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Fitting an STI Inlet manifold to my WRX MY03

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Old 08 January 2006 | 07:54 PM
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Default Fitting an STI Inlet manifold to my WRX MY03

Can this be undertaken with ease? Has anyone done it ? Ive been told that The Sti manifold will fit but you will be left with a CEL due to the TGV signals being wrong. And I would need to buy a special kit to couple the tgv drive to the feedback pot. Any Ideas anybody?
Old 08 January 2006 | 08:32 PM
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I've done this and it wasn't an easy job as a first timer.
The worst part was trying to work around some green brackets that shield the injectors from damage. They also get in the way of undoing some vital bolts.
I'd say to took me some 5 hours to remove the manifold and about 1.5 hours to hook up the STi JDM manifold (with pink injectors and all fittings in place.)
I thought the UK STi did have TGVs? I fitted a JDM STi manifold and this didn't have them, so I got a CEL light.
This was removed during a remap with quite a few other bits being changed.
I did a fair amount of porting as the JDM TGV body still had the divider walls, even though there were no spindles or valves.
The joint between actual manifold and TGV body was also a poor transition so that was tackled as well.

I'd really avoid doing this as a one off job and save it up as part of a complete project with other mods.
You can fit a mechanical fix from Perrin etc, but they seem pretty expensive as a one off solution compared to an overall benefit of a remap.


Nick
Old 08 January 2006 | 08:39 PM
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Hi Thanks Nick

I am having a TD05 fitted and a Perrin induction pipe so it was going to be done at the same time. However from your experience if its going to be a ball ache then im going to leave it well alone. Andy F has suggested its a nightmare to! Apart from looking good in red, does the actual STI inlet manifold have any decent performance gain over my WRX one ??

Cheers
Old 08 January 2006 | 09:50 PM
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I was under the impresion that the inlet manifolds are identical apart from the red paint.You might want to check it out before you start removing things un-necessarily
Old 08 January 2006 | 09:50 PM
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The benefit is alledgedly the work carried out only on the TGV body - but it is no different than the WRX version.
The US seems to be reporting some hp increase with TGV removal, but then some in the UK say it is of no real benefit for moderate tweaks.

NIck
Old 09 January 2006 | 12:15 AM
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I thought about the APS TGV delete kit but then realised Ninnybobs has over 400 BHP on his bugeye with the things in place and bought something more tarty instead .......LOL

Midlife.....
Old 09 January 2006 | 12:39 AM
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If it ain't broke....... don't fix it
Old 09 January 2006 | 09:47 AM
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Hi Martin so are we saying its an easy swap if i leave the TGV alone and not bother with a delete kit?

Cheers
Old 09 January 2006 | 09:54 AM
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Originally Posted by Midlife......
I thought about the APS TGV delete kit but then realised Ninnybobs has over 400 BHP on his bugeye with the things in place and bought something more tarty instead .......LOL

Midlife.....
Exactly !

My MY03WRX has made 380bhp on an 18G and 402 on a 20G with the TGV's in place.
I don't see any more bhp than this on the Sti's with the same turbo and 'supposedly' better engine.

Andy
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Old 09 January 2006 | 10:07 AM
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Originally Posted by Ninnybobs


If it ain't broke....... don't fix it
But would you have got even more with a TGV delete??

I'd be interested if anyone in the UK has done any before/after evidence (delta dash runs?) to show there is no benefit in the TGV delete.

Nick
Old 09 January 2006 | 01:50 PM
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Butty,

As Andy says if a WRX can make 400bhp with TGV's in place and an STI is not producing significantly more without them.......... why change?

Martin
Old 09 January 2006 | 02:07 PM
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What I'm after is some justification for the blood, sweat & tears doing the work...
Although the JDM STi doesn't have the TGV spindle & valve, it still has a chunky divider wall that takes up some 5% of the cross-section. Plus the match between manifold to TGV body is poor.
Here's a piccie looking up the TGV body to the manifold.

Surely the removal & smoothing out of this will aid peak air flow, esp for higher output cars.
And can anyone confirm what the UK STi has in the TGV body?

NIck
Old 09 January 2006 | 04:05 PM
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If only it was that straightforward Nick. Combustion efficiency depends on a large number of factors including tumble and swirl which may be positively influenced by the steps in the castings.
May be that at 400+ the smaller bore starts to offset the other gains, as you say you would need to run some back to back comparisons to know for sure.

Andy
Old 09 January 2006 | 08:31 PM
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Originally Posted by Andy.F
Exactly !

My MY03WRX has made 380bhp on an 18G and 402 on a 20G with the TGV's in place.
I don't see any more bhp than this on the Sti's with the same turbo and 'supposedly' better engine.

Andy
Andy-Thats interesting that you say 'supposedly' better engine--is there not so much difference between them as we're led to believe?
Old 09 January 2006 | 11:50 PM
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Nick

I almost went for an APS TGV delete simply to get rid of "something which might go wrong". Like most people with mods we get a bit paranoid with noises and I *swear* I could hear the TGV's just waiting to fall apart LOL

What put me off was the $550 price plus taxes plus delivery plus RCMS fitting them ...eeek !!

Now I've got the induction kit fitted I can't hear anything else .......until the big bang !!

Induction into the cylinders seems a bit of a "black art" to me, why a hemisperical piston should work better baffles me and as for the Jaguar "fireball" design...!!

Cheers


Shaun
Old 10 January 2006 | 01:11 AM
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Originally Posted by easyrider
Andy-Thats interesting that you say 'supposedly' better engine--is there not so much difference between them as we're led to believe?
Not with regard to power output on the same turbo. Pistons may be better but the AVCS on the std Sti cams seems a bit of a waste of space to be honest. Any adjustments much outwith the std map just makes the Sti worse than the WRX with regard to spool up and maximum power.
I'd go as far as to say it is a bit of a gimmick ...... flamesuit on in preparation for the other tuners claming fantastic gains from the AVCS

Andy
Old 10 January 2006 | 01:12 AM
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Originally Posted by Midlife......
Nick

I *swear* I could hear the TGV's just waiting to fall apart LOL
lol, I get like that with my engine sometimes, I'm sure it gets louder every time I start it
Old 10 January 2006 | 10:43 AM
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So just to recap then in lamens terms for an ignornant new tuner, the Red STI inlet manifold from a bugeye will fit with ease to my slightly later 03WRX with no messing with TGV delete kits etc ??

Andy when you come to map for us in Jan can you cancel the CEL if it does illuminate as previously mentioned?

Thanks
Old 10 January 2006 | 11:31 AM
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Originally Posted by KK3960
So just to recap then in lamens terms for an ignornant new tuner, the Red STI inlet manifold from a bugeye will fit with ease to my slightly later 03WRX with no messing with TGV delete kits etc ??

Andy when you come to map for us in Jan can you cancel the CEL if it does illuminate as previously mentioned?

Thanks
?? I thought the message was the complete opposite??
It is a pain in the ar$e job to do for no provable gains and needing a CEL fix.

Nick
Old 11 January 2006 | 02:46 PM
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Help ??? What i am saying is that if i do fit the Red Sti Intake manifold if i leave the TGV alone will i be ok ? Im not concerned about the CEL !

Last edited by KK3960; 11 January 2006 at 02:50 PM.
Old 12 January 2006 | 12:00 AM
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Nick

I think removing the TGV's would be something we would all do if it was easy .......but still be envious of those who have managed it LOL !!

Midlife (who wanted to remove the TGV's and bottled out)
Old 12 January 2006 | 10:25 AM
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Originally Posted by KK3960
Help ??? What i am saying is that if i do fit the Red Sti Intake manifold if i leave the TGV alone will i be ok ? Im not concerned about the CEL !
sorry - I misunderstood you.
Just swapping the manifold is 80% of the whole swap job as you still have to deal with the green brackets to get at the bolts holding the manifold onto the TGV bodies.


Midlife - thanks for the words of comfort - its made me a lot happier now

Nick
Old 12 January 2006 | 11:24 PM
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But if i sort the green bracket stumbling block will it be a straight swap in the name of pure vanity ??
Old 12 January 2006 | 11:42 PM
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KK3960

In the name of vanity I came within a whisker of asking Roger Clark Motorsport to paint my manifold red when it went in for the APS FMIC

It's a long story but I had to have the APS hard pipes powder coated in red and I was sooooo tempted ..LOL

Midlife.....

PS Butty.....I've lost track of what you are selling at the moment but have you a water injection kit for sale
Old 12 January 2006 | 11:56 PM
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Yes I know what you mean. Ive just fitted an APS cold air inner wing induction kit, hence the Red powder coated look! Should have bought an STI
Old 13 January 2006 | 12:07 AM
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It's even worse with me as I have bought a red battery to match the rest of the kit from Alyn at www.asperformance.com LOL

WRX's better to mod IMHO as no AVCS, cheaper to start with and more money to spend

Midlife.....
Old 13 January 2006 | 12:29 AM
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And i thought I was Vanity mad
Yes i went the WRX SL route as i wanted the heated leather seats and electric roof! Few more creature comforts than the STI And those Gold wheels Hmm
Old 13 January 2006 | 12:33 AM
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Reading the above it appears that it's a hard thing to do is it worth putting a sti inlet manifold onto a bug eye wrx, was there a difference betwee the sti bug eye and blob eye manifold? What are the gains etc? thanks
Old 26 January 2006 | 01:36 AM
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Well despite all the negative "DUNNO IF IT WILL WORKS", I decided to go ahead anyway and see if it would be possible to remove my boring dull 03 WRX Silver Inlet manifold with a nice looking STI RED One with matching red induction Samco's and STI Injectors!! And guess what !! I got STI overhaulled Simple swap with tumble valves assembly from WRX to STI manifold, and not a CEL light in sight!!

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d1...0/MyEngine.jpg

Last edited by KK3960; 26 January 2006 at 09:43 AM.
Old 26 January 2006 | 09:18 AM
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KK,

When's your remap?

I would be interested in the results

Martin



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