Catless UEL Header - N1 Exhaust - OFT Stage 2

[ripper]

Just finished installing a Tomei catless UEL header and wanted to post up some initial first impressions.



Current configuration: Tomei UEL Header, Invidia N1 exhaust, stock OP/FP, Perrin Panel filter, OFT stage 2 UEL on 93 octane flash.



Install was pretty straight forward just a little bit of a PITA tightening/accessing the nuts to the over-pipe.



Sound is a tad bit louder than before. The N1 on its own is on the loud side but with the catless header it is in my estimation at least 10 decibels higher, especially in the 2-4k range. The rumble is pretty damn nice sounding. Paired with the N1, the car now sounds angry and hits a very nice high note pushing up through 7k.



Still waiting for the ECU learning to kick in. Butt dyno is telling me there are a few more ponies in the barn but nothing appreciably noticeable. As stated in previous threads, the gas pedal doesn't feel responsive until my foot is depressed more than a couple inches and the RPM range is still a bit sluggish through 2k but I've only put 15 miles on it since the flash with two heat cycles.



I will post up updates with any noted progress and/or changes.



Cheers.

[Teseo]

Originally Posted by ripper

Butt dyno is telling me there are a few more ponies in the barn but nothing appreciably noticeable.
Cheers.

I lol at this. Can you please post up a video, specially drive by.
Thanks

[blugbox]

You can depress the gas pedal to the floor several times before starting the car after a tune to prevent that lazy pedal feel.

Just keep key in on or acc I think. Pump like 10 times, then start.

I also have OFT, OFH, and an N1. Amazing sounding combo.

[eggncheese]

Stock OP/FP? I'm looking to get the tomei UEL also so a video of your setup would be nice. I installed the invidia front pipe and motiv overpipe yesterday. To me, it seems a bit quieter with the OP/FP than it did with stock components and the N1 (which I'm also running)

[BlueDubbinTDI]

You should get some butt dyno feel on the UEL alone shouldnt you? Hopefully your car gives you some gains soon bro.

[Bango]

Curious as to you like this set up, I'm sitting on a Tomei UEL waiting for the right catback and I've got it narrowed down to the N1, the Q300 or a Perrin. Looking for a nice deep sound so I'm very curious how you're liking the N1, if it really is as loud as everyone seems to make it out to be with the catless UEL or if it'd still be manageable as a DD.

Pretty rural in my area so a bit of noise is fine but being obnoxiously loud just isn't my style.

I notice you didn't mention anything about OP/Front pipe so I'll assume they're stock which is what I'll be running at least for a while.

Second the request for some video/sound clip to add to the 800,000 or so I've already watched.

Cool setup either way and hope you like it.

[ripper]

^^^ op/fp are stock and after a long freeway drive i would HIGHLY recommend the q300. i like a loud exhaust but the 3-3.8k drone that used to be tollerable with just the n1 exhaust is now amplified way past my tollerance.

i can feel subtle power improvements with more miles. torque dip is still noticable but not as bad and the car difinately pulls harder out of 4k. the pedal response is still not to my liking but better than day one.

[blugbox]

Bango- just fyi I have the OFH, stock over and front pipe, and an N1. I daily drive my car and I find it very tolerable. If you keep it under 3k it just purs and burbles.

Ripper- you can perform that pre startup throttle thing at any point to get rid of the sloppy pedal. All it does I believe is tell the ecu what 0-100% throttle range is from the pedal.

[RobertPaulson]

Originally Posted by Bango

Curious as to you like this set up, I'm sitting on a Tomei UEL waiting for the right catback and I've got it narrowed down to the N1, the Q300 or a Perrin. Looking for a nice deep sound so I'm very curious how you're liking the N1, if it really is as loud as everyone seems to make it out to be with the catless UEL or if it'd still be manageable as a DD.

Pretty rural in my area so a bit of noise is fine but being obnoxiously loud just isn't my style.

I notice you didn't mention anything about OP/Front pipe so I'll assume they're stock which is what I'll be running at least for a while.

Second the request for some video/sound clip to add to the 800,000 or so I've already watched.

Cool setup either way and hope you like it.

I can vouch for the perrin being a perfect cat back for Dd with that set up 0 freeway drone and only raspy during free rev for a downshift. here's a video of a nearly identical set up as mine on the dyno.

Tomei UEL, Perrin OP, Ark FP, Perring resonated CBE.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiPSMvhiYJ4"]Renata 186 whp run - YouTube[/ame]

[Bango]

Thanks for the info guys, I'd been leaning toward the Q300 and I think unless I can get a fantastic deal on a Perrin that's the way Ill go.

A fair bit of my drive is on major highways with RPMs sitting in that 3-4k range.

The oft tune seems to be working well though, I'd been looking into getting a dyno tune and seems like for about the same price I'd have the ability to constant change with the oft. Just a bit wary of the lack of specificity with the oft

[RobertPaulson]

Originally Posted by Bango

Thanks for the info guys, I'd been leaning toward the Q300 and I think unless I can get a fantastic deal on a Perrin that's the way Ill go.

A fair bit of my drive is on major highways with RPMs sitting in that 3-4k range.

The oft tune seems to be working well though, I'd been looking into getting a dyno tune and seems like for about the same price I'd have the ability to constant change with the oft. Just a bit wary of the lack of specificity with the oft

unless you're looking to be changing your header set up all the time you don't need to change tunes. also with ecutek you can have up to 4 different tunes loaded to choose from.

[Bango]

Unless I for some reason end up hating the Tomei I don't plan on changing headers once it's on, save putting stock back to pass emissions in 4 years if I have to but that's neither here nor there.

I'm not too familiar with the tuning scene/options as I haven't done much in the way of research there yet considering I don't even have the exhaust parts but is there something I purchase for an ecutek tune that a tuner shop then tunes?

Truth be told I don't think I have a very firm grasp on what it takes to tune these cars at all really so if you wouldn't mind like a 5th grade level breakdown that would be awesome.

I just started looking into the tuning forums last night but it seemed like a lot of info right before I went to sleep so I'll be doing more reading tonight.

[Shady195]

As stated, after flashing put the key into the "ON" position but do not start. Press the accelerator all the way to the floor 3 times with a small pause in between and that will take care of the "sluggish" feeling.

Also, do not drive the car hard for ~10 miles or so, keep it under 4 grand and cruise on the highway if possible so the ECU can learn. The ECU learns during closed loop which is under cruising conditions, by romping around town before then you cause the process to take a bit longer which is why it may not feel THAT noticeable.

Also, while the gains are good.. people seem to overestimate what that ~20HP is going to feel like an expect a rocket, its a lot more subtle than that, really you feel it more in the 2500-4500 range where the torque dip is, it just feels more linear.

[RobertPaulson]

I would suggest getting in touch with a tuner that is local to you to give you the run down. You'll learn more from that 20 minute conversation then you will searching this forum for a week.