Boosting Up Advice

[KnightRiderR33]

Hey guys im just wondering what is the safe limit other then the standard 7psi to run on my ECR33. Im thinking of boosting to mayb 10psi for a quicker spool getting a lil bored with the 7. I havent got much done to the car just intercooler and 3" exhaust. Can anyone lend a newbie some advise? Id rather ask to be safe then going stupid and hurting my car.

[t_revz]

10-12 psi is the norm.but have heard some running 14psi. i used a turbosmart manual bleed valve and it was 12psi dropping to 9 psi at redline.

[KnightRiderR33]

10-12 psi is the norm.but have heard some running 14psi. i used a turbosmart manual bleed valve and it was 12psi dropping to 9 psi at redline.

hmm sounds good i just got a turbotech version so ill try to set it up for 10-12 ps1 thanx m8 =D

[tiberis]

make sure you don't destroy your turbo if you have the stock one.

they have a ceramic exhaust wheel and if you push them too hard they can shatter. i wouldn't go above 10psi if you want to run it reliably day in, day out.

[KnightRiderR33]

make sure you don't destroy your turbo if you have the stock one.

they have a ceramic exhaust wheel and if you push them too hard they can shatter. i wouldn't go above 10psi if you want to run it reliably day in, day out.

thanx for the advise ill aim for 10psi =D

[Wacky Dee]

factory ecu will have pretty rich mixtures though so you really need to get the AFRs and timing fixed up as well, not just boost. Nistune is a cheap ecu addon ($400 or so from memory) - that and a half decent dyno tune with 10PSI on the turbo and you should be sweet

[StealthX]

First thing's first: then = than.

I.e. Safe limit other THAN the standard 7 psi.

Kthnx.

[KnightRiderR33]

First thing's first: then = than.

I.e. Safe limit other THAN the standard 7 psi.

Kthnx.

sorry m8 i dont quite understand??

[KnightRiderR33]

factory ecu will have pretty rich mixtures though so you really need to get the AFRs and timing fixed up as well, not just boost. Nistune is a cheap ecu addon ($400 or so from memory) - that and a half decent dyno tune with 10PSI on the turbo and you should be sweet

I might leave the nistune aside as i dont want to waste 400 on it atm ive got plans for the future for this car and think id be better off waiting till i can get an aftermarket ecu or a microtech that way i have full tuneability.. But thanx for the info. So ill need to dyno my car after fitting the boost bleeder?

[Wacky Dee]

Nistune is now the preferred ecu by many of the popular import tuners .. it's hardly a waste of money. I'm not sure where you get that it doesn't have "full tunability"

And of course you should dyno it after messing around with boost unless you don't mind your engine pinging it's head off. As I said, get the mixtures and timing fixed up - no point in doing up the boost as that will only introduce pinging and the longer you run it like that the more damage you do to the engine.

[mad082]

how is upping the boost going to induce pinging on the stock ecu compared to getting the thing tuned? the stock ecu runs relatively sedate timing and more fuel than required. you have more chance of pinging with a tuned ecu as they will increase the timing and reduce the amount of fuel. if you have pinging at 12psi on the stock ecu then you have a fuel issue (such as a dying fuel pump) or your timing is majorly advanced, or you have poor fuel.

the stock ecu will start to get to the upper limits of it's range at about 12 or 13psi. if i was you i'd just go for 11 or 12psi. that will keep you in the range of not hitting any ecu limit as well as still be ok for the turbo. that said, i had a remapped ecu and i was running 14 to 15psi on the stock turbo for quite a while and never had an issue (and others i know have done the same), while other people i know have blown the stock turbo at stock boost. it is just luck of the draw really.

as for the nistune, value for money they are probably the best ecu upgrade on the market for skylines. they are about half the price of a powerFC and will give you pretty much the same results. only downside is that you don't get the wank factor of a hand controller.

oh and turbosmart boost controllers aren't worth the money. the cheap $30 turbotech ones hold boost much better from my experience.

[Wacky Dee]

You're probably right but I thought shoving more air into your engine without tuning the ecu would leave it not knowing what to do with the extra air and provide leaner mixtures as a result.

[mad082]

nah, with the stock ecu if it sees more air that it has mapping for it just chucks the shits and shuts down. below that point though the ecu has mapping up to the point that the AFM maxes out (generally speaking, although in the case of the skyline ecu it has a secondary protection in it which kicks in much below this). the ecu won't start leaning things out until it gets to 100% of the AFM voltage, or 100% of the injector duty cycle. which as most people will tell you happens at well above 200kw.

in my case, i was running 12psi and my afr's were still down around 10.5:1, while a tuned ecu would be aiming to have them around 12:1, which is about 15% leaner.

even an aftermarket ecu should be tuned to handle more airflow than what it was actually tuned for. it might not be all that accurate, but it should still handle a boost increase as the tune should've been done to cover the load cells higher than what it actually normally used.

[Wacky Dee]

there you go, learn something new everyday. Thanks for the concicse and easy to understand explanation.

Now I hope you're right so I don't have to un-remember this

[KnightRiderR33]

how is upping the boost going to induce pinging on the stock ecu compared to getting the thing tuned? the stock ecu runs relatively sedate timing and more fuel than required. you have more chance of pinging with a tuned ecu as they will increase the timing and reduce the amount of fuel. if you have pinging at 12psi on the stock ecu then you have a fuel issue (such as a dying fuel pump) or your timing is majorly advanced, or you have poor fuel.

the stock ecu will start to get to the upper limits of it's range at about 12 or 13psi. if i was you i'd just go for 11 or 12psi. that will keep you in the range of not hitting any ecu limit as well as still be ok for the turbo. that said, i had a remapped ecu and i was running 14 to 15psi on the stock turbo for quite a while and never had an issue (and others i know have done the same), while other people i know have blown the stock turbo at stock boost. it is just luck of the draw really.

as for the nistune, value for money they are probably the best ecu upgrade on the market for skylines. they are about half the price of a powerFC and will give you pretty much the same results. only downside is that you don't get the wank factor of a hand controller.

oh and turbosmart boost controllers aren't worth the money. the cheap $30 turbotech ones hold boost much better from my experience.

Thanx for the info once again mad =D yea ive heard nuthing but good things from this torbotech brand and for the price i thought it was worth it

[mad082]

i made a copy of a turbotech boost controller with stuff i could buy from autobarn and it worked well too, but worked out to be a few dollars more than buying a turbotech

[MrStabby]

there you go, learn something new everyday. Thanks for the concicse and easy to understand explanation.

Now I hope you're right so I don't have to un-remember this

mad is correct. The ECU has a map with rpm on one axis then "load" (basically AFM reading) on the other axis, and adds fuel based on what the map says. So when the airflow goes up (say if you up the boost) you hit a different cell. The standard map is setup such that if you're outside the cells that the factory expected to see, then the implication is that something has gone wrong, and therefore its a good idea to try to protect the motor. So those cells run a lot of fuel and very little timing to that end.

[xALmoN]

i made a copy of a turbotech boost controller with stuff i could buy from autobarn and it worked well too, but worked out to be a few dollars more than buying a turbotech

did you include labour charges?

[mad082]

nope. that was just for the T piece, 2 hose fittings and spring. i had a bearing at work, as well as a bolt and nut, although i had to tap a new thread into the fitting as the original one was different to any bolt i could find (i think partly because it is tapered)

[Birds]

i made a copy of a turbotech boost controller with stuff i could buy from autobarn and it worked well too, but worked out to be a few dollars more than buying a turbotech

You foolish fool, thinking you could beat globalisation like that.