2001 Grand Am GT Turbo questions...

[dklatt89]

I have the T3/T4 Turbo, blow off valve, wastegate, intercooler, and piping to start off the project. Thats the easy part. I have a place
to work on the car during the project, thats a shop thats heated and has relatively nice tools from the plasma cutter to wire welders. A new job will provide the funds for the DHP Tuner and a laptop in order to use the program to tune the car for when i bump up the boost above the 5-5.9 PSI i'll start off with. The wastegate comes with the 5.9 psi bar, which as long as i don't go WOT i'll be fine on the stock tune. I can take it easy for a while as well as possibly find a friend of a shop to tune it with their tuners until i get my own.

The only problem i have right now is a few questions. When i go to hook up the BOV, it doesn't have precise instructions on where to exactly hook up the lines in order to let it function properly. Where do i route the tubing to in order for it to work?

The next question regards the wastegate, i haven't seen the directions yet, i just ordered it. Whats the best way to route the lines in order for it to open when the PSI is reached?

Next question, after all the lines in order for hte BOV and wastegate to function properly are placed in the system, where should the Mass Air Flow sensor be routed to ensure it getting the proper readings and what not? Before the turbo, or after the turbo on the pressure line after the intercooler right before the intake where its located now?

The next question i have is as far as the vacum lines that are on the intake that power the brakes and what not, do they need to be repositioned or have check valves fitted in them so that when the boost kicks in they don't get damaged? Do any senors, or other things need to be repositioned?

Other lines that i have in question are the oil lines for hte Turbo. Where should i route the pressure line from? Also, where should i locate the return line? Whats the easiest method on those? I'll be getting a boost gauge soon, as well as other gauges to monitor temps and other vitals as the project is under way. What kind of boost controller as far as manual ones are the best? I've seen quite a few varieties but i want one that is reliable and won't fail, and would this only be installed on the wastegate, or the BOV as well?

Thanks in advance for the help, and i'll post pictures as the project
progresses.

[El_Diablo]

the BOV needs a vacume to actuate, anywhere on the manifold behind the throttle body plate should be fine

for a wastegate, you'll want to keep the lines fairly short to avoid boost spikes but try and get to the manifold with under a 2 foot span for best response, a boost controller will go inline, but again, keeping lines as short as possible

all the lines should already have check valves, if not then you have other issues, the MAF needs to be as close to the TB as possible, same with the IAT sensor and the MAP sensor should be upgraded when you get a tuner

for pressure, T off the pressure sensor if you have one and the drain should be at an angle to the pan above the oil line, the largest possible line will be the best but make sure its not sagging and has a straight shot downward and doesn't have to ever go back up as this could ruin seals and cause other issues

manual boost controllers are known for spiking if they have a long lead, mount it inline in the engine bay for best results, it only goes to the wastegate as the BOV uses vacume, if you use a manual use a fully manual screw type that is easily fine tuned, takes a little while to get a feel for them though so just slowly increase until you find where you want to be

[dklatt89]

I believe there is a vacum source that i can tap into on my intake by taking one of the rubber protecting caps off for the BOV, so that one shouldn't be a problem for me. I have a GReddy Type RS BOV. As for the wastegate, should i use the port that is coming off of the compressor housing to the intercooler? Or should i place it elsewhere in the system? I'll place the MAF as close as possible to the TB, and replace the line going to the back valve cover with a breather so that its not affected. I'll upgrade the IAT and Map sensors when i get the DHP tuner. I just bought a extra oil pan to modify so that it has the return line fitting in it so that when i go to finish the installation, it'll be ready for it. I'll run the pressure line off of the oil pressure sensor location to keep things simple. I'll be getting most of the parts here this week when ever they show up in the mail, which is hopefully soon. Thanks for the help, and i'll ask more questions as the come along.