Trying To Work Out Why My Car Is Boosting At 11.5psi

[maddowse]

hi guys/girls, for some time iv been trying to findout why my car is boosting at 11.5 - 12psi

its an series 2 r34 gtt sedan sold to me by the importer as stock , ever since iv had it its booted hard and i thort that this was normal untill i drove my mates car which is stock , so i installed a psi gauge and noticed how high its boosting ,

i looked every were to see if it had a boost controller but none , i read a thred on here about earthing the solinoid to give it high boost all the time checked and its un touched , but i did earth my mates on to give him higher boost (and he loves it) but when i

was doing his car i noticed his actuator is larger than the on on my car so iv taken a photo to see if anyone here knows if this is inface an r33 actuator (iv read a post about people installing them but iv never seen a picture to tell the difference)

it does have "33" stamped in black ink so that why i think it is but sometimes that may mean someting else.

only mods on the car is a cat back 3" system

the reason im trying to find out is because i want to put a high flow split dump/back pipe on and an intercooler and need to be able to drop the boost back down because these things will up the boost past the turbos "safe" boosting level

[maddowse]

if this is not an r33 actuator and its standard can anyone please sugest what else there is to check to figure out why the car boosts so high ?

[fatz]

that would be low boost

turn itup

[maddowse]

Lol any more than that will kill my turbo

[maddowse]

No one can help ??? I hear people looking for and buying r33 actuators on here all the time surely someone knows how to tell what they look like ???

I didnt choose the boost this high it was already like it and i arr dont worry about it

[boostn0199]

Looks identical to the r33 acatuor on my stock turbo sitting infront of me.

[maddowse]

Thanks mate so the stamped writing is the same ? This is good news . If thats the case id asume when i add the pipe and cooler i can just place a standard r34 actuator back on and ill be back to 10 or 11 psi

thanks again

[boostn0199]

well r33 actuators are 7psi acutaors, put it this way with the stock boost control it wont go higher than what it is now, why you worried about 11-12psi anyway its fine, sure your vaccum source for you boost gauge hasnt got a leak I found my r33 when just cat back and cooler boosting about 11-12 but it was a leak in the boost gauge when fixed that was about 9-10

[Galois]

just wondering, why do you want to drop the boost, only to add an fmic to lift the boost again? lol, this reminds me of another thread, deja vu? lol

yeah i have a similar boost, maybe even just above 12psi. but id always assumed it was the exhaust, and possible aggressive tune by previous owner. have you considered changing/high flowing your turbo? not sure on cost of those options tho

[RBceffy25]

  Galois said:

just wondering, why do you want to drop the boost, only to add an fmic to lift the boost again? lol, this reminds me of another thread, deja vu? lol

yeah i have a similar boost, maybe even just above 12psi. but id always assumed it was the exhaust, and possible aggressive tune by previous owner. have you considered changing/high flowing your turbo? not sure on cost of those options tho

Its a valid move to drop it only to raise it again with bolt-ons. A free flowing exhaust will premote better spool and response and a fmic will help prevent detonation due to high intake temuratures not to mentiong easier power with less boost as a result of cooler intake temps (intake air is more dense). just be carefull of R&R.

Also im pretty sure R34's run bout 10psi stock which might have somthething to do with having the larger OP6 turbine housing.

On a side note i would say that they respond to this better as the NEO cams have more aggressive lift (8.4mm in 8.7mm ex) due to its solid lifters.

Edited April 25, 2010 by RBceffy25

[maddowse]

  Galois said:

just wondering, why do you want to drop the boost, only to add an fmic to lift the boost again? lol, this reminds me of another thread, deja vu? lol

yeah i have a similar boost, maybe even just above 12psi. but id always assumed it was the exhaust, and possible aggressive tune by previous owner. have you considered changing/high flowing your turbo? not sure on cost of those options tho

i have considered upgrading the turbo but before doing that its always best to do the fmic and dump pipe so i figure ill do the main stuff to make the car run better then ill go for the perfomance upgrades,

what im thinking is if i put a dump pipe on it will raise the boost slightly so i want to be able to bring it back down as i dont need more than what im useing (for the moment anyway )

[maddowse]

  skline01999 said:

well r33 actuators are 7psi acutaors, put it this way with the stock boost control it wont go higher than what it is now, why you worried about 11-12psi anyway its fine, sure your vaccum source for you boost gauge hasnt got a leak I found my r33 when just cat back and cooler boosting about 11-12 but it was a leak in the boost gauge when fixed that was about 9-10

ill have a look but i only installed the psi guage about a month ago and the standard one before that was consistant with what i get now ,,

although i could always hear the spool up even before having a pod filter and i wondered if it was a leak but never found one (could have been the high boost )

i thort if you had a leak the guage wouldnt hold steady boost ,

also RBceffy25 when you say careful of R&R whats R&R stand for ??

[RBceffy25]

  maddowse said:

ill have a look but i only installed the psi guage about a month ago and the standard one before that was consistant with what i get now ,,

although i could always hear the spool up even before having a pod filter and i wondered if it was a leak but never found one (could have been the high boost )

i thort if you had a leak the guage wouldnt hold steady boost ,

also RBceffy25 when you say careful of R&R whats R&R stand for ??

Rich and Retard. my understanding is that this occures when the intake temp is too cold (higher than standard boost with fmic usually the culprit) and the AFM defults to max air flow because the stock ecu believes ther is a large boost spike where there shouldnt be, dumps fuel, and retards the timing in order to produce less exhaust gasses to reduce boost. Only fix is turn down the boost, get aftermarket ecu or nisstune.

Anybody please feel free to correct me if im wrong in any way.

Cheers.

[maddowse]

thanks for that ,

odd thing today i lost all my boost and power !!! the car just had nothing at all ??? the only way to fix it was to disconnect the battery and reconect and it was fine after that , does anyone know why that could happen ?

[Galois]

  maddowse said:

thanks for that ,

odd thing today i lost all my boost and power !!! the car just had nothing at all ??? the only way to fix it was to disconnect the battery and reconect and it was fine after that , does anyone know why that could happen ?

that sucks mate. did the malfunction indicator light come on on the dash?

cheers for the explanation above

[blaikier33]

i have a standatd r33 actuator in front of me and it is a large can stayle, yes they are 7psi.

it reads different no tho. asn78-263817a

the 26 in that no is the large bold black number

[lachlanw]

they are 5 psi . the factory boost controll bleeds off enough to make it 7 . hence 5 psi uptill 4500rpm

you can not run boost lower than what the wastgate pressure is

[RBceffy25]

  lachlanw said:

they are 5 psi . the factory boost controll bleeds off enough to make it 7 . hence 5 psi uptill 4500rpm

you can not run boost lower than what the wastgate pressure is

2nd that!

[maddowse]

  Galois said:

that sucks mate. did the malfunction indicator light come on on the dash?

cheers for the explanation above

no nothing came up it just lost all revs and wouldnt boost over 5psi , it hasent happend since though ,

[maddowse]

ok thanks for your help , so is there anyother why the car could be boosting higher ???

theres no controller and i checked for leaks and used another gauge to see if it was the gauge but my one is reading right !!!

is this something you would have to have a look at to know ??? is there anyone in the cranbourne area that may wanna have a look ???