Hey everyone, super noob to this forum coming from 9glancers. Was running a 2012 Lancer ES CVT, recently upgraded to a 2015 ralliart and I love the car. However I have a few general questions for ralliart owners especially. In terms of mods, I've read a lot of things where with every new mod you do you should tune the engine. Is this true?? I've never dealt with turbo cars, nor the TC-SST, so this is all a whole new world for me but I'm excited to learn.
I did manage to skim over the Stickied thread for modding your ralliart, and I will be looking into upgrading the intercooler/BOV in the next few months, but I would also like to add a new intake/exhaust. Someone with experience in modding this car please chime in, really would like to know how I should approach this project. THANKS!!

 

Intercooler and bov don't require a tune. Intake/Exhaust does. Let your budget decide what you research. Let your research fuel your questions.

Highly recommend reading this--->https://www.evolutionm.net/forums/09...g-your-ra.html

 

Awesome good to know, are there any performance gains from upgrading your intercooler and piping?
Even intakes like the AEM cold air require tunes after installation?
What if I were to go the route of getting just a new drop in filter to improve flow slightly, would that still throw off the overall base engine tune??

 

Upgrading intercooler and piping- No tune required. Slightly better throttle response (if you get a UICP hard pipe) because the pipe doesn't expand. Doesn't add any power, just helps prevent power loss from heat soak. Shouldn't cause warranty issues.


Cold air intake- Must have tune. Gains are minimal since our turbo is so small. Warranty issues if the dealer sees it.


Drop in filter- No tune required, slight power gains. No warranty issues.

Exhaust- If catback only, no tune required, but recommended to get power gains. Dealer told me catback won't void warranty (assuming you don't get a tune) If you go turbo back, must have tune.

 

I appreciate the information, this definitely helps set me up for the first few steps toward modifying the car.
From the research I've done, unless we actually do a full turbo upgrade, most ralliart drivers benefit best from simply doing a drop in filter yes?? And any recommendations for a catback exhaust? Pricing for the DC sports looks pretty good and the reviews have no real negative aside from the tips apparently sticking out somewhat far out of the rear bumper.
And any info or .02 about the COBB accessport? Could we use this to tune the car as a whole? Or is it sorta just another ECU mod we can do, however a full dyno/pro tune is required to get the benefit outta any further mods we do? Think I read somewhere the accessport is fully tunable and can be brought to someone and remapped out

 

Maybe things have been corrected with the DC Sports exhaust, but I remember a couple years ago there were a number of people here on EvoM complaining about fitment issues....

 

Really? I think I've skimmed thru a few posts about fitment and what not. Plus that weird bend in the piping was discerning for some

 

Every question that you could possibly want an answer to is on the Ralliart threads and forums. From the questions you are asking you can tell you have not done any research. Not trying to be a A** but before you go buying anything or taking advice you need to read the hundreds of pages like all the other tuners here did and then ask questions on the threads they relate to. IE intercooler, Bov, Tunes, Intake etc.

I will be nice and provide you with one piece of advice. If you want to do it right everything requires a tune to be done correctly. So keeping that in mind save up your money, buy all the parts at once, then get a professional tune. If you are not able to wait you can always go to the GST basemap thread and do a base flash yourself for low cost. If money is an issue at all ,best not to consider modding anything unless you do it the right way the first time. If you need guidance let me know and I will send you links to what you are asking.

 

just throwing in my $0.02...

IF (big if considering i've noticed a lot of people run ECUFlash tunes instead of Cobb tunes) you go the Cobb route for tuning instead of ECUFlash (my car came with an AccessPort, easy decision for me) be sure to modify their maps with the AccessTuner RACE software if you drop in an aftermarket intake. They don't tell you up front on their website, but their Plano office was kind enough to tell me that modifying a few tables would increase throttle response and power delivery (car won't feel as sluggish since the ECU has the right load maps and MAF calibration). Dunno if ECUFlash maps suffer from that at all, doesn't seem like they do, but just an FYI I learned after some research.

 

NetRacer thanks for the input, I was planning on purchasing an AP and having a local tune shop who has tons of experiences with the equipment modify the maps already uploaded to the AP for better results.
And DAN123 no need to apologize I've started doing more research on the site and have found more info than when I first started off. Could you provide me some more info on that base map, especially if it is cheaper than the AP? I'll continue to search as well and ask around tho.

 

So, if your tuner is experienced, why spend so much money on the AP? Get the Tactrix.

 

If you talk to a lot of people and tuners they will tell you a COBB AP is not the way to go. I have a lot of issues with the way COBB is and their business practices etc. 500 dollars or more for their overpriced AP is insane for starters. For the cost of the AP you can get a custom dyno tune that is mapped out perfect for your ride and will also be the safest. Many places now online will do ETunes which is a tune by email which you can then flash to your car yourself with a tactrix cable. As far as the GST Maps I do not believe they have any for the 2015 Ralliart as of yet however in time they will most likely become available. Trust me when I say this, save your money and get a custom Open Source Tactrix Tune from a shop. Do not buy the COBB

 

Also remember to buy whatever parts you want first and then go get the tune at the same time. This will save you a ton of money instead of getting a tune done each time you change something on your car. Yes doing it this way sucks because you have to wait to mod things but in the long run it will keep more cash in your pocket. Best advice I can give you is do lots of research, Buy all the parts you want, go and get a custom tune all at once and be done with it

Also make sure the shop you go to is trained and has experience in working on the SST tables and tuning. Just because someone says they know what they are doing does not mean they do. The SST is a very experienced level of tuning that very little shops know how to do correctly. When you talk to the shop make sure they have customers or people you can talk to who have the same car as you that have had it worked on. If you do not have any shops in the area that have that experience you can always go the route of E Tuning through email. If you want a list of companies who do this let me know and ill message you them.

 

How difficult are etunes to upload? I don't own a tactrix so that would be the hard part I suppose. But I do appreciate the advice, and thus far a couple of my other car guy buddies in town are suggesting the same thing. However one of the shops in my area gives a flat rate for tuning, pay a certain amount and you can keep coming back and getting a new tune done at no cost. Will look into this deeper.
If you'd like please send that list over and I'll definitely keep that as a back up
As far as the shop goes, they discussed a lot of their history with the vehicle and sound pretty credible, and they have nothing but high reviews from other people who have done business with them. Now whether or not I can get a hold of anyone who runs the same tranny remains to be seen, but I'll give it a shot
And yeah at this point I'm thinking of just getting the car tuned as a whole as opposed to ordering the AP

 

Being this is a new car.
I would recommend you zip tie the FPR hose in the front of the engine block as they are prone to pop off causing engine trouble.