For those who dont know...I've been working for the last year on building a old school Impreza Bodied project car.

Long Story...Cliffnotes at bottom..

My first attempt was with a 95L and V4RA drivetrain. Needless to say I tried the stock ECU and failed due to the lack of support and ability to change the mapping enough to compensate the fuel difference.

second was with a Haltech and that was a pain...

Last one was a TecIII which got mer running but very poorly. Ultimatly the car got me to the point where I parted it out to start fresh. with my first Subie which is my 99RS...

So I built the whole car with the theory to keep all the stock wiring and run a PNP EMS. Come to find out that noone had anything available anymore for a 99RS...

Enter Element Tuning and Phil, who happens to be the coolest tuner I've met thus far since I started doing parts for a living. Phil told me he had a Element Hydra for me and I could get on the list. So I ordered and finally the day came where it arrived. So in the midst of building my IC piping I decided today to plug it in and see if teh car would start.

Well, No MAF on the car and No IC piping and on the first try it kicked over and started like a stock car. WOW, Outstanding. Ill be taking this bad boy for a ride tomm and start getting into boost finally.

I am very very happy with this system right nowand have no doubts that anyone else that decides to go with it will feel the same.

I'll update everyone when I get going and then to the track...:)


Cliffnotes...

Build custom beast of a car
All Standalone EMS systems sucked
Take car apart
Build new car
Element tuning opens
Buy Element ECU
All is good now.

Nino

No offense to you nino. But all these ''element's in the car'' posts are a bit much. I'm sure phil mentioned it'd be nice if you all posted when you got them...but at least wait to get results. Some solid info. would be nice. All we're getting is ''great i got the ecu and the car started, didn't drive it, but it started''.

No opinions on the software, numbers, graphs, plots, etc. How bout some impressions of how easy it is to interact with. Any bugs or glitches. What options have you tried using on the ecu. I know HOK mentioned you can only change one cell at a time...not on the ELEMENT one but i'm wondering if the fix is pre installed on the element one.

Just give me something besides ''It Starts'' I hope it should do quite a bit more than that.

Nice project, get some pics and numbers, i'm excited to see.

The interface is actually not too hard to use. I found a few quicker methods that aren't listed int eh documentation that sped up my tunung process

Soon2bgreat - read here (http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=616828&highlight=hydra)

The wait was just SO long for a lot of us, we're really excited it works, and it works well enough that it starts the car right off the bat. Not too many standalones come with a map thats good enough to do that.

No opinions on the software, numbers, graphs, plots, etc. How bout some impressions of how easy it is to interact with. Any bugs or glitches. What options have you tried using on the ecu. I know HOK mentioned you can only change one cell at a time...not on the ELEMENT one but i'm wondering if the fix is pre installed on the element one.
You're right... they should send one to me so I can put it on my Corolla and test it out. :)

Darth i've read your experiences. It was very well documented btw. I was just mentioning the fact there are about 4 threads that the original post contains no really useful info. Half turn out to contain good info. My comment isn't really negative, if anything i'm only serving to give the element hydra more attention, lol. I'd really like to see one in person. Like i said looks like a good unit, i'd just like more info. on it. All in due time right. :)

Darth i've read your experiences. It was very well documented btw. I was just mentioning the fact there are about 4 threads that the original post contains no really useful info. Half turn out to contain good info. My comment isn't really negative, if anything i'm only serving to give the element hydra more attention, lol. I'd really like to see one in person. Like i said looks like a good unit, i'd just like more info. on it. All in due time right. :)

Yea almost like the 40 threads a day on the accessport low boost problem :lol: I swear to god i look down the Engine Mgmt forum and every other post is an acessport post..

for shizzle stupid noobs, has everyone forgotten how to use a phone?

back on topic, hydra is teh hotness.

Sometimes no info is good info. If I find something I don't like, I'll tell more about it. I'm not going to talk about the software because links for the download have been posted for everyone to see and use. It's a slightly different version and the only changes I noticed were that you can change the angle of the 3D map and the gauges at the bottom of the page are no longer there. I didn't like the manual, but it doesn't matter because the technical support that I recieved from Phil was better than any manual will ever be. I also didn't like the waiting, which I'm still doing for the WBo2, but when you have a problem with supply all you can do is wait. The delays are from Hydra-ems and Andwer is supposed to ship the WB this week(hopefully) I Like the following comment but that never happened. :lol:
I'm sure phil mentioned it'd be nice if you all posted when you got them...but at least wait to get results.
Like some else said, were are excited to get a standalone that will start, idle, and be able to drive. I think that is a rare thing. Just driving the car puts smiles on my face because of the throttle respones and smoothness of acceleration. I'm sure you read that a few times on here already but you have to drive a hydra powered WRX to really understand. The daily drivability is better than stock which is great because I don't race everywhere. If anyone has ?'s about the Hydra feel free to ask and I'll try to answer all that I can. As far as #'s go. I don't really care what the dyno says but I will take it to the track when I have time and then post the numbers. Basclly, I happy to have the hydra and wanted to tell someone who understands because my Wife sure doesn't
:D

edit
Oh, I love the 2D knock threshold map that you can view real time and keep and eye on the knock sensor voltage. I also like being able to control the idle based on coolant temp. Having control of coolant temp and air intake temp trims is awesome (and it works) if you live in an area that has strange weather patterns or if you don't want a different map for every 10deg change in air temp. I know there is alot more that I like and when I think of it I'll post more.

Oh, I love the 2D knock threshold map that you can view real time and keep and eye on the knock sensor voltage. I also like being able to control the idle based on coolant temp. Having control of coolant temp and air intake temp trims is awesome (and it works) if you live in an area that has strange weather patterns or if you don't want a different map for every 10deg change in air temp. I know there is alot more that I like and when I think of it I'll post more.

Fair enough, like i said, meant nothing by it.

Good info. Responded to pm. I'm an idiot :o (referring to post below me)

That would be cool but I live Georgia. :)

I can see where you are coming from on wanting more info, But I will definitly keep it coming as I play with the system and get it to where I wanted.

I poted because after having tried 2 other systems (Tec 3 and Haltech) and absolutly hating both of them I am so surprised that this unit delivered as well as it has thus far.

Right down to the sftware, I like everything about it so far and if I find a flaw, believe me I'll mention that as well. If you search the forums under my user id and even my Jetfan8178 one you'll see my remarks about the haltech and Tec up as well.

BTW: Phil didn't ask me to post anything, I did it because very few times after almost 3 years in this buisiness does something impress me and when that happens I get excited.

Ill have the car on the road tomm morning and will post more then.