Another question, did you:

a) leave BOTH pills in;
b) only removed the pill on the line going to the MAC valve, or
c) removed BOTH pills ?

Thanks,
:-) neil

 

Since I can't delete/edit posts after 30+ minutes, I found the answer to the above question:

you can edit your voltage to AFR polynomial under "Auxiliary" for the FC Edit, and under the Analog 1 Out tab.

:-) neil

PS: still looking for an answer on removing both, all, or just the solenoid-side restrictor pill . . .

 

If you are converting to 3 port solenoids, you should remove the pills. Although I have not tried it firsthand, I can see the stock pills leading to spiking.

The screenshot is related to setting up auxiliary inputs (wideband etc). I'm not sure why that was posted. The turbo-related settings are in Settings 1 tab of the FC Edit software. The sequential staging stuff is only accessible with FC-Edit. The boost settings are adjustable with the commander. This is convenient, because you can make a slight tweak or quickly change boost settings without having a laptop hooked up. I do the majority of boost control tuning using FC Edit, but once you get comfortable you can make adjustments on-the-fly with the Commander.

Unfortunately, the PFC doesn't have adjustable air temperature compensation for the feedforward portion of the boost control logic. I typically have a Summer and winter boost setting for applications that are sensitive to weather, or a high and low setting for applications with alternative fuels, etc.

 

What boost levels are you getting with both the first and second setting ?

I just installed the MAC valve just to control the waste-gate:
took out BOTH pills for the waste-gate actuators;

and now the most I see is 10-psi, where previously I was getting 15-psi.

PRI 0.90/70
SEC 0.95/80

Thanks,
:-) neil

 

My setting are:

P1 0.70 48
S1 0.70 54

With this setting i get full boost on primary in a blast, a very quick transition and 10 psi to redline!

Mod are hks downpipe, high flow cat, mazdaspeed exhaust, hks custom smic, WI, stock turbo ported wastegate etc..

Swapping for MAC valve are one of the best mod i have! Thank for sharing the info Sandro

 

Did.you keep both or any Pills ? Was your MAC valve for wastegate, pre-control, or both ?

Thanks in advance.

 

MAC valve for both pre-control and wastegate, no pills at all! Incredible response.

 

Where are you getting the "boost" feed from ? Are you taking it off the pipe that feeds the stock solenoids ?

TIA,
Neil

 

Voila! The other nipple on the pre-control & wastegate actuator must be cap!

 

awesome thread

 

I had no idea! I really thought you're suppose to use BOTH nipples.

That is, those nipples at the 12 o'clock position were hooked to turbo pressure, and you modulated the feed into the nipples at the 3 o'clock position.


:-) neil

 

Not sure how to explain it in english but i give a try!

The stock valve are vent type (2way), it vent the pressure that go in the actuator to control it.

The MAC valve are feed type (3-way) It control the pressure apply directly to the actuator

 

Made this to help understand.

 

Not 2 way but 2 port
Not 3 way but 3 port

 

Diagram explains it very well. The top configuration, where there are two nipples on the actuator, is a less common design. The FD Rx-7 and Mk IV Supra had it.

The second configuration is very common. The 2nd gen Rx-7 has it. You'll see it on basically every turbo Subaru. It's still functionally very similar to the top configuration.

The third configuration is normal with aftermarket boost controllers and some OEM designs. The R35 GT-R uses a 3 port. So does the Neon SRT-4.

The newest turbo stuff uses vacuum or electric actuators, FYI.

 

FWIW- I had some nasty boost spikes with NO pills on the line from the MAC solenoid to WG actuator.

I emailed Bryan of BNR, and he said keep ONE pill between the actuator and the MAC valve(s) when using the PFC to control the MAC valves.

Since I'm still using the stock solenoid to control the PC, it still has BOTH pills (stock).

All is good now!

I attached a drawing of my setup with the BNR's.

Please note that my STOCK setup had pills on BOTH lines (4-pills total) going to the actuators.

:-) neil

 

does this MAC solenoid setup work only if you have a Power FC??

well more importantly, after reading this thread i was curious to know if this is what im looking for or not especially since im running the 5 solenoids rack for my simplified sequential set up when the MAC solenoid set up only requires 2 of them...

im still using the stock solenoids and stock ecu but want to upgrade to better aftermarket version but a $700 price tag isn't really in my budget.

any help would be greatly appreciated

TIA

-Ricky

 

Sorry for bringing this thread back from the dead but it contains some awesome info so no harm I s'pose.

My pre-control solenoid gave up the ghost at the track last weekend resulting in an overboost condition only under primary turbo operation. Thankfully my extremely low overboost settings on the PFC kicked in and saved the day. I am using the the PFC w/datalogit to control my boost per arghx's notes and have no external controller.

My question is this: the wastegate solenoid still tests out okay so should I continue using it and just replace the pre-control solenoid with the MAC part or would that be foolish?

Thanks!

 

Ordered both, might as well do it right the first time

 

Got my solenoids and pigtails only 2 days after ordering from their respective vendors and installed them this weekend. My OEM precontrol solenoid had failed completely. I also tested my wastegate solenoid and it had a pretty bad leak.

My impressions after my first drive with the MAC replacements is that primary throttle response is improved, the transition is much smoother, and it just feels like a new car again. I didn't even have to change any of my PFC settings (was already using it to control boost before). Not bad for 1/2 the price of OEM replacements + a few hours of time.

Here's what I came up with:

Fitting installed with teflon tape and pigtails from Ballenger soldered and heatshinked:


Custom bracket:


Installed under my K&N filters go:

 

Glad to hear the solenoids are working out for you. So you have these mounted in the front of the engine bay, and are running long wiring pigtails to the stock connectors?

 

Yea, I'm really happy with how these worked out. Thanks to you and Sandro for paving the way and making it easy for us to follow. Between the AMP connector and the solenoid leads, there was just enough length to do a clean run to the factory plugs without adding any additional wire. I had thought about mounting back near the firewall/ABS unit where there's more space but I didn't want to sacrifice response by having really long vacuum lines run to/from there.

 

That why i put it under the air filter. I'm glad to see it work well for you too

 

I just measured the best MPG I've ever seen with the last tank: 19.5 combined. I can't for the life of me tie this to the fact the old solenoids were failing but I haven't changed anything else with the car. While the throttle response and turbo spool feel better, could failing solenoids really cause a measurable change in fuel economy?

 

hay guys im glad i found this tread ... okay with a single turbo set up extarnal wastegate is the ports on the mac set up the same