Afternoon people!

Noob here.

I’m about to purchase my first Scooby and it’s an unmolested ’03 WRX PPP wagon. I’m pretty excited as this is my first foray into 4wd turbo power having always owned RWD sports car before this.

Having done a bit of looking about utilising the ‘search button’ am I right in thinking that changing out the turbo ‘up’ pipe and the down pipe to get rid of 2 of the 3 cats might release some more horses? Would the PPP ECU need to be reflashed after?

Are both these jobs fairly easy ie can do them on my drive with a socket set or is it a ramp/engine out job? Excuse my ignorance, I’m a novice mechanic (albeit with experienced mechanic friends).

Are both the replacement pipes STI parts? Where is best to get them from?

Thanks

 

My best advise to you would be buy it, drive it as it is for a month or so and then decide what you want to do. A pit or a ramp makes changing exhaust parts so much easier than on the road.

My 05 wrx feels plenty quick enough with a sports cat downpipe, free flow centre and prodrive back box.

 

Thanks. Main reason for the 'up' pipe swap out was because I have heard horror stories about the cat disintegrating and shredding the turbo......would be more of a preemptive mod. Looking at the diagrams of the exhaust system I assumed that one would be the biggest sod to get to?!

 

Hi and welcome, the up pipe is usually an STI part, the down pipe can either be a sports cat or straight through after market item.

Changing either is not difficult but the up pipe is a pita.

You will need a remap to get the most out of it, but I would advise if your going that route you may as well change the turbo while your at it to get some more bang for your buck as a remap is circa £350 for open source, ecutec is around the £500 mark.

 

md321 billet is the way to go

 

you got one of those ebay ones for sale tubbs, what did yours make again 450bhp was it?

 

lol nope pretty much sold all my remaining bits on here and ebay funny enough.
believe it or not the only things i have left are a boot lid and some stickers
oddly enough the type uk badge was bought buy a guy in the u.s.a.

 

Thanks for the replies lads.

Having done the modding thing when I owned my S2000 I vowed to both myself and ‘er indoors that I wasn’t going to go down this route…..as we all know, it’s never ending…..

BUT

You mention swapping out the turbo…wouldn’t that mean a change of fuel pump, intercoolers, injectors as well? How much am I looking at? That would be a fairly big jump from just eliminating the potential of the ‘up’ pipe cat sh*tting into the turbo! Lol

If I do just change the up pipe I am assuming the car will still boost as it did?

 

I changed the up-pipe and removed the last cat leaving just a cat in the down pipe. I left it like this for 3 years without a map. Swapping up-pipe gave me 200rmp earlier spool and a lovely growl at 4k.

I eventually got a £200 STI intercooler and £70 converted TD05 turbo and had it mapped to 310-320, at this level the cars OE fuel pump and injectors are starting to max out so a change is advisable and not too expensive. £75 & £80

 

You mentioned earlier that the car has the PPP fitted, is this right?
If so, then as has already been said, drive it first to see if it's got enough power for your needs, might save you a lot of money in mods.

 

Correct, it does have the PPP. Just trying to get an idea of the work involved if I did need to swap it out or do any mods.

Will obviously just drive it and enjoy it until summer, then make a decision whether to tinker or not.

Thanks for all the advice so far guys! Nice to see a board of enthusiasts as opposed to keyboard warriors!

Dare I ask, do you tend to acknowledge other Scooby drivers? I used to do this in my MX5 and S2000 and have the same back.....was non existent in the Porsche.....miserable bunch! lol

 

I agree with this and it's what I did until the local Astra kept leaving out of junctions.

The up-pipe is a good thing to change regardless of wanting power, it's just a restrictive part that isn't needed or entirely safe. I almost believe it's only there to save blushes for Subaru.

 

I always give a little wave when I see another scooby driver. It's nice
The missus drives the car occasionally and she's started doing it as well.

 

The missus hated it when I used to do it.....she would say:

"Well why don't you do it when you drive the Clio (her oldcar)?"

I never used to answer, just smile.....when she started driving the S2000 she got it. Hoping will be the same with the Scooby(when I get it) although she's not happy about the STI gold wheels or the bonnet scoop! I personally thing they look splendid! lol

 

I've only just bought my 2004 wrx wagon PPP, and at first I thought it was a bit flat, but I think it delivers the power differently to other cars that I've owned, (Z3MCoupe, focus RS, noble M12 to name just a few ), but when you actually look at what speed you're doing you relise that it does get there fairly quickly.
I'll probably leave mine as it is for a little while, (power wise), then see how I feel.

 

Yep they can be very deceptive, I think it's because it's not got rock hard suspension and a loud exhaust, which contributes to the sense of speed when your in something a little more focused, my STI Type R feels like a bat out of hell but when I drive the WRX Wagon PPP on the same roads and look at the speedo the WRX is going faster in a lot of situations, same sort of thing as driving a big mile muncher very easy to find yourself creeping over a ton on the motorway without even noticing how fast your traveling because it's comfy and quiet.

 

you could always swap it our for something more "matched" in the style of a Harvey Smith "trick" up-pipe......these definately require a map check at least though because of the better spool/response

 

I've got an 03 PPP wagon too. I was thinking about just swapping the up-pipe out etc, but then thought whilst i'm doing that I might as well do a load of other stuff too lol.

So i've got waiting to go on a FE TD05, Blue 550 injectors, STi up-pipe, STi PPP Sports cat downpipe, Walbro 255 pump and a 3 port boost solenoid.

Thought if its coming apart might as well do the lot and not have to touch it again (hopefully )

 

Makes sense to change the turbo with the up pipe, I found it much easier to change the up pipe with the turbo removed.

 

I changed the up pipe on mine on the drive.

Very doable but not the easiest Saturday afternoons spannering you will ever do.