isn't bad like I said before. just take care of her, and build that motor one day! ive made lots of mistakes while building my STi, but ive learned from them and trying to share the knowledge. HolyCSrapItsFast (George) is probably the most knowledgeable person here. I don't know if this is still going on, but he use to provide online tuning for Paying members
 
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