06 Evo IX

Got my car a month ago, I've been religiously trawling these boards ever since. Just had my breakin oil changed, and am officially out of 'baby' mode.

One thing I have noticed is that although the car pulls like a beast in almost every gear between 3-5k rpm at 5k it almost starts feeling like a normal car.

Now I've read many threads about the boost taper from ~19psi at 3k downwards from there. I'll assume this is intentional by mitsu to make the car more reliable, is that right?

Now just to preface my question by saying I'm not looking for a 9second beast of a machine, just improve slightly on the drivability of the excellent car that mitsu has produced, that said lets get down to business.

What is a good way to reduce this taper? Going from easy/safe/less likely to void the warranty -> to -> hard/expensive/you're on your own. From what I have read the list seems to go something like:

Stock -
great for warranty, just change gear at 5.5k and be happy girlie man, you've got a silly fast car anyway.

ECU only tune -
possible warranty issues, but you might get away with switching back to stock before service or work time, might help a little with the boost taper but not a huge amount (bonus - can potentially fix other mitsu tuning techniques to help out elsewhere).

Pill removal/drillout -
Cheap and seems to be somewhat easy to do (?). Permanent and I'm assuming easily spotted by a tech. From what I've read it seems to not do a huge amount but does help.

EBC -
Somewhat expensive. Requires t taps be added to vac hoses, and a fair amount of wiring, so very obvious to mitsu techs, more of a hassle to remove prior to taking to a dealer. Seems to allow total control over boost, some offer features like controlling boost across the entire range uniquely in every gear). Some offer the added bonus of displaying info for you as well, so you could do without 2 or 3 additional gauges). It also means the daily driver can easy 'tweak' the system to their needs.

MBC -
Cheap and cheerful, seems to be the option of choice for 'tuners' as they know how tune it and how it works. Some of them seem somewhere rock solid. Little or no driver alterations. I seem to get the feeling that spikes are more likely and that could be an issue, lots of people seem to say it lacks the fail safe options of EBC.

All the above & more -
Replace everything that's a blocker with good quality aftermarket products and have a good tuner work his magic, you'll have a beast of a machine, but zero chance of warrantied outside of your radio blowing up.

How does that sound? Is it a good summary? What's peoples thoughts on direction I could take.

 

Get a tune from Jestrtuning and start with a 22 psi peak boost....If you want more then add a bleeder mod that I will be selling starting this weekend for $15. Both are completely stealth and can be removed before taking into a dealer / DMV / etc.

MBCs are cheap but have to be adjusted for the weather fluctuations (if in a mild climate this really is not an issue) and are more work to install / remove....This route still requires a proper tune....

Joh @ Jestrtuning can be reached via http://www.jestrtuning.com/ or jestrtuning@gmail.com

 

You're on the right track, although I don't agree with some of what you said. For instance, some tuners like MBC, some do not, it depends on the tuner. Also, keep in mind that even with a reflash boost can be controlled.

However, what I really think you should do is decide where you want to take the car. Since you mentioned warranty work several times, I'm going to assume that is important to you. You have three basic options: 1) don't touch anything, 2) get a flash, or 3) add some parts (and get tuned). Each of these beyond #1 increases the chance you will be denied a warranty claim. Option #2 is basically undetectable in practice, so it is very safe. If that is not enough power for you, I recommend you find a tuner that you have good access to and follow their advice. As for myself, since you have a brand new IX I would just get an exhaust and a good custom tune. Your warranty concerns would be minimal and your car would be a beast.

 

get a flash. it will make a world of difference for you.

 

First off, welcome. But one month is not a lot of time for reading - there is quite a lot on this site.

Are you just looking for better drving - nothing crazy (i.e. you dont race or plan too?) Basically, what are your goals?

Warrenty really only matters on where you go. Some dealers are cool with them, some are not. Remember the dealer has to prove that the aftermarket part was the causation of the problem at hand (Moss Act). So an example: you have a MBC and you go in for idonno - gear grinding or bad alignment. The MBC didnt make that happen. (just an example)

But if you are just looking for some more pep a MBC and tune (In NJ? Search TurboTrix - Mark did my ECU -- but also Jestr is a good one) then you will be happy. Our factory tune is ok, but can be cleaned up some. Even stock cars will benefit greatly from a good tune.

 

I'm maybe 2 miles from StraightLine Performance in Jersey (who's I've read good things about on here, so I might wander over there this weekend and see what they say.

My goal really is just to improve the daily driver aspects of the car, I won't be tracking it every weekend, and I might only get to a strip once a season for a fun night out.

Warranty is desirable, if for no other reason than I told my wife it had a great warranty and she'd give me hell if I had to dump $2k to get something fixed that wasn't covered because I'd tweaked something - yes I know my place in the family right at the bottom below wife and 2 year old daughter (it's just easier that way ).

Really the only issue I have currently is the 5k drop off (and my grinding gears - but the ***** in motion for that).

I just wanted to check in before going to a tuner to make sure my logic was correct - I hate talking to people about something with zero know how, even a little is better than that.

I'll have a look through the flash forums here and see what info I can gain.

 

No, don't go to some random non-Evo shop to see what they say.

You can't touch anything if you want to keep your warranty. However, you are completely wrong in thinking the power falls off at 5k and that you should shift at 5500. We STILL don't hit peak WHP until around 6500rpm when stock, so my guess is that you just haven't taken it all the way to 7000+ yet. If you just keep going, it pulls like a bat out of hell. yes, the boost tapers, and yes, the tune goes very rich up top, but you still aren't getting near peak whp at 5000 or 5500rpm. If you shift at 5500rpm, then you'd lose to any Evo you race who knows how to actually drive one. In fact, when drag racing, we are never BELOW 5500rpm, and that INCLUDES when stock. We can run high 12s/low 13s in stock IXs, but if you shifted at 5500rpm each time, you'd run a 14+.

Btw, the boost tapers, because the turbo can't keep up with the flow of the head. The stock taper is more dramatic than it needs to be thanks to Mitsu building it into the ECU. You can remove that more dramatic taper, but you won't get rid of it completely.

 

I have a 05' and added a o2 housing and TBE, intake K&N, and a TTP flash run 100 octane at 24-25psi. It feels stronger and that "Hmmmm the car feels like **** above 5K ish feeling" is completely gone.

Unfortunately riding in my friends juiced Ls1 makes my car feel like a camry, but mine feels better when not going straight

 

From what I've read they're not a non-Evo shop by any account, maybe second in NJ only to TurboTrix.



Now that's interesting. So max hp is at 6500. Maybe as a start I'll just go to straightline and get them to dyno me, I've never dyno'd a car, so it could be a start.

Thanks for the input - very much appreciated.

 

By the "Butt Dyno" method your going to feel torque not horsepower.

Horsepower by definition is Work Done / Time .

Take a F1 engine for example or a sport bikes engine. They make their incredible horsepower numbers through extremely high revs. While the engine isn't producing that much torque its doing the work that much faster because of those rpm's, thus it has tremendous horsepower.

Bikes are perfect examples because while 1 liter bikes feel powerful down low just watch how fast the mph climbs at the higher revs! If your interested in going fast then thats all that matters

 

Just get a Bushur WT pkg with a tune (custom) by your tuner of choice.

TTR/Dynoflash/Jester/Sean Ivey/in no particular order.

Keep the stock parts.