General Rotary Tech Support Use this forum for tech questions not specific to a certain model year

does a turbo car 'need' a bov?

Thread Tools
 
Search this Thread
 
Old 12-08-03, 02:41 PM
  #1  
Lives on the Forum

Thread Starter
iTrader: (4)
 
mrb63083's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: Dallas
Posts: 5,748
Likes: 0
Received 1 Like on 1 Post
does a turbo car 'need' a bov?

I was curious if it really did anything besides make a cool noise. I mean, yes i have one, the apexi dual chamber. For a long time i was just curious if one was even needed. If that be for reliability or for performance.

your thoughts/inputs?


-Marshall
Old 12-08-03, 08:22 PM
  #2  
Rotary Enthusiast

 
specRX7_22's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: Eastern PA
Posts: 1,014
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
It does make a cool noise, but that not its purpose. When you are under heavy acceleration and the turbine is pumping air into the throttle body/intake whatever, the little "butterfly" valve is open, letting this air flow through. Then when you get off the gas quickly, the little butterfly valve closes immediatly, but the turbine is still spinning, and thus pushing air, but the air has nowhere to go now. So the BOV does 2 things....

1. Reduces manifold pressure (i think)
2. (the main reason)... when this butterfly closes, the air still being forced at it bounces back and slow the turbine, so when you get back on the throttle in the next gear, the turbine isnt caught up to where it sould be and not making optimum power. The BOV filters all this air that has nowhere to go into the atmosphere, so the turbine stays spinning and it right there when you get of the throttle in the next gear. Sorry if that was vague.

Not a turbo expert as you can see... correct any mistakes.
Old 12-08-03, 10:17 PM
  #3  
Full Member

 
xteg's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: vermont
Posts: 52
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
If the valve is closed the forced air has no where to go and is consequently forced back on the turbines causinga lot of stress. This would eventualy lead to catastrofic turbo problems.
Old 12-15-03, 11:21 PM
  #4  
Full Member

 
Perry Gehenna's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: Australia, Victoria
Posts: 152
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
there's a big discussion on it here
http://ausrotary.dntinternet.com/for...&highlight=bov
Old 12-16-03, 09:32 PM
  #5  
Moderator

iTrader: (3)
 
diabolical1's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: FL
Posts: 10,809
Received 305 Likes on 266 Posts
a BOV is not needed for turbochargers to function, but knowing what we all know now, they are definitely recommended for the sake of reliability.

spec Rx-7 22 covered the important thing in #1. it relieves manifold pressure which would eventually lead to what Xteq said ... turbine stress. there have been several cases where the turbo shaft has physcially broken as a direct result of this "stress".
Old 12-22-03, 11:10 PM
  #6  
Full Member

 
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: Tucson
Posts: 241
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Just think of how long it would take for the engine to pull a vacume and rev down without a pressure dump. You would redline every time you shifted.
Old 12-31-03, 12:08 AM
  #7  
aka KingDrunk

 
SNracing's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Atlanta, GA
Posts: 738
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
stops back pressure from killing your turbo. when you let off the gas the turbine is still spinning, but the boost is closed off from the intake manifold when you let go of the throttle. the air has to go somewhere, and the bov is where it goes. a bov also allows a turbo to keep spooling at higher rpms. if you didnt have a bov, the turbo would slow down dramitacly due to the back pressure, therefore venting the air allows the turbo to keep spinning.
Old 01-07-04, 04:17 AM
  #8  
BMW Tech

 
White94RX's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Auburn, Alabama
Posts: 845
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Some sort of BOV is a must on a turbo'd car. One that makes cool noises, is just a cool novelty. Almost all stock BOV's dump the air back into the intake stream, so you can't even hear it.
Old 01-14-04, 04:33 PM
  #9  
Rotary Freak

 
mad_7tist's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: tampa
Posts: 1,899
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
for a street car yes you need one. some rally cars run extremly small ones and operate in compresser surge to help even out the torque response by keeping some boost.
Old 01-15-04, 12:42 AM
  #10  
Rotary Freak

iTrader: (13)
 
fd3s_rx7's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: Sac., CA
Posts: 2,022
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
need bov so the it can recirclelate all the boost air out when in boost. that's when you hear the whooss. so it won't go back to the turbos resulting in DEAD TURBOS...
Old 01-15-04, 12:45 AM
  #11  
AEE
Junior Member

 
AEE's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: Portland, Oregon
Posts: 19
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
They are really for reliability

A lot of Turbo Road Race cars do not use BOV...it keeps the air pressurized better for that boost of acceleration when exiting a turn

a lot of the Race Porsches I used to work on had no BOV for that reason....they also used only oil cooled turbos...which they would replace every season

for drag racing you should have a BOV....but for all out road racing you are better off not having one..unless you are really wathing the life of your turbo
Old 01-15-04, 01:03 AM
  #12  
Junior Member

 
12ARX's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Brisbane, Australia
Posts: 14
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
short answer NO... read ausrotarys topic its a good read...
Old 01-23-04, 05:14 PM
  #13  
Old [Sch|F]ool

 
peejay's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2001
Location: Cleveland, Ohio, USA
Posts: 12,504
Received 414 Likes on 295 Posts
Originally posted by SBi_Owner
Just think of how long it would take for the engine to pull a vacume and rev down without a pressure dump. You would redline every time you shifted.
Think about that for a minute.

You slam the throttle shut. You have manifold vacuum... period. The engine's revving and it can't get air because the throttle is shut. Just like if the air pressure in the piping leading to the throttle body were 14.7psia (aka 0psig) just like naturally aspirated.

Practically all American turbo cars did not use BOVs. The trend really started with the Japanese when they started using really tiny little turbos for low RPM response, that had to spin super fast to be able to flow enough/create enough pressure ratio (remember, the two are intertwined with a turbocharger) at the top end. That is a *lot* of rotating inertia compared to a bigger turbo running much slower, and the smaller turbos also have smaller bearings to deal with the thrust loads.
Related Topics
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
rotor_veux
Build Threads
46
06-12-18 10:39 AM
cam_7779
2nd Generation Specific (1986-1992)
9
08-18-15 07:48 AM



Quick Reply: does a turbo car 'need' a bov?



All times are GMT -5. The time now is 10:11 PM.