Boost designs FTMFL

[480sx]

The one part of my engine i cheap out on and this is what happens..

23 PSI on the stock block, when i defiantly wasnt setup for high boost. Was shooting for 12 psi.

With a 3 psi wastegate spring i was spiking to 1.3 bar. I should have just scraped the manifold then, or ran it with an open dump tube. Just got into a hurry i guess, wanted it on the road. Didnt like the idea of running open dump tube on my daily, plus i heart the earth. I put in the 12 psi wastegate spring thinking that it would reduce the spiking but apparently that wasnt the case.

5000 rpms, didnt hear any weird noises surprisingly. Rolled to the side of the road and went to crank it back up and all i hear is my starter engaging but not spinning. Im thinking i threw a rod, but i wont know for sure until i tear it apart.

Im thinking im going to take my spare running Ka, slap everything back together and run an open dump tube. Seems to be the easiest way to get me back on the road with boost. Or i might rework the BD manifold so its dump pipe isnt at such a stupid angle.

No freaken wonder Boost Designs went out of business man, i cant even imagine how many people blew up their Ka's because of that POS dump tube. They must have done no R/D at all.

Now i get to join the 'I blew my KA' club!

[Florida240sx]

Uh-oh... Try to get her running again. Or was there smoke? I popped my ringlands on 1 and 3 when similiar happened to me. Probably would of been fine but had no timing control so I was running way too advance. That was bakc in my safc days, now I got enthalpy tune with safc manily just for monitoring.

[480sx]

I cant even turn the crank at all, and i think i blew apart my stock clutch as well. First thing i did when it was on the side of the road was take a breaker bar and a 27mm to try to turn the crank, no luck. When the engine died, at first i thought it just stalled so i poped it into 2nd and let out the clutch. Nothin, im pretty sure the OEM clutch is in a million pieces laying around my bellhousing heh.

The big thing iv picked up from this is that boost spikes are serious issues, and to not rush anything. Iv had some time to think about it, and I guess its just a good learning experience. This is the main reason i chose the Ka, its a great motor that you can pick up for cheap. Atleast im not out there smoking RB's or SR's. Im lucky because iv got a parts car with a running Ka, and two others laying around so its not gona cost me anything but time.

Im gona start ripping the engine out today, ill keep you guys updated.

[Florida240sx]

TRy removing transmission first. Maybe you just shattered your clutch. Nissanfanatic has ran his that high before.You had timing control and injector for that psi level correct? Engine may still be perfectly fine.I had a spring snap in my clutch locking my motor-up pretty much

[480sx]

Fanatic runs meth injection though.

Also my ECU was only tuned for 12-15 psi with a z32 maf and 550 cc injectors. While i had the right sized injectors and the maf to deal with the boost, my ecu wasnt tuned for it. I mean im sure Scott puts in the tables for as much air as the z32 maf can handle, so its possible i didnt blow my engine i guess.. Ill drain the oil and check to see if theres any metal in the oil.

I guess ill pull the transmission first then, i actually i didnt think the clutch would stop the motor from spinning. Would be nice if my engine was in good shape. The thing is, is my tune definitely was not making much power at 23 psi, it felt like my ignition timing was seriously retarded. This was backed up by a glowing exhaust manifold, so it really is possible that my motors ok. Also backed up by the fact that i didnt hear anything from the engine when it cut off. Normally you hear or feel something. Also there wasnt even any smoke out my tailpipe, it just cut off.

Guess i wont know till i check it out, but you did give me some hope lol.

[480sx]

Motor oil says blown motor unfortunately. Not much metal, and whats there is tiny, but any metal in the oil after something like thats a bad sign. Just gona pull the whole engine with the transmission.

[neverlift]

we sure can tell em how to blow up some **** damn 480sx not you too I blow mine fix it and have new issues just to see now you have blown up too. sad day in the ka wolrd

thats funny you had shavings, my motor didnt have any but only one ringland broke(reason I took the motor .02 over) scratced my #1 wall up enough I felt it needed to be bored.

peak boost I'm unfamiliar wiht the design? pics?I know my buddy damon has a peak boost and loves it.

[480sx]

Peakboost is a good manifold. The one i had however is a Boost Designs, its a company that died a few years back. I bought the manifold second hand, never been used.

When i pull the engine ill take some pics and show you guys why the manifold+DP fails.

[Florida240sx]

Entahlp tunes are based off mafs% rm etc. I've run mine at 8psi and at 19psi daily and I spike to 25psi once. All was good.

[Z You Later]

I almost got a bd manifold too until I read all the bad reviews about it,

[Ligouri Rd]

It not that bad of a manifold, in terms of durability it has held up pretty well compared to all the problems associated with the ssautocrack ones. It took two years of use to finally develop a crack in the collector and break off one of the braces. $40 from a local welding shop had it fixed up no problem. However, I early on discovered the problem with kreeping and it all comes down to how the wastegate flow is ported.

1) The connection between the wastegate dump and the downpipe is horrid. Mine had approximately and eighth inch lip of extra material where it joined the downpipe. Grinding this down to the id of the wastegate dump tube made all the difference. The angle that the wastegate dump connects to the downpipe I believe actually creates suction pulling extra exhaust gases out through the wastegate. I believe this is why the people who have tried to run the wastegate open dump still kreeped.

2) The 90º connection between the wastegate and the collector practically creats a vacuume keeping the wastgate shut. Adding more weld to the outside and rounding the connection really improves the flow.

Once my manifold was ported I have had no problem maintaining exactly the boost level that I set it at. I typically run 7psi daily (6# tial wastegate) and 11 psi of scramble boost. On high boost the pressure jumps to 11 then slightly drops to 10-10.5 after the controller opens.

[480sx]

So you actually use the downpipe + the manifold? When i pull it off the car ill see if i can see what your talking about with the excess material. So all you did is take a dye grinder to eat away at the extra welds, and it stoped spiking?

Regardless, they did no R/D or they would have caught their own mistake and fixed it. While the manifold might be usable, the company who made it was awful. One thing i noticed though, the spool up characteristics on this manifold are freaken amazing, the small runner tubes really build up pressure quick.

Im not going to scrap it i just dont have the cash, i was thinking about chopping the whole WG dump tube off and tiging a bigger pipe into the collector. We'll see, if it looks like theres a ton of excess material ill just take a dye grinder to it and see how it works after that.

[480sx]

Well i pulled the engine today, and it seems that while the manifold still sucks, the boost spike wasnt what killed my engine.

[Ligouri Rd]

Technically I didn't grind it, I bought it over to AMS for their expert hands. They cut the wastegate dump, ground the connection to the downpipe to smooth the flow and re-welded it. At the wastegate off-take they ground the welds there to smooth the flow. Initially they took off too much material and I blew a hole in the connection. I brought it back and they welded on a patch and put and extra bead around the whole connection.

I agree Boost Designs R&D sux, I did my own to make it work, hence the re-made connection to the turbo for a t3 four bolt flange.Which version of the manifold do you have, like mine or the l8er one?

[480sx]

So thats what i have to do huh.. Well thanks a lot for that run down, im definitely going to do that before i put it back together.

Yea i have the same manifold. Whoever was on the MIG machine for Boost Designs that on yours day did mine too, man can they not weld.

So ill just rework the dump tube and i should be fine then. Again, the manifold has great spool up characteristics, so thats one plus. Also the collector is braced well.

I did pretty much the same as you, i hacked off the weird 5 bolt flange that was originally on the BD downpipe and put on a normal ford/garrett 5 bolt. Also chopped off the bottom flange, welded a piece of flex pipe to it and a new 2 bolt 3 inch flange.

It looks like my dump tube is different than yours, did AMS change the tube on the downpipe for you?
Modified by 480sx at 4:16 PM 1/16/2008

[Florida240sx]

What killed your engine?

[Ligouri Rd]

It looks like my dump tube is different than yours, did AMS change the tube on the downpipe for you?

-That picture was taken before AMS modified it, however the dump tube is pretty much the same. Just envision another weld over where it was cut about halfway between the downpipe and the wastegate. I left the downpipe flange alone and hacked up a SR20 downpipe to fit...sheet that was a pain in the arse.