Been lurking for a good while now. Good to see some familiar names still here.

My warranty is finally up.

I am planning some mods this spring.

When I was initially researching my WRX, these vishnu guys seemed to be heading in the right direction. I have checked in on them from time to time in the forums. They get rave reviews from the magazines but I have heard some real horror stories from some folks.

My mods will be stage one type stuff. EM with a full exhaust, gauges (of course) and IC hoses. Keeping it mild.

Let me know what your experiences have been. I don't want cel's, want to keep it mild and let what is there breathe well and keep it ultra reliable.

Thanks in advance.

nothing wrong with using vishnu's stuff at all i don't have that much knowledge on them but if your gonna keep it mild and ease of tuning then you might want to look into cobb stage 1,2 or 2.5 and up here you'll need to also download a 91 cali map to use or some kind of octane challenged map our gas really sucks up here :mad: but if you've got alky injection or water injection the disregard previous statement about octane.

mike

If I remember right, Carl (eatwrx) uses a Vishnu XEDE, and Paul (04Rex) also used a lot of their parts. You can never go wrong with turboback exhaust and uppipe on the WRX. The difference in power just by upgrading the exhaust is really nice.

Eric used a lot of Vishnu stuff back in the day. Their stuff is kinda spendy, but the stuff I saw was some real quality stuff.

I'd vote for the cobb accessport. I used that, running the VF34 map. I was very happy with it. Trapped 112 in the 1/4 mile in my 99l. If you aren't planning to go for huge HP where you'd need to be tweaking and tuning your maps yourself, then I don't think anything is better than the accessport. It's relatively cheap compared to most engine management, you can get it as your first mod and just reflash your ecu yourself as you increase your mods.

You don't necessarily have to go with Cobb parts to meet the accessport stages. None of the parts I used for the VF34 tune were cobb parts, and it ran great. They tune petty conservatively, which is good for reliability.

Only drawbacks are you have to basically follow the Cobb stages and they take a while in coming out with new maps(generally true for any tuner using "stages"). Which is fine if you aren't going for huge HP, their current maps will take you to 320hp. If the accesstuner ever comes out, a variety of maps may become more available from various sources.

I'll admit that I think I know less now than I did a year ago and suffer from the "grass is greener on the other side of the fence" disease.

What's the status of Cobb's Access tuner?

I agree, I think Vishnu's stuff is spendy. This especially rings true when you don't get it tuned (on the dyno) by Shiv. For common items, compare their prices with Gruppe-S (vf34, injectors, and fuel pump).

Cobb, Vishnu, EcuteK, and TXS all have EM's. For your level of mods, any of them should be ok. Some users around here have had great success with the TXS.

Back to the money vs performance. I like systems that I can download maps off a website. I don't like the TXS in that it seemed like I was always messing with the tunes (road tunes). I'm running a Xede base map and it works fine. Plus, I don't feel like I need to do 1/4 miles runs at potter marsh to tweak the tune. So for the money, Why not Cobb's product "accessport". That would save you a little money over the xede. IThen you would only need to pay the difference when you want (and can make use of) user tunability.

Cobb.......want.....;)

Element Hydra....Want....(O:

cobb's AP is fun... if I wasn't saving up for a v7 i'd drop the dough for alchy so I can run stg 2 93 oct...but the stg2 91 cali map is fun for putting around town... plus they got auto-x maps... and once again, if i weren't saving up for that v7 then i'd plop down the dough and go auto-x with yall...

Element Hydra....Want....(O:
MoTeC M400...Want...;)

I have the Vishnu stage zero package on my car, with the underdrive pulley, up-pipe and ecu reflash....now with turbo back and boost controller, it kinda conflicts with the reflash, i would like to get an access-port someday soon though.

Vishnu also uses Ecutek tools/technology. Cobb is another(very different)approach to do the same thing- adjust the factory ECU for better performance and to work with a different(modded) setup than OEM.

I also intend to go with Cobb Accessport because it looks like a cheaper solution, given that the "canned" modification stages that Cobb has available, match up with my plans. But, the Vishnu/ Ecutek solution looks like it is probably more optimal(i.e., a few more HP), especially if you want to go a slightly different way than Cobb has laid out.

Lots of cheerleading and bashing on both systems can be found in this thread - http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=699875

--But you do have to wade through a lot of extraneous BS....

Good luck. Let us know how the mods go and what EM system you decide on. I'll report on my AP, *when* I get it.

Edo2000,

its funny, I had read that very thread a while back before posting. one of the reasons I posed the question I did. I appreciate all the responses.

Edo2000,

its funny, I had read that very thread a while back before posting. one of the reasons I posed the question I did. I appreciate all the responses.
Yeah, I had been looking at it just recently. Definitely some strong opinions on both sides. And good reasons to chose *either* system. My primary problem with Vishnu/Ecutek is the delay involved in sending my ECU to Cali., or wherever. Very inconvenient to have the car down for 3-10days. Some of the info on the Cobb AP does make you think, though. I especially DONT like the fact that when/if you "unmarry" the AP from a 2004 wrx(to return the car to stock - OEM settings), it reflashes the ECU to the code for an AUTOMATIC TRANS., car....whatever trans. you happen to actually have..! And Cobb doesn't intend to change/fix this, for the current model of AP. I don't think the same issue exists for the 2002 wrx. I haven't researched what the procedure is to take an EcuTek car back to stock; probably depends on what shop/tuner you get your original reflash from.

I'll wave next time I see you at DQ, lol.

subie auto trans have their own seperate computer called a tcm, I was unaware that ecm's were different from man to auto.

Speaking from the AccessPORT side of the fence. I love it, not nearly as aggressive as Turbo XS or Vishnu (some maps) but I drive my car daily and do not get knock, or any CEL codes. Now I had to wait for a while when I bought it to actually receive it but I have been happy with their parts. I have several Cobb parts and have been pleased with their quality.

I also am the current owner of Paul’s old setup from his 04 WRX, well the Chip, turbo, pump, injectors, and fuel pump anyway. It is a UNIchip and it can be re-flashed separately from the stock ECU. I also picked up a plug and play harness for the UNIchip but I don’t intend on changing my setup anytime soon. I know there are lots of places that can put different maps on a UNIchip and the harness I have even has a remote switch to change maps but I am not sure if I have the correct build of UNIchip to store two maps.

Chad,
Not sure what I accomplished with this rant…

subie auto trans have their own seperate computer called a tcm, I was unaware that ecm's were different from man to auto.
I hadn't heard of the difference either before reading the thread I mentioned before-
http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=699875

On post #179 (it's a looong thread...) you can find the following in a quote from Trey Cobb:

Currently the MY02-MY03 WRX AccessPORT reverts to a 2002 WRX ECU version. Back in 2002, there were no specific AT vs MT ECUs.
The MY04-MY05 WRX AccessPORT reverts to a 2004 AT ECU.
The MY04 STI AccessPORT reverts to a 2004 STi ECU.
The MY05 STI AccessPORT reverts to a 2005 STi ECU.
The MY04 FXT AT AccessPORT reverts to a 2004 FXT AT ECU.

That's all I know. Oh, and Cobb mentions a little later that there will be no fix for this particular anomaly...
I don't think it will change my mind about getting an AP though. It is still the best EM for the $ IMO -- who plans to ever return to stock, anyway.... ;)