Manual Boost Controller Install - L400 (*same proc for L300)

[psilosin]

Got around to installing my Hallman Pro RX manual boost controller (henceforth called mbc) today in the L400. This is the first time I have bothered to purchase a name brand boost controller instead of just using washers to shim the wastegate (I sold a set of star wars lego for $1500 so was feeling saucy!!). I picked this one mainly for its light spring and ceramic ball...meaning this mbc will give fine control of over boosting up to 5-6psi over stock. (Many cheapo mbc's have a stiff spring and a steel ball bearing and while they are great if you are really amping up teh boost can be a little difficult adjusting in 0.5psi bumps for example.) The other reason I picked this one is because it was anodized in Prince and The Revolution Purple which not only increases horsepower it attracts the ladies.

*There are a number of other cheaper mbc's that are more than adequate for the needs of Delica overboosting...we are only adding at most 5-6psi over stock and we are not doing 1/4 drag races so pretty much anything will work...for almost all mbcs that general installation will be the same.

Installation of the hallman mbc is a 10 minute job at most. For turbos with an attached wastegate (ie L300, L400, Hilux Surf, Pajero etc etc) the install couldn't be simpler. You are simply splicing the boost controller into the middle of the direct boost line that goes from turbo to wastegate and finding a place to affix the boost controller.

On the L400 you need to simply remove the tube that goes from the air filter enclosure to the turbo...either a phillips screwdriver or a 10mm nut driver will loosen the two clamps holding that pipe then just slide it off. Now you can see the turbo and wastegate actuator. that short piece of vac tube that goes from one to the other is what you are looking for. I really should have just taken a before picture... Now take that hose off...it is too short for teh mbc to splice in teh middle of so you need to buy a few feet of 1/4" or 5/16" OD vacumn tube. Now find a place to mount the mbc...I found that it fit, was easy to adjust and looked quite nice when mounted parasitically to a spot where the fan shroud attached to the radiator. A slightly longer bolt was needed, luckily I had a bunch on hand. I did not measure it but an extra 3-5mm is plenty. Now just attach the hoses. Start at turbo->mbc inlet->mbc outlet->wategate. Make sure they are secure. I used clamps at teh turbo and wastegate, the nipples on the mbc are bigger than the turbo/wg so they were a supper snug fit.

Done!



(in the second pic the turbo nipple is just behind the black intake pipe, the gold circle slightly to teh right of the intake pipe is the wastegate actuator, the nipple is also hidden by the intake pipe)

Now to adjust on this mbc you start fully counterclockwise (0 extra boost) and teh more you turn the knob clockwise the more extra boost you are adding. Instructions suggest doing 1/2 turn increments...test run...1/2 turn...test run etc etc. I started with 3/4 of a turn because I am a wild man! On my test run I did not notice that the max boost was noticably higher...but I did notice that boost really does come on faster (an advertosed feature of gated mbc's). It did appear to have a 1psi spike when you initially hammer it (ie drop the hammer psi shoots up to 13 for ~1second (or less) then drops back to 12 where it hold stable untill you back off the juice).

*Never follow my tutorials blindly, always think for yourself first and act later. I am usually half cut when working on a car so mistakes/mistypes/etc etc may occur. I take no responsibility for your actions.

[tonydca]

Aaaugghhh! The colour! My eyes are burning! That first pic looks like a PhotoShop job; so vibrant on the grey background.

Joking aside, nice job, and good posting!

Cheers!

[FalcoColumbarius]

"Where is it?"
"It's there..."
"Where?"
"Between the radiator and the air filter..."
"Where?"
"Just to the left of the inter-cooler hose..."
"What, behind that lavender-pink thingy?"

Nice looking install, Psilosin ~ How are you finding the results?

Falco.

[psilosin]

Lol purple power! I actually haven't played with it too much yet. I have cranked it up another 3/4 turn and that has only added about 0.5psi so no big highway differences but the boost is coming on much quicker which is noticable when zipping around town on and off the accelerator.

I should have experimented more this last weekend but I kind of switched gears and instead of playing with the Delica I played with the Liteace truck. I installed a K&N Apollo filter unit to replace the factory airbox and then built a snorkel for it with a Donaldson pre-filter to top it off. Now next time I go to the dump I can pretend its an african safari.

[davidwwc]

Mr. Psilosin,

I like the idea of the manuel boost and it looks great too. Where do you get that ? How much is that cost? Any help would be appreciated.

Cheers,
DC.

[psilosin]

I picked it up off of Ebay. The Hallman Pro RX like I got goes for around US$60-80. There are many cheaper ones that should be pretty much just as good in the $20-30 range. If you have a well stocked local hardware store that carries small springs and little single ball bearings there are also many build your own plans on the www.

[davidwwc]

Thankyou very much for the information. I will start looking around. May be abe to find something in Canadian Tire..

cheers,
Dc.

[lrp374]

I've been watching this thread for some time waiting for more people to do the mod. Seems like no one but me is interested. The idea of a quicker boost seems like a good idea. I have a couple questions prior to mod:

1: Does it make any difference what boost you run now? I have been running 15psi max by my gauge with the occasional 18-20 if I'm not paying attention for the past 3 years. Can I leave my boost 'as-is' or will it need to be turned down so the controller does the maximum adjustment?

2: What would be the estimated minimum RPM I could expect maximum boost? At present is seems I need 2500-2700 rpm.

Thanks

Larry

[yojimbo]

Boost is mainly a product of fuelling. Especially on a diesel. Remember that boost controllers and/or the wastegate actuator are there to control when the wastegate begins to bleed off exhaust gasses to limit boost to whatever value. Getting there though is an effect of of volume of exhaust gas. Since a diesel is always taking full breaths of air, this is mainly achieved tbrough the amount of extra gas from burning fuel. The fun thing with mechanical pumps is, its easy to up the low range fuelling to bring boost on earlier.

[psilosin]

I've been watching this thread for some time waiting for more people to do the mod. Seems like no one but me is interested. The idea of a quicker boost seems like a good idea. I have a couple questions prior to mod:

1: Does it make any difference what boost you run now? I have been running 15psi max by my gauge with the occasional 18-20 if I'm not paying attention for the past 3 years. Can I leave my boost 'as-is' or will it need to be turned down so the controller does the maximum adjustment?

2: What would be the estimated minimum RPM I could expect maximum boost? At present is seems I need 2500-2700 rpm.

Thanks

Larry

1. I have a strong feeling that your gauge is reading high. 15psi is well above the factory 8-10psi and by 18-20psi you would be popping the secondary pressure release valve with a loud and scary and unmissable hissssssss. Either your gauge is reading high or your L300s previous owner already made some boost mods (maybe shimmed the wastegate with washers and disabled the pressure release valve if that is possible on the L300?). 15psi is as high as you should realisticly run the boost for engine happiness so if your gauge is accurate and you actually are running 15psi a boost controller would just be a waste of money.

1b. No you would not turn down the boost when adding a boost controller...if you could turn down turn up the boost prior to adding a boost controller that would mean you already have a boost controller :). The boost controllers job is to trick your factory wastegate boost setting by releasing some of the pressure in the air line that heads to the wastegate so the waste gate gets less psi than the rest of the engine either by bleeding (bleed valve) or making the air do work (ball and spring). For example say the factory boost setting is 10psi and you adjust the boost controller to 15psi...it is adjusting the amount of air heading to the wastegate to still max out at ~10psi but the injection pump boost compensator and the intake air are at 15psi.

2. Lots of variable here. If you leave your fueling and boost compensator as is you will likely notice max boost at the same rpm and since the boost compensator usually has some extra play room it will dump in a little extra fuel at max boost and you should feel some extra power, or if no extra power you may notice that your EGTs are slightly lower now that you are ramming more air through (not sure I buy that one much but upping boost without adding extra fuel it is an accepted Hilux Surf/Prado trick to keep the engine cooler). If you up the general fueling along with upping the boost you should feel more power and max boost might come earlier in the rpm range. Fun fun but be careful with this as a little tweak of extra fuel can have a big effect and your EGTs can get dangerously hot.

If you want to have real fun you can take advantage of the fact both teh L300 and L400 (Gen1) have mechanical injection pumps and start tweaking the internals of your boost compensator to change teh fueling ramp over the boost range. So instead of more fuel over the whole range like with tweaking the general fuelling you can tweak boost ramp to adjust the dy/dx to increase fuel quicker at lower boost than at high boost for example or widen the boost psi range between 0 to Max extra fueling etc etc. I have mentioned it a number of times over the years and have yet to see anyone bother tweaking their boost compensator on the L300 or 400. It is/was a popular thing to do on the older Hilux Surfs but now the injection pumps are all electronic so that fun died :( The L400 makes enough power for me with a few extra psi so it's not worth the effort but since the L300 is as underpowered as the Hilux Surf I'm not sure why noone has been more adventurous with boost mods. Perhaps the boost ramp pin on the L300/400 doesn't have the same overboost cutoff safety as Toyota since Mitsubishi has the pressure release valves....hmmm...anyway now just rambling...)

I've seen you pass through Penticton as least once so if you do get a boost controller and want help installing give me a shout.

[lrp374]

Thanks for the info Brad. I think from your description the tweaking option may be the best. I have disabled that annoying pop valve prior to any changes as it operated between 11-12 pounds so it really limited boost. The increased boost really lowers the EGT if you can keep rpm above about 2700. I also remember thinking I had extra power. It's easy to test here as all you do is make an adjustment then go up the bypass. I think before I do anything else I'd like to pick your brain some more. Maybe a Penticton meet the early part of September as I'll need to go down again by then. If we can find someone else to join us we could have a record meet for Penticton!!