Sorry for the crosspost but I posted this in the "Engine/Turbo/Drivetrain" section but since I'm still stock I wasn't sure if I'd get a response in there since I'm not "hardcore" enough. Haha.

anyway, I'll try here too.

My Evo is still stock except for a BR air filter kit. I do have a Defi boost gauge. For a while now I've been peaking somewhere around 16-17 psi and tapering down to under 15 psi. This is according to what I can read on my gauge. So the numbers might not be exact. I built my own little boost leak tester and planned on checking for leaks last night but ran into a couple issues. The main issue was that the hose clamp on the intake where it attaches to the turbo inlet had the screw on the bottom of the hose so I could not reach it to take it off. Anyone else have this issue? The only thing I can think of is to try to get my car on a lift so I can get to the hose clamp from underneath. Seems like a pain.

Anyway, with 80K miles on my car I have expected that I would probably be leaking some from the throttle body seals. I got a pair of new seals from WORKS and when I couldn't use my leak tester, I just went ahead and replaced the seals anyway. Figured it wouldn't hurt. While I was there I checked all the ICP hose clamps and tightened them up including the clamp on the OEM wastegate. My car is an VIII so I have the plastic BOV which could possibly be a source of leaking. I will probably replace it with an OEM metal BOV from a IX.

What else can I be missing? After changing the TB seals I maybe gained 1 psi at peak. But I'm still definitely not hitting 19psi. This is a picture of my boost gauge and the orange mark is about where I'm peaking. Seems like I should be a little higher than that even stock. I thought by changing out the TB seals and tightening up all the ICP connections I'd be in pretty good shape. Any suggestions?

 

Try shortening the wastegate actuator rod, which is threaded, and thus, adjustable. Two full rotations should do the trick. Another option would be to install a manual boost controller.

 

yea sounds to me if u r that stock that it would def be ur plastic bov. my car right when i got it only boosted to 18 psi. first thign i did was change the plastic bov to a greddy s. i started seing psi in the 20's finally. get rid of that plastic POS

 

I'll sell you my TurboSmart Dual Port BOV. It is rated to 25 psi. PM me if you are interested. I am willing to sell it cheap. It goes for $278.95 on lancershop and I willing to sell it for 125.00.

 

Any pics that would show me where and how to do this? Also, with a manual boost controller wouldn't it still just leak out and not build more pressure unless I turned it much farther?

How far can I safely turn up the boost on a stock car? 20psi?

Otherwise I'm gonna look at the metal MR BOV.

 

Get a metal BOV first, then check for boost leaks. Take off your pipe for that connects to your turbo then do your boost leak check after. I know you said it's a pain, but everything you get at with that car is a pain. It's a Mitsubishi so everything is in there tight. I replaced all my intercooler pipes with hard ones and T-bolt clamps. I leaked checked it and I had leaks everywhere. After all leaks are found get a MBC and get a tune so you can boost safely.

 

That's pretty much where I'm headed. Who has the best price on the MR BOV? I noticed Gruppe-S has it for $99. Anyone have it any better than that?

I'm also looking at a boost controller. What is a safe boost level for a stock car without requiring a tune? 20psi?

 

I don't think that it's your DV.I'm not saying that it isn't possible, just that it's not likely, IMO. You can easily test out the weak DV valve theory though. Just flip the DV valve around(run it backwards). Installed backwards it won't open. The turbo will spoolup faster, but I don't think that it'll have much impact on peak boost. Try this before spending your money on a JDM DV.

19 PSI isn't that bad really for a stock factory setup on an VIII. Mine was about 16 PSI from the factory. There is a lot of car-to-car variance. 19 is not that bad for stock really.