Wastegate arm only opens flapper halfway.

[johnwohl]

Hi, I have a 2.5in downpipe, no cat, to a 3in exhaust and I am getting boost creep so I ported the turbo, and o2 housing like in the vfaq and gasket matched everything. I posted the outer area of the wastegate flapper so the flapper opens 90 degrees. My wastegate actuator only opens the flapper about 45 degrees at it's full travel. I thought my actuator might be stuck so I tried another one and same problem. At the actuator arms full travel, the flapper only opens half way, negating the effect of removing the material to let it open fully. If I apply throttle smoothly it only spikes a bit and then levels out, but if I am more aggressive it will get up to near 20 psi (about 17psi) before leveling out and then creeps. The arm is not binding or anything, I tested it off the car and then on the car and it is extending to it's full travel. Any ideas? Are there aftermarket actuators that extend further?

 

[keymaster]

Hence the problem with the stock WG. www.dpconcepts.com has created a kit to resolve this problem and let the flapper open much further. They guarantee a 5-8 psi drop in creep. Just thought I'd throw that out there for you.

 

[selser420]

I'm having the some problem with mine!! Is there any way to get the gate to open more than 40*?? Is there an actuator available with more travel??

 

[AlumRodLaser]

http://www.vfaq.com/mods/porting-turbo.html

Porting is the only real solution to completely get rid of boost creep. All of the other fixes aren't going to produce the same results as properly porting the wastegate passages.

 

[selser420]

http://www.vfaq.com/mods/porting-turbo.html

Porting is the only real solution to completely get rid of boost creep. All of the other fixes aren't going to produce the same results as properly porting the wastegate passages.

Yeah...I did all the porting work already(I run a CNC mill...thats the way to port!!!!).

I actually just gone done with adding another pin to the flapper arm to get it to open more. I had to mill some material off the comp. housing(where the actuator mounts) to get the preload and the alignment of the arm right. I hooked it up to a pressure source and cycled it a bunch and it seems to be working good. The gate opening went from about 40* to about 70-80*.

I still have the stock pin on there if I need to go back to it for some reason and would just have to put a washer under the lower mounting bolt to bring the arm alignment back in. I'll try to get some pics before I put the tubular O2 on and I'll update as to how well it works once I finish getting the car back together in 2 weeks or so.

 

[SlowChild3]

How much off the comp? Did you still have to pull the arm to slide on the pin?

 

[laserspeeddemon]

Thats funny, see my 2g 02 housing (on a 1g) is ported so that the divider between the wastegate passage and exhaust passage is removed. It shoots to 15 psi and stays there past redline.

 

[selser420]

How much off the comp? Did you still have to pull the arm to slide on the pin?

Not sure exactly...maybe .125 off the top post and a bit more off the lower to get the angle right. It was a take a little, test fit, take a little more, test fit kinda thing! I also had to grind a radius on the bottom of the arm so it wouldn't hit the stock flapper pin
Yes...I have to pull the arm about .12-.15 to get it over the pin. I'm going to be putting the turbo back on the car tonight, so I'll snap some pics beforehand.

 

[selser420]

Thats funny, see my 2g 02 housing (on a 1g) is ported so that the divider between the wastegate passage and exhaust passage is removed. It shoots to 15 psi and stays there past redline.

I just got a tubular O2 so....we'll see how it works.

 

[selser420]

Here's a few pics of the new setup. The green line is where it opened to stock. The red line is how far with the mods. I tapped a 1/4-28 thread almost all the way through the arm and then used a set screw for the post. I didn't tap all the way through so that the screw would bind up on the threads on the bottom....gave it a dab of Lock-tite just to be safe. I then used a lock nut to keep it on(because I didn't think to drill a hole for a cotter pin).

I took pics with a ruler to show how much I milled off the bosses on the comp housing....not sure how long they were stock, but you could measure yours and do the math if you needed to know.

I should have the car up and running in a week or two....I'll know how ot works then!

 

[SlowChild3]

Thats funny, see my 2g 02 housing (on a 1g) is ported so that the divider between the wastegate passage and exhaust passage is removed. It shoots to 15 psi and stays there past redline.

Well that divider must be there for a reason. somtihng with the o2 reading? Sounds logical that it would be a gain. Better than thinning the wall and putting a hole in it. I ported my turbo to the max with the cracks I had...Didn't do much on the o2, just the edge to dp, and a little on the divider on the dp side. I tested my auctuator and its not a consistant movent, it kinda goes in spurts. Is mine bad? It extends the whole way. I had bad blow by for a while maybe that gunked it all up. Still creeping at 550ormp. I'm putting my new fmic on tomarrow, I got it from ssautocrome and the sent me an evo intercooler and will not exchage, I have to shipping it back with my money to get a refund. I'll just rig it up but while I got everying apart I might booger with it, Become an engineer and think of a easier way to make the wastegate open fully.

 

[92 EcLiPsE]

Couldn't you just cut the wastegate arm, add material to make it longer, then rewelded it? I just got a bullseye housing for my 14b and Im worried about this as well now. Im going to be using the stock 14b actuator. From what Iv'e noticed on the bullseye housing is that the arm is adjustable on the wastegate, I wonder if this will help... i'm not trying to thread highjack here I just may have a similar problem...

 

[selser420]

The issue isn't the length of the rod, but the amount of travel the actuator has. If you make the rod too long it won't shut tightly. Too short and it won't open up enough. The only way around it is to change the pivot point, or have an actuator with more than the .500-.600 of travel the stock one has.
I actually looked into single action air cylinders. The problem was the return spring-rates jumped from 6lbs to 15lbs, and the 15lbs one was 2"diameter.

 

[mhuffman]

i typically do my stuff custom but school's starting soon and i didnt want to pull off the turbo for drilling and tapping, so i ordered the modified wastegate pivot adapter from DPconcepts. i'll let everyone know how it works.