Electronic boost controllers

[Motionbroker]

As mentioned before in an earlier post I am considering the purchase of a 94 3.6 turbo.

One of my concerns is that here in Thailand it has recently become almost impossible to get 95 Ron fuel with no alcohol

I have read a lot of posts on the subject and the concensus is that alcohol is a bad idea with k-jet systems. There are certainly some that say it is ok but given the value of the car I don't really want to take any chances. This car is worth around 150k usd in this market.

I have been advised to put the jumper on the ignition by many on this site but my dealer here has suggested that I consider installing an electronic boost controller to dial back the boost when necessary to avoid pinging. His logic is that I could have different adjustments for when I can get high octane fuel and another when I am stuck with 91 Ron.

My questions to this group would be

1) what do you think of this suggestion
2) if you agree that it might be a good plan, what would a good unit be? The dealer was not sure but said that HKS makes good units but he was not positive on compatibility without some research.

Really appreciate anyones educated opinion on this.

MB

[cole930]

MB,

Before you drop a few hundred bucks on a boost controller please understand
boost controllers only allow increasing boost above the wategate spring tension. In other words the spring in the wastegate sets a fixed minimum boost which is typically .8 bar from the factory so .8 bar is as low as it will go unless you change to a lower value spring. The boost controller allows you to raise boost above the
.8 bar.

I would suggest you take a look at water methanol injection which is excellent for deterring detonation. I'm assuming the warning you received about running with alcohol being a bad idea was in reference to water methanol injection. Certain chemicals used in such cooling injection systems are corrosive to metal but
with those systems the percentage of chemical to fuel in very very low and is only activated in short blasts. The hours of normal driving vs the seconds of chemical injection under boost will flush any traces of the chemical completely out of the system.

Cole