A mate of mine is looking at buying his first scooby, he's found a nice looking 2005 wrx, got some nice bits on it Pff7's, morette headlights, sti winglets etc and is only 21000 miles.

The only worrying aspect to me are the engine mods, it has a frount mount, induction kit, 3" decat exhaust and a vta, my mate has spoken to the seller who claims it is running 280bhp but it hasn't had a remap

Now whilst that bhp figure claim would be in the right ballpark with those mods, I'm concerned by the fact that it hasn't been mapped and wonder what damage could be done to the engine with that little lot bolted on. At this stage we're unclear as to how long the mods have been in place and what type of use/abuse the car has had.

If anyone could shed some light on this we'd be grateful

thanks
Iain

 

If it hasn't been remapped, but also doesn't have any form of manual boost controller, piggyback etc etc then the power figure will be based on significant quantities of bullsh*t or pub talk (same thing).

Assuming it is standard state of tune, it'd be better off without the mods (with the exception of the decat) as the induction kit won't do the MAF accuracy or charge temps any favours (assuming it isn't a CA feed), the front mount is simply unnecessary at standard boost and will dull the throttle response, and the dumpvalve is, well, obvious.

Provided it looks and drives well, the only thing that really raises a caution is the presence of the induction kit, due to the risk that it has been causing lean running, so the other thing to factor in might be whether it's off a forecourt or a private sale (and therefore comes with any warranty).

The other way of looking at it is that your mate could attempt to negotiate the price down on the basis that costs will be incurred either de-modifying the car or getting it set up properly.

 

As above but with the added thought that since these mods were done has it been detting / boost spiking due to the de-cat (a well known side effect on newage cars that haven't had a remap). Some damage may already been done.

 

^^^ thats my worry, possible damage that cant be seen, if it only needs a remap that shouldn;t be a problem as the price is quite low as it is and he has cash left over to cover the cost of a map, just dont want to end up with a dud. Guess the only way to find out is to take the engine apart ... (like thats gonna happen lol)

 

ask how long he has been running the ca around without the remap if used regularly then walk away as the incuction kit alone would need rescaling so some damage would have been done

 

cheers for the replies guys, my mate has decided to leave it after some poor and rude communication from the seller, if that is how he talks to people then wonder what he has done to the car!

 

You can tell simply from the list of mods that it has been owned by someone pretty clueless. Especially given it seems to have been a private sale, passing sounds like a sensible move.

 

Wise move to pass.

Deffo needed a remap to make it safe let alone make the claimed power.

 

thanks guys, shame because if it had been mapped and looked after it could have been a nice find, only asking a smidge over 7k for it (makes you wonder why now I suppose). My mate recieved an email from the seller yesterday saying that he has other people interested etc etc, so my mate replies saying thanks but no thanks, dont hold it for me good luck with the sale, he then replies with a torrent of abuse calling him a timewaster !

 

walk away 100%