Boost Leaks ?
 

ok, so in my never ending battle to try to get more than 30psi it must be boost leaks! I have this cover that goes over the inlet side of the turbo and you pressurize it then check for leaks. Seems like each time I get them thigtened up to stop leaking there must still be some somewhere. The elbow that comes off the turbo, seems to always be an issue so I got some gasket/sealent stuff and made a little bead around the crappy rubber o-ring and clamped it down. So my question is can I just put some around every joint? And I mean jet a little, not so much it's gonna come out and sling through the intake. Any other spots that mght be klling me?

Boots, intake horn gaskets, intercooler, where the compressor housing bolts to the turbo.
I believe you mentioned that you had a leak test done last year?

not a real test just with my pressure thing. Is there any harm in putting too much pressure on it without the truck running?

Do it in 3 stages-20lbs, 30lbs, then 40lbs(max)

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How hard do you have do work the engine to get to the 30lbs? Really stand on the throttle or normal driving?

One of the most common boost leaks is the flange where the new turbo mounts to the exhaust manifold. The studs and bolts that mount the turbo are critical lengths. If you don't get them just about exact you can develop a leak there and not be able to detect it but it will effect your drive pressure to the point where you don't have enough exhaust pressure to spin the turbine wheel to create max boost. That's the first place I would check. Second place would be the hoses and their connections. If you can pressurize the system with compressed air you should be able to take a household spray bottle with a dishsoap/water mix and squirt down all of the connections to see where you have a leak.

I noticed that the brass elbow fitting coming from the turbo that the wastegate hose connects to has a little pin hole in it. Is this normal? That is where most if my air noise was coming from. I got a plug for the hole to close it off where I could hear any other places. You think it would be ok fir me to drive a time or two with that wastegate hole plug in to see if there us a difference?

As long as you got a gauge, you'll be fine. Now be careful that you don't let er go past 40lbs.

By doing that you turned off your wastegate, be very, very careful it will build boost very easily without a wastegate, ask me how I know. :argh:

If its like the boost elbow I got for my truck, by plugging the hole you made the wastegate fully functioning again. My ajustable one has that hole to bleed off air goin to the waste gate diaphram to make it open slower. It also has an allen head screw in it to limit the the air goin to the wastegate as well. :pca1:

I got on it a little and it will still only hit 30psi. if I pressirize the system, do yall know if it holds the same pressure or if it will slowly bleed off? Right now mine bleeds about 1psi a second which seem fast but I can still hear a slight hiss somewhere around the turbo itself. Damn this thing is killing. If I can get some money before too long i think i gonna throw the stocker back on and see what happens... sucks because to put it back on i gotta rework the downpipe connection.