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Okay, so I've been playing around with the HKS SSQV that I got from ECS Tuning for a week now and have tried different things. Tom sent me some different things to try out with the valve too, among them a different insert that gives a lower sound, and fittings to make the BOV into a DV.
I tried the different insert and it was much quieter than the insert that comes with the valve. I will post pics up later this evening of everything. This insert is purple and has a circle in the middle rather than the three pointed star like the stock insert. I actually liked the stock insert a little better because it was obnoxiously loud and could be heard by everyone.
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I actually had a kid in a Civic pull up next to me on Saturday night and ask me how much boost I was running when he heard it.
The second thing I tried out were the DV fittings. I have an Autothority intake on my car and I couldn't really hear the valve at all in DV mode. Less so than the Forge valve or even the stock DV. It runs flawless in DV, better than anything else if you ask me, but I don't know why you would spend all that money and then not have the added benifit of the sound, but that's just me. Definitely a viable alternative to those that buy this kit and wish to go back to DV mode, though.
The third thing I did was switch back to my stock DV to compare any differences in how the car ran. I first tested it with a vacuum tester to make sure it was functioning properly, and it was. The car ran the same with the stock DV as it did with the HKS SSQV. I got the same amount of pops from the exhaust as I did with the SSQV from the stock DV.
Also this past weekend, I did some track testing. Not drag strip but road course testing. The car ran beautifully on the track and actually was the second fastest VW out there, beat only by a car that had much more suspension tuning to me. I was running as fast as the slower S4s and I lapped an M3(E36). Here is a video of my fast timed lap. http://videos.dubspeedracing.com/zerin/feb_10_02/jon_jetta_lap.mpg
Note the BOV sound the car makes, you can hear it a few times. I will warn you that a faster connection is preferred for that video.
Last of all, and this is probably what everyone is waiting for, I figured out how the BOV works. I took it apart and looked at it and more importantly, I put a vacuum tester on it. You may ask, what is the significance of the vacuum tester. Well, at idle you engine is pulling vacuum, the wastegate is open, too, so you really aren't producing any boost so therefore there won't be any in the intake, or if there is it won't be much. I put the vacuum tester on the nipple that gives the valve the boost/vacuum signal. I pulled vacuum down on the valve and it does not open with just vacuum present there. What this means is that there also has to be boost present in the post turbo intake pipe in order for the valve to open. Therefore, at idle, the valve stays closed, which is the opposite of what every other DV or BOV does. This is why the HKS valve does not throw any CELs.
My car has been running fine with the HKS SSQV and I'm going to leave it that way. I like the way it sounds and performs. My gas mileage hasn't suffered either. My last tank recorded as being 23mpg, which is good for me and right on par with what I was doing with the Forge. I see no downsides really to running the HKS BOV, so there you have it, my opinion of ECS Tuning's BOV kit. Again, I'll post some more pics later on.
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[Modified by houstonspeedfreek, 12:04 PM 2-11-2002]
I tried the different insert and it was much quieter than the insert that comes with the valve. I will post pics up later this evening of everything. This insert is purple and has a circle in the middle rather than the three pointed star like the stock insert. I actually liked the stock insert a little better because it was obnoxiously loud and could be heard by everyone.
The second thing I tried out were the DV fittings. I have an Autothority intake on my car and I couldn't really hear the valve at all in DV mode. Less so than the Forge valve or even the stock DV. It runs flawless in DV, better than anything else if you ask me, but I don't know why you would spend all that money and then not have the added benifit of the sound, but that's just me. Definitely a viable alternative to those that buy this kit and wish to go back to DV mode, though.
The third thing I did was switch back to my stock DV to compare any differences in how the car ran. I first tested it with a vacuum tester to make sure it was functioning properly, and it was. The car ran the same with the stock DV as it did with the HKS SSQV. I got the same amount of pops from the exhaust as I did with the SSQV from the stock DV.
Also this past weekend, I did some track testing. Not drag strip but road course testing. The car ran beautifully on the track and actually was the second fastest VW out there, beat only by a car that had much more suspension tuning to me. I was running as fast as the slower S4s and I lapped an M3(E36). Here is a video of my fast timed lap. http://videos.dubspeedracing.com/zerin/feb_10_02/jon_jetta_lap.mpg
Note the BOV sound the car makes, you can hear it a few times. I will warn you that a faster connection is preferred for that video.
Last of all, and this is probably what everyone is waiting for, I figured out how the BOV works. I took it apart and looked at it and more importantly, I put a vacuum tester on it. You may ask, what is the significance of the vacuum tester. Well, at idle you engine is pulling vacuum, the wastegate is open, too, so you really aren't producing any boost so therefore there won't be any in the intake, or if there is it won't be much. I put the vacuum tester on the nipple that gives the valve the boost/vacuum signal. I pulled vacuum down on the valve and it does not open with just vacuum present there. What this means is that there also has to be boost present in the post turbo intake pipe in order for the valve to open. Therefore, at idle, the valve stays closed, which is the opposite of what every other DV or BOV does. This is why the HKS valve does not throw any CELs.
My car has been running fine with the HKS SSQV and I'm going to leave it that way. I like the way it sounds and performs. My gas mileage hasn't suffered either. My last tank recorded as being 23mpg, which is good for me and right on par with what I was doing with the Forge. I see no downsides really to running the HKS BOV, so there you have it, my opinion of ECS Tuning's BOV kit. Again, I'll post some more pics later on.
[Modified by houstonspeedfreek, 12:04 PM 2-11-2002]
