does anyone here know whats a safe yet good ammount of boost to run on my 1996 9000 aero? im thinking somewhere along the lines of 14-18? i would just like to know because i don't want to blow the turbo or anything but i want enough boost to fly by people. I know that the aero turbo is one of the best turbos that saab can offer... all your input will help thanks.

 

what's the current level?

 

for awhile i was running 18lbs of boost consistently and it ran fine and strong... but for some reason it was just so powerful it gave me that feeling like "oh crap dude this may be too much and your luck is going to wear out soon."

 

you have the 2.3 with a Td04? I'm a little behind on my 9000:-D 18 sounds reasonable cause that's what most modded 9-3's on stock T25 run

 

I don't know though i think i may just push 16lbs of boost just to be safe you know? I already have the 2.3 liter and enough crap done to it to beat most crap on the road... whats 2 pounds? haha okay well.. maybe 17 anyways i need to learn how to cobvert pictures on here because i have some good engine shots just waiting for oppinions.

 

Show off those pics...I'll wash my engine bay and take some pics than...for now I've got too much stuff to fix because autocrossing kinda kills the suspension.

 

so yeah i definitly hooked up that delivery pipe and it made my car slower haha... whatever we learn i guess.. now shes running mint though 18lbs of boost free flow intake for teh win but yeah... so autocrossing you say? ive never been and i want to just not in my baby.. maybe a crappy car lol.

 

try it out once It's very fun and you learn the limits of your car.

 

well... my cars in the shop finally... it needs $2500 worth of parts and of course im paying... it needs new driveshafts, new cv joints and boots, exhaust manifold stud kit is going on, 4 brand new falken azenis tires, new brakes ALL around new rotors and pads. much more but im to bored to list them all... haha i think its safe to say it will feel like a brand new aero when its done :P im happy.

 

I had a 95' SAAB 9000 cse 2.3T for around a year and a half. During that time, I did my share of tuning to it. I found through experience that it is not only boost that will give you power. When cranking the boost up near the 18psi cutoff, you will definately feel an increase in power. However, you may blow your headgasket in the process. I had this happen to me on a brand new headgasket less than 6 months old.

I also know through experience that to get that kind of boost out of the turbocharger, you bypassed the APC valve on top of the radiator. This renders T5 (trionic 5, the engine management system) helpless if you get a boost spike, you use inferior gasoline (causes pinging, something t5 detects and corrects) or a vaccum line goes bad somewhere. All three can cause severe engine damage if they are not carefully watched.

Tuning by pumping the boost alone is the wrong way to do it. You should get a remapped ecu and upgrade the hardware. This will be more reliable in the long run, even if it costs more now

BTW CS, CSE's light pressure and full pressure turbos (lpt, fpt) used a garrett t25 turbocharger
The AERO got a mitsubishi TD-04 turbocharger that was more reliable and put out more boost up to redline in the stock form, despite the fact that it took longer to spool up.