Hallman MBC - Another one..

[TCB91GSX]

Hey y'all,

I just picked up a Hallman Pro BC to replace my eBay one that works perfect... I put it on last night and went to dial in the boost, it took about 4 full turns before I was able to get past the 6 PSI mark, another couple turns I make it to 8 PSI. Another couple turns, I make it to 10 psi. I am shooting for a 15 psi target. I got frustrated and stopped at 2.5 turns to go at 10 PSI as it was clear I wasn't going to get where I needed to go...I purchased this unit second hand from a member on here. I am pretty sure it has the stiffer spring in it as it also has the steel ball.

Can anyone verify the difference in springs from the picture ? Included the picture from STM Tuned, the stiffer springs "look" very similar...
The spring on the left is a stiffer spring I got from HD and looking to potentially swap in depending on answers. The spring on the right is the HBC spring.

Could this be anything else other than spring rate ?

I put the original MBC on and car was at 15 PSI, no problem.


Let me know what y'all think!

Thanks!

 

[DSMPT]

Hey y'all,

I just picked up a Hallman Pro BC to replace my eBay one that works perfect... I put it on last night and went to dial in the boost, it took about 4 full turns before I was able to get past the 6 PSI mark, another couple turns I make it to 8 PSI. Another couple turns, I make it to 10 psi. I am shooting for a 15 psi target. I got frustrated and stopped at 2.5 turns to go at 10 PSI as it was clear I wasn't going to get where I needed to go...I purchased this unit second hand from a member on here. I am pretty sure it has the stiffer spring in it as it also has the steel ball.

Can anyone verify the difference in springs from the picture ? Included the picture from STM Tuned, the stiffer springs "look" very similar...
The spring on the left is a stiffer spring I got from HD and looking to potentially swap in depending on answers. The spring on the right is the HBC spring.

Could this be anything else other than spring rate ?

I put the original MBC on and car was at 15 PSI, no problem.


Let me know what y'all think!

Thanks!

Make sure you installed it properly. and 2 different manufacturers controller wouldn't work the same. You can't simply compare the turn count between the two.
Are you running a stock actuator or aftermarket wastegate? If stock actuator, I think you have boost leak, exhaust leak or something is not working properly. Because you can't go lower than the stock spring pressure by using a boost controller. Even if the MBC is wide open, at least you would be able to have the stock boost level if your car has no issue.
If aftermarket, do you know what spring pressure it has? If it has a low pressure spring like 4-5 psi or so, the MBC may be already maxed out.

 

[TCB91GSX]

It is installed properly.

I was referencing the other boost controller as functioning properly in regards to the system already being in good health prior to swapping out the boost controller. They are actually two different style of BC so I understand the “turn” count would no way be the same..
16g turbo, stock internal wastegate (meant to include that)

See pics of the spring and description for reference.

 

[DSMPT]

What is the Min and Max steady boost you can get with the Hallman MBC? If you meant that you couldn't exceed 10 psi by fully closing the Hallman MBC, then the BC may not be shutting the air properly for some reason.

 

[jinscho]

I'm inclined to say its either defective, or not installed properly.

10 full turns on my Hallman pro MBC pushed 30+ psi on my MHI Evo 3 16g with internal gate. I'm running 23 psi with (if memory serves correctly) about 6 full turns.

 

[randman2011]

On my Hallman Pro on the stiffer spring, a full turn is 2-3 psi so the behavior you're describing is definitely not correct. On these, the bottom is from the charge pipe and the side is outlet to the wastegate. If it's installed correctly, check that the ball and controller internals aren't dirty and that the side outlet nipple's small hole isn't clogged.

Springs are stiffer when the wire is thicker and when the winding has fewer turns. You can see in the provided picture that they appear to use very similar AWG wire but the heavier spring has fewer turns. In your picture, the right spring has the same number of turns and so it is likely the stiffer spring as you were led to believe. I would be hesitant to use the Home Depot spring you have because the wire is so much thicker and it has so many more turns that its overall compressed height is going to be tall. You'll lose a lot of adjustability with a spring that "large" and you could potentially have binding issues where, if you turn the boost controller past a certain point, the ball and spring won't allow enough air past the controller to the wastegate, effectively commanding infinite boost. It's unlikely that you'd need to tighten the controller that much on a spring that stiff but you should at least be aware of the possibility. A bigger concern is that with a stiffer spring, you lose resolution as each input has a larger corresponding change in boost pressure. With a sufficiently stiff spring you could easily find yourself unable to differentiate between 14 psi and 24 psi.

It is a small number of turns (maybe 5-6) between wastegate pressure and 21 psi, which is what I am running. Your problem is not the stiffness of the spring.

 

[DSMPT]

As you stated you have the stock actuator and everything is installed properly, so the minimum boost you are supposed to have would be the stock actuator pressure. Again, you can't go lower than that pressure unless you have a boost/exhaust leak or some issue maybe related to the actuator. You had 6, 8, 10 psi means that. Doesn't really matter what boost controller or BC spring you have. I guess you have had that issue and switching the boost controller just made the issue more obvious. Inspect and fix all issues first, then you can see if the Hallman boost controller is working or not.

 

[TCB91GSX]

The Hallman is so simple, it’s hard to believe anything is amiss. It doesn’t do anything until a few turns as you can tell when the actual adjustment starts, shaking it a lil while turning it tells you when the spring starts to become compressed and initiating adjustment.... With that being said, internals on it are clean and appear to functioning properly. Now that I have more understanding of the functionality of the system (thanks to you guys) I’m going to throw it back on it and retest, check my WG pressure. I think 6 PSI was a mis-calc on my end and was actually 8 PSI and would make sense since that is the stock WG pressure.


Thank you for the replies and help. Much appreciated , I’ll report back upon further testing.

 

[benspilk09]

I'm inclined to say its either defective, or not installed properly.

10 full turns on my Hallman pro MBC pushed 30+ psi on my MHI Evo 3 16g with internal gate. I'm running 23 psi with (if memory serves correctly) about 6 full turns.

Is this the stock actuator? Or aftermarket? I'm maxed out around 28psi with a holset actuator on a TD05H 20G (built by Justin, not a China special). Gate pressure was 16-18psi.

I cannot get any more boost from it

 

[biglady112]

I sacrifice two clicker pens. I then install both of those springs inside the heavier spring that Hallman provides. This has been good to 52psi in the past. You likely have other issues.

 

[TCB91GSX]

on the clicker pens.


Hallman emailed me back today and said I could possibly have the lighter spring... they sent me new orings/spring no questions asked, super awesome. Well know by the end of the week what’s going on.

 

[biglady112]

You want to run with the big boys you have to get creative. I no longer use manual controllers though. The electronic solenoids are now my weapon of choice.

 

[92AWDHX40]

Lets hope that helps you out, they are good about their products.

 

[jinscho]

Is this the stock actuator? Or aftermarket? I'm maxed out around 28psi with a holset actuator on a TD05H 20G (built by Justin, not a China special). Gate pressure was 16-18psi.

I cannot get any more boost from it

Stock gate, genuine MHI Evo III 16g. I don't have the exact numbers, it happened during a remote tuning session with @dacowgod .. we ran on gate, about 8-10psi if memory serves.. we were ready to turn the boost up, I asked "how many full turns?".. he said 10 and let's see what it does.. we did 10.. had to lift very early in the pull when he saw 30+ on the logs.

 

[DSMPT]

I'm maxed out around 28psi with a holset actuator on a TD05H 20G (built by Justin, not a China special). Gate pressure was 16-18psi.
I cannot get any more boost from it

That sounds normal to me. I think what @jinscho meant is 30+psi peak pressure, not steady pressure. I imagine that it got 30+psi peak and probably got settled down around 27-28 psi range at high RPM.

 

[jinscho]

That sounds normal to me. I think what @jinscho meant is 30+psi peak pressure, not steady pressure. I imagine that it got 30+psi peak and probably got settled down around 27-28 psi range at high RPM.

Very likely.. we didn't stay in it long enough to see what it would settle to.. I was only aiming for 22 psi

 

[benspilk09]

That sounds normal to me. I think what @jinscho meant is 30+psi peak pressure, not steady pressure. I imagine that it got 30+psi peak and probably got settled down around 27-28 psi range at high RPM.

I can't even get mine to spike that high. Then again, I'm only running a 3 bar map so I suppose it wouldn't let me see it if it did.

 

[TCB91GSX]

Not sure what happened... WG pressure was always 8 PSI.
Installed new o rings, spring, and steel ball. Unit is adjusting normally now. Thinking something was jammed then once taken apart it fixed it.
Thanks for all the replies!

For the record, the spring was the “heavier” spring. Thanks Hallman for being awesome and sending new parts.