Winding up the turbo on a 300 tdi

[chris.hunt22]

I have just connected a turbo gauge straight into the inlet manifold and taken it up a steep hill in 3rd at about 2500 up to 3000 rpm, the gauge is showing about .6 to .7 bar, my mate at Landrover says these turbos will boost at 1 bar without any problems but don't go any more.  The question is I know you need to adjust the actuator rod to adjust the turbo boost but is it easy to get to, I have had a fish around and can't even see the rod, also roughly how many turns will it take to achieve .3 bar more??

[Range Rover Blues]

There is a much easier way, fit a boost controller.  I've got one for ours but some donkey has wound the boost up to 1.2 bar already, either that or the guage I bought is wildly inacurate.

What you do is disconnect that pipe from the turbo to the actuator body, you can still just reach it on the 300, then you connect the boost regulator into a legth of pipe and replace the actuator pipe with it, if that makes sense.

What it does is keep the actuator pipe closed until you reach the desired pressure, then it springs open.  One advantage is that it reduces waste gate creep, so even set at the same pressure you already have there would be a small increase in driveabilty.

So the theroy goes anyway, I now have to lengthen the actuator rod to bring the boost back down to a sensible level :roll:

I fitted this one
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/POWERTEK-BOOST-CONTROLLER-NISSAN-300-ZX-200SX-turbo_W0QQitemZ140194209298QQihZ004QQcategoryZ72205QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

There are others but one guy is still messing me around after 2 months, so I'd recomend Powertech.

[davidlandy]

before you adjust anything....

I heard that the pipe that senses the pressure is ahead of the inlet manifold and it possibly under boosts because of this.  if you re route this pipe direct to the manifold it allows more boost. 

is that worth trying before you tinker with the actuator rod?  as you may find that the boost raises toward 1 bar as a result.

Porny Ian will know the details.

regards Dave

[Range Rover Blues]

I looked at this myself, the fuel pump and the waste gate actuator are both tapped from the outside edge of the compressor housing.

It would be possible to move them to the inlet plenum but if you had any problems with the hoses, intercooler etc then it's possible for the turbo to run way above it's designed pressure.  Also if the fuel pump was connected to the plenum you wouldn't get as much overfueling when you stamp on the loud pedal, as the fueling wouldn't increase until the plenum was under pressure, that might actauly increase throttle response time.

[stageonesimmo]

You say that you have plumbed the gauge into the manifold - well there's the answer - the 0.3 drop in boost you are getting is the loss through the pipework/intercooler etc.

Mine is piped so that the wastegate actuator sensing pipe is connected to the manifold (theres a redundant drilling capped with a bolt at the rear of the plenum chamber at the bulkhead end - take this out and replace it with a banjo bolt and swan neck connector - the one from the fuel inlet of a Peuget 106 diesel is an exact fit, with a length od suitable hose attached.  Remove the outlet union T peice from the body of the turbo and connect it to the end of the pipe you've just fitted, then blank the hole in the body with a suitable cap or bolt - or as I did, use it for the boost gauge, and you're off)  You then get the waste-gate opening when you have 1.0 bar at the valves, not the turbo outlet, you'll notice the difference straight away.

A simple enough mod and if you keep all the old bits handy, you can revert to stock at the side of the road in the event of a problem with 17 and 10mm spanners...............

[chris.hunt22]

I tapped a hole on the front of the plenum (inlet manifold - call it what you will) and fitted a brass fitting, it is sited on the right hand side of the plenum looking from the front and is about an inch back from the front edge, I have piped this straight into a TIM Turbo gauge that i had knocking around from my old Disco.  I am baffled by some of the other suggestions, I was advised in an earlier post I put on to go from the manifold (plenum) as this will give the most accurate reading of the actual pressure.  All advice in improving performance is greatly accepted (I have already tweaked the pump and am shortly going to flush the intercooler and pipework), I still need to know where to find the actuator rod as I cannot find it (makes it hard work with the lift and tyres on!!!)