ill try and keep this short and sweet.. bought an 06 hawkeye WRX the other day. shes got 63k miles and seems like full service history as well looking through the invoices/reciepts that came with her. shes totally standard bar me swapping the OEM silver multispoke hawkeye 17's for the bug/blob 5 spokes in the gunmetal/anthracite colour.



now i did do some homework before buying this and it appears the hawkeye's 2.5 isnt too problematic, or atleast not to the extent of the 2.5 in the hatchback and newer shapes. i read stories about the pistons in the 2.5, the weaker gearbox in the WRX vs the STi and also about rear shock knocks and re-greasing to quieten it on the cheap.. anyway. from what i gather i should be safe as houses shooting for 300-325bhp with this WRX as issues i am aware of only seem to be a problem from about 350bhp+.

for 300bhp im hearing only basic mods are necessary, mainly intake/exhaust and mapping. im assuming similar for 325bhp or there abouts. regarding exhaust setup for 300bhp, would a catback suffice or does it need to be turbo back with de-cat? car is a daily driver so id need to look into if it would sneak through an MOT with a de-cat or not if thats a necessity.

also regarding aftermarket parts and whatnot.. will most engine/exhaust items from classic to new age be interchangeable? might be able to broaden my search for the parts i want if i can expand the years/generations i can look for things from.

lastly is there much info or any articles on the ECU's in these cars? got into DIY tuning and subsequently started a small business tuning/chipping/mapping older BMW's (mid 80's to early 90's) so i know the bosch motronic system they use inside and out and have some degree of generl tuning related knowledge so im curious how much of a jump id be looking at to get to the point of mapping my WRX software/hardware wise and to see if any of the kit i have already may cover the reading/flashing (assuming its not an old skool style chip out, new chip in job).

thanks

 

Nice car, I love my Wrx!

Hawks still have big HG issues same as all the other 2.5s, will have a better read of your post at home and share my experience.

280 in a Wrx is good power and the gearbox is great for normal use. Miss being able to drive hard without going silly silly speeds

 

Personally give it a good hard drive for a while see what it can do out of the box, then if no heavy oil use good box etc start tuning, my sti engine still had ringland failure but it wasnt noticable until i tuned it, thats mho welcome to scoobynet

 

Welcome.

All the 2.5's suffer from ringland and head gasket failures, full stop.

Sooner or later one or both will go at which point it becomes a very expensive fix.

My advice would be avoid any tuning and save some pennies, also don't drive the car hard for prolonged periods if at all.

Speak to one of the specialists on here about the cost of forging the engine, prior to it going pop and after it going pop, as there is a significant difference in cost.

Get yourself over to the mapping section and all will become clear with regards the mapping side of things.

 

Regards to mapping, seen as you are into DIY, then learn about Opensource mapping with carberry software.

And yes all 2.5 are the same.

 

hmm was hoping i could get her up a bit in power without heads off or anything done internally as its my DD and for sheer mentalness i have another car im building, an old E30 325i which will be getting a GT3582 strapped to it and ultimately will be pushing atleast 300bhp, ideally closer to 400 and in a 1200kg shell lol (must put a thread up for the E30 later)

ok so for lowest risk of engine issues what about a cat-back and possibly an intake of some sort and an aftermarket BOV (just for the sound lol). speaking of BOV's how much of a change in spool up is there going up the gears with an atmospheric BOV compared to a recirc or the standard recirc?

i have put the foot down a few times but no black/blue/white smoke from the car, no leaks that i can see anywhere around or under the engine, however, i noticed on inspecting the car that the cold oil level was at the minimum mark and there was a service sticker saying oil was done just under 3000 miles ago, i think it also has 5w-30 wrote on it as well which i gather is the right weight. i read that these engined do use more oil than other engines especially when cornering hard. the oil and filter have been changed and im going to keep an eye on the oil level to get an idea of how much its using. i havent popped a hose off to check the intercooler or TB for oil/residue but i will when i get a chance and i will be looking into getting/fitting an AOS.

 

regarding the 2.5's known issues.. forgot to say i read this article prior to deciding to buy the car. surely 3 reputable places words should carry weight? thats what got me thinking 300bhp should be safe as they mention 300whp which would be more than 300bhp.

http://www.importtuner.com/tech/impp...h/viewall.html

 

Do a quick search on the BOV subject , there has been 1 or 2 threads just recently, with a lot of information in them.

I'm sure you will draw to a conclusion on the subject fairly quickly

 

And no need to change the induction setup just a new filter. Cat back would be fine for that power but decay will get you a little more power

 

don't bother with the BOV, the std recirc is fine.
my car had a forge (one of the better ones) BOV fitted when i got it, i noticed a slight hesitation when giving it some. now got a std recirc fitted and the hesitation has gone.

the MAF measures air flow through filter and adds fuel to correct ratio, then, when you change gear and it dumps some of the measured air out of the system, when you get back on the power, for a split second the engine is running rich due to the air leaving, thus hesitating

 

yea i know how the ECU reacts with air previously metered being dumped to atmosphere, joys of being a small time tuner. creates a momentary rich spike which can cause slight hesitation as mentioned or indeed potentially some nice fireballs on gearchange with a free flowing exhaust.

i know a recirc will outperform an atmospheric valve but as this is my first turbo car i want to have some fun with the whole BOV sound thing. what i was thinking would be ideal (however i may have to make it myself if theres nothing off the shelf) is having one of those half and half valves where it vents to atmo but also recircs a little back into the system so best of both kind of thing.

on my E30 325i im turbocharging i will be running a recirc atleast initially as ive got a standard saab turbo bosch recirc valve and also a cheapy ebay adjustable recirc valve. also got a MBC which i was wondering if i might be able to throw on the WRX depending if the standard ECU will trim fuelling according to slightly higher boost pressure. not sure how advanced the ECU in the car is just yet.. prior to looking round the engine bay id have thought these cars would have used or atleast had a MAP sensor on the engine somewhere as MAF or old skool flap type AFM's as on the old BMW's have their issues (such as the atmospheric BOV thing and so on). for fun and giggles and to see just what sort of hesitation and increase in turbo lag there is with an atmo BOV i might just pop the recirc hose off the standard BOV and plug it then drive the car a bit to see.

regarding the standard intake setup, i have designed/built a few setups for previous cars of mine before so no stranger to what works and what doesnt. the standard setup on the WRX looks pretty good with the large flat feed. the only thing that jumps out at me initially is that there isnt much room for airflow to pass from the area infront of the radiator/behind the grille/bumper up to the feed for the airbox/intake as theres a plastic peice of trim or maybe the upper mounting of the grille/bumper in the way. was thinking i might trim that peice away and make an angled feed to extend the feed down and help pull more air up into it. may be easier to ditch the whole box/feed and try to run a feed down the hole in the wing and stick a filter down there though or something else.. i like my engines breathing cool air, ideally try to make a ram air intake for bets results.

for fun and giggles and anyone who may be curious, heres my 1st love (scooby comes 2nd atleast for now im afraid):





shes been laid up on axle stands a couple months already now. was running 100% prior to pulling the head off in prep for turbo goodness. ECU tuning by me and will be running 315cc injectors (standard is half that) among other little things. got a full discontinued AC Schnitzer kit for her as well as ACS springs and front shocks in addition to uprated rear shocks and front/rear strut braces. stripped interior but may put a full interior back in it as 30kg or so isnt gonna make a difference once boosting. also bit of resto work to be done as ive driven her daily for the guts of 5 years till recently.

and one glory shot for good measure. wasnt a bad smoke show for minimal n/a mods + mapping lol