Do I really need a electronic boost controller?

[Mike The W]

Ooops. Due mainly to staggering ineptness on my part I just popped an apex seal
 
Time for a rebuild then.
 
Now, one of the factors in the popping was a boost controller that didn\'t actually control the boost too well. In fact, it failed to control boost so much that the poor apex seal saw the best part of 2 bar.
 
So now I\'m planning my rebuild and I\'m thinking I don\'t ever want to have anything to do ever again with relying on electronics to keep the engine safe. I\'m wondering why not just uprate the wastegate spring to a suitable value and have a purely mechanical system?
 
Does the EBC do any special magic that I don\'t know about? I know it claims to "learn" and "shape the boost curve", but what does this mean in practice?
 
The boost controller in question is a Blitz SBC, the turbo is a T51. The current wastegate spring is 0.75 bar, and I want to run (once I\'ve got the minor matter of the rebuild out the way!) around the 1.1 bar mark.
 
I\'d be very interested in opinions on this.
 
Cheers

[BlitzBoy]

if you dont have a boost controller and relay on the wastegate spring, your spool up will be slower and you will hit target boost a lot later in the rpm range, eg if the spring is rated at 1 bar , it will start opening before then, it does not just snap open as many people think.

It seem your boost controller was either incorrectly configured or incorrectly fitted

[BlitzBoy]

also so what ECU are you running? in the Apexi ECU you can specify a cut in the fuel if you hit a specified boost level, so the engine should not pop in an overboost situation

[Mike The W]

Thanks.
 
That makes sense.
 
I definitely don\'t want the boost occurring any later so it looks like I\'m going to have to go with an EBC.
 
You\'re right about there being something wrong with mine. It came with the car and has always been a bit erratic, up til the incident it was refusing to increase the boost at all. Then suddenly the exact opposite! Maybe tired/slow/sticking solenoids, or maybe whatever it uses inside the controller to detect pressure was defective.
 
Anyway I can\'t trust it now, so it\'ll have to be replaced with a new known good one.
 
I\'m using an Apexi - I\'ll check that setting. Not sure how it\'s set at the moment, but in future it will be!
:cheers

[BlitzBoy]

I use Greddy Profec B II, very reliable and easy to setup, good solenoids.

what spec is your car apart from the T51? has it been mapped?

[Mike The W]

I use Greddy Profec B II, very reliable and easy to setup, good solenoids.

I\'ll probably go Greddy. The Blitz has too many features that I\'d never use and just make things a bit too fiddly and confusing for my liking.
 

what spec is your car apart from the T51? has it been mapped?

Well at the moment spec = jiggered
 
The car\'s been mapped by WGT, that was at 0.9 bar and making 420bhp.
 
Besides the T51 there\'s obviously the associated pipes and intercooler, HKS wastegate. There\'s the Apexi, uprated plugs, don\'t think there\'s anything else special on the ignition side.
 
Fueling is quite interesting, it\'s got a sort of sandwich inbetween the upper and lower intake manifolds that carries a pair of additional injectors. Primaries are 550, secondaries 850 and the third rail has 1000s. There\'s a Sard regulator, I\'m not quite sure what the pump is - it\'s a straightforward in-tank device, going by the numbers on it it appears to be used on certain GTRs.
 
No idea if there\'s been any work done internally - but now\'s my big chance to find out!
 
Non-engine wise there\'s a 1.5 diff plus a twin-plate clutch to make it extra hard to drive in traffic, and HKS coilovers so I can\'t clear any sort of obstacle.

[m1tch]

What size was the wastegate? Even if it was all set up correctly if its too small (especially if its a T51) then it will boost creep, would need a 50mm to be safe, im going to be running a 55mm Greddy type C wastegate on my TA45 hybrid - taking no chances lol