Parts Unknown - The Risks of Buying a Used Kit Car

[kevinh]

Hello Everyone!

I purchased a partially completed 818C last year and finally have a safety inspection (Ontario, Canada) and have test driven the car.

First impression was underwhelming - not the massive hp/weight ratio I was expecting.

I have purchased a Tactrix adapter to collect some data and attempted the live dyno, which told me I am making 110 hp.

Here's my question: engine is supposed to be a EJ207 v9 (03/01/'04 to 04/30/'07) but the ECU model crosses to a JDM 02 Subaru Forester. Is this the ideal ECU for the job? Already looks like normally you would connect "two green connectors" near the OBD2 port to program this, however they are missing from my harness presumably due to the mismatch in years.

As I said "Parts Unknown - The Risks of Buying a Used Kit Car"... It's been a challenge thus far, just figuring out what brake rotors and control arms I have and interchange of parts, etc... Document your builds really well and pass those build books on to future owners!

Kevin

[lpmagruder]

Welcome!

With the right tune even at the 220hp or so the motor is stock, these cars are pretty quick. If it's underwhelming then something is definitely off.

An 02 Forester NA ECU would not be the right choice. But there were turbo foresters (XT and STI models I think) and the ECU from one of those would be ok. If you post your CAL ID from EcuFlash or RomRaider I can lookup exactly what car it's from for you.

But, the stock tune on any Subaru ECU would not be right for any 818. Could even be unsafe for the engine to run depending on the setup. There's no getting around having to tune for these cars.

All ecus of that era have the green connectors. The earlier 16 bit ECUs had a second connector that needed to be shorted to be able to flash a new tune. If the builder didn't leave those exposed you're going to have to dig for them.

If you're interested in self tuning head on over to the Romraider forums and do some homework. I've self tuned my 818 and been daily driving and autocrossing it for over a year now, I'd be happy to help you get started. Or you can get the ECU and flash mode connectors sorted and take it to a Subaru tuner.