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T3/T4 not spooling in first

Have you tried using the electronic controller yet? A larger header, larger a/r hotside on a larger turbo and an old gate spring could be working against you here.

My wastegate signal's source comes from the intake, through the solenoid and to the wastegate and it has not been an issue.
 
No not really yet, the EBC was always in a "learning procedure" or something which required some wot 3rd gear pulls to complete (which I didn't do). That was one of the places I was going to check next. The EBC has a manual mode which bypasses the learning procedure so I might try that.
 
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Update: Found some time to day to replace the pcv vacuum line I had previously bypassed so that is back how it should be now. Did some research and apparently my EBC's "auto learning mode" is quite poorly made and most people recommend running the controller in manual mode. Most have actually stated it helped a lot with spool time and their cars seemingly now have "break-neck" acceleration after switching off this auto mode, sounds promising. I haven't yet has the chance to do any road testing but hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to switch the EBC to manual mode to see if that helps the situation.

Also I would just like to say thank you to anyone who has helped me with this issue and any issue related to this car. This is a truly great forum filled with great people. I really appreciate you guys putting up with my seemingly sub par knowledge of these engines and I really look forward to learning more, so thank you.
 
You might be caught up in what other people are describing. You're still running an M46 which has a ridiculously short first gear that isn't going to load the engine well. Go out on the highway in 4th gear, punch it at 2k rpm, and record when it hits max boost.

OP, look at this. I have trouble getting more than 3psi in first on my m46 with 3.73 rear... mostly because the engine has hurled itself into the rev limiter before the turbo gets into it's efficiency zone
 
Not wanting to muddy the waters here, but wasn't there a thread a good while back discussing whether or not a connection from the Y connector to the inlet manifold was needed on a turbo motor? - & concluded that it was not required. I know after I had done my +T it didn't seem a good idea & did not connect it.
I can appreciate that it may have been a small opening, but all those nipples have been in & out a few times (smutty joke reference deleted) as well as the manifold being swapped so I don't know if it was on the right one anyway.
I do know that Stealthfti on his own site, talking about improving crankcase ventilation, shows a picture of the flame trap with a cover on the small tee. Having gone back & read it more carefully he actually says " NA motors and B230FTs use the small tee for the bleed to the intake. B21FTs do not use the small tee; hence the cap on it."
So why one turbo motor & not the other?
To make matters worse I have a B200 motor with a Kjet head/inlet !
 
OP, look at this. I have trouble getting more than 3psi in first on my m46 with 3.73 rear... mostly because the engine has hurled itself into the rev limiter before the turbo gets into it's efficiency zone

I still don't quite have a good understanding of how gear ratios work (tall gears,short gears, what the number means etc.), but I did find that my 740 turbo should have a 3.54 differential, but I don't know if that helps my case or makes it worse. What you're describing is almost exactly what I'm feeling in my car, it's like it wants to keep going but there's nowhere for it to go (already on the rev limiter). I will try to do some 4th gear pulls this afternoon. Are you on a similar turbo setup? What should I look for as good performance?

Not wanting to muddy the waters here, but wasn't there a thread a good while back discussing whether or not a connection from the Y connector to the inlet manifold was needed on a turbo motor? - & concluded that it was not required. I know after I had done my +T it didn't seem a good idea & did not connect it.
I can appreciate that it may have been a small opening, but all those nipples have been in & out a few times (smutty joke reference deleted) as well as the manifold being swapped so I don't know if it was on the right one anyway.
I do know that Stealthfti on his own site, talking about improving crankcase ventilation, shows a picture of the flame trap with a cover on the small tee. Having gone back & read it more carefully he actually says " NA motors and B230FTs use the small tee for the bleed to the intake. B21FTs do not use the small tee; hence the cap on it."
So why one turbo motor & not the other?
To make matters worse I have a B200 motor with a Kjet head/inlet !

So you're telling me it'd be better if blocked it again? I too don't know if I currently have it connected to the right nipple on
the manifold which is slightly worrying as I could be putting much more boost pressure through that vacuum line than was ever intended if it ended up on a bigger nipple and could be starving another important vacuum connection (possibly to the wastegate) due to the smaller nipple size intended for the pcv. Does anyone know which nipple is supposed to be for the pcv?
 
What burns with a lot of smoke?

Used tires.

Update: Found some time to day to replace the pcv vacuum line I had previously bypassed so that is back how it should be now. Did some research and apparently my EBC's "auto learning mode" is quite poorly made and most people recommend running the controller in manual mode. Most have actually stated it helped a lot with spool time and their cars seemingly now have "break-neck" acceleration after switching off this auto mode, sounds promising. I haven't yet has the chance to do any road testing but hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to switch the EBC to manual mode to see if that helps the situation.


If the EBC is a possible culprit, take it out of circuit completely. Just run a hose straight to the WG from the turbo or wherever. 9psi spring right?
 
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If the EBC is a possible culprit, take it out of circuit completely. Just run a hose straight to the WG from the turbo or wherever. 9psi spring right?

Not sure, when I opened the wastegate up during troubleshooting I believe I had a 5 psi spring (a used one at that) will have to verify. My EBC can be turned off where it vents the top port of the wastegate to atmosphere through the solenoid and runs as if it wasn't there. Might try that to verify my wastegate spring pressure.
 
I still don't quite have a good understanding of how gear ratios work (tall gears,short gears, what the number means etc.), but I did find that my 740 turbo should have a 3.54 differential, but I don't know if that helps my case or makes it worse. What you're describing is almost exactly what I'm feeling in my car, it's like it wants to keep going but there's nowhere for it to go (already on the rev limiter). I will try to do some 4th gear pulls this afternoon. Are you on a similar turbo setup? What should I look for as good performance?
The higher numbers are shorter gears. The 3.54 rear would be a little bit better than mine in that case. My last post was describing when I had the 13c turbo. Now I have a Turbonetics T3/T04B with .48 a/r turbine and I don't even bother trying to get boost in first, it's a useless gear anyway. Honestly idk what would be good performance as i built mine to be a fun DD, it's never been on a track and i've never timed or compared it to another Volvo
 
Well the m46 4.03 first gear with a 3.54 rear end, assuming a 24.2 inch tire and 6200 rpm rev limiter, will net you 31mph in first gear. Now I'm not sure exactly what tire size you're running, but that's a pretty hefty amount of gear reduction for what you're trying to do. Couple that with a larger turbo manifold and larger turbine housing and you're going to be up in the rpms in first before it builds any efficient boost. I'm not saying its something you need to change, but definitely don't try to use first gear as a measurement of how fast its going to spool.

And since its an m46 probably shouldn't bang out 3rd either.
 
Alright, good to know. So which gear would you recommend for testing? Have all these people claiming to spool to 20psi by 3500 in first have t5s or something? What should I be looking for? I'm hoping that the ipd cam I'm hoping for for Christmas coupled with an adjustable cam gear will help me lower the powerband a bit so I get better spool in the lower rpms.
 
Alright, good to know. So which gear would you recommend for testing? Have all these people claiming to spool to 20psi by 3500 in first have t5s or something? What should I be looking for? I'm hoping that the ipd cam I'm hoping for for Christmas coupled with an adjustable cam gear will help me lower the powerband a bit so I get better spool in the lower rpms.

I get that kind of boost response in 3rd and my trans is a T5...so 3rd or 4th.
 
Alright so 20 psi by 3500 in 3rd would be good for my setup?

Go drive your car on the stock WG spring and report back what happens in 3rd and 4th gear.
Start at around 2k rpm as others have mentioned.
Then up your boost to 10psi and do the same.
Then up to 12-15psi. Report back.
 
Go look at the nipples closely (that's what she said). You'll see one is MUCH smaller inside than the others. That one goes to the breather, the others go to the other items.
 
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