is it safe to turn up the boost on a stock 05 srt-4 with down pipe with cutout and a bigger intercooler also a hks bov i was woundering is there anything else i need to do before i can turn it up to like about 17 or 18 psi a lil help would be great thanx
you can turn it up but i wont go over that. when you turn up the boost it'll just spike and hold for a bit. then fall back down to stock level just before redline. are you on an aftermaket WGA or the stock one.
what you should do first is boost leak test the car that way you'll know everythings good before you start to turn it up. once you turn it up then tune. you can go with either a S1 PCM and SAFC or get the Preditor. the preditor would be cheaper with more options.
If you are stock, I've heard the ECU is really bad about pulling the boost back down to stock levels once it learns the higher boost levels. My stage 1 was spiking 17-18 falling to 15-14 by redline, so as long as you don't go over that you should be fine. BUT YOU REALLY SHOULD GO TO A TUNER OR DYNO TO MAKE SURE YOU ARE STILL IN A SAFE AIR FUEL RATIO RANGE...IMO.
If your on stock wga, max boost you will see is 14.7 and that is on a hot day. Some have claimed to seen higher but that could due to the faulty stock boost gauge. Colder days you will see lower boost. The only way to raise the boost safely is to get a aftermarket wga. There are a few in the market and I recommend the FM (Forward Motion) wga because you are still able to keep it PCM controlled boost and keep the drivability. Out of the many wga's I've ran that I found to be the best. Before you raise your boost, you MUST have some sort of Wideband. I recommend the AEM Uego. You need to make sure when you raise the boost you have enough fuel. Instead of Stage 1 you might as well look into the Diablosport Predator. You can raise the wga duty cycle and just use the stock wga or can upgrade to the FM wga. Its a great tuning tool as you flash a tune to your PCM and can adjust a few things as well as timing and fuel. A lot better then a Stage 1 upgrade. You still need to have a Wideband though. You want to stay safe so first get a Wideband before anything and before raising the boost.
More boost does not always mean more HP. With the stock ECU you are going to be pulling timing and boost like crazy and throwing an over boost code. Some of the better numbers I have seen with just a few bolt ons were typically hitting a solid 16 psi with either a s1 or pigggy back ecu. I am thinking about selling my AGP wga so if you are interested lemme know.
Agree! Its more of getting the air through the turbo efficiently. More boost like Nate stated doesn't always mean more power. 16psi on the stock turbo seems to be where most power is made. Many have witnessed this via dyno.
