Holy Moly! EVERYONE go NOW and do a Pressure Test! ! ! ! ! !

  • 1SIKZ31
    1SIKZ31
    Senior Member
    • 1236
    #1

    Holy Moly! EVERYONE go NOW and do a Pressure Test! ! ! ! ! !



    I bought a Pressure Tester off this site (yes I know I could make one for cheaper…)

    And went ahead to my friends house where he has a small 10 gallon tank and "255psi max" compressor.
    Disconnected the Outlet of the compressor to the turbo, and connected and T-Bolted the thing down good.

    I gave it a shot of air, and holy moly BATMAN!
    My WELDS were leaking!
    My Intake manifold (upper to lower) were leaking!
    My BLOCK OFF PLATES that firehawk made that had a GOOD amount of "RTV" on them were leaking (The IAC one)

    My god!
    It wouldnt hold more than 4psi of pressure!
    I then pressed down on a PIN HOLE leak on one of the welds, and pressure went from a peak of 4psi maximum to 4.7psi, thats .7psi gain from A PIN HOLE!

    Unbelievable!

    Thats why I could never build boost (not from just this hole, but the intake manifold one most importantly…)

    Anyway…
    I officially have stopped tuning my Holset Z.
    Theres no point to keep going until I can fix ALL these leaks!
    The intake manifold is leaking unbelievably bad! (upper to lower manifold gasket?)


    Anyway, Is this why the big air compressor couldnt allow me to hold more than 4 PSI of pressure?
    I want to pressure test to 25psi to be safe, but have no idea how the hell im gonna pull that off without access to a "shop" size air tank?
    thanks!
    1SIKZ31 -86 SlickTop- R.I.P. 03/01/10 … Parted out :-(
    … New Project: LS1 Miata. Complete. 510whp. 2500lbs.
    1 Month Away from Rear Mount 76 --> 650-700whp.
  • TearingRaven
    TearingRaven
    Senior Member
    • 2572
    #2
    Good to know man. Be sure to list all your trouble spots. I guess the throttle body is supposed to be troublesome?

    1985 Nissan 300ZX 2+2- My first Z, back in the family
    1987 Nissan 300ZX Turbo RIP 4/87 - 4/28/2011
    Under Construction: 1986 Nissan 300ZX NA2T Slicktop
    Originally posted by Tempestas
    Well, one of the t-tops wasn't latched real well… God only knows where that t-top flew off to at 150+ mph. Didn't scratch the car or anything, just a boom and it was gone. I sure as hell didn't stop to see where it went. I didn't see any stories on the news… so that's a plus.
  • 1SIKZ31
    1SIKZ31
    Senior Member
    • 1236
    #3
    TearingRaven wrote: Good to know man. Be sure to list all your trouble spots. I guess the throttle body is supposed to be troublesome?
    Hmmm… EXCELLENT thinking?!

    It was a LOUDDDDD hiss from the throttle body, but I didnt think nothing about it?

    I forgot to put my hand around that area to check it…
    weird…
    It was loud at the intake manifold though… not quite as loud as the throttle body though :-?

    I couldnt IMAGINE someone tuning a car without fixing all of these problems…
    I mean… I was only doing the test at 4psi and it was all hell leaking all over the place…
    I wish I could do it at 7psi… just to see my wastegate "operate"… oh well…
    Better luck next time?
    1SIKZ31 -86 SlickTop- R.I.P. 03/01/10 … Parted out :-(
    … New Project: LS1 Miata. Complete. 510whp. 2500lbs.
    1 Month Away from Rear Mount 76 --> 650-700whp.
  • TearingRaven
    TearingRaven
    Senior Member
    • 2572
    #4
    One problem at a time, my friend

    1985 Nissan 300ZX 2+2- My first Z, back in the family
    1987 Nissan 300ZX Turbo RIP 4/87 - 4/28/2011
    Under Construction: 1986 Nissan 300ZX NA2T Slicktop
    Originally posted by Tempestas
    Well, one of the t-tops wasn't latched real well… God only knows where that t-top flew off to at 150+ mph. Didn't scratch the car or anything, just a boom and it was gone. I sure as hell didn't stop to see where it went. I didn't see any stories on the news… so that's a plus.
  • Chris86NA2T
    Chris86NA2T
    Senior Member
    • 837
    #5
    this is my best friend..
    http://buy1.snapon.com/catalog/item....re&dir=catalog
    intake leaks cause so many problems and they are often overlooked
  • chronic
    chronic
    Senior Member
    • 413
    #6
    Well, im glad its your baby. lol, 1100 on a smoke machine is out my budget for these days.

    I've never pressure tested my intake. I should probably do that.
  • datsunzcar84
    datsunzcar84
    Senior Member
    • 740
    #7
    I have used one of these to leak test well worth the money IMO

    http://boostpro.net/prodtester.html
    D@MN IT FEELS GOOD TO BE A GANGSTA
  • DMANN
    DMANN
    Senior Member
    • 544
    #8
    Yes, definitley a good and important thing do. I have a shop and did this exact thing last week!
    Spent like 1-2 days fixing leaks all over the place!!!

    I made my own front mount set-up and one of the manifolds was perfect (no leaks), the other nothing but.

    Hade to torque my manifold down another 5 lbs and tighten others as well. I had torqued everything on the engine to specs but well on a 20+ year old engine what yeah gonna do!

    But forsure get it done if your having problems!

    Just my 2-cents!!!
    88na2T-s13,q45 swap 12.6@110mph
    87T 2+2 auto,stock
  • TODD03412
    TODD03412
    Senior Member
    • 267
    #9
    I can actually hear mine leaking under boost and it will not stabalize after about 14 psi. I knew it was something I wanted to address this winter. I will definetly be hitting Lowes tomorrow to make one of those!!!!!!!
    Who are you to tell me my uninformed opinion is wrong?!?!?

    Expert: He who has made all the mistakes there is to make in a given field.
  • RobP3ZXT
    RobP3ZXT
    Senior Member
    • 280
    #10
    uhhh.... duh?
    Civilize the mind but make savage the body.