Wastegate Modification

[Room42]

Although I know the answer more or less, I had a quick look on the site and couldn't find what I was looking for so the query goes thus... Can ya/Who has open/ed your/their stock wastegate actuator, shim/swap the spring and make it work. Cos I'm going to no matter what (almost) anyone says, I'll post results on Saturday afternoon. Ooorah for the forward slash

Edit: I should have called it wastegate acutator modification....oh well

Edited June 30, 2011 by Room42

[scotty nm35]

I have modded quite a few to hold higher boost, I added a spring to the side to allow easy adjustment/spring replacement. No need to cut the actuator up imo but the M35 design lends itself well to this mod.

[hypergear]

^^^^

Does this thing actually work? How much boost can this hold? I've seen turbos sent in with those setup and I swapped them all with high pressure actautors.

[Simon-S14]

^^^^

Does this thing actually work? How much boost can this hold? I've seen turbos sent in with those setup and I swapped them all with high pressure actautors.

ofcorse it works... its adding preload to the gate via the use of a spring.

its crude... but it works

[JonnoHR31]

yer i did exactly the same thing to my standard actuator years ago. worked well until i got a proper boost controller

[hypergear]

ok. any way, to OP yes we can build you actuators with 2x springs that holds around 18psi depending on the housing, intake and exhaust setup. Or modify your turbine housing to hold what ever boost you want it to hold.

[scotty nm35]

^^^^

Does this thing actually work? How much boost can this hold? I've seen turbos sent in with those setup and I swapped them all with high pressure actautors.

Mine held 17psi, nice and flat. Boost level depends on the size of the puck obviously so the external spring makes changes very easy to fine tune the peak.

Crude? I think its a better option than cutting the sealed actuator open as you introduce the chance of leaking which would raise boost. If the spring fails the boost returns to stock levels.

If anyone tries this, make sure the spring pulls straight into the actuator or it will put sideways load on the shaft affecting its operation. And make sure you get a tune afterward obviously.

[Room42]

Well that all seems good then. I reckon I'll try the outside spring idea first and see how that goes. I bought a Profec A a little while back but it was a bit rooted so the guy refunded me. The button on the front wouldn't pop back in and sometimes it held boost and sometimes it didn't. I might just get a decent boost controller shortly depending on how the actuator modification goes. Thanks for the comments and the pic guys

[R31Nismoid]

just bend the actuator arm you girls

[scotty nm35]

just bend the actuator arm you girls

More preload will only decrease travel causing boost spiking. It wont help much with the puck blowing open as the spring is too soft.

[Room42]

Well it was a busy day so all I did was get a spring and put it on a heatshield bolt hole to the wastegate arm. With no boost control its at 8 psi. Thats a whopping 2 psi above stock. Needless to say I wound the bleed valve out a bit to make it more fun. On that subject my bleed valve has started sucking in air a few weeks ago. I'm sure it wasn't before, must be stuffed aye? I've got it t'd into the carbon canister. Any other suggestions/ideas?

[jamie curran]

please someone correct me here if im wrong but cant you adjust the actuator rod? or is that only on R32's?

[gotRICE?]

please someone correct me here if im wrong but cant you adjust the actuator rod? or is that only on R32's?

Not stock ones.

If its been modded, yes, or aftermarket, yes. But not stock.

[kwickr33]

You can cut it up and use an adjustable extender on it.

[jamie curran]

is that whats goin on here?

[scotty nm35]

By shortening the adjuster you are limiting travel, possibly causing the flap not to open enough and causing boost to spike. It doesn't add that much spring pressure either. There should be around 3mm of preload usually.

[jamie curran]

ah ok, well this is the only thing adjusting boost on the car and its running a solid 13psi

[Room42]

Well I cut the spring I had in half and chucked it back on. The car was on 14 psi before and it went up to 18 psi. I adjusted the bleed valve and got it back down to 14 psi again. As to be expected the turbo spools up quicker which is nice for response. I'll chuck the other half on today and see if I can get it to hold 14 psi without the bleed valve. I think it was holding about 9 or 10 psi last time with no bleed valve.

[Beer Baron]

yeah I like scottys idea with the spring on a bracket. simple and should work very well. easy to get different rate springs to suit different needs. good one.

[blk94r33]

Out of curiosity, has anyone had problems with the heat from the exhaust are affecting the effective spring rate? Ie higher boost at lower temps, vice versa?