ok, i always see people telling people that if they want to blow their motor to take it out on a cold night and go wot. What if you live in the north where it gets freezing in the winter time.....is it not "safe" to drive the car. it gets pretty cold in pennsylvania. just thinking about moving back home possibly....thanks

 

Man all i know i cali when it gets cold at night (58-64 f deg) Which isnt even really cold...i really start boost creeping. Iam sure if you get the boost under controle you will be fine. Cold air is great for a turbo car, never have to worry about heating issues. But i think thats what people are taking about the creep...correct me if iam wrong.

 

I agree that cold air is great for a turbo car, my subaru runs much stronger in colder weather. I just always see people posting that cold air with an FD will pop the engine. Just trying to see what the deal is.

 

If I'm not mistaking, I think people mean that if you WOT a cold engine (eng temps not in operating temps) then it's not good. I live in England where it gets cold too but as long as you take it easy on the throttle when the engine's cold then you'll be fine.

 

Cool air is denser, that's why you get more power.

As long as you maintain proper boost levels and a sane tune there's no issue. People blow engines because they tune them to within a nat's *** of safe and as soon as the weather changes from what it was the day of the tune you're in trouble.

 

Yeah, that's it. But correct me if I'm wrong, but haven't there been posts from people who adhered to the old 3 mod rule........they had a more open intake, an aftermarket muffler, and a downpipe......and they've still lost an engine to detonation on a cold night?

 

The density of the air doesn't increase enough to change the amount of oxygen getting into combustion, but it is enough to affect how much boost you make.

So the trick is to watch what your boost gauge reads when you're driving in cooler conditions. No extra boost, no worry.

Dave

 

I can't say if that's true but I personally have never accepted the 3 mod rule. I'm a 2 mod guy

If I have to know what the weather is before I drive the car hard then something is wrong.

 

What a bunch of hooey. 90% of people blow engines in cold weather because of boost creep. A very few blow them because of what Damon brought up -- improper or unsafe tuning.

The ecu map has ambient temp correction. If the weather correction is correct (or at least conservative) and you don't boost creep, you can drive around at -40F with no problems (other than no tire grip!).