Is the stock cat back and intake ok for a stage 3 level performance?

[M-Sport fan]

http://www.fiestastforum.com/forum/threads/11322-P0420-and-Startified-tune/page5
Post 48

OK, THANKS.

That factory catcon did not appear to be damaged at all.

Did it rattle, or sound like there were loose pieces of honeycomb in there when you shook it?

 

[Ceecab705]

Looked like new. I think maybe the down stream sensor went bad, but who knows?

 

[danbfree]

Wow, we've all learned a lot in the 2.5 years since this thread was started... Thanks to Jason at Dizzy we have seen that yes, intake mods do help, from VERY little (drop in only) to a fairly decent amount (2JR with 10hp/20tq) and somewhere in between (crossover and induction hose upgrade) but gains are mainly just more TORQUE that many of us already have an excessive of on the low RPM end with a stock turbo... But most importantly, Jason also has proven through multiple runs that the stock DP/exhaust is simply not very restrictive at ALL, only a 3whp and 7wtq on an X47R turbo running completely catless over stock! Also, as you see in the pic below of Jason's testing, ignore the part that the tests were started at different RPM's and focus on how steep the torque curves go upward at the beginning. On the catless, it does go up more smoothly while the stock DP starts out less steep but then shoots up more steeply as it "catches up", so that's the difference in spool time, very minimal and on a much higher flowing turbo than stock, so there you go, the stock exhaust system is not very restrictive at ALL, even with a hybrid! NOW, if you insist on trying to set world record power levels, insist on having a pops and crackles tune when a reasonable amount is easy to get with a simple muffler swap or you do participate in actual racing where you are going to be running the car hard constantly, then a catless DP will give you that touch of added power, touch of faster spool, but also lower EGT's and underhood temps for more reliability, but mainly only in those extreme cases...



Now as far as my own trials with running Cobb Stage 3 tune, you can see my list of mild mods in my signature below but I also have a STOCK intercooler and STOCK DP (at the time of testing, intercooler finally going in soon)... I have had my FiST for about 15 months now but have always assumed you needed to at least be close to having most of Cobb's required mods, but Cobb tunes suck anyway so I've used Stratified and Dizzy after using only the Stage 1 on my AP when I first got it, but did try Stage 2 briefly once but never even considered trying stage 3 without an IC upgrade. So over time as I've learned more and realized that Cobb's Stage 3 power levels were simply close to Stage 1 Pro Tuner flash tunes, I decided to try it out so I recently ran through a full tank on Cobb Stage 3 to compare it to Dizzy and Stratified that I have, all on 93. Unfortunately I only got one datalog and I still need to pull it and drop it in to vDyno, but I can tell you that compared to the "Stage 1" tunes from Dizzy and Stratified, my charge temps didn't go up any faster, didn't have any more negative corrections than the other 2 but it did build boost more slowly but I think that's simply part of Cobb's tuning strategy, is to add lots of timing first and have boost fill in later, not my favorite flavor of tune, but also I felt like little bits of stuttering as I went WOT as the RPM's climbed, but again no negative corrections, so that's very weird... After filling up, I went back to the Dizzy tune that's absolutely fantastic, and that stuttering wasn't there... So I have no idea other than straight up wanting to sell more unneeded bolt ons, but it seems Cobb's Stage 3 is less aggressive than the Pro Tuners flash tunes so any of their requirements are simply horseshit, period and as we know, their tunes aren't that good, it made decent power but also the stuttering was a bit unnerving and not right so I won't be going back to their tunes again. I mean, there's a chance that bit of stuttering was from knock, but I doubt it with such minimal negative corrections, right?

So yeah, go ahead and try running Cobb Stage 3 with minimal mods, it's likely not going to hurt anything to try when first buying an AP, maybe stick to Stage 2 if you are 100% stock and it helps you sleep better at night, but it also doesn't feel that great compared to a good flash tune like Dizzy so it's worth paying for a real tune to use instead.