My pcv can just has some residue in it, I haven’t actually seen anything pool up. The dipstick has slightly been discolored to gold. The CCV dipstick is still silver and clean, I haven’t actually taken the can off to check it though. Nor have I pulled off the blower to check for discoloration or residue from oil/fuel vapors. I think I have the other gasket for the supercharger intake tube somewhere so I may check that out on my next oil change. Soo I think it’s been fine? Lol I tell you what though, the Radium PCV makes a lot of noise.

 

What noise does yours make?

 

Just rattles, I think it’s because the plug is made of metal. It, of course, stops when boost is introduced. But it is definitely noisy when idling.

 

The valve itself makes the noise?

 

Yeah, pretty sure, even put a stethoscope on it.

 

Interesting, i was looking at their competition cans and it seems they now have a viable option for us to run a single can there so I might snag one and play around with it.

 

Yeah I saw those after I had already installed the PCV kit so I decided to just get another universal can for the CCV side. I think if I had saw the competition can first, I may have gone for that one. It'd probably end up being cheaper overall to run that one comp can rather than two of the regular cans. Also, I've been in the middle of installing the Vibra-Technics motor mounts and pulled off the hose on the SC that goes my CCV can and it's got oil residue in it, so I'm sure my SC has residue on it also.

 

I ended up picking up a Turbosmart Kompact BOV and getting the pink softest spring and setting it to the softest setting. That eliminated all the chatter which is actually compressor surge. The HKS BOV that comes with the kit is WAY too stiff. I am not sure what they were thinking when adding that in. I would get tons of compressor surge, even with a direct beefy line going right to the BOV from the manifold. It's still recirculating and sounds really nice. I tried VTA and it was beyond obnoxious, sounds like a fighter jet haha.

 

Ah, I kinda dig the fluttering. I’m guessing it’s bad for it overtime? And does your new bov change the sound when get off the gas and it opens up?

 

It’s pretty much the exact same but no more compressor surge at idle, or light throttle. There is every so slightly still a small amount of surge right before the valve opens at certain RPM.

for whatever reason when I put the 100mm pulley on it was so much worse. Probably because there was a lot more air in the pipes. Accelerating slightly was full compressor surge until I started to use the boost. I’m not sure what crack HKS was smoking when they designed that valve lol.

 

Yes, compressor surge is bad, and the sole reason BOVs were made, they are supposed to prevent it.

 

Interesting, so is the BOV doing that because it can't decide if it needs to be open or closed and that's due to the excessive spring pressure? I figured it had to do with low boost at low rpms/light throttle. I'll have to look into changing it out. Do you need to be retuned if you change the bov/spring rate or can I just swap it in?

 

Basically the valve should stay closed at idle and have no problem releasing pressure as you get off throttle. Dialling it in will depend on what works best for your setup in off/on throttle response. That's the benefit of an adjustable bov, like Turbosmart.

 

When the intake pipe is charged with positive pressure (which is almost always is with a blower) that air has to either be consumed or vented.

if the spring is too heavy in the BOV the air just gets pushed back into the compressor. For whatever reason the HKS BOV has a super heavy spring. So at idle, and low throttle it never opens and just pushes that air back and creates compressor surge.

While it’s not gonna blow up the blower it will degrade the lifespan.

The Turbosmart Kompact allows you to dial in the spring pressure as well as change springs.

I picked up the pink spring which is the lightest and I made It as loose as possible on the BOV. The Kompact can be purchased to fit the exact spot using the two 34mm ports to replace the HKS one.

Super easy swap and it’s a much better set up.

 

Does it mess with the AFR at all, at least to a point where I would need to be retuned? I suppose that would be on a case-by-case basis and I could just hook up my laptop, but I figured I would ask since we're all here lol

 

Slight correction, at idle the engine will be under pure vacuum, which includes the intake pipe. Even under most normal driving conditions the intake pipe will be under vacuum. There shouldn't be any compressor surge as the engine is consuming everything it can get. In other words the blower is not spinning hard enough to overwhelm the intake requirements.

For example I don't hit boost until somewhere closer to 4000rpm at 40% throttle (very rough numbers).

However even with a slight increase in rpm/load, as soon as the throttle blade closes, that air (which is still very much vacuum as far as the engine is concerned) is no longer needed, but cannot push past the back pressure from the blower, which creates positive pressure between the throttle body and the blower. The balance shifts and the pressure needs to be vented to avoid damaging the compressor.

The Turbosmart Kompact is ideal for the HKS kit. Absolutely. You can even plug up the atmo vent if you want pure recirculation.

 

Thanks guys, I appreciate all your help. BOV+pink spring has been ordered, can't wait to try it out

 

I plugged VTA side so it’s pure recirc just like the HKS unit. Still a lot of sound from the intake.

Tim did you leave your VTA side open so you’re kind of venting kind of circulating?

 

Yup, doing the vent + recirc, but jesus is that blowoff loud. There's good chance I'll end up plugging mine too.

 

My engine doesn't like the new BOV. Cold start was surging big time and I ended up getting a P0102 MAF sensor low circuit code. I swapped it in just how the hks bov was. Maybe something else is going on?