How much boost?
 

hi guys, i was wondering how much boost a totally stock 98 WRX can run on without frying the whole engine? i just recently bought a mechanical Turbosmart Gated Boost Control Valve. i installed it and tried running it at 10 PSI, is that ok? or is 10 PSI still low enough for me to tweak it up a little? any comments is appreciated.

14 psi is safe. thats what stock boost should be, should it not.

14PSI is stock?! thats really strange then, mines at 7PSI! what could be the reason? oh no! how strange that without doing anything, the boost winds up to 7PSI and thats that. is it a sign of bigger problems?

The stock boost is definitely ~14psi.. thats what it should run with zero modifications!... dunno why yours would be running 7psi... check your boost gauge!

Isn't 7psi where the wastegate spring is set at? When my pressure lines were on the wrong way around that is all it would go to. Same when the computer changed my advance multiplier to 0. Hope this helps.

7psi, or wastegate pressure can sometimes happen if and when the car enters boost limp in an attempt to preserve itself, in case there is something wrong. Try resetting your ECU and see if it returns to 'normal' being around 14.

the bleed valve is probably still on the same setting it came out of the box with. try turning it

Read it again, he's already turned it and wound it up to 10psi. He said it was 7psi before he fitted the bleed valve.

[QUOTE=BM747]7psi, or wastegate pressure can sometimes happen if and when the car enters boost limp in an attempt to preserve itself, in case there is something wrong. Try resetting your ECU and see if it returns to 'normal' being around 14.[/QUOTE]

how do you reset your ECU? i'm really new to this turbo car scene. heck it took me 1 whole hour to install the mechanical boost controller. i bought the car like only last week from this guy. he said that the car is 'capped and runs lower boost then normal to prevent engine damage'. at that time i didnt think too much of it cause the mechanic i took in for the pre-buy inspection cleared it, and said the car was in good shape. now with the boost controller in place, it is easy to wind up the boost to 14 PSI if that is stock, but what baffles me is, there dosent look like there is any special after market stuff to 'cap the boost to 7 PSI' now. if i can alreadly get it to run on its own at 14 PSI, i can ditch the stoopid boost controller doo-hickey. advance thanks for any help guys.

[QUOTE=Jimmy S]The stock boost is definitely ~14psi.. thats what it should run with zero modifications!... dunno why yours would be running 7psi... check your boost gauge![/QUOTE]

ya i track the peak boost it makes on all gears. without the mechanical boost controller, it stops at 7PSI, with it, its currently sitting at 10PSI. the boost gauge is a standard VDO one. so it should be alright, even if its off, i give it leeway of +/- 1 PSI, but now the difference is too huge to put it down to just gauge not being accurate. hmm, strange