Can I go from stock to stage 2?

Colby21

New member
I own 03 Wrx sedan and I love the car and want some more hp, can I go from almost completly stock straight to stage 2? the mods on my car consist of a blow off valve, strut bar supports, cold air intake and i just put a forester tranny and rear diff in it. can my car handle stage 2? 

Thanks
default_additional_hail.gif


 

RyanR

///|||\\\|||///|||\\&#092
Yes, you can.  You'll need a catted or catless upgraded downpipe, and a catless uppipe (or gut the stock one) though in order to support stage 2 boost levels.  You'll need a tune anyway for that intake.

 

Marino

I <3 BOOST
It might seem a little expensive at first, especially that whole package from straight from Cobb, but its worth every penny trust me. I went from bone stock on my 05 WRX and installed a catless uppipe along with a catted downpipe all together along with the acessport tune and it was a huge step up in power and overall driveability. Definitely worth it and can hear the beautiful sound of the turbo spool clearly
default_banana.gif


 

Visonik

Active member
Kinetic Motorworks tuned my 02 wrx to stage 2 and said that the factory airbox had to stay in it... Is that not true or should he lose the CAI?

 

RyanR

///|||\\\|||///|||\\&#092
Kinetic Motorworks tuned my 02 wrx to stage 2 and said that the factory airbox had to stay in it... Is that not true or should he lose the CAI?

You can run anything you want if you're willing to tune for it, and the internals can handle it.  In the case of an intake, you have to change the mass airflow sensor scaling.  That requires a wideband oxygen sensor as well as quite a bit of driving time in different temps/conditions/loads in order to make sure the adjustment is proper.  Otherwise you run the risk of being lean or too rich, which is bad for yo' internals yo.

 

Apollyon12

Active member
The off-the-shelf Cobb tunes account for using a different intake.   But it's not required.   Remember that the intake system is the exact same one that comes on the STI and that is pushing out 300hp, so the stock intake on the wrx is good to at least that level.

Moot point for the OP, cause he already has the intake.

Without the proper tune, as RyanR mentioned, you will not get the most benfits from the intake alone.   I have driven a few cars that had CAI's without a tune and I swear each one was down on low end torque.   Maybe they made more hp's on the upper end, but down low, where you feel it every day, they were definietly lower.

 

RyanR

///|||\\\|||///|||\\&#092
I always adjust requested torque on the low end (around town) on cars that have CAIs. Otherwise they feel anemic during clutch engagement from a stop and up to 14% ish throttle.

For stage 2 on any subaru I can think of, an intake is not required, just an uprated panel filter in the stock box. Intakes are mostly noise makers, unless the car is properly tuned for it. Bovs are just noise makers,and actually create more stock turbo boost lag, and a rich condition on shifts under load. The only reason for a bov is when you have a big turbo with rediculous volume you need to move on throttle lift, and that volume exceeds the stock recirc valve capabilities. That scenario is probably 1-2% of modified scoobs. What you really want is a high performance recirc valve, instead of a bov, if you're looking to replace the stock unit. Even many big turbo subarus use a recirc valve instead of a bov.

 
Last edited by a moderator:

Latest posts

Back
Top