[chriskey0829]

I have turbocharged my integra and finally got it running. When I get on it, I hold boost well with no leak. My external wastegate has an 8.7 psi spring, but the boost gauge only reads a little over 7 psi.

My wastegate vacuum line is hooked up directly to the turbo. I am guessing that the wastegate is reading 8.7 psi from the turbo, but once it goes through my piping and intercooler, it goes down to 7 psi. Is this my problem?

Should I take the vacuum line around to the intake manifold? I dont want to hook up a boost controller, because I can get trigger happy and turn it up too much.

 

[shadowdawn]

correct. Leave it the way it is. I heard that if you hook it up to the IM, you can heatsink you intercooler more easily

 

[chriskey0829]

Help me out guys.

 

[DJgurglaGSR]

reason is pressure drop thru the intercooler

boost gauge (hooked thru the IM) is showing you what happens after the pressure drop. your're at 7psi in the manifold but 8.7 at the turbo.

if you hook the WG to the IM, this kinda accounts for the pressure drop. WG wont open until the pressure in your manifold (not your turbo) is 8.7psi

does that help?

 

[chriskey0829]

I need a few more suggestions. I have 1 for keep it how it is and 1 for switch it to the intake manifold.

 

[Vtec_Sound]

If you tap the manifold, and it is reading 8.7 psi, your turbo would be at

10.78 PSI...

 

[gsrevo]

If you tap the manifold, and it is reading 8.7 psi, your turbo would be at

10.78 PSI...

That's true but it shoudln't hurt the turbo to do ~11 Psi, if he wants 8.7 Psi he has to tap into the manifold or tap into the piping between the Intercooler and Manifold. If you want to reach 8.7 Psi those are the only two options unless you want to get an electronic boost controller.

 

[Vtec_Sound]

No won't hurt the turbo, just make sure your intercooler is efficient enough.

"I heard that if you hook it up to the IM, you can heatsink you intercooler more easily" = True also...

Boost could be more than 11PSI at the turbo... Basically you'd still need to monitor the pressure in the turbo from that tap...

 

[chriskey0829]

I don't want to sound dumb, but what do you really mean by heatsink. The intercooler is good for up to 22 psi. I guess I just don't understand because the intercooler does not read boost so why would increasing the boost that way 'heatsink' it.

 

[integra366]

how about heat soak. Heat soaking is simply the point and time where the entire engine bay/intercooler/crap around the turbo finally cant resist the heat any longer and becomes 200 degrees. Generally youre intercooler isnt a problem, but the intake pipe (charge pipe, cold pipe, the pipe going from the intercooler to the throttle body) heats up and then heats the incoming air.

 

[Chuck_Dean]

Youl'll be fine. Everybody who is running 8 psig is running more boost at the compressor than the manifold due to pressure drops. That's the way it works.

So, if you want to run 8.7 psi by using the manifold pressure as the reference pressure you can.

However, I reccomend that you buy a stiffer wastegate spring (prob. 15lb) and use a manual boost controller ($50) to dial in your boost...if your looking for an affordable way to get to 8psig.

Genereally you want to keep all your vaccum lines as short as possible. So the wastegate vacuum line "should" go straight to the comressor.

correct. Leave it the way it is. I heard that if you hook it up to the IM, you can heatsink you intercooler more easily

All he is really saying is that air temps may increase by running higher boost levels. Not necessaryily true though. Depends on where you are on your compressor map. In actuality, at low boost levels, an increase in boost pressure may actually raise you to a higher compressor efficiency.