psi in a 420a

[DSMcrazy3]

To safely run 3-4 psi on a 420a w/ 113k miles on it, what would I need? I would get a SMIC from a gst, but would I need to control air fuel ratios with a wideband if im only running 3-4 psi? I realise that I could fry a few things if my ratios are messed up, but wouldnt an EGT guage monitor whats happening in my motor internally? Im sort of lost when it comes to this stuff How big of injectors would I need if any? Im trying to see if its worth it because I have a turbo at home that could work, but Im trying to do it reletively cheap

First do a compression test. Make sure your #'s are still looking good.

An EGT gauge only monitors your exhaust gas temperatures. That does play a big part in engine mantinance though. If you start reading overly hot temperatures, you're most likely running lean which can definitely blow some things up, and you will know you've got some sort of problem. I'm not sure if you can tune with just wideband. Or how easy it is to do. I'm personally not trying to make any HUGE numbers right now, so I'm getting SAFC 2 and a pocketlogger to have it tuned with those. I know it isn't the best tune, but it will still get the job done.

For injectors, if all you want to run is 4 psi, the stockers are fine. I and many others run 8 PSI daily and still run stock injectors. If you were to upgrade, if you don't plan on making any huge numbers, I wouldn't go over 370cc's.

Stock side mount should be just fine. Again, I and many others run that. Especially with 3-4 psi, because you won't be flowing that much air, you won't need a FMIC.

 

[selmerguy]

To safely run 3-4 psi on a 420a w/ 113k miles on it, what would I need? I would get a SMIC from a gst, but would I need to control air fuel ratios with a wideband if im only running 3-4 psi? I realise that I could fry a few things if my ratios are messed up, but wouldnt an EGT guage monitor whats happening in my motor internally? Im sort of lost when it comes to this stuff How big of injectors would I need if any? Im trying to see if its worth it because I have a turbo at home that could work, but Im trying to do it reletively cheap

widebands monitor not controll. as for fuel; fmu, and upgraded fuel pump. to me the hardest part of what yo are trying to do is get a wasteate to run just 3-4 psi. i would suggest a external from tial. but thats not cheap

 

[ILLiCliPSE]

wow thanks for helpin me out with this guys! very helpful...

couldn't you mod the wastegate spring to run 3-4 psi?

 

[GSGoinFast]

wow thanks for helpin me out with this guys! very helpful...

couldn't you mod the wastegate spring to run 3-4 psi?

I would suggest an internal wastegate and just modify it to run low boost. Without my boost controller my wastegate is modified to run 3 psi

 

[selmerguy]

I would suggest an internal wastegate and just modify it to run low boost. Without my boost controller my wastegate is modified to run 3 psi

thats why he has 4 green squares and i have 1

 

[napkinthief]

Following your guide Gs, how would I know if I "modified" the wastegate the right way. It would really suck to not even know if the boost was overkill until I see my gauge still rising past 6-7-8 and then boom. Is there a way to test?

 

[DSMcrazy3]

Usually, your motor can take more than 8 psi atleast once.

You shouldn't have to worry, do the mod, then go test it. Anyways, if you're running 4 PSI, with a sidemount. You should be fine up to 8 psi daily, so I wouldn't worry about going boom unless you hit 10-11-12 psi.

 

[XMasta19]

there's that little thing called the gas pedal...if you see yourself rising to boost levels that you don't want, umm...let off the accelerator go "modify" the wastegate again, then have at it another time oh yeah, 10-11-12psi and upward isn't very fun (actually it's really fun, just not for the car)

^ speaking from experience ^

 

[BigRand]

Yeah, my 1st experience with too much boost is when I added my turbo xs boost controller, I followed the instructions of how to preset the controller, and then I went to go and drive off, I went into to boost in 1st gear and noticed my BOV sounding a lot louder, so I check my gauge again in second and noticed it went 5-6-7-8-9-10-11-12, and I was like Oh s#$t.
Pulled over and adjusted it some more, and I was back to 7 like I wanted.

 

[XMasta19]

well at least you weren't "driving beside" your buddy in his srt-4 I saw myself spike 12psi as I was getting on the highway...next thing I know he's right next to me. When I looked at my boost gauge when WOT, I saw it dead on at 10 pounds, but have no idea what it spiked to . anywho, moral of the story...don't let adrenaline get the best of you

now back to your regularly scheduled tech thread

 

[GSGoinFast]

Following your guide Gs, how would I know if I "modified" the wastegate the right way. It would really suck to not even know if the boost was overkill until I see my gauge still rising past 6-7-8 and then boom. Is there a way to test?

Well you are supposed to take a die and thread the wastegate actuator arm. Mine already had some threading so i skipped that part and it ended up working out for me. But if you notice its still too high, tighten the bolt a bit more to put more tension on the spring. Test it again, and adjust accordingly until you have it where you want it. But remember its better to have it running too low of boost then too high, you can always raise the boost with a boost controller, but you cannot lower it with one.

 

[XMasta19]

Well you are supposed to take a die and thread the wastegate actuator arm. Mine already had some threading so i skipped that part and it ended up working out for me. But if you notice its still too high, tighten the bolt a bit more to put more tension on the spring. Test it again, and adjust accordingly until you have it where you want it. But remember its better to have it running too low of boost then too high, you can always raise the boost with a boost controller, but you cannot lower it with one.

you should explain your wastegate "modification" in a little more detail oh mighty wiseman

 

[napkinthief]

so would it be optimal to set the spring at 1 psi? then use the boost controller to take it higher? that way things would be simple and if the boost controller is not functioning correctly, you would be getting 1 psi? or would 1 psi never stay at 1 psi?

also with a 14b, is there any benefit of running anything bigger than a 1g smic for an intercooler or would it just be extra dead weight and money spent?

and would a safc be useful for me? really haven;t read much on them but i know they are used for tuning. what else would i need to tune? some kind of logger or is the safc a logger

 

[XMasta19]

so would it be optimal to set the spring at 1 psi? then use the boost controller to take it higher? that way things would be simple and if the boost controller is not functioning correctly, you would be getting 1 psi? or would 1 psi never stay at 1 psi?

also with a 14b, is there any benefit of running anything bigger than a 1g smic for an intercooler or would it just be extra dead weight and money spent?

and would a safc be useful for me? really haven;t read much on them but i know they are used for tuning. what else would i need to tune? some kind of logger or is the safc a logger

you'll actually want to set it for a little higher so it's still technically doing it's job ...i mean hell, I could get 1psi running with the wastegate actuator arm disconnected.

it's not necessarily that you're running a 14b, but the amount of boost you want to run that would determine the necessity of a fmic. for your setup, the side mount will do ya just fine.

there are guys on here that use safc, and yes it's a tuning device. just don't expect it to work miracles on your car as you may hear possible on other vehicles, they really don't seem to be the best for the 2gnt world. do yourself a favor, take the money you were gonna spend on the safc, and put it towards a wideband....most of them will even log for you

 

[DSMcrazy3]

so would it be optimal to set the spring at 1 psi? then use the boost controller to take it higher? that way things would be simple and if the boost controller is not functioning correctly, you would be getting 1 psi? or would 1 psi never stay at 1 psi?

With that mod you could set it to that amount, but I wouldn't recommend it. That would mean you're having to rely on two different mechanisms to recieve sufficient boost. Just another thing that could break.

also with a 14b, is there any benefit of running anything bigger than a 1g smic for an intercooler or would it just be extra dead weight and money spent?

It's not really the turbo that you're running, it's the amount of boost you're running. Others don't get me wrong I know different turbos flow different amounts of air. Still, running 8 psi max, there is no need for anything more than a sidemount intercooler.

and would a safc be useful for me? really haven;t read much on them but i know they are used for tuning. what else would i need to tune? some kind of logger or is the safc a logger

Many people tune with SAFC, for 8 psi it should get the job done just fine. If you want to push loads of power out of your engine in the near future(with supporting mods, I.E. Rods, rings, pistons) then you probably would want to invest into something more in depth like Megasquirt.
To tune with SAFC it's recommended that you have at least a Wideband o2 setup. You don't have to have a pocketlogger, but it's nice to have that too.

I plan to get my car tuned with SAFC. That will be all I have, the shop that will be tuning is going to hook up a pocketlogger to my car and read the o2 voltage, and adjust it that way. Some shops will have a wideband unit of their own that they could hook up to the car to tune with as well, but not all of them will.

BigRand got his car tuned before with SAFC, he could fill you in more than I can on the benefits of it and the results he saw.

 

[XMasta19]

too slow sucka

oh what's this, I have a pm from you.....

hehe I posted 2 mintues after you in the PSI thread, and we basically said the EXACT same things hahaha...I thought it was cute. Hope the thanksgiving has gone well for ya.

I'm out for now, i'll be on AIM later though.

so you think I'm cute huh



how bout we let the poster read our replies, and we'll talk later

 

[DSMcrazy3]

so you think I'm cute huh



how bout we let the poster read our replies, and we'll talk later

I never said that...F.A.G.!

Back to the topic..

 

[napkinthief]

I have an opportunity to pick up a SAFC for 60$ thats why I asked about it...If I read correctly I also need a pocketlogger? What is the name of some widebands I can use? Someone told me earlier this week a narrow band would be enough...true/false?

 

[DSMcrazy3]

I have an opportunity to pick up a SAFC for 60$ thats why I asked about it...If I read correctly I also need a pocketlogger? What is the name of some widebands I can use? Someone told me earlier this week a narrow band would be enough...true/false?

As long as the SAFC is in working order, and not so many scratches you cant read the screen..Or is it knob style? Either way for $60, it sounds like a good deal.

You don't have to have a pocketlogger, it's a nice tool to have though. You can find out just about anything going on in the engine with them.

I'm not too familiar with wideband yet, maybe someone else can step in and help with that.

As for narrowband, whoever told you that is right. To an extent, a very small one at that. The gauge can give you a very broad view of what's going on. Here's a way to think of it. Say you have a "where's Waldo" book, and you're looking for him with the naked eye(narrowband o2 gauge)

Now you get a magnifying glass to look through(wideband o2) makes things alot easier to pinpoint.

I know that is a stupid comparison, hopefully it got the job done though.

 

[napkinthief]

yea the SAFC is screen not knob style, has one scratch but doesn't affect view too much, would it tell me what is going on in the engine though?

 

[DSMcrazy3]

Not the SAFC really, SAFC monitors some sensors but comes nowhere close to monitoring what a pocketlogger does.

The SAFC is used to trick the ECU and adjust fuel curves at certain RPM's basically. Not to monitor what all is going on in the engine.

 

[napkinthief]

Ok, I been looking around Ebay for past few hours for parts and stuff, there seems to be many pocketlogger cables being sold...Is the pocket logger an actual machine or just a cable to connect to a pc?

 

[DSMcrazy3]

Well people tend to use a palm pilot for their screen, they just have to buy the cable to hook up to the port on the car.

 

[XMasta19]

http://www.zeitronix.com/
http://www.innovatemotorsports.com/products.php
http://www.aempower.com/product_ems.asp
http://wbo2.com/

 

[XMasta19]

With my laptop and the zeitronix zt-2 setup...I'll be able to monitor and datalog boost, afr, egt, rpm, tps, and even more as you can read on the site