Ocelot

Ok, so I have an 89' TII that when I bought had like 10k miles on a rebuild, but when the kid who was selling its dad was talking to us (the kid wasn't there when we looked at the car) he said something about ordering a new engine, so i'm not sure if its a rebuild, or new engine. I wasn't really concerned with it at the time, so I figured it was just stock and rebuilt, but they said something about how they ordered some engine from California, so maybe it was a new and rebuilt engine, or a dead engine that was rebuilt and put into the car....god only knows, but anyways, I assumed it was just rebuilt and left it at that. Now that i'm starting to mod it, I got a new boost gauge. It was a $30 VDO gauge that I used for a while, and I mounted it under the head unit, and then realized that was a **** place for it because I couldn't tell if the dial was reading at 9/10psi which it looked like or not, without not looking at the road at all. So then I get an a-pillar pod for my new DEFI d-gauge boost gauge which I install today, and I take it out for a test run, and realize that I actually am hitting around 9-10psi in 2nd gear and its pretty high up there in the other gears too, i was just noticing it more in 2nd gear. All I have installed since I got it was a new intake. The exhaust doesn't look modified or anything, but I cant really tell from the side and haven't had it raised or anything. The exhaust sounds louder than most cars, but doesn't sound like most aftermarket setups i've heard. It sounds like it may just be because it was a sports car, and it had a sporty tone to it because of that.

Anyways, in conclusion, why the hell would I be reaching this high with only an intake, and possibly hardly modded exhaust? I am currently having a TID problem with leaking that needs fixing, but could that be giving me very high psi? Oh, and I have a FCD, but haven't installed it yet, so shouldn't I be reaching fuel cut?

dubrc

My first question is how reliable is a 30$ boost guage?

fc3seeker

are you sure your hittin 9-10 psi, I know it may sound silly but if you didnt know notice, the defi guage only has 8 notches between 0 and 10 psi making each notch 1.25 psi instead of 1 so, just make sure your reading it right.

Ocelot

Well i've heard VDO makes very accurate gauges, and i'm using a $125 gauge now thats reading about the same thing.

I wasn't reading it by each notch, I was doing it by rough estimation as to how far away it was from being at where the 10 marker was, and it got pretty damn close

fc3seeker

well if its 1 notch away from 10 it is roughly 8.75 psi, and stock boost is 7.5 psi, so maybe your intake could be that good and give ya an increase of 1.25 PSI.

dubrc

Well for starters, I'd install the FCD to be on the safe side, then find the kid that sold you the car and find out exactely what he had done to it.

13bpower

Have you checked it the stock cats are on it. They could be hallowed out as well. Fuel cut?

Ocelot

My car smells a bit like gas after some hard driving, and I can smell it when my sunroof is up, so maybe they are hollow? I'm guessing there is no way to tell without taking it off.

fc3seeker

You can cut a piece out =p but who would wanan do that

Scott 89t2

how does that make it safer

maybe you should do some more reading on what it does.

if you're not hitting fuel cut. you don't need it.

elfking

If its smells like gas you might have a leaking fuel pulse dampener which is a very comon failure under the Upper Intake manfold which leads to id guess the #1 reason FC's catch fire. Mine I recently replaced the screw for the diaphram had fallen out and was just sitting in the cap, leaking gas everywhere. If I were you I would NOT drive that car anywhere without:

1. Finding and fixing the leak.
2. buying a fire extinguisher and put it in your bin, not on your piller

Id hate to see you lose your new car to a gas leak...

ilike2eatricers

Smells like gas or exhaust fumes? There is a difference. If you dont want to unbolt your cat to see if it is hollowed out tap it with a hammer or something and listen to see if it's hollow or not.

Ocelot

It doesn't straight up smell like gas, its definately the exhaust fumes making the smell.

dubrc

Well he's got the FCD right? I figured he might as well install it in case he does hit fuel cut cause from what I've read over the last couple of years, fuel cut isn't good.