Turbo Boost

Hi all. i am thinking of fitting a turbo boost controller ( or at least having one fitted) with gauge.. Any advise on do's and dont's? Colin.

Depends what your trying to acheive, I would suggest fitting a boost controller first and ensuring that you are holding the correct boost in the first place. I currently have an anologue dial on my boost guage, it's fine but I would prefer a digital display for quick reference especially at night or in poor light it would be more convenient.

Essentially you have two options, manual/mechanical boost controllers (MBC's) and electronic boost controllers (EBC's). MBC's are cheap fitted in five minutes (as long as you identify the correct boost pipework). They are also known as bleed valves, they effectively bleed boost pressure fooling the system into increasing boost. They give a "rough" boost curve and are really a low tech solution. No safety measures etc etc....

EBC's have a boost solenoid controlled by whatever unit you purchase, sometime the units are intelligent, so they know what the boost pressure is and bleed only when instructed to by the control unit, this can vary depending on rev and engine load etc. Some units have fail safe's and various functions such as boost scramble and all sort of stuff.

EBC's range from under £100 upwards, various companies, some well known others virtually unknown, HKS, Blitz, Greedy all have a range and some work better than others......

If you have a search you will find people experience of various models and you can decide what your needs are..... You may also want to think about some other things first such as fuel pump, intercooler, spark plugs and air filter, increasing the boost causes additional strain on these components...... Also safety first, upgrade your brakes (advisable but not essential) ......... Good luck

I, on the other hand, much prefer a mechanical boost gauge. (One that's fed by a pipe from the engine to the cabin, and doesn't have any power other than for illumination)

I feel that these show the changes in boost more accurately, and you can see more subtle fluctuations than you can with an electronic/stepper motor gauge (which relies on a sender, a wire, and the speed of the gauge unit). I think that you can see an odd (overly low or high) reading without needing to actually *look* at it.


As for boost control - nowadays the easiest thing is to get your ECU remapped - this can increase the boost, remove speed limiter, raise the fuel cut limit, multiple maps (ie high and low boost) and enable other monitoring tasks things like "flashing the Check Engine Light on knock" - the cost of having this done by someone from the forum is similar to a standalone electronic boost controller - and gives you plenty of other advantages, as well as the potential for a higher power output due to a better tune.

Guys thank you, I am very impressed with both replies. You have a good understanding of the functional items and moreover can explain clearly. I will await a few more replies prior to coming to a conclusion on what to do. Am I correct in my understanding of ECU's do I need to replace std before it can be remapped as this seems to be an easier and more effective way of gaining more power?

With yours being a FL Colin I believe you have a mappable ECU as standard. As long as you dont have the 7201, although the basics can be tuned on this IIRC.

Ive had a manual boost controller, electronic boost controller and now a 7202 mapped ecu with switchable maps that controls the boost.

Never had a drama with any of them but I do prefer the boost being controlled by the ECU. There is pretty much zero fluctuatuion and spiking etc. Whereas with the MBC and EBC i found a bit of spiking and fluctuation. The EBC i have on the purple one is a Gizzmo MS-IBC and has spike stop and scramble features etc and for what it does it does it well but for me I dont think I will go back from the ECU control.

Hope this helps

I also have an ecu waiting to be fitted, but I need to upgrade the fuel pump and fuel pressure regulator before that really..... More for peace of mind.... But should give some good gains when sorted..... There's plenty of options.....

My preference is an electronic boost gauge with digital readout. No mechanical parts so accuracy is high and update speed is about as high as you can get.
I also mount the sender in the engine bay and run the wires to the unit through the firewall. This way the sender is nearer the manifold for maximum response. I also use hard-lines for the short run from the manifold to the sender, using flexible tube just for the connections.

I personally prefer to go with the ECU for boost tuning. This way you can get closed loop boost control with correction for low octane fuel etc. The ECU boost control is also load based (which is what the ECU sees, rather than boost), so you don't get issues with fuel cut on cold days etc.
Over the years I have played with a number of different boost control options, switchable boost maps etc. My conclusion is that you don't need switchable boost settings, since you can adjust boost with the accelerator.

Looks like its a re-map then. Any ideas who or where I can get this done competently?

There are a few people on the forum that can do this competently but whether or not they would be happy doing it to someone elses car is a different matter.

Foxdie has done a few dyno days in the past where he has remapped several cars on the dyno. May be worth speaking to him to see if he plans on doing another one anytime soon. Usually around 2 dyno days a year.

Thanks for the heads up Rikki. @foxdie

if you do go for a EBC then get a dual solenoid one as they control spiking much better, to the point it is unnoticeable