I'm considering a remap for my MY00 Impreza. I am unfamiliar with the market and my requirements are probably not that common.
My car is standard bar a Prodrive Back-box.
I've no interest in aftermarket exhausts or filters, the car must remain quiet at all costs. I have no interest in peak power but would like to improve driveability from lower revs and lose the hesitancy that accompanies the MY00 802 ECU. As far as I can see I have three options:
1. the MY99/00 PPP Ecu - I am concerned about the provenance (and price!) of these on the secondhand market.
2. switch to the MY99 801 ECU (similar concerns to the above)
3. Go for a remap. This I know next to nothing about. Is the oe ECU modified or replaced? Could I revert to the original map if not happy. Are my requirements realistic?

Any advice would be appreciated
Cheers
Simon

 

1. Provided you see the pink label with STi logo and A18-000-D1X part number, there shouldn't be any issues with the providence of a PPP ECU. Of course it's not impossible that someone unscrupulous might swap the PCB for a standard one, but it doesn't seem to be a notable trend, yet.

Also bear in mind, if your car is bog standard, that the PPP ECU is calibrated to run with a fixed configuration which includes the hard intercooler pipe and (IIRC) a new centre exhaust.

2. Shouldn't be any specific concerns when acquiring an AE801. They're plentiful and cheap, and no obvious reason to misdescribe.

3. The OE ECU is reprogrammed. You couldn't revert to the original map yourself - it's not like there's an "undo" button you can press, but negotiation with the mapper may see it removed for a partial refund if you weren't happy. However the chances of you not being happy with this solution would be pretty slim.

 

The answer to 3. confirms my concern about 1. and 2. There is no way that I can tell if a s/h ECU has been re-mapped.

I have the centre pipe but don't want any more noise than I have at the moment - I have even considered going back to the oe silencer but want to stick with stainless.
Maybe the AE801 makes most sense but is the difference that noticeable?
What are the options with the re-map - bearing in mind the fact that I don't want to modify the car visibly?

 

I don't see how this confirms your concerns, with the 801 at least. There's no logical reason why someone would advertise a remapped ECU as a bog-standard one when it would fetch a higher price if accurately advertised.

Similarly the only real risk inherent in buying a PPP ECU is the possibility that some toe-rag has swapped out the circuit board and replaced it with their 800/801/802.

If you buy from an established supplier (see Grade A, for example) there should be minimal risk of any of this sort of thing, given that the company has a reputation to lose. Your mileage elsewhere may vary of course, with the PPP at least.

The power delivery feels a lot more immediate under your foot, and there's ultimately a bit more of it thanks to the leaner fuelling and (in parts of the map) greater ignition advance. "Noticeable" is a subjective term so the only thing you can do is to try it. Given the going rate for a secondhand 801, and the simple plug and play swap, it's not as though it'll cost you a fortune to find out.

There's no reason why a remap would need the car to be modified visibly or audibly, although if you haven't done so already some elementary underbonnet changes, principally junking the awful moulded y-pipe for something better, and a quality high-flow panel filter would be worthwhile.

Have a look in the trader's section and search out Bob Rawle or Simon (Jolly Green Monster)'s details and have some words with them about what you want to achieve.

 

Thanks, that's very helpful.

 

I have replaced my 801 with the ppp ecu, it's a good modification, but to get the best out of it, you will need to replace the centre pipe that contains the middle cat, and also replace the Y pipe that feeds the intercooler, boost is up to about 1.1 Bar, it makes the car more driveable, if you kep the prodrive back box it will still be silent

 

Well. I've now bought a PPP ECU; I will order a set of Samco turbo pipes today and I have what I believe to be a STi resonated centre pipe that has been sitting in the loft for the last five years (I haven't even opened the packaging yet!). I'll post a picture later today so some kind soul can identify exactly what it is I've got!

I'll give the insurance company a ring too! Do they generally know what a PPP is? What kind of additional premium is usually required?

 

ECU now fitted . How on earth did I put up with that AE802 for so long?!!!
It makes running around locally at low speed a pleasure rather than a chore.
This is the centre section I had in the loft. It has a 2.5" opening at the front and has Subaru stamped into the box which I assume to be the resonator:

Does this look like the STi item that I need and is it likely to make much difference to noise compared to the oe centre section with catalyst. I'll be retaining the Prodrive back box.

The Samco hoses will be here on Monday but I am a little concerned about this talk about a different restrictor pill in the PPP kit. I've done a few searches and (no offence to Tony Burns here) I was concerned whether this is verified information or the observation of Tony on his own kit. It is a new one on me.

Lastly, having only replaced the back box on my Imprezas in the past, how do you guys replace centre sections without a lift? Get the whole car in the air, lift the front to undo the front join then the rear to do the back? I usually just use a trolley jack under the rear diff and a couple of axle stands.

 

Red this just in time, i had fitted the ppp ecu, decat centre, 100cell sports downpipe, and was waiting to fit y samco. All was fine with boost with the standard y pipe, but when i fitted the samco boost was 1.3ish (overboost) then it would drop to .7 back up and down till it run out of boost. This was in 4th and 5th only, subaru only sell the pill in 1mm form and my00 was 1mm standard. So i drilled it out to 1.2mm at work and now it's ok, not perfect but ok, Def seamed to run better with the standard y pipe, but this is just my car. Don't lob your y pipe away if yours works fine on samco and 1.2mm pill, i will buy your y pipe if at a good price.
Or we could do a deal on your y pipe and i will get you a pill sized at 1.2mm, subaru, well my local only sold them.
Hope this helps, as i needed to no what pill was in ppp.

 

I have the ppp pack on my 99 uk turbo, with the samco y pipe and de cat center section and magnex backbox, i also have a decat open mouth downpipe which i havnt fitted purely for the fact this would cause boost spiking as the ppp ecu does not account for the downpipe in the map. I would of thought fitting a sportscat downpipe would be your boost problem, oh and exhaust wise my car is nice and quiet with the above mods

 

I had a look at access to the turbo pipes this afternoon and it may be a while until I get round to changing them! I'm afraid I always hang on to everything when modifying a car so that I can put it back to standard if needs be.

Can anyone identify that centre section for me?

 

That centre section is exactly the same as the sti section i have in my mums garage,the backbox also has sti stamped on the tailpipe,so i guess the answer is yes .

 

Yes i thought it would be but was ok befor the y pipe, so 1.2mm pill fixed it.

 

The resonated and catted classic centres look almost identical. Off top of head I think the catted ones have holes stamped in the heatshield round the cat so you've probably got a resonated one there. Easy enough to tell for certain though - hold the inlet up to the light and look inside. If you see a "wall" about three inches inside consisting of a very small grid of honeycomb or square holes about 2mm across you've got a catted one.

Quickest way is to put it up on four stands.

I presume that doesn't mean you go underneath the car while it's still supported on the jack???

 

No, I mean I have only replaced the back box and use a couple of axle stands at the back + some spare wheels placed under the car as an extra precaution.
I think I'd like to try some ramps at the front + the axle stands at the back but am not sure if the Impreza's ramp angles will allow it.

I had a look in the inlet and there's not much down there at all so can safely say it is not catted. I had a quick look under the car yesterday and saw how similar it was to the standard pipe so began to doubt what I'd got.

Thanks for all the advice (and Mark for the ECU!). Even my wife has noticed how much smoother the low rev power delivery is now.