ARGH! Yet nudder thread bout Forge springs!!!

ElGaspo

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2007 Mazdaspeed3 GT
Bear w/ me folks, i'm a n00b at the wonderful world of modding. i bit the bullet & ordered a Forge bpv. Now this is the deal. My only performance mod is an Injen CAI. I'd like to hear from ppl in FL [weather makes a diff for the spring setup i hear] who, like me, have only a CAI. What is the best spring/shim combo to obtain just a hint better boost hold AND doesn't throw CELs.

The popular view, as evidenced by searching, seems to be blue w/o shims OR yellow w/ 1 or 2 shims. My Q is: what is the dis/advantage of each? Patty at Forge sez 'blue w/ no shims is right for 95% of the ppl w/ mods." well...i don't know that a CAI is really 'modding' and i REALLY want to stop after the bpv.

I know i'm gonna hear 'just play around w/ the various springs' but again, being a n00b, i'd like to find out a tried-&-true setup that has worked well, from personal experience, from ppl with the same mods & goals [slightly higher boost hold, no CELs] as mine.

the plan is to do the install on fri, cruise around on the wkend, and return to work mon. i really don't want or need engine hiccups, backfires, hard starts, CELs, etc.

"Champagne for my real friends, real pain for my sham friends."
Much obliged to the former,(bow)(bow)(bow) and begone w/ you to the latter.
 
the best thing you can do is get the spring color/tension info and do some runs. its really easy to switch out the springs and add shims. (actually i just thought of this, if you dont have a boost gauge you wont be able to tell whats best for your car) each car runs different so whats optimal for 1 might be worse/different for another. i cant remember what im running but im sure a few people can give your their setup info. its going to be just about what you researched already though. people are going to give you different answers.
 
There is too much info already posted about this. Search and read or follow the advise of the previous poster.
 
He has already done some searching. He is just trying to narrow it down to folks in his particular area.
I live in So Cal so I don't know if I can be of nay help, but I am using the yellow without any shims. My thinking was that if the spring is too stiff, it may not always release when boost is built and thus could backspin the turbo (this is not good). My car drives very well, and it is easy for me to release the BOV with this setup.
Perhaps you should start with the yellow, and if it is too soft for your liking then change it out.
 
Using the blue spring and one shim. Seems to work well. Frankly, the "ting" is getting a bit tiresome. I almost put the OEM back on it last weekend.
 
sorry for resurrecting my own thread, but i want to make sure about standard boost levels: someone posted on another thread that it is
9psi in 1st, 12psi in 2nd, and 15.6 in the remaining gears.

this is taken from Forge's website:

Valve Spring color coding
Green - 5-15 PSI
Yellow - 15-23 PSI
Blue - 23-30 PSI
Red - 30 + PSI

so am i correct in guessing that, for a standard, nonmodded turbo, the yellow spring is the cat's meow? it holds boost up to 23 psi, stock boost is max 15.6 psi, so why mess w/ higher rate springs??? thanx for the input & bless you for helping a befuddled, non-mechanically inclined driver.
 
I started a thread like this about a month ago when i got my forge. I got alot of different answers, but I also emailed Patty at Forge. He told me the Blue is made for our car and would perform best, so i played around with the shims and the blue spring and found 1 shim and the blue is best for me. I have a cobb AP, turbo inlet and SRI, Race pipe, HKS CBE (just installed and love it! Highly recommend for the price.). hope that helps.
 
one more thing and i'm not trying to thread jack... i plan on buying a forge bpv. am i like a child playing with a loaded gun if i install the forge w/o being able to monitor my engine and boost w/ something like a dashhawk? my only other pwr mod is a cobb sri.
 
sorry for resurrecting my own thread, but i want to make sure about standard boost levels: someone posted on another thread that it is


this is taken from Forge's website:

Valve Spring color coding
Green - 5-15 PSI
Yellow - 15-23 PSI
Blue - 23-30 PSI
Red - 30 + PSI

so am i correct in guessing that, for a standard, nonmodded turbo, the yellow spring is the cat's meow? it holds boost up to 23 psi, stock boost is max 15.6 psi, so why mess w/ higher rate springs??? thanx for the input & bless you for helping a befuddled, non-mechanically inclined driver.

Vacuum is more important than boost when determining which spring to use. After that: latency from when the charge pipe side of the valve sees boost and when the top of the valve is pressurized, and pressure drop in the system.


The numbers on our site were determined based off of information from the VW/Audi 1.8Ts. Not relevant at all to you guys as the 1.8T has a solenoid controlled vacuum canister that controls the valve. They see far less vacuum than the MZR.
 
one more thing and i'm not trying to thread jack... i plan on buying a forge bpv. am i like a child playing with a loaded gun if i install the forge w/o being able to monitor my engine and boost w/ something like a dashhawk? my only other pwr mod is a cobb sri.

If you use too weak of a spring in our valve you will, at worse, mimic the operation of the factory valve. So no harm there.

If you go to stiff you run the risk of not blowing off cleanly at lower boost levels. Which you should be able to hear. But the risk is pretty low. The pressure spike you see with too stiff of a spring at 4 or 5 psi isn't that great, as the pressure ramps up the valve will eventually vent. The forces are very low at that point.
 
Patty, what about the risk of back-spinning the turbine due to it not blowing off at lower boost levels? Is this a valid cause for concern? If so, would it not be better to play it safe with the yellow spring?
 
I just put on my forge bpv vale and the plastic clamp on the bigger hose i wanted to take off and put the metal one that came with the bpv but when trying to take it off seems like the stock clamp was like glued on at the bottom and wouldnt come off. Didnt want to force it and damage the hose. thoughts?
 
uh oh.. Is it bad That im running blue with two shims? all i have is a sri
i live in Nd if that makes a difference
 
I just put on my forge bpv vale and the plastic clamp on the bigger hose i wanted to take off and put the metal one that came with the bpv but when trying to take it off seems like the stock clamp was like glued on at the bottom and wouldnt come off. Didnt want to force it and damage the hose. thoughts?

my mechanic said to keep using the standard one. if it ain't broke don't fix it is his motto, though. kinda conservative...but i wouldn't try forcing it loose if it was glued on.

incidentally, just like Patty @ Forge said,
If you use too weak of a spring in our valve you will, at worse, mimic the operation of the factory valve. So no harm there.

that's exactly what happens. my car blows off a bit early on yellow w/ 1 shim. next step is 2 shims, then i'll have a sleepless night and put in the blue one, i guess...i love my baby so i don't wanna hurt her. awwww....(kiss)
 
yea i just left the stock one on.
The hose clamps on all the intake hoses are lightly glued to the hoses at the factory. This is for easy assembly on the line, the worker grabs the hose with clamps already attached, slams it on and tightens it down. If you want to use different clamps it is no big deal, just a bit of pressure and it will come unglued. If the stock clamp is working for you, no harm in using it.
 
Progress on new Forge BPV?

Patty - are y'all still working on the 'ka-chingless' BPV? I'm holding out for one. If you've abandoned the project, can you let us know? Thanks!
 
I think the "ka ching" sound is also why the forge is so popular. The design is very simple and very effective. It doesn't use a diaphragm or complicated system, it's just a metal cylinder, a spring, and 2 o-rings. (Of course there is a lot of engineering that goes into this, I'm just saying the overall design is far less complicated then some of these bov's on the market...and when in doubt, K.I.S.S.)
 

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