dodgeguy71

Well, I had some time where I was thinking about other things and then I thought about the site here and some newbies asking questions about the wastegate, J-hooks and all that. I had an idea so I ran with it, pretty simple actually, 30 second install.

So you want more boost? As you can tell by my sig all I have as far as power adders is the puck. So I took a pair of hose crimp pliers from my toolbox and pinched off the hose between the wastegate actuator and the turbo. Took the truck down the road and took it easy at first to see what kind of boost it would get.

I was cautious at first, watching the gauge to make sure it did not hit past 36 psi. After I was comfortable with knowing how high it would get or my max boost, which was right around 30 psi. Will not go any higher than that. So basically, for you newbies, there is a correlation between fuel and boost. I believe if I add more fuel, say injectors I believe the boost will go higher. At least that's my theory, don't have new sticks and time to try it out.....yet.

As far as driveability and my new found boost numbers. Well, seems like the turbo spools faster at around 15 psi it launches up past 22 psi and then levels out around 29-30 psi. I have a 60 psi gauge so I know it's not going past 30. I did notice that my EGT's dropped about 150 degrees when unloaded coming up the back side of the ridge where I live. Usually would run around 1000 degrees with the puck and now it is around 800-850 degrees. I can still hit 1000 when loading her guts out, or lugging the engine up the hill, but with an equal pull up the hill under normal driving I do have an egt variation.

As far as loaded pulls, i.e, several thousand pounds of scrap metal. I rarely find that I am using that extra 8-10 psi of boost. I have had my.....yes, pliers on the boost hose for about 2 weeks and have hauled A LOT of junk, 4-5 cars and I believe this morning hauling an old junker I got up around 26 psi, 2nd or 3rd gear and had a bit more on the go pedal and let the rpm go past 2000.

Is there a real seat of the pants feel? My answer would be, not really. I guess I do feel a bit of a pull once it hits 15 psi and the boost gauge jumps up like a rocket but it's not all that much. I may have grown used to it but I do recall when I first did it that it did not seem like a whole big difference. I suppose if I throw on some 50hp nozzles or something I might get a bit more pull or seat feel, but with the nozzles comes fuel pump, clutch and so on....so for now its the puck and my.....dare I say it.....pliers.

It's a good, cheap experiment and if you have more powerful power adders than I do, edge, smarty, etc and chose to do this you must be cautious at first AND have a boost gauge to monitor how high it will actually go. I claim no responcibility for turbo parts flying out the exhaust because you put hose clamp pliers on a non-gauged truck with injectors, edge and such. Caution is the key and once you find out it's max limit then you can play, I do occasionally.

Hope this helps any newbs out there, I know you vets are saying, "hose clamp pliers?". I am a bit of a......hmmm, I guess I just walk my own path.