First Few Mods
 

First post on the forum! I don't even have my FRS yet, waiting on my current car to run out of life (so I'm driving it a little harder than I should admittedly) but I am already anxious to start my mod projects. I want to have some fun DIY bolt on stuff and feel a noticable difference in power to feel as if something was accomplished but do not want to spend a forture (ie going FI).

I have read alot on this forum and it seems like for the bang for your buck, I should start with headers; most likely Tomei. For some increased sound and flow I was thinking about just doing the axle back. At the same time as the headers I would go with a OFT stage 2 tune and a drop in filter probably HKS.

How does this plan of action sound to the guys out there who have been there done that?

it sounds exactly how the people reported in the threads you read about.. welcome ;)

Sounds pretty good. I myself am taking a similar route I have the greddy sp elite axle back, and K&N filter. Going to add headers next but don't forget some new tires/rims can be a nice visual upgrade and performance upgrade.

How do you like the Greddy? Do you notice a different in output with the axle back and drop in? And what kind of headers do you like? I have read alot about the borla's tomei's and nameless and I feel like the tomei might be the forum favorite.

i would never recommend an off the shelf tune for anyone.

I thought the OFT stage 2 was a pretty solid way to go esp for those that have no prior tuning experience? Why is this a bad route?

works wonderfully for me.

The greddy sp elite sounds perfect its adds some more bass to the sound note especially you go wot its a nice deep growl, with zero drone. The K&N filter increased the throttle response so my car definitely feels faster than stock even with my snow tires on. For headers I'm looking at FT86 catted uel headers just so I don't have to deal cel codes from going catless.

Honestly I have done what you are listing and its just not worth it. You are going to spend 50-75% of the cost for a used supercharger kit and get 20% of the power. Save your money up and buy a used supercharger kit. You can get them on here with everything you need for less than $4k pretty regularly.

Why ??

For NA guys with basic mods they represent good value. You get probably 90% plus of possible gains for far less cost and hassle, especially for people not located near a reputable tune shop.

Even for FI , Ecutek/OFT ect guys are offering OTS tunes for FI kits

This is a really good point. Amateur question here..there is a cat in the headers and downpipe on the stock exhaust? If that's the case if you go to catless headers then it will throw a code is that right? If you do have catless headers will you still be alright with emissions testing? I know you are NJ and I'm PA so i'm not sure the differences in the law specifics.

Remember kids, altering the factory header and/or the catalytic converter is illegal under federal law.

So is going 1mph over the limit.

Yea we have to 2 cats without the cat in the header people usually get cel codes. And I dont know if you would pass emissions for PA you guys emissions testing is way more extensive than NJ's. We don't pay for ours and it literally takes 5 minutes of seeing if your exhaust gases meet regulations.

Why not do both? I did all the mods the OP suggested and more in preparation for supercharging next year when the car is paid off. The factory header is still pretty weaksauce, and better flow is even more important with FI. In the meantime, I get to enjoy having about 200WHP on tap, which is pretty fun in such a light weight car. As long as he doesn't do a full intake/strut brace ect, these mods should work fine with a SC down the road.

Sounds like you've done some research already, welcome to the forum :thumbup:. I've done what you've listed as far as mods go with a few additions (see my sig for a list) and can give you my thoughts. I can tell you that while those mods make a noticeable improvement over stock, if you ever want to go FI you might as well just save for that. Best bang for your buck is probably 1. OFT, 2. header, 3. intake IMO. I've used two filters in the past (Blitz and K&N) but have switched over to the GrimmSpeed intake which is a nice upgrade. I would hold back on the exhaust until after you get the header, no real performance benefit from just getting a catback and it might be pretty loud depending on which exhaust you go with.


If you have the OFT tune you will not get a CEL.

Op your mods are the best bang for your buck for bolt ons for power. Nothing else is need. Welcome. Its refreshing to see someone did some research before posting.

I like where you're going. Sounds like a thought out process! Welcome!

I did everything op just posted im running a OFT Stage 2 tune and have tomei uel and overpipe full invidia exhaust and hks drop in filter. The OFT is the simple most effective mod you can do, if you want to get your hands dirty I would get an exhaust and install

I don't know how to "thank" people on this forum yet lol, but I appreciate all the input. It sounds like I am on the right track!

Every car is going to be a bit different because of mods, ambient weather conditions and some other factors. a OTS tunes hopes to be able to cover all this but the reality is they just can't, OTS tunes are also notorious at just leaning the car out to make more power and can cause issues and ruin drive-ability.

I had someone local to me test out OFT and after 2 weeks he returned it, he said his car drove worse, got a CEL for running lean and the minimal power increase wasn't worth it.

The off the shelf OFT 91 oct UEL stg 2 v2.xx + OFH + Grimmspeed Intake, for me, has:

- no knock
- LTFT's floating around 1-1.5% in closed loop, 0% in open
- AFRs in the appropriate scale that match command afr
- Very smooth response, operation

Don't know why you're so dead set against OTS tunes for bolt on NA, or even some mild FI applications... but I've been running OTS and slightly tweaked OTS tunes across platforms for years since opensource became popular for the subaru EJ series engines onto this one... with very nice results. I know YMMV but it's consistent feedback that OTS tunes satisfy a majority of users' needs even considering environmental and set-up differences.

Your friend's experience with OFT is an odd one. What mods was he running? E85? Why so lean, when the OTS OFT tunes by and large run on the rich side?

Huh? This is far from the truth.

Years ago with less reputable tuners (think TempleofVtec) this was true, but these days not so much.

Weather does seem to be a weird sticking point for people in regard to tunes, as if using the OFT also means you have to lop off your thermostat and pray to Vin Diesel that winter temps don't blow the welds on your intake.

As someone who is now in his 2nd year in below zero weather with OFT stage 2, I can tell you that the car runs better in the cold and the hot than it ever did on the factory tune. Smoother, more stable AFRs and no knock correction.

That said I might contact Shiv for a custom tune this summer, but that's only because I think there's a little more power on the table, not because the car isn't running like a champ.

Here is a thread with someone running an off the shelf tune and having dead spots in the pedal and afr readings way out of whack: http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=80091

With what looks like improper MAF scaling just paging through the thread, so I wouldn't jump to attribute it to an OTS tune. Not saying it's not possible, but with 100s (1000s?) of people running these tunes with very very few issues, it's not likely.

If the mods you have match the mods the OTS tune caters for then the differences are minimal if who ever tuned the OTS map did a good job.

The ECU compensates for differences in air temperature, coolant temp, atmospheric pressure (altitude) ect using sensors in the car and programming and tables in ECU. this does not change tuned or untuned

Tuners adjust the tables that adjust the amount of compensation but I don't believe anyone adjusts the way the ECU program uses these tables ie re-writes the actual program instructions.

That OTS tunes "just lean out and offer minimal power increase" is just plain incorrect. 20-30 tables for ignition timing intake/exhaust timings, direct/port injection timing, fueling, maf scaling ect are adjusted in OTS tunes I have seen from Ecutek OFT Cosworth ect.

I would bet your friend that had drivability issues and got a CEL for runnig to lean with an OTS tune had an aftermaket intake not suited to the tune they ran (ie maf scaling would have been incorrect),or an exhaust/intake leak.

Obviously OTS tunes need to be matched to the mods your running on your car and the fuel your using else you going to have problems.

On NA cars the differences are not that great, on FI cars the difference is likely a bit bigger.

On a stock NA car its not like the OTS tune get you 10whp and the dyno tuned car get 30whp.

Its not just the OFT guys doing OTS maps the Ecutek guys are into them in a big way as well.

I have seen OTS tuned cars outperform dyno tuned cars, its more to do with the skill of the tuner.

Sure in the end the individually dynoed car should outperform the OTS tuned car given an equally skilled tuner, but on an NA car the difference can be small but the cost difference quite large.

In the end if your prepared to pay the extra money to get the extra gain then great.
But OTS tunes do represent value when used correctly.

Mate if you read his post he is running a Perrin 3" big maf intake. on a tune designed for a stock intake.

He tried copying in the Perrin supplied scaling and its obviously not correct, he just needs to log and scale his maf correctly.

This would be exactly the same effect if you got your individually dyno tuned car and change the intake from stock to a perrin 3" intake its not going to work either.

he had a borla header and catback, and was using the appropriate OTS tune for his mods.

i wouldn't expect you to say anything else.

I've had a couple of friends cars running OTS tunes from cobb (they've got a pretty good reputation) blow up, and yes they were running the correct tune for their mods.

Based on what I've seen and what i know, I will not be trusting my car to an OTS tune, you are all free to do so, its not my vehicle.

I cannot speak for OTS maps that were provided by another tuner but I'm quite confident in saying that our OTS maps for the OFT are as solid as they come. I have a hard time believing that your friends car would have a problem running our Stage 2 map with his mods (borla header and cat-back). Do you have any data logs to demonstrate this? I've looked at hundreds of customer data logs with similar mods and have yet to see a problem that wasn't caused by an external factor such as poor fuel quality (which really only comes to play in cars overseas where fuel quality can be questionable at times.)

I do not have his logs and fuel wasn't an issue because after flashing back to stock his issues went away and the car ran better.

Did he ever send his logs to me? Or notify me of the situation? Or did he use another device (non-OFT) to load our OTS map?

Sorry to thread jack here, but...

Right now I have an AEM intake and a Spec-D exhaust. Would it be worth it for me to invest in the OFT? I have literally no idea when it comes to tunes and I'm too lazy to search because I'm using my phone and not my laptop.

I think so. Biggest gains are with a proper header and stage 2 tune, but even a stage 1 OTS tune makes a very noticeable difference on a mostly stock car. I didn't dyno after doing the stage 1 so I can't give you a number but my guess is a 10hp bump. You'll feel it and hear it in the powerband around 4,000RPM.

Cheers. Been humming and hawing about it. I'll probably end up going with the package deal for the tablet and headers. Providing the package comes with the option of catted headers, which I can't remember off the top of my head.

I wasn't aware that you could get an OFT and header packaget? Maybe it's just ignorance on my part but are there deals out there like this where you can get a better price plus an tune that is specific to the brand of header? <<That would be ideal!

http://www.openflashtablet.com/products/OFH/index.html

Openflash only does it for their own UEL header specifically, but the package deal is awesome at around $1,000, considering there are some EL headers that cost that much alone.

If you want a UEL, I see no reason why you wouldn't go with theirs, quality and fitment are great and the OFT/H package is one of the few meaningful things you can do to squeeze more power out of the engine for less than a couple grand.

There are two reasons why you might not want OFH
1. It does not have a catalytic converter
2. Some prefer the performance characteristics of equal length headers

If losing one of two cats is not a concern for you, and you want the performance characteristics of a UEL header, OFH is a fine buy. The piece is beautiful and very well made.

edit-
generally, UEL headers = more of a boost in lower range power, EL headers = more power in higher ranges

Wow, that is a good deal! With this being said, does anyone have any soundbites of the Openflash stage 2 tune with the OFH with a bone stock exhaust? I would be real curious to see how this combo sounds!

If you are going the OFT route, Why not get the OFH? My thoughts are since they are developed by the same company, the base maps will most likely be based on their header. :iono: Plus they can be shipped together and arrive together so your not waiting for one or the other.

Package deal for ~$1,000 is great bang for buck.

Spot on with the drop in filter, maybe grab an inlet tube to pair with it. Lightweight pulleys are an option but I'd save the money for other parts to start. If your planning on running stage two, I'd get a cat-back which will replace the mid pipe, so later down the road you only have to replace the front pipe and over pipe to have a complete exhaust.

You may find that you want stickier tires once tuned and running the headers, especially if your running the E85 tune. Stock tires are fine, and this is not necessarily needed right away. My tires are at 22,000 miles and there is a noticeable decrease in their performance, so once through the winter months I will be getting new sneakers.

Depending on how much you drive, you may want to invest some money in the interior of the car. I regularly drive 6 to 8hr drives every Friday and Sunday (San Fran to Santa Barbara) and I have sound matted my car to help with road noise. I have Knee pads and a center console coming. Shift knob for comfort and bling.

Should get you started haha :thumbsup: