Paulo P

Right some of you will remember that a few weeks ago I fitted my stage 1 chip (superchip) and a -31 actuator. On a brief road test the other week I was concerned that I was getting at least 1.2 bar of boost in 2nd gear and backing off

The car has now been sat on my drive for 3 weeks while I pondered what was wrong and I even put it back to standard briefly.

Last week I refitted everything as I was told to and I'd been waiting for a dry day to road test the car. Tonight it wasn't raining so I jumped in the car and went for a drive. I drove off boost until it was warm and then gently accelerated in 3rd gear but the boost was very quickly shooting round to 1.5 so I backed off again instantly

I've checked my amal valve and the restrictor sleeve is still there in the middle port (I think) and it doesn't look like it's been messed around with.

Please can someone please and explain to me what's going wrong here because I am trying to get the car close to what it can be so that I can get it checked over and set-up this saturday.

Thanks

davidreader5

Hi,

What is the boost pressure recommended for the chip, and are you still
on the std injectors as for most stage ones chips and map sensor 2,bar.

As you also have a -31 actuator, have you set this correctly for the
desired boost i assume your looking for approx 15,psi or 1,bar.
Are all your boost pipes all tight, inc the pipes to and from the amal valve.

Regards Dave R.

rapidcossie

get it set on the rollers...

Paulo P

The recommended boost pressure is 15 psi which is 1 bar. I have set the actuator rod as it should be and all the hoses seem to be tight but there's something wrong

It's booked in at the rollers on Saturday for a set-up and check over but I am very concerned that the boost is so high on this actuator.

xr4x4rs

iTrader: (5)

as soon as it goes to 1.2 bar do you back off straight away?

if you do then it could just be boost spike and onec settled wil give you the 1bar your asking for

carnt remember if i asked you or not

SPADGE

There should be 2 jets in your amal valve and not just one!

Paulo P

I was and now it's shooting up to 1.5 so I'm backing off even faster lol This time it's in a higher gear though. I'd now be happy with 1.2 though

Hmmmm. I didn't remove the jet but I could only find one (white) in the middle port of the amal valve Where should the other one be?

Thanks

xr4x4rs

iTrader: (5)

ok

i still think you seeing boost spike

mine boosts to 25psi and holds 22psi

so it will spike and then settle

if it stays at 1.5 bar and doesnt move then the boost needs turning down

SPADGE

Paul i havn't got an Amal valve in front of me but from memory there should be one in the port marked 'R' (return to airbox or atmosphere) and one in the port marked with a 'W' (wastegate actuator). Can't be certain but am 90% confident.

SPADGE

Another thing.
The correct way to check boost levels is in 4th gear. Get into 4th and about 4k rpm 'off boost' and floor the throttle and note the reading at that point on your gauge.

Paulo P

That sort of spike I could handle because that's normal but a 7.5 psi spike (not that it is a spike) is somewhat different lol All I ask for at 15 psi or less so that I can get it to the rollers and set-up without wasting anyones time.

I'll check that in the morning before I go to work. How do the restrictors work on the amal valve? If someone say drilled one out or removed one would it increase or decrease the boost pressure? I'm just trying to understand how it works on these engines.

I did try 4th but not at that sort of rpm and again the boost shot up, it produces boost easily I must say

SPADGE

Paul if someone drilled one out it would indeed increase the boost! The standard hole size is around 2mm. If yours looks like its been altered then that is most likely your problem but you are missing another jet.

Paulo P

The jet that is in there looks like it hasn't been altered but who knows. I will admit now though that I checked the 2 ports for the wastegate and turbo housing but not the return to airbox because I thought that one wouldn't make a difference. You just know I've screwed up don't you

In the morning I'll check the other one

big_wig_074

try unplugging the amal valve?then you can see if the actuator is set too high or if its the amal valve bleeding too much. the actuator may be set to run a bar without any outside interference from the amal valve.

whitneyd

I would run a tube from the compressor side of the turbo to the wastegate that will tell you what pressure your wastegate is set at.

Paulo P

I haven't tried uplugging the amal valve but that was an idea I'd had

I have run a pipe from the compressor housing to the actuator and I was seeing roughly 0.8/0.9 bar

Thanks

Bullett

iTrader: (2)

did it behave normally when you put it back to standard?
have you checked for cracks round the plastic pipes that come off the amal valve?
could also possibly be a split actuator diaphram.have you another to try?

SPADGE

Amal valve is your problem then!

Paulo P

I haven't checked for cracks but I can and will I got called out for work this morning so I didn't have chance to look at the car

As standard it runs between 0.6 & 0.7 bar, it was peaking at 0.9 bar on a spike but this was due to no pre-load on the actuator I believe.

Paulo P

I'll unplug it tonight and take it for a run as long as the weather isn't too awful. I'll report back after some inspections and a test later.

Thanks everyone

Paulo P

I've just been outside and checked and the only port that has a jet is the "c" one. The return one and wastegate ones seem to have nothing at all in them

I'm guessing this is my problem

xr4x4rs

iTrader: (5)

well it was fine before you fitted the chip and actuator yes?

id disconnect the amal valve and take it for a run see what it does

Turbosystems

iTrader: (5)

the restrictors are 2.5mm, one in the c port one in the r port the air box is also a restrictor

Paulo P

Not quite. It still ran slightly too much boost, was spiking and fuel cutting.

Thanks for confirming that. It looks like one of the previous owners has removed that and not replaced it It's been causing me a right headache and now I have to find a replacement

Thanks everybody for your help, I really really do appreciate it.

Turbosystems

iTrader: (5)

same restrictors in an erst amul valve

Gav

iTrader: (8)

Same problem i had

Paulo P

Thanks That might make it easier to find one.

Why do people do it? No wonder it's been boosting funny

Can I just confirm that the restrictor in the return port from the amal valve to the airbox is the same as the white plastic one in the port for the compressor housing please?

Thanks

Gav

iTrader: (8)

yes it is the same, when you have put one in the R port and you have set the actuator with half a hole of preload if you dont have enough boost you can enlarge the hole in the restrictor on the R port.(small amount at a time)

Paulo P

Spot on, I'm already running half a hole of preload I'm getting a new restrictor made up tomorrow evening by a guy local to me that knows his stuff

Hopefully it'll solve the boost problems for once and for all I can then get it checked over on Saturday

Gav

iTrader: (8)

When i upped the boost on mine i drilled the hole out about 0.2mm at a time IIRC and thats all on the R port....

Paulo P

I've got some needle files ready and the guy at the rolling road has small drill bits too so fingers crossed we can get it sorted. I'm glad I discovered this before I turned up at the rollers. That would have been a waste of everyones time.

What actuator were you running and with the restrictors in place what boost did you initially see?

Gav

iTrader: (8)

I was running a -31 actuator and i had half a hole of preload and i think i enlarged both ports buy .2mm and that made it peak at about 16-17psi and hold about 14.5psi.

Paulo P

That is exactly what I should be aiming for. Thanks for your help I'll let you know how it goes.

Paulo P

**update**

I got another restrictor last night and fitted it into the return port of the amal valve.

Today I took the car to be checked over and on the motorway it was already sitting at just under 1 bar of boost before we'd even adjusted anything It was still blowing the spark out on the road though.

On the rollers the car was run up and it was good all the way through the rev range and luckily it wasn't lean. The car wouldn't misfire on the rolling road which is typical.

On the way home the car is still blowing the spark out and missing under boost even though I've gapped the plugs down to 0.6mm. Time for a group A coil to try and cure that little problem I think.

Thanks to everyone for their help in resolving this

xr4x4rs

iTrader: (5)

was the roads wet at all?

as it could be water getting on the dizzy

but glad to hear its sorted now

Paulo P

Wet all the way It always seems to do it on and off but I can live with it and sort it out no I can actually drive the car

It's been along time but it's so good to be driving it. I even gatecrashed an evo meet today on my way home

Spot the cosworth

xr4x4rs

iTrader: (5)

fair play with gatecrashing



with regards to the water

everytime it was raining my car used to misfire and i was told it was down to the dizy getting wet as theres not protection for it

how true this is i dont know

but does make sense when you think about it lol

Paulo P

Hopefully I'll have a group A coil soon and I'm going to go around under the bonnet checking all of the vacuum hoses and putting clips on them to make sure they are tight to try and bring the boost spike down. With the new coil that probably won't matter but for now it's too much I think.

Tarren

Paul you should of said i would of popped down and parked next to ya

Fair play mate

Good old Ace Cafe

Paulo P

It was a spur of the moment thing. I didn't think I'd get down there before the meet ended but the car was already done before I got it to the rollers

I don't need you parking yours next to mine at the moment it looked grubby enough as it was