Forge bypass valve. Install & Review.

[CL Wong]

The bpv on my car had approximately 50k - 60k miles on
it and my car has been feeling more sluggish than I
remember it when I first got the car 3 years ago.

Looks like the bosch BPVs have 2 failure modes.
1- they tear
2- they gradually wear out.

My BPV fell into category 2. At max boost, my analog
boost gauge has been fluttering between 15-20 psi and
acceleration has been somewhat lazy feeling.

Stratmosphere.com appears to be the only importer of
the forge BPV.  It's an all alumunium device
approximately the same size as the Bosch unit offered
in 2 sizes and 2 finishes (our cars need the smaller
007p).  Price as listed on the stratmosphere site is
$140 but a recent s-car group purchase got the price
down to $110 (I managed to get this price even though
the group buy was November 2001).

Installation of the forge BPV is straight forward
except for the vacuum nipple.  Because the nipple is
machined into the top of the BPV it's a bit large for
the diameter of vacuum hose our cars use.  I ended up
locating a small section of thick rubber vacuum hose
and using a 90 degree tee to connect it.  The forge
comes with 3 hose clamps and once everything is back
together again you don't even notice the polished
aluminum valve.

My car is much livelier now.  Acceleration is much
improved due to drastically decreased turbo lag
between shifts or when I simply stamp my foot on the
gas.  A new sense of urgency and peppiness feels
great.

This is not an increased sensitivity due to thinner
wallet syndrome.... I don't carry my wallet back
there! ;)

While the forge is a great upgrade from the $30-$40
bosch unit, you don't need to rush out to replace
yours. Just wait for it to go bad first.

My car now makes an interesting "squish"  sound as the
pressurized air is diverted when I change gears during
hard acceleration, it's neither annoying nor cool
sounding.

My decision to use an upgraded BPV is due to Scott
Mockry's note that chipped cars go through BPVs faster
and to the large number of failures on new generation
Audis that use the same valve.

Hope that helps.

Chi



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