I Bought My Old 3.6 Back

[Aces36]

So a few months ago I sold my '13 Legacy 3.6 to a friend of a friends wife. I was having a few problems with the car so I figured it was time to let it go. I took out the mods like the exhaust, rear sway bar and radio and sold it with the stock parts. My friend was saying how the car was too fast for the wife and they wanted to sell it. I got to thinking it was a really fun car even though it was no race car. So like an idiot who likes punishment, I bought it back for what I sold it for, which was way less than its value. She only put 400 miles on the car.

 

I got to work yesterday re-installing the parts I took out. There is less than a year left on the extended warranty. After the warranty is up I will go for the tuning and anything else that can slightly boost the performance.

 

After I sold the Legacy I bought an Audi A6 3.0T for every day driving. Now I will add the Audi to the collection in my warehouse and go back to the Subaru as my daily driver.

[raider600]

:spin:Welcome back.

[Timothy.B]

Welcome back! Just tune it now. If you take it in for warranty work, reload the stock tune. If you feel it's something where they'd check the ECU, drive around on the stock ROM for at least a week before taking it in. No issues here.

[Pleiades 3.6R]

If you feel it's something where they'd check the ECU, drive around on the stock ROM for at least a week before taking it in.

 

Why's that?

[FLlegacy]

Why's that?

They will be able to see there is no data in the learning tables or very limited data and will probably flag it as tuned in the warranty system. If you know the dealer is cool with mods then it's best to be honest. Otherwise better safe than sorry.

 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using Tapatalk

[Aces36]

I don't trust my dealer. At one point the service department asked who installed the exhaust. I told them I did. Nothing ever became of it but I am sure they have a note somewhere in my file that there is a performance part on the car. Anyway, I would have to take the car somewhere to get it tuned, and as far as I know the nearest Subaru tuner is in Danbury about an hour away. I’ll get my parts together and wait until the warranty is up. I have an extended warranty that I paid for so I don’t want it to go to waste because the dealer voided it.

[Pleiades 3.6R]

They will be able to see there is no data in the learning tables or very limited data

 

Good to know. Thanks.

[Perscitus]

I don't trust my dealer. At one point the service department asked who installed the exhaust. I told them I did. Nothing ever became of it but I am sure they have a note somewhere in my file that there is a performance part on the car. Anyway, I would have to take the car somewhere to get it tuned, and as far as I know the nearest Subaru tuner is in Danbury about an hour away. I’ll get my parts together and wait until the warranty is up. I have an extended warranty that I paid for so I don’t want it to go to waste because the dealer voided it.

You've got a few e-tuner options (Ed, Matt, etc.) and worse case - I can help you too.

 

Would be good to know what Calibration IDs you're running in the ECU and TCU

(can find this out fairly easily via BtSsm, RomRaider, FreeSSM, etc.)

[Aces36]

I have no idea how to tune an ECU myself nor have the right equipment to do it. I have a couple of older race cars from the 60's but they are 100% mechanical with no computers.

 

I live in Westchester County in southern NY so the closest Subaru tuner to me I found is AMR in Danbury CT. I have read the reviews about them and while they have a few bad reviews, the bad ones seem to be from people who didn't follow instructions after tuning. I am not dead set on using AMR, its just they are the only ones I found around me. I am open to anyone else who can give the best tune. It seems like I need to install all the performance parts before the tune to take advantage of the full potential of the parts as a whole.

[Perscitus]

Yup no worries - I know AMR/F1 Motorsports very well.

Was their customer once, with two Subarus tuned by them. Both still on the road.

 

You have many other options nearby, for example: Moto-East in PA, RT Tuning also in PA,

RAB Tuning in MA, but given its a 3.6R and the limited mods you're likely thinking of putting on, an e-tune from one of the guys I mentioned above would be good enough and potentially actually better.

 

In fact I'd recommend it even for a stock 3.6R as the OE tune leaves a lot to be desired (and I'm not talking about power output or peak numbers - useless in today's Tri-State traffic anyway).

 

The e-tuners can all help you along and remotely tune your car, you'd just need a way to log data for them (they set that up for you as well if needed).

 

Skip any/all intakes, put the catback on if you'd like and tune away.

[Timothy.B]

I plan on making a video at some point of the process as well as the differences in stock vs tune. The actual process is very easy.

 

It's been a sore subject on the forums of Throttle Happy (Matt) vs XRT (Ed) but I believe, even if I we're to try another tuner, I'd be biased towards XRT, given his knowledge of additional maps that even Cobb's doesn't let their tuners have access to. Just my opinion. It's not always about the gains but the driveability.

 

I have a stock 3.6R and the difference between 87 and 93 is pretty decent in terms of torque/power increase.

[A_A_ron]

add the Audi to the collection in my warehouse.

 

Look at Mr. Moneybags over here with his warehouse of cars.

[Aces36]

I'll look into other tuning options also. I guess I would need a special cable for the laptop and be on wifi if I get a remote tune. I already have the Nameless 5" axle back. I thought I read somewhere that the intake will increase HP with a tune.

 

Thanks for all the advice everyone.

[Aces36]

Look at Mr. Moneybags over here with his warehouse of cars.

 

I am part owner of a construction company that does steel structure and commercial heating and a/c. I also own many residential and commercial rental properties in NY and the Stroudsburg PA area, including the warehouse my car collection is in. So yes, I am quite comfortable.

 

My dad owned an automotive shop up until about 10 years ago that did mechanical and body work. My dad and I did all the body and mechanical work on the classic and race cars I have.

[Timothy.B]

I'll look into other tuning options also. I guess I would need a special cable for the laptop and be on wifi if I get a remote tune. I already have the Nameless 5" axle back. I thought I read somewhere that the intake will increase HP with a tune.

 

Thanks for all the advice everyone.

 

$175 for the cable. You don't really need WiFi. Maybe for the initial setup. You can always use the hotspot option on your phone. The laptop software is free.

 

FWIW, I gained around 9 HP with the AEM drop in filter. The intake was maybe 12-15 but causes other issues. Perscitus could explain in detail but the design interferes with the MAF sensor readings and it's better to just swap the filter and call it a day. I get usually 10-15F higher readings than ambient in the summer when the cars moving so it's not really gonna get you colder IAT.

 

The two files I attached, first one is the difference between the OEM and the AEM Filter.

 

Second is the day I ran stock vs tune. Same time of day, just half an hour apart. I made sure to give the computer time to relearn. Pretty much looks how it feels. Much better low end torque and carries better to redline instead of feeling exhausted uptop. Don't pay attention to the actual power numbers. They vary a lot with IAT. Winter I saw around 230 and summer would be about 215 for a third gear pull. The last graph is second gear. My tuner also uses two graphs, one reads lower than the other.