8psi boost help

Kinda new here so bare with me...Have a 2008 legacy gt spec b i just picked up for cheap, has 193k miles. Planning on a closed deck build here within the next year, but going to get the last mileage out of this shortblock while i can. Anyways long story short it seemed a bit underpowered, sure enough its only running 7.5-8lbs of boost. i bought an accessport v3 and ran the stage 1 tune and still same boost (figured it wouldnt do anything). So far ive checked for boost leaks and exhaust leaks, checked the vacuum lines and the pill for correct installation/leaks, all good. today i even took the vacuum line off the wastegate and ran it, peaked a bit higher at 8.8lbs. ive tried ecu reset as well with no difference. I am in the middle of cleaning the EBC, and have one on the way. i also physically moved the wastegate by hand to make sure it wasnt seized. So with the wastegate vacuum line unhooked shouldnt i be overboosting? Am i seeing a weak turbo or something else? Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Oh and if someone can walk me through uploading it to the forums i took a couple data logs both with the wastegate unhooked and with everything hooked up normal

datalog2.csv

datalog3.csv

datalog4.csv

Edited September 18, 2019 by sunshinespecb

Wow, where are you at that you only have 10.8 psi of atmospheric pressure? That's some thin air.

 

Based on the things you've said you've tried in your post I would probably start looking at the turbo. Pull the downpipe and see if the wastegate flapper is even there. You should have a lot of boost with the vacuum line disconnected.

Edited September 18, 2019 by BrandonspecB

Ok I kind of figured that. I'm in Colorado. 8200 ft elevation

Pulling the downpipe tonight or tomorrow to check the exhaust flap. Assuming it's time for a new turbo any upgrade suggestions from anyone? 450hp power goal. Would like to keep a tmic setup as I'm not a fan of fmic. Also looking for reliability over anything else (daily driver)

Pulled the dp. wastegate flap is seated properly and opens/closes with a vacuum pump. No play in the shaft. The car had a known turbo oil feed line leaking when i bought it. Going to pull the turbo all the way out and further inspect.

blown.

blown.

 

Ouch. How bad? Time to drop the oil pan and check for glitter. Sorry man that's shitty. Makes me think twice about complaining about an exhaust leak.

How blown?

The fins are scraping the housing. I'm going to do a built engine now. Was going to down the road but this just pushed it up to now

Fins scraping housing doesn't necessarily mean the bearings deteriorated enough to contaminate your motor. Are there signs of metal in the oil?

 

When I went to look at my wagon, the turbo was gone to the point where the impeller was skipping around in the compressor housing and contacting the walls, but it still spun free. Peaked at 10 psi on test drive. I bought the car, and came back with a spare VF40 I had. Drove it on that motor for another 40k miles before a head gasket went and I decided to drop in a fresh replacement.

 

Just saying, maybe you can find a cheap used VF46 and get some time to prepare for your built motor. Worst case you're out the 100-200 bucks the VF46 will cost.

Edited September 24, 2019 by awfulwaffle

I already had plans to build. IAG stage 2 TUFF shortblock, blouch 440xt, ID 1050's, Invidia catless downpipe with 5280 cat, Invidia uppipe for now. Cyro break in tune then dyno tune to see where im at.