Running off of wastegate only?
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From: Pocahontas, AR
Running off of wastegate only? I'll be running a BOV on my car, but has anybody just ran off of a wastegate and some sort of boost controller only? That Ultimate Aero car I think runs off wastegate only, and some car on Top Gear last night I think was too. Didn't know if I missunderstood it, or if some cars are ran that way. Any benefit or drawback?
Chris
Chris
Some cars do run with no blow off valve but I would not recommend it. When you close the TB all that air has to go somewhere...it goes back thru the turbo which cuases the wheel to surge/stall - you can imagine how bad that is for it.
I will warn you, this is a highly debated topic, but we have seen turbos come apart from a bad/not working BOV.
I will warn you, this is a highly debated topic, but we have seen turbos come apart from a bad/not working BOV.
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From: Pocahontas, AR
Oh, I imagine it can't be good on the turbo. All that boost when you close the TB trying to slow the turbo down fast just seems like it'd be tough on it. I'll definatly be running a BOV on my car, just seen where a couple cars were doing this, and didn't know as to why. I am kinda a fan of a quiet BOV, but workmanship comes before preference...lol.
Chris
Chris
You can find quieter ones that you really only hear under more engine load/rpm. My turboxs valve is very quiet and in normal driving acceleration/scenarios you would think its only a small cammed car with 4" exhaust 
TECH Apprentice
Joined: Jul 2004
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“run off of???” huh?
If you are talking about not running a blow off valve, then I’m guessing that you’re misunderstanding what it is there for. All it’s there for is to relieve pressure in the intake if the throttle is slammed shut under boost. It does nothing to control boost or turbo rpm like a wastegate (and a boost controller is unnecessary to control a wastegate).
A lot of people will argue that a BOV is totally unnecessary. Most serious racers will tell you something along the lines of that the only time a BOV is necessary is if the car is driven incorrectly and a lot of real race cars won’t have one (some have a “pop off valve” which people assume is the same thing, but it is really something that is calibrated to force racers to stay within the rules, it is calibrated and easily checked by the sanctioning body to open if you exceed whatever the boost limit is, you really don’t want it opening because if it does for any significant time it will cause the turbo to overspin).
Tons of factory setups came without BOV’s, including cars like the Grand National/turbo TA…
Personally, I kind of fall on both sides of the argument, and sometimes run one or a bypass and sometimes I don’t. The fact is that generally it shouldn’t be necessary and it just adds one more thing that can go wrong, leak…, OTOH, sometimes you just end up with a setup that has a tendency to blow apart the connections on the intake side, or one that if it happens it can be a real pain (like if a lot of that plumbing runs through fenders/under the front end body work), and a BOV does have a tendency to prevent that from happening.
If you are talking about not running a blow off valve, then I’m guessing that you’re misunderstanding what it is there for. All it’s there for is to relieve pressure in the intake if the throttle is slammed shut under boost. It does nothing to control boost or turbo rpm like a wastegate (and a boost controller is unnecessary to control a wastegate).
A lot of people will argue that a BOV is totally unnecessary. Most serious racers will tell you something along the lines of that the only time a BOV is necessary is if the car is driven incorrectly and a lot of real race cars won’t have one (some have a “pop off valve” which people assume is the same thing, but it is really something that is calibrated to force racers to stay within the rules, it is calibrated and easily checked by the sanctioning body to open if you exceed whatever the boost limit is, you really don’t want it opening because if it does for any significant time it will cause the turbo to overspin).
Tons of factory setups came without BOV’s, including cars like the Grand National/turbo TA…
Personally, I kind of fall on both sides of the argument, and sometimes run one or a bypass and sometimes I don’t. The fact is that generally it shouldn’t be necessary and it just adds one more thing that can go wrong, leak…, OTOH, sometimes you just end up with a setup that has a tendency to blow apart the connections on the intake side, or one that if it happens it can be a real pain (like if a lot of that plumbing runs through fenders/under the front end body work), and a BOV does have a tendency to prevent that from happening.
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TECH Enthusiast
Joined: Apr 2007
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From: Pampa/Lubbock TX
I wouldn't run a turbo without one. It cant be good to have all that compressor surge in your turbo. If you can guarantee that you can ease out of the throttle every time after boost then i wouldn't worry about it. It seems like good insurance to me, and they sound sick.
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