I haven't had any problems yet at the dealership getting my free maintenance with the buschur stage 1 package on my IX thus far. Noone mentioned anything to me about my mods while I was there but I'm not relying on anything being covered if something happens.

 

i think a short shifter and some aluminum shifter bushings would make a great mod for the warranty conscious.

aside from a stiffer rear sway bar that is the only thing i have done to my evo performance wise, for the moment

but i must say i am very pleased with it. i have no more fear of missing second, and the shifts are much tighter and solid.

so far the dealer hasn't said anything about it either. most likely because they haven't noticed. also, install took me about 45 minutes total for both, and that included a good deal of beer drinking and screwing around. it's not going to be an amazing night and day performance difference like a reflash or a new exhaust, but it does make your shifts feel alot nicer. i'll have to get back to you on wether it has helped my 1/4 mile though

 

There is a simple way to tell if the ecu has been altered, just push in the clutch, hit the launch limiter and see if it has been raised If you are really concerned about voiding warranty, you might want to consider asking Al not to include the launch limiter increase on your flash. Just something to think about if you want to play it on the safe side.

 

Do you think the extra hp comes from the increased flow or the fact that typically you see slightly more boost with a freer flowing exhaust.

 

Free flow!

 

When we dyno'd, Dave said 10-15whp would be gained from the hi-flo cat to a test pipe.

Girlie

 

stay stock, if you are going light/easy or moderate. it's kinda enough to face 95% of the cars on the roads anyway.
if u want to mod, go fast and be aggressive, don't worry about the warranty.

 

Nauticabri, I'm pretty sure I've said something like this to you before, but really...how could you not know how crazy the gains are with a flash/mbc when there's IXs all over this site with that stuff putting down crazy numbers on the dyno and crazy times at the track? In fact, you will gain MORE from a mail-in flash + mbc than you did from your current mods. There's really no reason to add any of that stuff without a flash on a IX - they get sickening amounts of power from tuning.

Basically, <$300 for ~40whp/40wtq instead of the $700-800 you spent for 15-20whp. What's great is you'll get the full power out of the exhaust when you get flashed and should end up around 330-340whp on 93oct with 22-23psi daily driven...

 

I definitely get your points and appreciate your advise. I think a mail-in-flash will definitely be my next mod, if ther eis a next mod. I do know what people are saying and such from the flashes, and the gains they rave about. I'm just tryin to equate that into how significant of a difference I'm going to notice driving the car on an everyday basis.

 

You're wondering how much of a difference 30-40whp would make? Well, I don't know how your exhaust felt, but this would be a bigger HP with a LOT more torque, and it won't result in being really loud and illegal - two unfortunate side effects of exhaust. In fact, had you done no mods whatsoever and just got a flash, you'd have gained more and still remained 100% stock-appearing and stock-sounding. For $199 to get 30whp, I can't imagine hesitating...there's just no better way to spend your money.

 

Would it be dumb to just do the mail-in-flash with no MBC?

 

No, it would be smart. An MBC is not 100% necessary - it's just a good tool to give you full boost control and a bit less taper. Hell, it's only $85, though - you spent about that much on a panel filter.

 

good point... 330-340whp runnin low 12's for just another 200 bucks for the mail-in-flash does sound quite appeasing. Might have to do that on monday when I get out of work and mail it away tuesday morning, thursday/friday I should have it back and be good to go. I know the fuel pump on the IX is upgraded over the VIII where they had issues with them overheating sometimes. So is it really necessary for me to upgrade it with the flash?

 

No, it's not necessary.

 

I didnt think so, thanks a lot for the help. I think next week Im gonna do this.