Ok Now What?
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Senior Member
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 558
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From: Sydney Australia
Ok Now What?
Heres the deal. Just got my car back from the workshop the other week and it turns out I had two faulty solenoids as well as a few broken vacumm lines which were causing the secondary turbo to not function. I can't remember which solenoids they were but I know one of them was the turbo prespool. Now with both turbos back online as well as getting a 10-8-10 boost pattern something still didn't seem right. At full throttle there was a loud woooshing sound that wasn't the sound of the intake so I knew something was up.
After some quick reading here on the forum I decided to check all the rubber couplings again particularly the ones that join the Y pipe to the cross over pipe as well as the cross over to the intercooler. At a glance everything seemed fine but when I actually took them off and inspected them abit close there were some huge cracks you could drive a bus through. I went and got some good quality silicone couplers and problem was fixed and boy did it make a huge difference in performance. At WOT power came on nice and smooth rather than rough and restrictive as before. So I guess moral the story here is do your research and you'll come out trumps....or do you?
With one problem fixed another seem to arise. Apart from running a down pipe, high flow cat, cat back exhaust everything else is stock standard, and now my boost pattern has since changed to around 12-10-12. I do know this is very common when you open up more flow in the exhaust but is it safe to still drive my car like this or do I need a boost controller now?
After some quick reading here on the forum I decided to check all the rubber couplings again particularly the ones that join the Y pipe to the cross over pipe as well as the cross over to the intercooler. At a glance everything seemed fine but when I actually took them off and inspected them abit close there were some huge cracks you could drive a bus through. I went and got some good quality silicone couplers and problem was fixed and boy did it make a huge difference in performance. At WOT power came on nice and smooth rather than rough and restrictive as before. So I guess moral the story here is do your research and you'll come out trumps....or do you?
With one problem fixed another seem to arise. Apart from running a down pipe, high flow cat, cat back exhaust everything else is stock standard, and now my boost pattern has since changed to around 12-10-12. I do know this is very common when you open up more flow in the exhaust but is it safe to still drive my car like this or do I need a boost controller now?
I ran like that for close to 2 months. But mine didn't have any restrictor pills in the lines when the new turbos were purchased and installed (previous owner) . I opened it up with close to the same mods. But on my way to work one day I decided to goose it for the hell of it. My pattern went from 10-8-12 to a shocking 11-8-16. I let off the gas as soon as possible to keep from blowing the motor. 
I heard a loud pop and saw a long trailing back fire out the back of the car. I thought my motor was toast. It survived some how. 
I bought an apexi avc-r and installed it. I now run a confidant 10-9.5-10 boost pattern.
I have a write up on how to set the avc-r for that boost pattern aswell.
My advice get a boost controller and watch out for transition spikes.
Hope this helps.
I heard a loud pop and saw a long trailing back fire out the back of the car. I thought my motor was toast. It survived some how. I bought an apexi avc-r and installed it. I now run a confidant 10-9.5-10 boost pattern.
I have a write up on how to set the avc-r for that boost pattern aswell.
My advice get a boost controller and watch out for transition spikes.
Hope this helps.
