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3L Safe Boost levels...

R

Reebs

meester super sleuth
Joined
Feb 14, 2006
Messages
2,727
Location
Southeast Michigan
Hey guys, just wondering how high I can turn this baby up while being fairly safe to the motor. I don't need to be too safe because I can pick up another 3L and do it all over again even quicker this time. :) Anyways, I have a wideband and EGT guage, so if I stay rich and cool, how much boost would you say is the max "fairly safe" level for a 3L with stock compression ration and svt cams?!?!?

I am going to mess around with this baby tomorrow! And 10psi is nuts compared to girly 7.5 psi! I want to try 14 or 15 psi. Opinions? :)
 
How much was warmonger running? 13psi? IIRC he had all stock internals and ran on pump gas so that's about the boat you're in. If you really wanted to go crazy run race gas :cool:
 
Are you using a Warmonger tune? or are you tuning it yourself?

Before going too high you need to find out what the upper limit your ECU is tuned for is otherwise the fueling at the upper limits won't be very accurate and may cause leaning out.
 
I believe Tom did some creative work to the combustion chamber to lower the compression so I'm not sure I'd use his limit as gospel.
 
Well,

Keep in mind that ANY increase is GOING to lower your engine's longevity. ( Its just the nature of the beast) and while you can't particularly put a number or percentage of decrease on it, it IS lowered.


That being said, I would think that 10psi would be the "median" level for a fair mix between longevity and "fun". 7.5 being much "safer" and 13-14 being much more "dangerous". Now is it really that dangerous? I ran 14-14.5 psi for quite a while and it didn't explode. It didn't burn up, and it didn't fail.

Will it if I continue to use 14psi? Who knows.. the nature of the beast, right? VERY stringent maintenance, and knowing what's going on in there (routine intercooler, uim, etc removal) will help negate this.

All of this being brought up, I'd run 10psi any day, and 14 psi about half of that time! lol
 
I havent had mine past 7.5-8 yet because of my weak intercooler, but I plan to go up to 10-11psi once the intercooler is upgraded to something like you have.

In the future I plan to run a mix of unleaded race gas and 93 pump gas as I move up from 7psi, 1psi at a time. I will max this progression out at 12-13 until/if I build a water injection setup. After that I still do not plan to exceed 14-15.

A race gas combo is not something I plan to do consistently. It would be just to give myself a little more protection from detonation durring the trials at those boost levels.

I would say if you give yourself some detonation insurance, ie high octane fuel and only mess around on cooler days or evenings you should be okay up to 13 for short term use.

Boost is automotive equivalent of cocaine.
 
Very good response Ray! That is exactly what I was looking for.

And to Barge, Tom did tune it and so far I haven't seen it lean out at all. If anything, it should richen up at 14psi because of more boost pressure on the mechanical valve in the fuel pressure regulator keeping the valve closed and causing fuel pressure to rise even more in the rail.

On another note, I didn't turn it up today because it has been raining all day! :(
 
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His injectors are 42# so he should stay in his duty cycle range. I noticed the more boost the engine sees the more they richen up thanks to the mechanical pressure regulator. The tune is also setup to richen up above 6500 really aggressive in case the MAF is overrun and it will use the last number used. I would take 1 psi increments and watch your A/F like a hawk and listen to pings. You will more like.y ping down low since I engine do not like alot of timing down low. The turbo will also spike some down low so take it slow. Joey
 
10psi with a T3/4 60-1 and a stock oval port 3L will get you in the 320/350 range.

Powering out of that range is up to a well designed tune!!!
 
I agree with Ray completely.


I will personally donate my 100k mile 2.5L motor for a "How much can in take" test... Maybe start out at 15psi? Then see how it likes 18psi... if its still alive, 25psi? Just to make it stfu!

But seriously, that is my plan.. AFTER I have a 3L on stand by.. And the turbo kit is made & put on of course..

People are probably thinking "what a waste!" or "why????" My answer to that is:
I need :help:.. Blowing motors apart is always fun. :laugh:
 
PuckPuck said:
with ARP or stock studs? and at what compression ratio?
Click to expand...

Yes puckpuck it was ARP head studs but the CR was 9:1.1. Since the combusion chamber is less 23 psi will net the enigne less power than 3 liter @ 18 psi. I am not sure where the problem will come up on th e3 liter but we will see how much she can take soon.
 
A little less than 9:1. Those heads were the most worked set Jesse ever did. Had ARP studs torqued to 60. The head lifted and coolant splashed on top of the hot pistons. You can imagine the rest.
 
Hmmmm Interesting

Hmmmm Interesting

Honestly I don't think I would do that to my car... But I think Diviniti is on to something. I would really like to see how stable a stock v6 or stock svt would hold under the pressure. Diviniti if you wouldn't mind would send me a PM later on what the result is? <second post on contour.org> Second time poster looooooooooooong time reader
 
DemonSVT said:
10psi with a T3/4 60-1 and a stock oval port 3L will get you in the 320/350 range.

Powering out of that range is up to a well designed tune!!!
Click to expand...

Hi. :D Long time no-see.


BTW, for everyone else:

The tunes I send out are all basically designed to run up to 14psi or so in terms of load, fuel tables, and spark timing. As long as the fuel pump can handle the supply and the injectors chosen were large enough you can turn it up cautiously and should be fine. THat is not a license to NOT look at A/F, listen to engine noise, and in general just be cautious when you do turn it up. You must do these things and you are responsible for the outcome. With that said, most people should have no issues if their engine is mechanically sound.
 
From reading the other thread I'm going to bring this one back to life...

So with a built bottom end 3.0L what is the maximum boost level anyone has run? Am I playing with disaster if I plan to run 18psi with a progressive mapped boost controller with forged 9.5:1 Diamond Racing pistons, K1 H-beam rods, 255lph fuel pump and 42# Lightning injectors?
 
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