Spacing my rod?

[Aaron dusseault]

I recently added a couple of washers behind my wastegate accuator and seems to make my car boost stronger. Is there any ill effect of doing this?

[Martin Raska]

Is your car boosting stronger because it's boosting higher?  Sometimes guys do this as a cheap form of boost control.

[KevinBuckham]

I will assume that you are increasing the preload on the wastegate actuator arm?  I have a funny wastegate on my current turbo that has an adjustable arm, so I can't figure out where some washers would go.

If you are preloading the arm more, you could be limiting the wastegate flapper which in turn could cause boost creep issues in higher gears with sustained pulls. (But then again, it might not - depending on how much preload you have.)

The preloading is probably helping to prevent the wastegate from being blown open by exhaust gasses.  (I seem to remember you getting a turbine housing with a larger passage and flapper?)

Personally, if everything works well, you don't have excessive boost creep, and no knock - why worry?

-Kevin

[Mike Meron]

spacing you rod is fine.. but if you happen to find a way to stretch your rod please be sure to share that secret as well.. i have been trying to stretch the pipe for years but to no avail.

[John Hartman]

I put a slight bend in mine(the cars, my own has one from the factory) and it put a bit of load on the flapper to keep it closed.  It was letting some exhaust out the wastegate before it was supposed to be opening, causing crappy throttle response.

[Artem Goloubov]

Holy batman thanks for reminding about this old school trick. I had it done on my Supras ages ago.

One of the best free mods out there, 17PSI here I come

[Martin Raska]

spacing you rod is fine.. but if you happen to find a way to stretch your rod please be sure to share that secret as well.. i have been trying to stretch the pipe for years but to no avail.

Surely you've seen the infomercials.  http://www.extendz.com

[Marty van den Bosch]

if you happen to find a way to stretch your rod please be sure to share that secret as well.. i have been trying to stretch the pipe for years but to no avail.

Cut it and thread both ends to accommodate a swivel device that lengthens or comtracts.
Another option would be to use a steel braided wire and tak a hoop onto the end of the rod where cut off.