now i know what a wastegate is and all that stuff but i was wondering what exactly does it do how does it operate?? where is its location?? thanks, i'm a moron

 

Its on the inlet on the hot side of the turbo. At a desired boost level, there is a diapragm which pushes on a rod connected to the wastegate arm. That opens the wastegate.

 

exhaust air powers the turbine. the wastegate lets some of the exhaust gas bypass the turbine so that it doesn't compress as much air. hence less boost.

 

Just because I feel like typing:

I am going to assume you know how the turbocharger in our cars work. I'll go through the motions regardless so don't get offended. Basic principle: air is sucked in the intake, goes through the afm and towards the throttle body. As the exhuast gas comes flying out of the engine block it comes into the exhuast mannifold. There are two places exhuast gas can exit. One is the turbine side of the turbo, the other is the wastegate. The exhuast gas will flow through the turbine, which in turn spins the compressor side. When the compressor side turns faster and faster it starts to force air into the intake mannifold. This is where the term 'forced induction' comes from. As the pressure in the intake rises (well actually it's measured from just north of the compressor) the wastegate will start to open. When the wastegate opens, any extra air that is coming thorugh the exhuast will go through the wastegate, around the turbine and into the downpipe. This way we can run a constant amount of boost. The location of the wastegate is on the turbo about 2 inches away from the exhuast turbine. To see it you need to remove the backplating on the turbo held on by 2 or 3 bolts.