# Ga16de Turbo update



## SubaruBlue200sx (Mar 21, 2004)

Finished up doing my head gasket yet again. so far car is running well.. coolant temps are where they are supposed to be.. as low as 172F and as high as 199F. also installed my apexi turbo timer.. very easy and clean. i am taking it easy on the car because i just installed a new intake cam since i broke the old one. compression test shows 151 across the board. seems low, FSM states 174 min 199max. yet mine is 151 in all 4 cylinders. timing is exact. right now the boost controller is off so at most the car only sees 5-8psi. tell the cam has been broken in. do these numbers seem ok to everyone?


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## wes (Apr 30, 2002)

SubaruBlue200sx said:


> Finished up doing my head gasket yet again. so far car is running well.. coolant temps are where they are supposed to be.. as low as 172F and as high as 199F. also installed my apexi turbo timer.. very easy and clean. i am taking it easy on the car because i just installed a new intake cam since i broke the old one. compression test shows 151 across the board. seems low, FSM states 174 min 199max. yet mine is 151 in all 4 cylinders. timing is exact. right now the boost controller is off so at most the car only sees 5-8psi. tell the cam has been broken in. do these numbers seem ok to everyone?


Yes sounds fine! My motor is 155ish accross all 4...

Now do NOT let your firend drive your car. Do NOT turn up the boost until you get the car on a wideband. I am pretty sure every failure you have had is from detonation. You need to get that resolved before you turn up the wick. 

I also have a few questions. When you do head gaskets do you? 

Use the updated OEM gasket? 
Buy new head bolts or measure them?
Use a torque wrench or a torque angle meter?


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## SubaruBlue200sx (Mar 21, 2004)

thanks for the reply wes. everything on my car is brand new and oem. i used a torque wrench, and i followed the fsm to the T when reinstalling the head. right now the car doesn't see more then a couple of psi of boost till i double check timing, plug gap etc. last time i started boosting the motor to much to soon. my water injection kicks on around 8-10psi. so that will help me later on once the motor is safe. right now i have it off. my plugs right now are gapped at.030. with the 6 series plugs. should i used colder plugs? and what gap should i go with. i have the wideband you recommended to me months ago. im gonna run it on my car and post my results and maybe you can tell me how it looks and what i need to do to adjust it. thanks again.


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## wes (Apr 30, 2002)

SubaruBlue200sx said:


> thanks for the reply wes. everything on my car is brand new and oem. i used a torque wrench, and i followed the fsm to the T when reinstalling the head. right now the car doesn't see more then a couple of psi of boost till i double check timing, plug gap etc. last time i started boosting the motor to much to soon. my water injection kicks on around 8-10psi. so that will help me later on once the motor is safe. right now i have it off. my plugs right now are gapped at.030. with the 6 series plugs. should i used colder plugs? and what gap should i go with. i have the wideband you recommended to me months ago. im gonna run it on my car and post my results and maybe you can tell me how it looks and what i need to do to adjust it. thanks again.


I personally do not like using a torque wrench. It is not as good as using the preferred methoed (according to the FSM) of a torque angle meter. I had an issue with this on my motor.

The first head I installed I used a torque wrench, followed it to a T, and the car ran great while it was NA. Then, once I turboed it, it lasted about 3 weeks and the gasket went. I know I was maxing out the MAF, however when I pulled the motor apart there were NO signs of detonation or damage. The head gasket was not damaged, it simply un seated around cylinder 3 and wept water (coolant). After lots of thinking and talking to others we came to a conclusion. There is a reason the FSM for both the GA and SR recommend a TAM. The bolts are torque to yield, this means they supply the most holding force RIGHT before they stretch. With a wrench you are relying on it's accuracy to get the bolts close to this point. WIth a meter, EVERY time you will get them positioned perfectly because you are turning them a certain amount based on the meter and there is no more accurate methoed than this! With the updated head gasket, new bolts, and using a TAM, I have had ZERO issues for 4 years and up to 20 PSI on pump gas with no water injection. (My only difference is cylinder head coatings). 

I am not saying that this is the be all end all solution, but I will be damned if it did not make a huge difference for me personally. The moral of the story is that if you find yourself in there again, spend the $25 for the TAM at the local parts store and use it! 

As for gap, I run 7 series plugs at .025 and I make sure I am at 8 degrees of base timing and not 10. I believe these things combined with the coatings are what has been keeping my car running well. I always use 93 octane with booster and lately I have been running 100 octane unleaded fuel. Sure I could probably make more power by upping the timing 2 degrees and maybe gapping the plugs out but at what expense? On a road course my car is already fast enough to get you in serious trouble if you do not know what you are doing and this is only at 11 LBS. This is why my focus lately has not been on making more power, it has been controlling it. 

Keep us posted on your wideband results!


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## SubaruBlue200sx (Mar 21, 2004)

I undertand what your saying wes.. it makes alot of sense. thats exactlhy what happened to me. the car ran great for 2-3 weeks. then started over heating blowing exhuast gas into the coolant system.. when i pulled the head off...the head bolts were very easy to unbolt. almost like they weren't torqued down enough. the gasket was perfect as well.

now my concern is that this will happen again. i know the bolts are torque to yield. if i went out and purchased a TAM. can i still even now, use it to double check the torque on the head bolts? so that it doesn't unseat itself? or will that just cause the problem to occur sooner?.. i have the Inovative Widewand that you had recommened to get.. can i pull the upstream o2 sensor our temp. so i can use the wideband to get my results?

thanks again for you help wes.


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## wes (Apr 30, 2002)

SubaruBlue200sx said:


> I undertand what your saying wes.. it makes alot of sense. thats exactlhy what happened to me. the car ran great for 2-3 weeks. then started over heating blowing exhuast gas into the coolant system.. when i pulled the head off...the head bolts were very easy to unbolt. almost like they weren't torqued down enough. the gasket was perfect as well.
> 
> now my concern is that this will happen again. i know the bolts are torque to yield. if i went out and purchased a TAM. can i still even now, use it to double check the torque on the head bolts? so that it doesn't unseat itself? or will that just cause the problem to occur sooner?.. i have the Inovative Widewand that you had recommened to get.. can i pull the upstream o2 sensor our temp. so i can use the wideband to get my results?
> 
> thanks again for you help wes.


I would not recommend trying the TAM now that it is all put together, if you did I would cetainly drain the coolant to a level below the head, loosen the bolts, and do the process from scratch. 

I thought the innovative also had a narrow band output. This means you can use the innovate sensor for both wideband and hook it up as your normal O2 for sending a signal to the ECU. Look at the directions on the innovate unit....


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## SubaruBlue200sx (Mar 21, 2004)

thanks wes. i'll double check the directions for the wideband. and to save myself from aggrivation. i think i might just drain the coolant as you said. and put in a new set of head bolts while its still intact. it would be safier and easier. thanks again wes.. i'll keep everyone posted. and i have some pics of the new cleaned up engine bay ( no more messy wires wes lol )
thanks


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## turbo200sx007 (Sep 2, 2007)

wes said:


> I would not recommend trying the TAM now that it is all put together, if you did I would cetainly drain the coolant to a level below the head, loosen the bolts, and do the process from scratch.
> 
> I thought the innovative also had a narrow band output. This means you can use the innovate sensor for both wideband and hook it up as your normal O2 for sending a signal to the ECU. Look at the directions on the innovate unit....


 can u get a tam anywhere pretty much?


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