I just bought a new 7 yesterday and did not notice it on the test drive, but, on the way home approx 160miles on the freeway, I noticed that I am getting between 12 and 13 psi. of boost. The car is stock except for a silicon hose job for the IC, no DP, MP or catback, stock airbox and filter. I didn't think that would be enough to push the boost past 10? I haven't had a chance to look over everything yet to make sure there are no other mods (nothing readily observable). The guy that owned it before me was the second owner(since 97) and he had all service other than oil changes done by Tripoint, they did the silicone hoses and boost guage as well. What if anything can be done to drop the psi? I don't want to fry it before I can even enjoy it! I would prefer to not get a boost controller if I can avoid it. Thanks for any help you guys can give me!

PS. I just reread the FAQ looking for an anwer

 

is this a 12-13 spike or solid boost? ... change the wastegate pill to lower boost. call mark at tripoint ask him about the cars history.
Jeff

 

Make sure the boost gauge reads zero when the car is not running. (Cheap gauges like my Autometer can read a little high/low at all times - but at least it's consistent).

It's possible they switched the pills when it was last worked on - a smaller wastegate pill orifice will increase boost levels. If you're worried about overboosting until that's fixed, just unplug the wastegate and pc solenoids and you'll get about 8psi - hardly a difficult number to work with.

Dave

 

I have a similar situation in that during hard acceleration I see pretty close to the normal 10-7-10 pattern with an occasional spike during transition, but in 5th gear at 80mph if I give it gas boost just keeps building (13.9 psi +). Completely Stock R1 w/ silcone hose job and pettit AST 80K miles. My solution: don't do that anymore (and keep saving for an engine).

 

Thanks to all that have responded! To clear up some of the details, the guage is a cheap autometer but it does read zero on start up, the boost climbs steadily at WOT to 12.5-13.5psi drops to approx. 9.5-10psi at 3200 and back up to 12.5-13.5. At steady RPM I am getting around 10" Hg on the vacuum side. How do I know which pill is installed after I get to it?

I read through all of the Tripoint paperwork last night and it looks like they did the silicone IC piping, all of the boost lines in silicone, reinstalled the plenum, fixed the oil pan gasket, did troubleshooting on the emissions system (by the way it passed like it was it's job tonight ), checked the camber on the wheels, adjusted the brakes, fixed the pillowballs, and did the new engine grounding straps. The guy who onwed it before me spent a grip of cash on this car over there. I am embarrassed for him! I guess I would rather have him spend big money rather than guess his way through it and screw something up. Thanks again to all that have replied and to those who will reply!

 

I had an autometer boost gauge, and it wasn't consitent by how much it was off. It would show barely over 0 psi at rest, but would show 12 psi, when it was only 10. I verified that against three other pressure gauges, a handheld pressure-vac gauge, my bosst controller, and the VDO gauge that replaced it. So it is quite possibe that you're really only getting 10 - 11 psi, but definately don't rely on that.

If you have access to another pressure gauge, just rig up something with a pump, a tee, some vac hose, and connect both gauges simultaneously. That should tell you if your boost gauge is accurate.