Dumb turbo question
 

I have a question which, in a way, i know the answer to but i guess im just looking for conformation. Im putting together a turbo kit and will be running an external wastegate with a ridiculously low amount of boost, 2.17psi spring controlled, and would like to know if our ecus can tolerate even this low amount of boost without a tune? this car will almost never be tracked and honestly will only be boosted for shits and gigs. If it matters, i only use 93 octane, and i live in the very cold upstate Ny.

No. And it is a waste of time and money invested to only put "2.17psi". You will need to re-tune the ecu. Sure it may be "close" in the AFR tables but it is not worth the effort for the chance of a lean spot and advanced timing issues.

God forbid you are running an internal wastegate and get boost creep to 3-4psi in which you will have a major tuning issue.

If that's all you're looking for, why not go for the electric supercharger?

No turbocharger is happy at that boost level either.

Ok thanks. The 2 psi is temporary of course. Up here there aren't many tuners and even less dynos so I was hoping I could at least get things installed and drive it to a tuner and bump it to 4-5psi.

You can turbo charge a car and never go into boost. Just cruise on it, never WOT, light partial throttle.

The issue you might encounter is the added run length of intake piping/ change in MAF piping will be an issue idling the car because you will have no tune. The shop you plan on tuning with should be able to send you an e-tune for the turbo and then dial it in live.