Any point in 20psi?

I am currently in the process of building a A6 block for turbo. My goal is minimal boost daily but up to 20-25 psi when racing. A friend of mine (who I might add hates hondas, he's a mazda lover) says there is no point in running 20 psi on a FWD car. He says I will never get traction and will cause me to be slower. He said the most I could run is 8. Why is this? Wouldn't a front wheel drive car tech be better than rear wheel drive due to the engine weight giving it better traction? Plus if I go with a turbo setup the doesn't build boost till 3-4k I will already be rolling so traction shouldn't be to bad of a problem right?

Hah! no point to 20 psi?? how bout +~200hp??

You will have traction problems, but there are a few solutions. The best one i can think of it a dual phase wastegate where you can have one psi up to a certain RPM then after that RPM the second wastegate lets the 2nd setting run (bad explaination-and i cant seem to find it anywhere). There are also LSD's, drag radials, and launching techniques that you can use.

I run 18 psi daily on BFG's, and I have an ITS MSBC-1. 8 psi in 1st, 10 in second, 13 in third, 18 in 4th and 5th. Helps a ton with traction, and your friend with a mazda is an idiot. You could also run a racelogic traction control system, I've driven in a supra with one and it works amazingly. When it detects wheel spin it cuts back ignition timing to reduce power till you can get traction.

I run 18 psi daily on BFG's, and I have an ITS MSBC-1. 8 psi in 1st, 10 in second, 13 in third, 18 in 4th and 5th. Helps a ton with traction, and your friend with a mazda is an idiot. You could also run a racelogic traction control system, I've driven in a supra with one and it works amazingly. When it detects wheel spin it cuts back ignition timing to reduce power till you can get traction.


that sounds like a cool system you have but i dont know about that racelogic one. yah im sure it works but i dont like the fact that it plays with ignition timing to decrease hp in order to get traction. there are just better ways to do it. i run almost exactly 20psi on my daily driver with more torque then most of you honda guys could imagine. talk about traction problems. but if you know how to drive, with a decent set of tires you shouldnt have too much of a problem. your friend is a complete idiot, maybe hes scared that if you run 20psi youll beat him :iceslolan also an lsd helps big time.

oh yah and my car is supercharged so i have all my power at low rpms on through the rev range. if i can get traction then any of you can. just takes a light clutch foot.

LSD is a must!!!!

and just make sure you turn the boost down for regular dirving. wouldnt want to have a muscle twitch in your foot that sends you into the woods. if you really got money, buy some drag radials and stick them on come track day.

FWD will never get traction close to RWD... When you take off from a standstill, your car doesnt want to move; as a result, weight transfers to the rear wheels, despite how much weight you have up front. if you have enough power and even if your tires have enough traction, your car will essentially try to pull a wheelie, but with a FWD car that'd mean you dont have any power goin to the ground, so you just burn out/wheel hop. RWD cars can have wheelie bars and leaf springs with 4 link suspensions to plant the rear tires and allow/control wheelies. RWD cars have more room for bigger tires(all thats there is a trunk.. tub the rear end and cut the axle shorter and you can fit huge slicks) and complicated suspension systems(such as 4links and wheelie bars), not to mention solid axles. Having the axle and transmission out of the engine bay also allows RWD cars to fit big ol engines(v8s...) in them, which obviously make much more power than 4 or 6 cyls. RWD cars are a far superior design than FWD for drag racing. Why do you think the fastest RWD draggers run 4 second 1/4 miles and the fastest FWD dragster isn't even into the 7s. I know people who have 8 second street legal rear wheel drive cars. With a 2750lb RWD car, it only takes 750hp to run an 8 second 1/4. Easily doable with a v8. I'm currently building a twin turbo street/strip 88 thunderbird with a stock Ford 351w block, stroked to 393ci(6.44L or 6400cc for you metric boys) with twin Garrett t04 turbos that should be puttin down around 850hp at the wheels. I'm hoping to get under 9 seconds in the 1/4.
Dual stage wastegate controllers are available from Dawes Devices: www.dawesdevices.com
I agree this would be the best way to get a good launch and still use that power. Retarding ignition timing is not an ideal way to gain traction, it causes the engine to run hotter, and heat is not a good thing.

My friend consisntently runs 25 psi sometimes up to 30 when racing in his dodge shadow ( FWD 2.5 turbo ) he just switched from a 5spd manual to a 4spd auto so that he can rev high at the line and then jsut let off the brake. he does not have a problem with traction cause he uses a limited slip differential and slicks ( when he is racing it ). He does not mess with the ignition timing or 2 stage wastegates or anything else. any traction problems you will have can be eliminated by having good tires, a good suspension, and a LSD.

I wasnt saying HE would have traction problems, just merely answering his original question:
"Why is this? Wouldn't a front wheel drive car tech be better than rear wheel drive due to the engine weight giving it better traction?"

You Mazda friend is an idiot. Smack him in the face and tell him to buy a REAL import...not a Ford owned mock-up.

Front wheel drives are not AS good as RW for launching and traction, but they make things that work like traction bars on RWD for FWD (I think they are still called traction bars but not sure) they almost eliminate wheel hop thus gaining more traction. With that and a LSD and decent tires the right driving 30 psi should easily be managable.