Bosch BOV and Lowes Check Valve
 

Been thinking long and hard about this. I had intentionally wanted to recirc and still may after this little expiriment. I know that standard BOV's will leak a little while in vaccum and that this is a big problem with MAF cars as the unmetered air won't allow the car to idle properly or sometimes at all. So, you just can't run one of these VTA without a check-valve.
I also like the stealth aspect of recirc and I know that damn whoosh is going to annoy the crap out of me after the first thousand shifts. I bought a check valve from the plumbing isle at Lowes. It advertises as 3/4" but my 1" OD BOV slips right in after a little dremeling of the barb on the BOV and filing down the threads on the inside of the Check Valve.
Now I just need a recommendation on what to seal it with. The Check Valve is PVC... and I think the BOV is too. Would standard PVC sprinkler glue work? Some sort of epoxy? Superglue? It's a real tight fit. I was very gentle with the Dremel and took off very small amounts at a time. I pushed it on so hard I almost couldn't get it off... so the glue (or whatever) is just to seal it and add a little strength.

You can see in the pics my Dremeling.

Parts stores sell a two part epoxy specifically for plastic and it works incredbily well. That said, do you really want this permanent? If the check valve fails and bov is still good, that's gonna suck.

(2nd pic) Looks like there would be room to cut it off and still attach another valve, or recirculation pipe.

Sam: Is there a sort of spring in the valve? How does it work? Maybe a pic from the front?

Thanks.

Use PVC pipe glue/cement. Small cans at Lowes or Home Depot.

the purple and orange stuff :)

Epoxy or just clamp it together with a coupler.

There's also brass 3/4" check valves made completely of metal that the guts shouldn't blow out of. Be aware that it's happened to a few members, including myself.

I figured the standard PVC purple stuff would be fine. I'll try that. If it doesn't work out, yup, I'll still have enough left to attach a hose and recirc. It advertises that it will hold 150psi... not sure if it was designed to work with bursts of pressure or how it will hold up after a few under-hood heat cycles. I'm pretty sure it's a very light spring and and a rubber O-ring in there. I can open it with my lungs fairly easy, no real force needed to get it to open. I'll try it for a few weeks and see how she goes. It was only $8. And if I totally bugger it up, another BOV is only $30.

First pic is looking at the discharge.
Second pic shows the BOV side.

what I'm talking about looks somewhat like this:
http://shijin-valve.en.alibaba.com/p...eck_Valve.html

can be had at lowes. I had the same plastic check valve and one day it dumped and then stalled out. The guts completely blew out. I upgraded to this $7 brass valve and I had no problems. Just saying...

I saw that one too. My first goal is to see if this one will work. Once I've proven that MY engine is one that doesn't mind VTA so much... then I can upgrade to brass if the plastic one ever fails. Thanks for the link.

I don't get it. You want stealth and don't want to hear the BOV. VTA on a AFM equiped car can be problematic. Even if you have the leak at idle sorted out you can still run into some awful drivablility problems.

Why do you want to VTA again?

B, how did you attach it to the bov?

Thanks. I have to buy one tomorrow. You dudes are answering my questions before I ask :bigtu:

When I ran VTA I attached the brass check valve with a piece of 1" heater hose and a couple of clamps.

Jay, I know you're not asking me, but for one it's easier. Recirculating with my setup can be done, and probably will end up being done. I'm giving it a shot this way anyhow. What the hell. See what happens, you know. Worst case I learn why, and then start working on the recirc pipe.

DOH! Thanks for the idea. :) I'm over here thinking how can I find a small coupler when any decent hose will work. It's not like an I/C connection........

Thanks, Jay

WHY? I got to talking with some buds the other day and had a change of heart with the whole TURBO thing. I guess my wang isn't that big after all... I could always use a little ego boost w/every shift. And a little advertising to the ricer types might actually be healthy for me. I can't feel better about myself if nobody knows I've got a turbo.:gay: SO, VTA for a short period of time maybe... we'll see how it goes. If I don't like it, all I need to do is drill one more hole and screw in a fitting. But, I just found out I've gotta go to Sterling Wed and Thu so the final install will be this weekend. Yup, the fruits of my labor will finally be realized. This weekend and it's in... not done, but IN!

Hmm, can anyone confirm that in the posted pics the BOV would be in backwards or not?

I mounted mine like that and the car spit it from the intake (literally) until I switched it around and then it worked.. but "looked" backward.

Let us know about the drivability with that setup.

picture is correct.

You bet!!! I can't wait to get this thing installed. It's been four months now... so PISSED I'm gonna be gone Wed/Thurs or it'd be done. New projects today, but time for new thread. This weekend is gonna be fun!!!

I also posted this pic in another thread. This is how it's going to mount... now to make the final decision. I can mount it cold or hot side.... it would make it easier later on to recirc if it was hot side... but it's more out of the way and hidden on the cold side... what to do, what to do?

Ah, hell. That coupler makes it too easy! freaking perfect.

I've done basic testing with mine on the hot side (although it's with like 3 psi) no major problems but I'm not exactly confident yet. I wouldn't call it "tested." All things being equal, I'll say hot side based on previous discussion. But, it's all a matter of keeping your options open for the recirc, if needed.

Sam...you ever get this to work...if so you need a sound clip or video of how it sounds, I just found this thread and it looks promising :)

It worked great for about a week until I had to stop driving it and start on the clutch. I will take a sound clip as soon as it's back on the road. I ordered another (brand new this time) Bosch BOV as I intend to recirc some time in the near future. As soon as the clutch is in and fully broken in by Specs recommendations (450 miles of street driving, shouldn't take more than a week), and the O2 clamp is in (sitting on the workbench), I'll be headed to the dyno. I'll dyno it VTA just so I can get some full power sound clips for everyone. After a few weeks of VTA driving, I'm sure the novelty will wear off and I'll recirc (then the current unit will be for sale for the next guy).

But for that glorious week on the stock clutch, it worked great. It seemed to work as advertised as the car idled fine. I even tested it out by putting on / taking off the vaccum line to see if anything happened. Someone will have to put 10k or 20k miles on it to establish reliability/longevity issues... some guys report early failures, but I was sure to leave enough plastic on it to be able to later attach a brass one or attach a recirc hose if it breaks.

heh, nice...how did it sound if you can actually describe it? Loud / quiet?

Medium loud... and high pitched. But you know how some BOV's sound like something... like the engineer who designed it made it sound like that on purpose... maybe he thought that was sounded cooler... but definitely to make is sound unique.
This one just sounds like a high pitched whoosh of air through a small opening.

ah, nicely written...but you can def tell its a BOV I assume since you said medium loud. and kinda sounds like a girl sneeze...chew?

Well said!

sweetness...I like the way those sound...lol. Where did you get that nifty coupler from?

Sorry to bump this. I bought Sam's old valve from him. That check valve lasted about a week. The noise had changed, and I thought the valve was failing, so I just pulled it off to remove it, and the guts of the check valve are totally gone. :gay:

try the 3/4" brass one from lowes...in the outdoor water plumbing section...should last longer.

I just took it off and replaced it with an all-metal replacement. I'm standalone so a little leakage at idle ain't no thang. :D