SBR exhuast manifold and turbosmart wastegate

[90AWDTalon]

I installed an SBR exhaust manifold and a turbosmart 38mm ultragate today, and have a few comments.

The turbosmart wastegate comes with a 7psi spring installed and comes with additional 7psi and 10psi springs. I combined the additional 7 and 10 psi springs to make my base setting 17psi. To do this you must take the wastegate appart. The instructions say to be careful because the cap is under spring tension. This is an understatement, after removing the screws holding the cap on it was stuck to the rest of the wastegate. I tried pulling the cap off to no avail, when suddenly the cap flew off. If bounced off my door leaving a huge dent and then flew another 10 feet before hitting a wall. I am very lucking I didn't have this thing pointed at my face. So to anyone that whats to change the spring rate of the ultragate, be extreamly careful. 7psi doesn't sound like much, but I think this thing could kill if it hit your face right.

The exhaust manifold flanges are very thick, I think that with this manifold I could have installed my HX35 with out having to dent the water pipe. So it gives lots of clearance for large turbo's.

I also bought a dump tube from dejon tool. It doesn't work with my evoIII o2 housing or down pipe, both are in the way. I think it probably only works with their down pipe. So just a warning to any one thinking that they can avoid having to fabricate there own by buying the dejon tool dump tube. Hopefully I can find somewhere tomarrow to get one fabbed up.

I think that at idle the wastegate is sometimes opening up. It sounds like an open exhaust and my w/b o2 readings go full lean like there is no exhuast reaching the gauge. It only does it at idle, and its not constant. Is this normal?

 

[larsrya8]

I think that at idle the wastegate is sometimes opening up. It sounds like an open exhaust and my w/b o2 readings go full lean like there is no exhuast reaching the gauge. It only does it at idle, and its not constant. Is this normal?

No, that's not normal. The wastegate is supposed to stay closed until the set boost is reached. If you're sure you aren't hearing a boost leak I would make sure that the wastegate cover isn't damaged. Also make sure that you have the wastegate hooked up to the boost controller correctly. Sometimes these external wastegates have two source nipples and things can get tricky.

That's all I can think of this early in the morning. I'll post again if I have more ideas.

 

[90AWDTalon]

I think that at idle the wastegate is sometimes opening up. It sounds like an open exhaust and my w/b o2 readings go full lean like there is no exhuast reaching the gauge. It only does it at idle, and its not constant. Is this normal?

Its not the wastegate, I think the block off to the internal wastegate passage failed. I've got exhuast gasses comming out the hole where the flapper arm used to be and my spool has gone to shit. So tomarrow I'll be taking everything apart again to check this.

 

[90AWDTalon]

A couple of pics.

 

[silvah_gsx]

very nice! do you have problems with things overheating from lack of a heat shield?

also where's that wastegate pressure line going off to? leaves the bottom of frame but is that just because your mbc is far away?

 

[90AWDTalon]

very nice! do you have problems with things overheating from lack of a heat shield?

No, but I am going to modify the stock one to fit around the wastegate.

also where's that wastegate pressure line going off to? leaves the bottom of frame but is that just because your mbc is far away?

For the moment I just ran a quick line off the intake manifold and tied it up to the upper ic pipe to keep it out of the way. I wanted to make sure every thing was working before hooking my mbc back up.

 

[larsrya8]

For the moment I just ran a quick line off the intake manifold and tied it up to the upper ic pipe to keep it out of the way. I wanted to make sure every thing was working before hooking my mbc back up.

Very good idea.

As for the internal wategate block off failing... from your description that sounds like it could be the problem. At least it's not caused by something that would be expensive to fix. Good luck!

 

[90AWDTalon]

Its not the wastegate, I think the block off to the internal wastegate passage failed. I've got exhuast gasses comming out the hole where the flapper arm used to be and my spool has gone to shit. So tomarrow I'll be taking everything apart again to check this.

I just checked out the block off for the internal wastegate, it is still intact.

Am I wrong in thinking that unless there is a big restriction in the exhuast down stream of the o2 housing that it wouldn't be reversersing direction and comming back up the wastegate passage in the o2 housing? Exhuast gasses are going to take the least restrictive path out the exhuast system and I would think that going out threw the muffler is less restrictive than backing up and going thru the o2 housing's wastegate passage.

I'm going to block of the actuator arm hole and see what happens. My current exhuast system; 1st bend in the downpipe is 2.5" then 3" the rest of the way, 3" high flow cat, press bent 3" catback with minimal bends and straight thru 3" muffler.

 

[Syndicate13]

How did you block off the internal passage? My Green just had the flapper tacked shut but the pivot arm was still attached to the outside of the turbo. I hate you 1G guys and how much room you have between the manifold and the radiator, my Tial sits right up toward the radiator. I did get lucky and a straight piece of pipe dumped mine between the radiator and IC piping.

 

[90AWDTalon]

How did you block off the internal passage? My Green just had the flapper tacked shut but the pivot arm was still attached to the outside of the turbo.

I took it to a machine shop, I wish the guy had done it like yours, but I don't think he completely understood what I was asking for. He cut a round piece of plate steel to fill the hole and welded around the whole piece from the o2 housing side. I think this way should work fine and it does make the turbo inlet smoother becuase the passage to the wastegate is blocked by the block off plate.

I've been thinking about it some more and I only know for sure that exhaust was coming out that hole at idle, no way to test while driving. So maybe when at idle when the exhuast flow is substantialy less, that hole is less restrictive than going thru the tail pipe? Also with that hole there it could be sucking fresh air into the exhuast system and throwing off my o2 readings.

I've been reading thru some old post about slow spool and came across a couple of threads talking about gasket problems with the tial 38mm wastegates. The gaskets that came with the turbosmart wastegate look very weak just like the tial gaskets. After getting home from having the dump tube fabbed I removed the wastegate becuase the guy that made the tube didn't get the bolts tight and I decided it would be easier to tighten the dump tube off the manifold and then bolt the wastegate with tube attached to the manifold. Maybe while doing this I damaged the gasket? So tomarrow afternoon I'm going to remove the gasket altogether, if that doesn't work I'll try some rtv, and if that still doesn't work I'll try the sce copper gasket. And if that doesn't work the problem is something else. It did spool faster on my way home from the exhuast shop than after I took off the wastegate and reinstalled it.

 

[Syndicate13]

I didn't use the gaskets that came with my Tial, they're piece of crap and I've seen far too many of them leak. I ordered gaskets from RRE, they're twice as thick of nicer material and have a steel fire ring, they've been going strong on my car for months now. I have a small exhaust leak at my O2 housing and it throws my wideband readings off at idle, not by much but a little.

 

[90AWDTalon]

Well my plug for the actuator hole failed. I used jb weld, this time I'm trying this stuff from permatex that is supposed to hold up to 2000 degree's, I'm skeptical about it holding up but I really don't want to take everything apart again if I can avoid it.

Any one have any idea's to plug the hole with out removal of the turbo?

One idea I have is if I can find a tap that is the right size to fit the hole I can tap it and install a plug, but that will only work if the hole is the right size with out needing to be drilled out. No room for a drill.

I'm not a welder so I don't know if there is room to weld the hole closed with the turbo still mounted to the car.