AdamW81 :

I was in Home Depot today looking for Parts to build what you made out of wood. They have plugs & adapters that are 3.5" OD. I have not taken my Airbox off yet but as I understand from your post the Intake is 3.5" ID is this true? In this case I think I can source the parts from the local store for $5 to do this.

Please let me know.

Thanks

SWR

 

Yes the fitting requires a 3.5" outside diameter plug. You will take off the airbox and the maf tube and put the plug where the maf tube connects. If you have removed your airbox before it shouldn't take you but 15 minutes to get it hooked up.

...and thats real annoying that nobody around me had that 3.5" plug, I think I spent an hour looking around then it took me about 5 minutes to make one lol.

 

Adam:

Here is my 3.5" Solution.


3" PCV Schedule 40 is actually 3" ID and 3.5" (as near as damn it) OD. So I got the 2" plug. I now have one of each. 2.25" for the Turbo inlet and the 3.5" for the intake.

 

very ingenious ideas! Does it work finding the place where mice get into my house?

 

Just built one of these myself, will use it soon. Cost was quite cheap. As stated above 3inch PVC comes out as just about 3.5 when you take into account wall thickness. What I bought was a PVC topper designed for sewer cleanouts. This piece looks like it slides on TOP of a 3inch pipe. the top portion has screw threads, I screwed in a piece that I drilled two 1/2inch holes in. Into these holes I screwed in a male air compressor fitting and an air pressure gauge - all bought at Home Depot. I used JBweld to seal the fittings as I screwed them in, on the underside I also smeared JBWeld and heated it with a hair dryer - JBWeld goes liquid when heated so it flows around the threads etc. underneath.

I have pics of the parts and assembly that I'll post when I've got them off the computer. Total assembly time was about 30mins and I look forward to using this to track down my boost leak!

 

TIP!

The 3.5 inch setup likes to "pop out" at any pressure over 15 psi. I wrap a piece of rough tape round the adapter before securing it. I also pad the rear of the car bay, so when it does pop out (and it will) it hits the padding/towel not the bodywork.

Also DO NOT take the oil filler cap of when you hear it hissing otherwise it will **** oil out all over your nice clean engine bay.
How do I know? (Guess? )

You will also hear pressure leaking past the cylinder rings into the oil pan etc. that is OK.

AND.... don't s#$t yourself when you start the car after the test and blue smoke fills you garage! The oil leaks into the cylinders passed the rings (through the gaps I think, flat Six?) and scares the life out of you for a few starts.

SWR

 

Thank you! I have been wondering what the chances of it popping out where and expected to try and prevent damage. Friend did some quick calcs on the forces involved with a 3.5inch cap at say 25PSI and it was NOT amusing! Good advice on the oil cap and yeah the smoke makes sense and would have freaked me without a warning! Appreciate the hjeads up - I'll try to get pics up ASAP.

 

Okay, that was anti-climactic :-( The engine held no pressure. I did indeed get air from the oil cap that was a little freaky. It was as loud as anything else which made it tough to track other leaks. I may try for a better seal on the oil cap. Anyway, no explosive decompression occurred. I cleaned both the pipe and the silicone seal like I do with boost couplers so it was pretty sticky.

Anyway, I hear a leak from the vicinity of the DVs at least. I cannot tell if it was enough to account for my not being able to actually get pressure on my gauge - likewise the compressor showed no pressure on the line. What puzzles me is that if the DVs were just bad I don't think I'd hear hissing or the oil cap pressurizing like this. If I let it leak down the noise near the DVs slows before the oil cap sound. I have a billet cap so that might explain the ease with which it's leaking - dunno'. I have DVs on order and an F-hose so we'll see if that fixes that. I will look into how to remove the rear bumper too so I can check those hoses too.

Was hoping for a quick Ah-Ha moment here but no such luck!

 

^ How will you uncover a DV leak testing with a plug in place of the MAF? Don't the DVs dump air post MAF? Maybe the f-hose itself is leaking.

 

OK BLKMGK:

NP, just press on the oil cap with your hand and it will seal (somewhat), you really have to lean on it. That will give you more pressure to the parts that count. It may make your life easier.

SWR

 

...Or the vacuum port on top of the valve is leaking. Or the vacuum hose that connects to it has a crack?

Mike

 

I'm looking for leaks anywhere! The symptoms I'm seeing seem to indicate a leak, probably a fairly big one since I'm not seeing proper boost. The DVs are my primary suspect or a popped hose somewhere but the car runs fine and not like I'm losing a ton of metered air so it's a puzzle - DV my primary suspect but I'm looking elsewhere too. I'm hearing hissing up top by the DVs so I may have a split vac hose, split F-hose maybe, who knows. When I go in and swap that hardware I'll look to see what might have been damaged.

 

Come Over as discussed, we will figure out quite quickly if you have a leak or not.

Get a Durametric Logger, this will help to see if you have any other issues. As you d not seem to have any other issues, we can at least eliminate pressure leaks first.

SWR

 

Heh, I'm in Virginia - you're in Florida, that's a long drive! :-O I do have a Durametric and it shows no issues other than a missing boost valve which is explained by my in-cabin boost controller. Truthfully I'd prefer to be using the OEM solenoid and dump the controller but that's a tuning issue and not somehting causing low boost IMO. I checked with the previous owner and the settings are correct, the manual seems to agree too. <shrug>

Anyway, got frustrated so I've pulled the F-hose and valves out. Both are Bosch and neither appears to have a stuck diaphragm New valves on the way and a replacement hose so we'll see if this helps. More testing after swapping the parts - hopefully here this week from Boost Logic and AWE!

P.S. Pressing the oil cap down helped a good bit. I still saw no pressure on my gauge though and only heard hissing from the area of the DVs. To hold NO pressure you'd think there would be a big leak - the gauge is a bit suspect at this point. The plug did try to pop out but didn't quite make it so there's certainly SOME pressure at least!

 

Sorry I was not specific, I got a call from another member today, I was responding to him as oppossed to the initial poster. sorry .