Just thought i would say a quick hello and also share a story with you all, and perhaps listen to your responses and opinions.

Here goes.......

I have had my 02 plate WRX bugeye for a couple of months now and having never driven one before buying this (despite being in the motor trade half my life) I wasn't really sure how the power delivery would feel through the 4wd system. What I mean is that I have driven powerful cars before but they have always been 2wd. For example I've been a Ford tech, Honda tech and I'm now a Beemer tech. A lot of what I've done in the past has been pushed towards the more powerful versions of the marques so the ST focus, Anything V-TEC at Honda and M power cars at BMW.

Anyway, I'm making excuses for myself before I have explained why!

Now, my Bugeye has the PPP kit fitted. I have the paperwork for this with receipt and cert to prove so I know this is genuine. Its also only covered 41000 miles so not on its last legs.

So on friday I heard that my local Dyno place (AUSTEC RACING) are doing a special charity event for children in need so I thought that maybe I would give my car a run and see if the claim of 261bhp was actually true.

I run the car down there, feeling a little excited as I've never done a dyno run on any of my old cars, not even my old R5 turbo! I give my keys to one of the guys running the dyno, he brings my car in and backs it on to the machine. A crowd of people flock round as I'm chatting to another guy playing with the computer running to the dyno. So he asks about mods, to which i reply "well its got the Prodive Pack on it so it's supposed to be 261, but I'll be happy with a nice running car and around 250". The run is just about to start and he says yeah 250 would be pretty good.
I stare hopefully at the screen as the car is spinning all 4 wheels nicely and I see 218.1 hp on the screen. (stupidly I'm thinking this is just some sort of calibration run). Then another run through the gears, 215.4 hp. Oh hold on??? They can't both be cal runs. Anoth run. Then 220.0 hp!

I turn to the guy with a with a big fat question mark on my face????????

WAS THAT IT??? Really?????? 220 brake????? TOPS!!!!!

Then matey who doesn't know whether its modded or not comes over and says "Thats a bloody good run out of a standard map". So of course I tell him that its supposed to be uprated to 260. "Thats a standard map mate, look at the boost reading, it peaks at 1bar and tails off to 0.6, it should be around 1.4 bar i think, If i pull out the map from the ecu I bet its the standard one".

I was livid!!!

Has any one had a similar experience or is it just possible that the PPP ecu wasn't fitted/remapped or maybe even the the prodive unit was faulty later on and an OEM unit fitted in its place?

I know the STi PPP has an STi label but this isn't an STi and my ecu just looks like a stock unit.

I'll see if I an put my read out on here for you all to see but I think I may need to upload it to another site first right?

 

I have a 04 wrx ppp and I was expecting 260 then on dyno abt 234. Like you not happy. Mapper said ppp is sh**.

 

As much as I feel your pain I'm glad it isn't just me. Still, you did a fair bit better than I did!!!

 

Hopefully here is my dyno read out

http://i1135.photobucket.com/albums/...8thnov2011.jpg

 

THE SYSTEM WORKS!!! haha

 

i have been told by many that the prodrive maps are pants get it mapped mate it will be the best £350 you will ever spend. even without any mods it will change the whole car...
give RACEDYNAMIX (Duncan) a ring 07540185754 ........

 

Similar output as my old PPP it's ****, or the dealer never fitted the ECU

 

If I remember correctly (though I'm not sure where I got this), the 260bhp PPP upgrade for WRXs was for MY03 onwards.

I think for MY01 and MY02 the PPP upgrade provided an additional 30bhp over the standard WRX, about 245bhp.

If that's true then you're not doing too badly if you're still getting 220bhp nearly 9 years on.

Sam

 

02 bug UK WRX came with 215 PS out of the box and the PPP added a few more BHP but more importantly added quite a bit torque more under the curve

The TD04 turbo isn't the biggest in the world and 1.4 bar would be virtually impossible as the turbo would be simply chopping up the air and heating it rather than compressing it....normal boost 0.9 bar upped to near 1.1 bar on the PPP on a good day

It's not about BHP but extending the area under the curve...

If you want to get the most out of the UK Bug WRX out of the box then you need to de-cat / panel filter / fuel pump and then re-map to errode the safety that the PPP has built in as it was meant to function in all conditions with crappish fuel.

The Jap bug with AVCS made 250 PS but that's a different beast

Shaun

 

If they aren't supposed to be running the quoted 261 then the **** who put the sticker on the B pillar needs a slap!

I have to say, it does pulled well. Ive not suddenly started hating the car as a result or anything but when your mates are standing there its a touch embarrasing.

Could have been worse though, my mate has a bugeye wagon thats been remapped to 280 and his reading was 184!!! haha

Well thats a little unfair, he knows there is a problem and used the dyno run to get a better idea of the fault. Looks like an actuator issue. His boost is not exactly holding.

 

As Midlife has already said, the best thing I think to do would be to have purchased a stock car, and then have a de-cat exhaust, panel filter, fuel pump, and then a ECUmap done.. Would get a lot more power for your buck instead of paying extra originally for a car with the PPP.

 

dont belive numbers quoted anywhere tbh, all cars are diff and ppp just have a generic map upgrade along with a few other goodies, some make the claimed power, others dont.
Even if i bought a car wiith ppp , unless u need the waranty you get way more from a custom map anyways

 

Paid extra? Oh god no. I didn't pay extra. I picked this up cheap! I know you have to take the old car value thing with a pinch of salt but according to what car, mileage adjusted, I paid nearly 2 grand less than I probably should have. If I'd have paid over the odds for it just because of the PPP I would have either sold it in disgust or burned the *******! Haha

 

Did they give you the car for free then chap....?

The way the market is for these at the minute you probably paid the going rate if it's 2 grand less than its worth.

 

Haha. Yeah you're probably right there. As I said, you need to take those price guides with a pinch of salt. It was still a good price though.

 

We've experienced "PPP" rage at first hand many times. The guy is standing there with the same look on his face as if you'd just insulted his genitalia. We've learnt to expect less power than the fantasy figures quoted on the basis that the numbers just aren't on the map.
We had one in the other day which the man had actually paid for, which wasn't in the car at all. In place of the PPP board soldered into the ECU it actually had a poor quality map programmed by some other agency. He had 15 bhp over stock, which cost him £1200! He's had the car since new, and just found out about it.
In common with other PPP set ups, the boost had been cranked just a touch, and that was about it.
We just sorted it out of course, and the man left with a warm inner glow and his car running much better.

 

Wow, this is far too common if you ask me! What a total con!!! Glad I haven't paid for it or I'd be properly raging. It's hardly a cheap mod. Is there anyone to contact to complain???

 

I'm no expert and this is just my thoughts.
Your only about 20bhp down. When a car is on a dyno does it get the full cold air supply it would in the real world on the road, is there enough cold air going to the intercooler? Your graph looks quite spiky, is this normal or roller slippage ?
I'm not so sure the dyno man spends the time in setting things up properly on these mass dyno events?
Any mod that doesn't affect your manufactures warranty is never going to set the world on fire imo.

 

I agree that it isn't really gonna be the best indication of what's going on but it's a good starting point. The car runs really nicely but I am due to service it soon so even that might squeeze a couple more horses out. What bothers me is the claim of 261 when it appears that it's never going to achieve this figure. It even says to inform your insurance company of this fact! Yeah nice one, I may as well just give them my wallet while I'm at it!!!

 

Danny, I understand your disappointment but I just don’t get the rant.

Even if your car originally came with around 260bhp it’s not unreasonable that 9 years on, what with wear and tear and general deterioration, peak power’s down by 10-15%.

Five years and 50k miles after my (virtually stock) classic turbo was mapped to 245bhp it showed 218bhp on the same dyno, despite a full Subaru service history in the intevening years.

And chopperman's right, your graphs do look a bit jagged so you may have something out.

After your service, assuming you don’t have a fault, you could consider spending £350 on a map with a really good mapper (I’d recommend MartynJ at EngineTuner).

As has been clearly demonstrated on this forum 260+ is achievable on a stock early newage WRX with little more than a set of cooler plugs and a mapper who really knows what he’s doing. Starting with a PPP as a base should make this target even easier to achieve.

Try that, then, if you still want more power, you can go down some of the routes suggested earlier in this thread.

 

Mate I'm well aware I'm going to lose a bit of power over time. I've been involved in cars all my life and they are also my job. My "rant" that you have highlighted was after everyone had said that the ppp kit was pretty much a waste of time and money. You're right, the graph is a little spikey. The car runs perfectly though so it's a little strange. never mind eh? I'm going to spend a few quid bringing the car up to scratch and then have a play around with it. Having just found a coolant leak from the radiator I now have some more pressing issues than my disappointment at having standard power. :-(