RomRaider

It was a good day for road tuning, so I did some of the finishing touches on the map I've been working on. This was with 91 octane gas, 43psi base fuel pressure, and 20ish psi target boost. I live in a good spot for reflashing and getting back on the road quickly, so this map doesn't have proven long term fueling dialed in, but it starts up and runs like it should. I intend to stick with this version for now, so testing is ongoing. I changed the OL fuel targets and tweaked boost control a bit after getting these logs, but it's nearly the same map. I was proud of the results so I tossed my brother the keys and logged his reckless driving through the hills by our house.

Side notes: Definitely recommend clips or ties on the fpr manifold reference line(mine was a little loose and threw off afr). Also if you intend to run e85 and shoot for more serious power, you should look into iwire's fuel pump controller hardwire kit. The stock fuel pump wires are too small to supply the necessary power to an aftermarket pump at full load. I installed one on my hawkeye a while back and it measurably increased flow and performance. The kit retains the oem pump controller, so it doesn't run 100% duty cycle like basic hardwire kits.

I can follow up with some relevant comments about the map.
I'll start from the bottom I suppose. Correct low injector pulsewidth data is really important for ID injectors. Next the tau/wall wetting tables. I went down the rabbit hole and played with them for a while before realizing they work well enough with the stock values. The two main issues I experienced after altering those tables were lean tip in, and a rich condition off throttle. One table cuts fuel when letting off the gas and another adds fuel when stepping on it. People say the additional length of fmic piping makes the stock values less effective, but they worked for me.
-The throttle map is mostly copy/paste from A8DK100D because it looked linear enough. A lot of oem dbw maps have annoying throttle plate fluctuations that were probably designed to synchronize with other parts of the stock map.
-I changed the minimum load for feedback knock to 1.3 to avoid the feedback numbers from avcs fluctuation just below. AVCS shifting loads suddenly is the most common cause of feedback knock in my experience, so I tried to keep that map fairly smooth.
-Zeroed the engine load compensation (MP) table. I'll likely unzero it to smooth out idle and cruising fueling when the time comes.
-Zeroed the maf compensation IAT table because it's not essential. Newer roms have it zeroed. The unzeroed table caused some fueling issues for me in freezing weather. It's a good bandaid for engine compartment heat soak, but an air intake box that isolates the maf sensor is a better solution.
-The 2014 sti throttle tip in map *.6 works well for this setup. Some say to lower tip in pulse width activation for upgraded injectors. I tried and it led to a jerky throttle at low speeds.
-Zeroed all the per injector primary fuel offset tables. I think they're designed to control the effects of pressure drops and pulses in the stock sequential hard lines.
-I filled the middle section of the open loop map with 13.84s and the like because it helps keep the afr steady on long hills where the engine load isn't constant. Higher AVCS values can also help the engine breathe going up hills.
-I mostly winged the CL target comp table. Seems to work well enough. Still need to learn how to tune that table properly
-The blouch turbo has a 15 or 16psi wastegate spring. I prefer a mellower half throttle driving experience so I went easy on boost control and let the spring do its thing. Spool does benefit from high wastegate duty cycles early on.

I could probably find ways to squeeze more midrange power out of it, but smooth delivery is more important to me than raw power.

Flat4life, you saved my ass, i owe you a beer or a coffee. i was supposed to have this off the lift this weekend and i totally spaced on the tune, didnt have time to change parameters on the tune. she runs like a beaut, i havent taken her for a spin yet because i have the seats stripped out, but shes happy at 14.7 on idle. damn she also sounds fineeee. i am attaching some pictures as usual. i am going to do some logging on your tune you posted up here in the next week or so, just busy living up in the mountains plowing 5 ft snow drifts in the same spot everyday as well as a full time mechanic... hey this is turning out to be a pretty good thread here!








-Rob

Here's a picture of the homebrew. Built the engine and put it all together myself. Pretty rewarding.

The tbw 2014 sti skid plate fits on our cars. I put one on mine. It's nice to have the extra peace of mind from an aluminum skid plate while driving around on unpredictable rural roads.
https://www.tbwperformance.com/2011-201 ... er-coated/

I had a tbw plate on my hawkeye. I hit a raccoon at 50+mph with it, and it barely cracked the bumper. Definitely a solid investment. Not so good for the raccoon though.

I have a six star aluminum skid gaurd underneath, was a prototype, cant find one for sale anywhere so I'll never sell it.

That looks really nice, is like how you have the fuel lines Td off and above, makes it easy to service. We should go for a cruise since you're probably not far from me since nederland is an hour to 2 hours anywhichway.

I have to do some logging still, but I'll report back once we have ambient temps of 50°f minimum. I did however do a quick virtual dyno pull. 377hp in 3rd gear 2100-7500 rpm (redline). Another very key important information i wanted to share here as I couldn't find a definitive answer:

A manual transmission map will flash over to an automatic ecu with no issues. Im not sure about vice versa, but i don't see why it wouldn't work aside from the rich condition in between shifts on a MT.

Edit: RIP racoon lol

Here's the shortblock I'm building to be closed deck. I've had this thing for almost 7 years now. I paid $50 for 2 cores, one of which was actually a good useable motor, the other had a melted piston on cylinder 2 and the piston had a cracked ringland on cylinder 4.

This one is luckily still a buildable core as it didn't get a chance to harm the crankshaft. Gonna drop off the case halves for a hone, maybe a bore, and some CNC cylinder inserts, the honda guys call them "block gaurds". I'll also drop off the crankshaft and have them give it a polish. Then when I get it back, I'll measure crankshaft bearing tolerances and order the proper corresponding parts

Going with forged pistons and forged connecting rods. This will allow me to make 500+ HP reliably without worrying about the usual ringland failure, which was the previous fate of this shortblock.

Flat4life, I missed the comment about the iwire kit for the fuel pump, my friend who has experience with wiring, showed me how to take a relay and wire it in, so that's next week's chore as the fuel pressure drops out under WOT.

Hey guys i am back, had to leave the project on the back burner until now. I blew a hole in an exhaust valve on cylinder 4 which is super common. Itd always had a slight misfire i couldn't figure out and a compression test showed it was approximately 14 psi Down from the other cylinders. No i don't have the cylinder 4 cooling mod because it doesn't do much, if you use an infrared camera, you'll see it still holds the heat instead of dissipating it still. Anyway I have a new motor from subaru, its an STI type RA that's been pulled apart and swapped for manley h beams and JE forged pistons with a ring gap of .0021 for high boost application.

The machine shop said i wouldn't be happy with the work done because the previous engine needed a bore over of 100.25 because the ringland exploded and took out the cylinder wall. Originally I got 2 engines for $25 each, one needed machine work which is now recycled for aluminum, and the other only had 20k miles on it which I'm saving for when my wife's subaru does the inevitable lol.

Right now i have the engine built and together, just need to put the heads im remanufacturing on after I test for leakage as I've already tested the mating surface with a true edge and can't even get a piece of paper to go under it. Last piece I need to acquire for my build are ARP head studs.

I did some logging back in early spring; end of winter, came to the conclusion that the tune from flat4lyfe doesn't need much tweaking, if at all. I made a cool 384whp on 91 pump with this tune and no parameters changed, not much of a basemap as it's set to 20psi and feels very aggressive. No knock on my setup, not pulling timing, and has a lean tip-in then rich, absolutely rips for my setup.

Because I needed a spare set of heads, I hit up LKQ Denver Junkyard. If you're from Colorado, then you know once a turbo subaru hits the junkyard, its near impossible to get anything off of it, after it's been in the yard for a day, mostly everything is gone. I got lucky as I was there for something totally unrelated for some POS ford eco boost parts, and just so happened to walk passed a Legacy GT Spec B that had just entered the yard no more than 10 minutes prior to my arrival. I had that motor out in 15 minutes, record time. My luck was about to get better because the heads were new, couldn't have had more than 5,000 miles on them. Peep the picture of the one head, that's how I pulled it off, clean and almost new, same with the other head. Under the engine stand in the picture are a set of whiteline aluminum control arms that i got for $35 off the same legacy GT Spec B.

Here's some pictures of the current engine build:

The last 9 months have been crazy, got the engine machined, put it together, built the heads, made a long block pulled the old motor, putnthe new built one in and had a misfire after all said and done. I couldn't find the fault with good compression, good timing, good spark, good nood light, good wires, ECU good, good fuel pressure before regulator, injectors holding pressure, and air flow. Even then it wouldn't be the end of the world as I'd have easily walked away with $20,000 considering the forged engine, big turbo, and all supporting mods.

I spent all day playing with the subaru since I have off from work. I verified everything!! I was pulling my hair out, most of which turned grey in the last 3 months cuz of this, and while I had the fuel pressure regulator vacuum reference line popped off and cranking to test something unrelated, I noticed fuel shooting out of the Fuel Pressure Regulator vacuum reference line which usually means a bad diaphragm.

I blocked off both the FPR vacuum reference source on the intake manifold and vacuum reference line on the FPR. If you're familiar with the plastic intake manifolds, then you know the vacuum source for the FPR is a nipple that shares a path with cylinder 4 intake, when the FPR failed, it dumped fuel thru this nipple and filled up 4 with fuel over night.

Success! It fires up immediately and idles great, sounds awesome too! I'm so excited!
I am however not excited for the prices on them. My friend gave me his old one and I put some $9 diaphragm from temu in there, and I don't have to tell you that I was Pikachu shocked that it only lasted 9 miles. Lesson learned, buy genuine, if i did that originally, I bet i wouldn't have had this issue lol, just glad to have my subaru up and running right before the weather started getting bad here in Colorado! Guess I'll be looking for buddies to cruise with around the Nederland, Boulder, Longmont, and surrounding areas. I actively check my emails so if anyone wants to reach out, email me at aceoftrades720@gmail.com.