hopefully i wont get flamed for this...but i searched for "ball and spring" "boost controller spring" and some other stuff also, but couldnt find a site explaining how to make them and what parts to get from the hardware store. can anyone point me to a link for the ball and spring type?? thanks!

 

you want the "dawes device"

 

http://www.boostcontroller.com

 

Its actually pretty easy (and a helluv a lot cheaper) to make your own.

racerfoo - check your PM's


I ball and springs (in addition to my PFC). I was able to basically tune out my transition so its nice and smooth. Plus, I live at 7000ft altitude, and the ball and sping controller definately helps to build boost quicker

 

How do you make your own ball and spring one?
I have the bleeder valve type home depot one..

 

Well basically, you can get most of the parts out of the home depot plumbing area as well. (although, I actually used an ACE hardware store). Here's a website that I referenced to build mine (although, I actually built mine slightly different. But this will at least give you a pretty good idea).

DIY MBC

Its fairly easy and straight forward. Only problem I had was finding springs and steel ball bearings. The steel ***** I ended up getting from a bicycle shop (guy just gave them to me for free). The springs I found in the fastener section of my local ACE hardware (don't think homedepot carries them). I had to try a couple of different springs before I found some that would work... that part just requires experimentation.

Also took a while to tune them (have to keep getting out of the car to adjust, make a few runs, get out of car and adjust, make a few runs, etc....). But once you get them tuned they work great.

All in all, it cost me less than $20 for both of them. Probably another $200 worth of gas trying to tune them though....

Any questions or if you would like some pics or whatnot, just PM me.


Rob

 

Damn, seems like finding the right spring and ball is a pain in the ***.
Maybe's I'll just buy one boostcontrollers.com or something.

 

Nah, trust me, its easy and well worth it.

Like I said earlier, for the *****, just go to a local bicycle shop. 99% of them have bearings for bikes. As such, they always have extra steel ***** around. Just drop into a store and ask them if they have any 1/4" steel ball bearings. They'll find you some, trust me. They game me 10 of them (bunch of extras just in case) for free. If they actually charge you for them, it'll be something like 10 cents a piece. Probably less

For the spring, Home Depot usually doesn't carry small springs like that. So instead, just go to a smaller hardware store. Like ACE or maybe just a local mom-and-pop shop. I guarantee you they will have some springs. Find some that are about 1.5" long (maybea bit longer), and no more than 1/4" diameter. Just buy a couple springs of different stiffness. That way you can try them out and see which one works the best.

For me, it took one hour long trip to the aforementioned stores, and then about 30 minute construction time to build them (and that includes several beer-breaks). Total price tag was $20 for two of them. Plus, there's always the satisfaction of making them yourself. The cheapest one you can get from boostcontroller.com is like $40 (plus shipping), times two (i have one for both prespool and wastegate) would be well over $80. Just seems kind of pointless to buy a couple from them when you can build yourself the exact same thing really easily...

Some of their better controllers are supposed to have quicker reacting mechanisims and whatnot. To be honest, I seriously doubt you would notice a difference between their top of the line controller and the $10 DIY one. Plus, the better ones get in the price range of $100.... for that price, you might as well pay just a little bit more and get something like a Profec.

Just my $0.02


Like I said, if you need any help with building one or finding the parts, just PM me, and I'll help you out.

 

It's not really worth the trouble of building one. You can get one for $42 shipped from Dawes devices. www.dawesdevices.com

 

I don't understand how its not worth the trouble. I paid $10 for one of mine, took me just a couple of hours, plus there's the coolness that you built it yourself...

I dunno, to each his own I guess. I just wasn't willing to pay some other guy to build and ship me something that I could do myself for a quarter the price, and a lot less time.

 

there's a guy on ebay who is selling them for dirt cheap. I just picked up one for a friend for $19 + $6 shipping. Do a search for 'Manual boost control'. The seller is pjr210

 

so do you have the ball/spring controllers on the wastegate line AND the pre-control line? (where the pills would usually be)

aslo, did you set it up so only the ball/spring controlers adjust boost, ie - no ecu/solenoids

OR

did you leave the stock setup and just put the valves in where the pills would be, like i mentioned above

Thanks for the info

 

Why cant you use a mini air pressure regulator, like the ones that go on automotive paint guns. I bought mine for $20 and it is fully adjustable from 5 to 25 psi, and it holds pressure to that leveland locks as well.

 

damian - I'm using the b&s controllers in place of my stock pills (both of them). Still got the stock solenoids and all that. Once I got them set up and tuned to give me the right boost pattern, I really haven't changed their setting. I use the PFC to make small adjustments due to changes in temperature or weather...

I imagine that when the weather really starts getting warmer, I'll have to make some small adjustments to the MBC's. But for right now, I can make good enough adjustments by altering the duty cycles by a few points.

To be honest, my PFC was working perfectly fine to control boost before I put the MBC's in my car. For me, the whole point of the MBC's was faster spool up and faster transtition. I live at an extremely high altitude, and you wouldn't believe how slow the turbos spool up here.

The MBC's definately work for me: I get SIGNIFICANTLY better spool up and transition with them... I'm not really sure what the difference would really be down at sea level (haven't tried them down there). for $10 its worth a shot though, IMO.

 

thanks for the info sax,

 

Damn saxyman, that's badass!