I am looking at doing my first mod to my 2002 WRX. I would like to start with the exhaust and replace both the up and down pipes with the ones made by Crucial Racing. It looks like they have a great product. The down pipe is a shorty so it leaves in the main cat. They are also ceramic coated which seems like a good idea. http://www.crucialracing.com/products/ What can I expect for power gains with the stock ECU? They have a copper gasket set available as well. Does this type of gasket work well or is the stock one better? Is there a better up and down pipe out there? I've heard different opinions about flex and non flex up pipes.
I don't have them yet, but I definately am getting Crucial UP/DP combo. They seem to be the best crafted ones on the market. Stock ecu gains are minimal, but noticable so I've heard. Reprogramming (Accessport, UTEC, ecutek) will help out a lot.
Hmm, I'm going to go with Helix up/down pipes. They have some great reviews over at www.i-club.com The crucial pipes look decent too.
Everything I've read about the ERZ ones have positive reviews. The price is about 1/2 of anyone else too.
How about flex versus solid and also heat shielding? I've heard the solid one can be bad for the turbo because the transfer more vibration? I've also heard that if the pipe is not heat shielded in some way it is bad for the #3 cylinder and heat soke on the intercooler. I'm thinking about a gutted pipe or bosal now.
Fitment in terms of flat flanges was excellent. I think that their bend of the pipe was a bit off -- I had to leave out a stud for the large turbo bracket for everything to line up properly without causing a leak at the lower manifold joint. It was very similar to this http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showpost.php?p=11392001&postcount=19, but on the other, larger brack on the other side of the turbo. I never tried to loosen the larger bracket, however -- it is a PITA to get at the bolts that secure it to the block. After removing the offending stud that threw off the alignment and re-torquing everything, I haven't had a leak in at least 3-4 months. As far as the EGT sensor, there is no bung in this pipe, so I don't have one anymore. Crucial includes a resistor fix for this, but I have an AccessPort that eliminates any CEL.
I decided to go with the Bosal Uppipe (just ordered it). The Crucial part looked like a good part and I will likely pick up their down pipe. However the solid design made me concerned it may leak. The bosal pipe is essentially a replica of the sti uppipe (I think Bosal actually makes the sti pipe). It came down to the Crucial and Bosal parts for me since I wanted a pipe with a heat shield. I suppose I could have used exhaust wrap, but this seemed better to me. Now I just need to talk to wrxboy2003 to set up a time for the install.
I'll check out bosal. I'm going to do the install myself as soonas my car gets out of the body shop...within a couple weeks.
Last night I had my Bosal Up Pipe installed by wrxboy2003. No leaks or check engine lights after three drives. I can only imagine how long this would have taken me on Jack Stands. I think the only way subaru could have made it more difficult is if it would have been welded to the turbo. The up pipe looked exactly like the stock one minus the converter. To sum up the install procedure. -Removed turbo heat shields. -Tried to remove O2 sensor but just ended up cutting heat shield. -Removed exhaust manifolds as one peice. -Removed Down Pipe -Unbolted Up Pipe -Unbolted engine mount and lifted engine slightly to get Up Pipe out and new one in. -Then put everything back together. So far my butt-dyno tells me it is doing something. Turbo is a little louder and there seems to be less lag. I might disconnect the battery to reset the computer and see if that makes a difference. Thanks for the Help Nathan, I would highly recommend his services.
are you running any engine management? He didn't disconnect the manifold did he? I'm doing this install myself as soon as my up/down arrive.
Just the stock ECU and 2.2k Ohm resistor in the EGT sensor harness. Yes he removed the exhaust manifolds from the heads. Kind of a pain to line up and put on again. But it is possible. I also saw quite a few write ups that the intercooler needed to be removed. We did not do that.
