Raptor supercharger tuning on 3.6R

[MrDude_1]

Hey guys.

Yes this is my first post here. I'm running into a bit of a question And this seems like a active form with people that will probably know the answer or at least know where to point me the right direction.

 

Just to get it clear right out of the bat, I have a 2017 3.6R Outback. US model. I'm in Charleston South Carolina.

 

My question is is there a tuner in the southeast that is familiar with tuning the 3.6R raptor supercharger and the CVT transmission?

 

My follow-up question, is: Can anybody can point me to where I can find the files I need to edit the ECU for a 2017 3.6R Outback myself?

 

Longer version:

We have an Outback because I needed a wagon and family car. It recently went out of warranty, and after owning it for over 3 years there's a few things I want to change. One of them being the lack of power. Since the CVT is the limiting factor of the drivetrain, and because my wife has had surgery on both ankles a manual swap is out of the question... So looking around the cheap raptor supercharger kit with no intercooler seems like the best choice for me. It's one mod (well I'm going to put headers too but only because the stock manifolds suck) And I'll have enough power to be at the limit of safe CVT usage... IF IT'S TUNED PROPERLY. That's a huge question mark for me, because I'm coming from tuning GM cars, and I have never worked with a CVT. As a matter of fact I leave all the transmission tuning to my best friend, and always owned manuals for myself.

 

So now I'm very serious about buying this raptor supercharger kit and I know I can get the hardware. And bolting it on looks like it's going to be pretty damn simple, but the tuning world for Subarus is brand new to me.

Ideally I want to be able to slap the parts on, and then flash up a tune and have it safe to drive. This means not only running without hurting the engine, but also idling properly and not stalling because it's really hard to restart a car with the push button start if you're in the middle of the road. I'm not the only user of this car and it's the family car. The other vehicle is a two-door sports car so it can work in a very tight pinch but everybody will be driving this car immediately after installation and I need it to be safe.

 

I would love to ask the guys at raptor superchargers about it, especially since these kits and such are super popular in Australia and I know there's a ton of guys there but I sent them a email and haven't heard from him in a couple days. I don't blame them As with the time difference, it was already their weekend, but I'm hoping to find somebody local that I can deal with... And I want to be able to see all the parameters myself and modify stuff myself so as I get the hang of what we're doing and why we're doing it if there's something small I need to modify it's within my ability.

 

So who do you guys recommend for tuning?

Who has experience with this stuff?

The kit is actually made for a legacy, and underhood drivetrain wise we're identical so other than a possible ECU differences we should be looking at the same thing.

 

So come on, tell me what you know.

And yes it's a lot of money for very little power.

And yes if I want a performance car I should buy something else.

And yes I'm fully open to somebody donating a Mercedes AMG wagon or any of the few other higher performing wagons... But considering that I already own this one, and that I only need to do a few things to it I think I'll be happy with 300wheel hp.

[Max Capacity]

May be member "Warlock" may be able to help.

 

He's fairly new here but seems to know about tuning. I have come across a few of his post in the 4th Gen forum...I think.

 

Not sure if Mike of tuningalliance@gmail.com can help, he's one of the best with turbos.

 

I seem to recall there's a guy on one of the islands that also tunes SC 3.6R's

 

Check the Tuning Forum too.

[DougKelly20]

Use Ed http://xtremeracingtuning.com/ he tunes all kinds of Subaru's and has been doing it forever. He even helped a guy tune a turbo crosstrek. No judgement, people like the cars they like and what you do with it is your own personal deal. If I had 4k I didn't know what to do with I would do it to my leggy.

 

Raptor's kind of a pain to deal with. I gave up buying headers from them because they took so long and had shitty response times.

 

Ed tuned my 19 3.6R and he instructed me on which software and cable to get. I was not into tweaking my own parameters, so if you wanna do some yourself or you HAVE to have a local tuner, you might want to look elsewhere but for an etune that's really solid...i highly recommend him.

[ncted]

There are a couple in Central NC that might be able to help:

 

http://turbotime.us/subaru-performance-tuning-services/

 

http://insomniamotorsports.com/subaru-performance/

 

There are others around I am sure

[MrDude_1]

Thanks guys. I had to find my login info so I could reply.

I'll try giving these people a call and see what I can come up with.

[2.5i Premium]

God speed dude.

Just know there were only two other Raptor supercharged Legacy's in the world; Stacy and Gino.

Note that I said 'were'. They both quickly realized what a complete waste of time, money, and parts it takes.

One: the ECU is not readable. It's not meant to be tuned in the traditional sense. The only person who tuned a supercharged Leg, or any Outback for that matter is Ed at XRT.

Two: the CVT is not the only factor, the poor brakes, suspension, and tires that are available for the Outback.

Three: you'll need new fuel rails, pump, cooler, injectors, and that's if the block doesn't warp. It wasn't built or design to take any amount of boost.

 

Why don't you visit us at the OutbackForums? We have literal Subaru engineers and Rocket Scientists. They can help you more.

 

Despite this, I hope you can get it working. If you do decide to do this you have my undivided attention and support. just wanted to inform you of what you're getting into. And honestly, the tuning is probably the easy part. Leave it to Ed, he's a legend.

[MrDude_1]

(I broke up your quote into pieces so I could talk about each part without being too confusing.. I apologize if it seems like a wall of responses. lol)

 

God speed dude.

Just know there were only two other Raptor supercharged Legacy's in the world; Stacy and Gino.

yeah, that bothers me too. Notice they're the 5eat transmission too, not the late model CVT.

So we have a company that apparently makes enough of these that they are sold as a kit, but I cant find any other installs.

 

 

God speed dude.

Note that I said 'were'. They both quickly realized what a complete waste of time, money, and parts it takes.

 

agreed. if you're not trying to just make it "better" and instead are trying to make it fast, it becomes a waste of money.

I'll waste some money on this... I've wasted more money on worse things.

 

 

One: the ECU is not readable. It's not meant to be tuned in the traditional sense. The only person who tuned a supercharged Leg, or any Outback for that matter is Ed at XRT.

 

Cool, I just shot him an email earlier today. My research showed him as the only guy that did both the supercharger and the CVT.. but not on the same car.

 

Can you elaborate on the ECU not being readable? what do you mean by that? I have seen Ed compare what a previous tuner did to the CVTs, so he has to be able to read what they had on there.

My understanding is we can read the bin off the ECU... and the catch is you need the proper XML files to parse it so the table and values are human readable... and then know the checksums to be able to spit it back to a valid bin file for flashing.

is there a catch here?

 

Two: the CVT is not the only factor, the poor brakes, suspension, and tires that are available for the Outback.

Thats already covered. Brakes upgraded, coilover suspension that lowers it back to a car height and wheels/tires changed.

 

Besides, this isnt a 500hp monster thats doing laps.. its less than 300whp practical street car that holds two dogs, kids, an adult and all the junk that goes with them on a roadtrip.

I just need to have the power to pass the slow truck before the dotted lines end. lol.

 

 

 

Three: you'll need new fuel rails, pump, cooler, injectors, and that's if the block doesn't warp. It wasn't built or design to take any amount of boost.

walbro 255 in the tank is a given. cheap insurance. I'll look at what the injector duty cycle is, but even if I need new injectors I can just step up to bigger OEM ones.

This is about 5-6psi... I might add water/methanol injection if the IATs get high in the summer, but overall most people would say its so little its not worth doing. To them, I just ask where can I get a wagon like mine, with airbags, crumplezones, etc thats quicker without six figures? And dont anyone point at the damn CTSV wagon. the manual CTS-V wagons get more expensive every year. lol. This car is paid off. Couple grand on forced induction is nothing over a couple years. Especially if I can sell the kit off in a few years when I sell the car.

 

 

 

Why don't you visit us at the OutbackForums? We have literal Subaru engineers and Rocket Scientists. They can help you more.

 

Despite this, I hope you can get it working. If you do decide to do this you have my undivided attention and support. just wanted to inform you of what you're getting into. And honestly, the tuning is probably the easy part. Leave it to Ed, he's a legend.

 

Im on there. Someone showed me how to replace the lower seat cover the other day. stupid thing split and the car is only 3 years old.

The reason this isnt posted on there, is that there are zero outbacks with a supercharger on there. and most of them are modding for offroad use... I mod for what I use it for. That is 99.8% on pavement. The initial reason for lowering the car was to reduce the body roll and bring the CG down. The car was going through tires too fast. I could corner slower, drive more conservatively.. but thats not fun or my style.

[2.5i Premium]

 

Im on there. Someone showed me how to replace the lower seat cover the other day. stupid thing split and the car is only 3 years old.

The reason this isnt posted on there, is that there are zero outbacks with a supercharger on there. and most of them are modding for offroad use... I mod for what I use it for. That is 99.8% on pavement. The initial reason for lowering the car was to reduce the body roll and bring the CG down. The car was going through tires too fast. I could corner slower, drive more conservatively.. but thats not fun or my style.

 

I reallllly think you should be posting this in the Outback forum.

1. There are plenty of people that modded the outback for speed

2. The outback forum isn’t dead like this place, way more user over there (no disrespect forum)

3. We have folks that literally worked on the 3.6r engine that can elaborate or how to do this safely.

4. There’s already plenty of folks that posted exactly like this, wanting to put in Raptor’s supercharger. Including me.

 

Join us brother

[BallerRoofic]

Forget outback forums, throwing a flat six seems to be the next big thing for wrx /sti. Go to YouTube and search iwire gc8 ez36.

 

An iwire employee threw a 6 flat into his gc8 coupe i can't recall which engine it was but he made a few videos on the process the final dyno pull is the best.

 

He would be your best source