sleepercivic88

I put together my turbo setup a few years back and it always seemed pretty laggy. I got a precition sc34 57trim compressor with a 63ar turbine i believe I dont get full boost (7psi) until around 5500 rpm in 2nd gear. Does this sound right with your experience? The turbo is oil seal is starting to go so im thinking of getting something smaller such as a 50trim t3/t4e 63ar on the exahust. Will that spool alot faster or be about the same. I live around 6000ft so that my explain my slow boost. edit its a b16a first gen stock internals.

I plan on turning up the boost to around 9psi once i find time to tune it....What turbo would you recommend for a streetable responsive setup. should I get a T3 super 60 im looking for about 250-260ish horse power.

sleepercivic88

^^

TheShodan

iTrader: (14)

I think you're at a point where you need to look at what you're trying to get out of "spooling" the car. Don't worry about the PSI so much as the power that you're getting the car. "spooling" comes not only from the exhaust energy of the turbocharger, but how the car is tuned.

I think you haven't addressed the possibility that your car may have not been tuned properly yet, but hard to tell since you haven't disclosed that information. If the car is set too rich in several spots early in the rpm band, or too much retarded timing is used, that can affect the response of the turbocharger just as much, if not more than your elevation (which has little to do with it) or which turbo you use.

There are several checks you need to make to determine whether or not the "seals" are going or not, as this is not a common thing unless the turbo was used or abused in some way. Too many people look to the turbo as the problem first and not other factors such as who did your tuning, how it was done, was it conservative, or if you have any boost leaks.

Check these areas first before you invest in a new unit. You may just be "spinning your wheels.".

sleepercivic88

I have a pretty good street tune. I have it run slightly rich 13.5 at WOT until boost then it drops around 12.3 or so. the crusing part of the map seems to be pretty solid. I just did some preliminary troubleshooting and I think i might have some pin hole leaks somewhere in the charge piping or intercooler. depending on where I hook up the wastegate I get a 3.5 psi change in total boost.

For example, If i have the wastegate connected to the compressor I only boost around 3 psi and if I connect it to the intake manifold I boost around 6 ish to 7....

I want to get this sorted out before I try to up the boost anymore but The AFR's are good and safe in boost. As soon as it warms up and stops snowing im going to decommission my car for a weekend and sort it out.

have you everseen such drastic losses from a few pinhole leaks. All my clamps are good and solid. Its hard to believe than more than a few CFM of air escaping through some possible shoddy welds. I think a b16a runs around 275cfm or something at 10 psi

TheShodan

iTrader: (14)

Air fuel ratios are only the beginning. A "street tune" can be ok, but that doesn't mean that the overall tune of the car is up to par. There are plenty of instances were the car appears to be very drivable, only for a different tuner to look at things within that programmed tune and make a world of difference. This has been done time and time again. No one is doubting your abilities, but remember, tuning a car is just as much an art as it is a science.

b20beast83

^ what checks are there to make sure the seals are not the cause for turbo smoking?

TheShodan

iTrader: (14)

1) Check any additional crankcase pressure. pressure can cause the oil to go right up the return line when it should be draining. T1, Endyn, and even the Greddy/Cusco catch can systems can help with this problem to have the crankcase pressure relieved. They must be hooked up correctly, however.

2) Check your oil feed line. If oil pressure is too high for the line used, this could cause a problem.

These still don't affect "spool" response even when it is starting to go. You'd also see symptoms of blue smoke in positive pressure while driving and the cartridge itself will appear "wet" with oil.

If you're not seeing these symptoms, and you have no vacuum leaks of any kind, its time to check the tune through a reputable source to ensure it is correct. Street tunes are great, but they aren't everything if the tuner doesn't get through it thoroughly.

HiProfile

Sounds like your FMIC is restrictive, aka has a lot of pressure drop. That or your manifold vac location sucks.

If you only want 250-300whp, a T3 60trim is more than enough. My buddy used a 20yr old thunderbird turbo on his 15 yr old B16, and got 250whp with 9psi. With a better MAP sensor you could go up to 15psi with a decent tune and probably get ~300whp.

The sc34 can do 450whp, which is overkill on most setups. However any boost leaks will increase spool time, since it has to overcome the pressure lost through the leaks before making boost. Sealing all intake & exhaust leaks are the #1 thing to do after establishing a base tune.

sleepercivic88

Ok today was sunny so I spent time working on my car instead of doing statics and thermodynamics homework....I took off and pressure tested every charge pipe and I had no pin hole leaks or anything. I found a vacuume line that was questionable and then pressure tested my vacuume line setup using a pinch clamps right before it enters the intake manifold and I found there was a slight leak there. I replaced all the vacuume lines and pressure tested it to make sure it was going to work. If i connect the wg at the intake I have 6.5 to 7 psi boost. If i conntect it to the compressor I get about 2.5 to 3.

I must have a huge pressure drop across the IC. I have a old CCA tube and fin intercooler and might have a defective core. I pressure tested the IC to 15 psi and it held pressure well but I dont have a flow bench setup to test it on.

Im thinking of geting a less restrictive bar and plate intercooler but cant spend 300 bucks on a precision one. How good are the spoolin Perfomance ICs. would you recomend them.

sleepercivic88

Problem solved....I remebered that I had an extra IC now I get full boost around 4800 my wg actually has to open and now it sounds awesome when I hit boost because I have a open dump from the wg.