Boost potential

i was wondering what a safe boost level would be on my engine im planning on getting dsm link within the next week:grinyes: and want to know how much boost i can run with the new tuning abilities. I want to run at least 18psi shooting for 20 but is that safe wiht stock head studs and intercooler or would a set of ARPs be better and will that max out the side mount. it doesnt recommend an intercooler on dsmtuners till 300ish HP and i wont be close to that any opinions would be great

Ok, IMO the front mount is good at any point of your build. Its a larger area for air to pass through which means it'll cool it that much more. Cooler air means less chance of knock. which means you can run higher boost then.

Well i guess ill see what kind of limitations the side mount has when i start tuning. That was gonna be the next upgrade but Link is bustin the bank as is so itll have to wait. What about head studs?

Opps, I almost forgot that. lol I would definetly upgrade to ARP's if you plan on running 20+ lbs of boost.

A larger intercooler also brings more pressure drop. IMHO, don't upgrade the intercooler until you need to, if the stocker is doing just fine, no sense in throwing money at something that will perform the same. Definitely uprade those studs though.

A larger intercooler also brings more pressure drop. IMHO, don't upgrade the intercooler until you need to, if the stocker is doing just fine, no sense in throwing money at something that will perform the same.
That was a long ass sentence. lol


The pressure drop really isn't that much depending on the intercooler size. The most I've seen is 2psi drop and thats on one like the size of mine... 12x28x4... He surely won't be running one that large... He would be fine with one like 8x24x2.5 I would think... He might see .5 psi drop from end to end on that.

Your mod list doesn't seem to include larger injectors or a fuel pump, so I wouldn't run very much boost at all. You need to look at airflow as opposed to boost pressure. I know it's cool to be able to say that you run 25psi, but it's a function of airflow not pressure. Look at the airflow that your injectors and fuel pump can support and the airflow that you get at various boost pressures and go by that.

You also want to run the lowest boost you can to reach your target airflow. For example, I was running 17psi before upgrading my UICP. I attempted to turn up the boost to 20psi and saw no appreciable increase in airflow. So why run 20psi, when I can get my maximum airflow at 17psi. All I would be doing by increasing pressure, would be increasing intake charge temp.

That was a long ass sentence. lol


2 sentences, read it again there genius. :p

2 sentences, read it again there genius. :p
Ah shit, I missed the one period... I tell ya what, I'm slackin lately. lol

I know i have a walbro 190 in right now and i have 750s sitting in my room. Ultimately if i see through dsmlink that a boost increase isnt beneficial than i wont do it. Thats why im getting link so i can see where the hell i stand and tune it to perform for what i need it to do. I was just making sure that im prepared as possible.

You are going to get more gains from a front mount with a 16g. Atleast in compared to the stock side mount. With your mods, that side mount will be a little limiting when it comes to that 16g. In order to get the full potential of the turbo a FMIC is needed. I also suspect that once you get DSMlink you are going to find with a little tuning you are closer to your goals than you think.

I also want to take this time to say that it seems that you have a good solid start on a nice car. I like forward to seeing the numbers you put down once you get DSMlink etc.

Head studs in the mail! Well in reality id like to see 300Hp before the end of the summer becasue any mods are going to take very long to find the funds for in college. do you think 300 is reasonable with link

you should already be around the 260hp mark. you have some real power mods going for you.

i hope you have a test pipe on that exhaust too.

you are going to learn an lot of shit after you get DSMLink.

you need to get those injectors in. you are probably already clost to maxing out the stockers, and that means super lean.

i believe Kevin once said 'you will never ever go faster than you are right when you are so lean you are melting your head'

in a big nutshell you are tuning for knock. you want the most boost, fuel, and timing as you can handle without knocking. things like intercoolers, octane rating and such reduce knock.

you will get way deep into this stuff very soon it looks like.

i would also suggest a MAFt. i haven't seen anyone recomending them around here, but i also haven't seen any 'i just got/am going to get DSMLink posts either...

Ya when i pull the ECU ill put the injectors in and head studs