Altitude Performance Loss

[Dr. Rick Sanchez]

Hey guys, first post on the forum, go easy on me.

Full disclosure, I'm 37 years old and I've been a lifelong Chevy guy. My first car was a 72 SS Nova and my dad and I currently show a '64 Malibu SS. Problem is, Camaros kinda suck and I wanted a big horsepower RWD American car. My WRX (I live in Denver) was broken into and I had to get it fixed. When I took it in they gave me a '16 EcoBoost Premium and I was super impressed. After making sure my dad wouldn't disown me, I bought a 2016 GT with the Performance Package.

I bought the car in Wichita, KS and then brought it back home. The car runs like a banshee in KS and like a whipped dog in CO. A friend of mine suggested disconnecting the positive lead and letting the computer reset since the first 1000 miles I had the car it was in KS. Will that help? Will anything help or am I just stuck with a dog?

I'm not opposed to upgrades. But I bought the extra warranty and don't want to void it. Suggestions? Thanks guys!

 

[Dr. Rick Sanchez]

Here she is btw. Sorry, don't have any great pics.

 

[Still Bill]

Can't speak to the performance loss, but beautiful car! But then again I may be partial to Race Red.

 

[skyline247]

Welcome! Nice car. Air is less dense at higher altitudes which will result in some performance loss. I'm not sure if disconnecting the battery would help or not. The car may be able to make some adjustments but I doubt it would bring all the performance back. That's why there are density altitude adjustments in drag racing. A car in a place with less density and more humidity will run slower than the same car in a place without these effects. Temperature also has an impact as density increases as temperature drops. DA adjustments level the field by correcting for these effects.

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[skyline247]

I did some estimations using DA tables and calculators. The difference in elevation between Wichita and Denver is about 4000 ft. This altitude difference is worth almost 0.7 sec 1/4 mile ET and 5.7 mph trap speed which is about 60 HP for a 3500 lb car. These are only rough estimates to give you an idea of the impact. Again, temperature and humidity will also affect all of this. The best way to reduce the impact of altitude is forced induction. I think Ford sells a supercharger with a warranty. Any other brand will probably void the warranty.

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[Dr. Rick Sanchez]

I did some estimations using DA tables and calculators. The difference in elevation between Wichita and Denver is about 4000 ft. This altitude difference is worth almost 0.7 sec 1/4 mile ET and 5.7 mph trap speed which is about 60 HP for a 3500 lb car. These are only rough estimates to give you an idea of the impact. Again, temperature and humidity will also affect all of this. The best way to reduce the impact of altitude is forced induction. I think Ford sells a supercharger with a warranty. Any other brand will probably void the warranty.

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Yeah they say 3% per 1000 feet of altitude, that lines up with your calculations pretty well. I'm going to get ahold of BAMA and see if they make an altitude tune. There's another company whose name escapes me right now that makes a tuner that they sell in a package with a JLT CAI. They claim 30 rwhp with the combo. If I can do something like that and also open the exhaust up a bit, I might be happy. It's just a bummer that the car is such a dog up here. My roommate's WRX STi is faster and it has 130 less hp.

 

[skyline247]

Yeah they say 3% per 1000 feet of altitude, that lines up with your calculations pretty well. I'm going to get ahold of BAMA and see if they make an altitude tune. There's another company whose name escapes me right now that makes a tuner that they sell in a package with a JLT CAI. They claim 30 rwhp with the combo. If I can do something like that and also open the exhaust up a bit, I might be happy. It's just a bummer that the car is such a dog up here. My roommate's WRX STi is faster and it has 130 less hp.

I'm not sure how much you can adjust the tune for altitude but I'm interested in hearing what they say. You can still get similar results as other people with tunes; you are just starting from a lower number. FYI, most, if not all, of the benefit of the tune/CAI combos is the tune itself. The stock air box is decent and any benefit from a CAI on a stock setup is debatable at best...unless you want the look and sound of one. Also, keep in mind that a tune will probably void the warranty...

Regardless, I hope you get to enjoy the car...even if it takes a few mods to get there. You have a nice ride. STIs are nice cars and they haul ass. The turbo and awd will definitely make it feel faster (turbo especially helps overcome some of the altitude impact), but without mods they are not as quick as the mustang.

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[MoshpitMad]

Boosted applications lose less hp at altitude. I lived in CO for 12 years, and n/a cars take the bigger hit. When I had my 12 GT and SCT tuner, Steeda had a tune for altitude. I think they used info from doing the Pikes Peak hillclimb for some of their data.

 

[skyline247]

That's interesting. I wonder what they did in that tune.

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[Dr. Rick Sanchez]

BAMA said no dice. So did SCT. So it will have to be a custom tune loaded onto one of the devices. Either that or just spring for the Ford Racing supercharger. It feels like I'm being railroaded into it because of the warranty, but what can I do? I honestly don't enjoy driving the car up here as is...

 

[XStang302x]

Granted I am no forced induction expert by any means and definitely not with installs. I looked at the install instructions on the ford unit and was a little put-off at how much cutting and grinding was involved. Maybe that's the case with all types of superchargers/turbos? That had me looking at the Hellion turbo setup...just day dreaming though, that stuff is way outta budget for me at the moment haha.

 

[skyline247]

Maybe you can talk to Steeda, AED or someone like Lund. They might have some customers in Colorado.

As far as installs, I thought the centris didn't have much, if any, fab work associated with them. Turbos usually require more work because of the routing of the piping so I personally doubt a Hellion kit is easier than say, a Vortech or Paxton...but I could be wrong.

@84Ttop any recommendations/input?

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