Hey guys,

I tried searching around on the Sloppy Mechanics FB page, but it's so hard to get some straight information there. I understand what I need to do from a wiring perspective, but I need to see some pictures of how guys are routing the 3 port Mac valves. I also have a 4 port valve if that may be more beneficial. Ideally what I'd like to do is just be able to change my boost level on the fly. Although I will likely never turn it back down once it's been turned up.

It would also be helpful to see a Terminator X tune if someone could send me a copy. I've watched Matt's video's explaining it a few times, but would like to see someone's who have used it successfully in the real world.





Thanks,
Ryan

 

Are you running CO2 or a compressor?

 

No, I'm keeping it simple and running off manifold boost/vacuum. Not looking to go too wild with the car. Hoping to make around 500whp.

 

I wouldn't complicate it with Dial-A-Boost then. I also don't know how well it would work only using a manifold boost reference. Honestly, I don't even know if you'd need a MAC valve for your power goals. On a 5.3, I'd just put a 12 lb spring in the wastegate and you'll have an easy 500-550 HP at the wheels. You're definitely right, there's not much desire to go backwards with boost, lol.

 

Right now I have the 8psi spring in the wastegate (Summit brand) and the actual boost I saw was a little over 5psi. Maybe it's overkill and I'll just put the 13 or 17 psi spring combo in to get me around the 12 psi mark.

 

I'd put a softer spring in it (5-6lbs or less if possible) to dump boost if a safety is hit, plus the boost will come in harder using the Holley versus just being on gate.

 

Curious how that system cools the intake, what the temps are. I was going to get his dial a boost at one time, just went to open loop and dial in the most boost that was safe. I am more of a keep it simple person, lol.

 

Right?
No one goes down in boost once it's gone up unless you're breaking stuff regularly.
When I wicked mine up to 22 lbs. my tuner said that was too much for the street and I should turn it down..... yeah that didn't happen lol.

 

So is the consensus that the dial is unnecessary? I'd prefer to keep things simple, but I do like the idea of the lower spring possibly saving the motor in the event of hitting a safety though. Maybe I'll just sell the dial a boost and get a manual boost controller or something.

 

Keep the dial just in case, who knows, you may end up installing an air compressor later for some reason and then you'd have the means to use it.
For now I'd put a light spring in and set it at 12 lbs. and enjoy the car.
How light of a spring will depend on a couple factors, I tries doing a 3-4 lb. spring in my last car but there was enough back pressure to push the gate open so I had to step it up to a 7 lb. spring only because that's what I had on hand and didn't want to spend a bunch of money on different springs.

 

I would 100% run a rotary to have different boost curves and have the Holley control boost so you can also have safeties in place. I don't do sloppy **** so I haven't watched any of the videos but setting up boost control is pretty straight forward and can be done multiple ways depending on what type of boost control you are trying to accomplish. You can setup boost ramps using a rotary so that it's based on a timer, based on vehicle speed, etc.

 

So even using the turbo as the pressure source he can still use the dial?
I was under the impression he needed a constant source like compressed air or CO2.

 

Yes he can, no CO2 necessary.

 

If you want to keep it real simple, just run a power switch to the mac valve. With it off, it'll be wastegate pressure and with it on it will be whatever boost ramp you put into the tune.

I have a rotary switch installed on mine but i haven't really tested the boost settings yet. When its off (on 0), all is normal. When its on 1 or more the idle chop gets more aggressive. Just something I added to let me know that the switch is in a position that's asking for more boost.

 

I added a rotary switch to my Haltech but I haven't decided if I should use it for boost profiles or traction control. Still kinda leaning towards setting up traction control but sounds like it's a lot.

 

I mean, that's literally adding another thing to it which makes it less simple. What's more simple is just making rotary position zero your wastegate boost pressure and once you start clicking up on the rotary it's going to set higher settings.

 

Here's a neat trick, you can use a single rotary for both so to speak. You can setup a trigger for your traction control to only activate above a certain rotary position, and also have that same rotary reference your boost settings. As an example, rotary positions 1-6 would be your boost curves with TC off, 7-12 would be those same boost curves with TC on. Or you can even link it to various TC slip profiles.

 

That is so freaking cool!!
Nic you just made my day, I was on the fence because I don't need 12 different boost settings and I wanted to play with the TC too.
How cool, this just gets better and better.

 

With the Haltech you can really get into the weeds with how you configure things, it can be as simple or advanced as you care to make it. Something like this...

 

Thanks for all of the input guys. I have a three port Mac, so I'm going to plumb and wire it up. I'll play around with the Terminator settings to get the boost that I'm looking for.