Boost controller survey/feedback

[McBain]

Hi all.

I've been a SDU member for the last 4 months since i got my R33 gts-t, and have now made the switch to SAU after stumbling onto the site. I'm hoping to tweak my car a little over the next few weeks, and was after some advice from anyone with knowledge/experience:

My car is completely stock at the moment, and I am considering up-ing the boost a tad for some cost-effective performance gain, so...

1) Will fitting a boost controller without doing anything else to the car be dangerous? I know people say you should increase intake and exhaust airflow when up-ing the boost, but i'm taking baby-steps so i'll probably do that stuff later. I'm thinking if i get a simple boost controller i'll use the factory guage and adjust boost up conservatively.

2) What is the best bang-for-your-buck boost controller around?

a)Turbosmart gated manual controller with in-cabin missile switch

b)Turbosmart E-boost electronic controller

c)Greddy profec b II boost electronic controller

d)Go Fast Bits dual stage boost controller

e)Other?

Thanks in advance for any advice you can offer.

[cameron]

Welcome to SAU,

Nothing you can buy for imports is going to be cheap so keep that im mind.

First i'd start with the basic Pod filters, exhaust, front mount intercooler, I wouldn't touch the boost just yet as you want to have your car breathing and having cold air going into your engine.

Cold air: Nice horsepower gain, keeps engine safe and will run alot better. - eg front mount intercooler, pod filter and exhaust.

Hot air: Lose horsepower, enigne is at risk of being dammaged and melting pistons but this wont dammaged the engine too much on stock boost eg: 7 psi but if you up the boost pressure on stock intercooler, exhaust etc your just asking for trouble.

By upping the boost you are forcing more air into your engine and having a stock intercooler & exhaust you are going to choke your engine and its going to run very hot which can also cause turbo dammage as the exhaust gasses are even hotter with out aftermarket frontmount intercooler and you will get back pressure with the standard exhaust & dump pipe.

If you want your car to last get a front mount, exhaust and pod filter with CAI pipe before you go turning the boost up. On the good side once you do your exhaust and dump pipe your boost will rise about 3 psi, so you wont really need to touch it.

You mentioned the stock boost guage. This is measured in mmhg not psi so on your guage it should be running about +4 at the moment ? which means stock boost 7 - 8 psi but +7 on the guage means 14.7 psi. It would be more safer to have an aftermarket boost guage so you can watch your boost in psi and make sure it doesnt spike too badly. - Cheap ones go for around $80

You can pick up a Turbosmart manual bleed valve for around $90 these are fairly good but tend to spike under load in higher gears.

Their are other cheap modifications that can be done such as the rubber intake pipe from your pod/air box to your turbo, this will contract under boost so by making it metal will help with air flow. you can get this made up at your local exhaust shop

Happy modding :wavey:

Hope that helps,

Jun

[McBain]

Thanks for your input Cameron. Sounds like I should get the exhaust first. Are high-flow cats legal and are they a good investment? Regarding the pod filter, I read that unless they are isolated properly they will suck in hot air from the engine bay, so i thought i'd be better off just getting a higher flow replacement cartridge filter? Think that will give noticeable improvement?

Anybody else have any comments?

[cameron]

Yes,

Exhaust is a good place to start. Yes it will most likley suck hot air from the engine bay but if you have a cold air intake pipe coming from under neath your front bar into your engine bay - Under Pod filter, This can help with the suck of hot air problem.

Jun

[PTR33]

I have a K&N panel in my stock airbox. Looks stock and works better than a pod without a partition and cold air intake.

A very basic but worthwhile mod for R33s is to get rid of the 2 stage boost. The easiest way is to get a small piece of pipe or a barbed joiner and pull the hoses off the boost control solenoid and join them together. No more 5psi/7psi staged boost. 7psi all the way.

Don't just replace the two hoses with a new length as one of them has a restrictor in it and without it boost would probably rise to a level that would mean turbo rebuild time...

For a free mod you won't believe how much difference this makes to your car.

More details available in a thread in the tutorials section.