|
DDV
First I should say that I may well have caused some of my own problems with this. When installing the DDV it took forever to remove the rear diverter hose from it's fitting. Two friends and myself worked on it for at least an hour, and no, we weren't turning it the wrong way. It just wouldn't budge. Then the bolt that holds the pipe in place stripped, meaning I wasn't able to attach the DDV to that bracket correctly. Also I may have had the front pipe a bit loose, which meant it slipped out on my first drive. As a result I had to do a bunch more work with it, and eventually put another screw in to hold it in place, but it's possible since I didn't have it fit right at first that oil seeped into the hose fitting leading to further failures at those joints.
However I do feel that there are design issues here. The choice to attach the valves to the pipes with hose segments, and the quality of the brackets used shows attempts being made to keep the product cheap, while charging a nice high price. Also the hoses used for connecting the DDV to the intercooler and throttle body are not of the highest quality and don't hold well and the clamps provided had to be bottomed out. A better method needs to be used to secure the hose to the throttle body because of the shape of the throttle body. It is tapered and tightening the clamps can actually force the hose down the throttle body if you aren't careful. Also if the pipe were about an inch longer it would fit between the intercooler and throttle body better. As it was the pipe coming from the intercooler was loose from it's bracket in order to meet the DDV. And there was plenty of room or movement which eventually allowed the DDV
pipe to slip out of the hose on the throttle body. Finally, the ribs on the pipe could be bigger allowing for better grip. There are a number of areas where minor changes to the design could improve installation and reliability.
Finally, the DIY is not very clear on the placement of the diverter valves themselves. These should come attached in their recommended positions. I lined them up best I could based on the pictures, installed the piece, then found the hoses to long and cut them off, but later was told by Daniel that if I rotated them it might have allowed me to use longer lengths without any kinking. Once it's in the car rotating the valves is quite difficult because of the tight fit of the hoses. Although even though I have those extremely tight, there's still signs of leaking oil around the fittings. Exactly how tight should those be?
Having since removed the DDV I can't say that I've missed it. Was my installation so poor that I was leaking boost? Does it just not matter much unless you are on a track? I just don't know. But since the DDV slipped loose on the track and thus wasted a good portion of my day, and my money, I don't trust it.
Since I removed it and had posted this problem in another thread, Anthony contacted me and offered to send out a smaller clamp and different hoses. The clamp looks to be a much better fit. He said they stopped using that one because people complained it was hard to get on. Waaaa! It needs to be tight! The original clamp I had bottomed out and if I pulled on the DDV I could pull it loose. The smaller clamp is a necessity. Now the hoses, they are cheap, cheap, cheap. They remind me of dryer vent hose. It's cloth on a stiff coil of wire. Blech.
|