Jobodizo
Well-Known Member
- Thread starter
- #1
Morning gents! Been a while since I posted on the forum.
I did a whole bunch of searching here and elsewhere while I was considering the SmoothBoost for my eForce '15 and came up fairly empty. I thought I'd just post some thoughts and feedback for anybody who was in the same boat as me.
Believe it or not, I started out by searching for this exact type of product multiple years ago. I'm an engineer by trade, and figured there had to be a more controllable way to make a boost bypass valve than relying on manifold vacuum. As much as I pitched the idea to my EE counterparts, I couldn't get anybody to help me work on it.
I'm better off than most because my car is a manual, but there were still situations where I'd be turning right on red into traffic and hit that sweet spot where I'd oscillate in and out of boost, making me look like a teenager learning how to drive stick. I've probably tried 10 different orifices in the bypass hose to get the transition dialed in, but couldn't quite get it where I wanted it. I also noticed after getting my car back from tuning that it felt flatter out of boost than before supercharging, almost like the AC was on all the time. Honestly, I was getting to the point where I was looking at trading my car to get back into NA or turbo/centri because that's more usable most of the time in a daily driver.
Finally, SmoothBoost appeared on the scene. The only problem is that the $1k buy-in is a hard pill to swallow. When they finally transitioned into doing Mustang plug-and-play, I said the hell with it and bought it.
I can't say enough good things about drivability now that it's installed. I'd say the servo starts moving at about 20% throttle and reaches full close at about 80% throttle. That controlled progression makes for a fantastic driving experience, offering partial closure during those daily drive moments. The car no longer feels dead out of boost, and feels almost linear like a NA car.
Not gonna lie, install wasn't the easiest. The wiring itself is fairly straight forward. I de-pinned the engine bay harness and ran it through the passenger fender grommet that I and everybody else use to run the amp power wire. If you opt for the plug and play harness, you simply connect the throttle tie-in at the accelerator pedal like it's a factory connection. I mounted the control unit out of sight on the passenger side behind the radio stack, and ran a 5A fuse tap for 12V and grounded with a bolt at the factory fuse box. I also opted for the boost control knob and mounted it in the glovebox. In retrospect that was silly, and there are wiring combinations to ground on the harness where you can disable movement if you're in snowy conditions with a simple toggle switch.
The difficulty was actually in attaching the servo motor itself. I'm not sure how Roush, Whipple etc. mount the Evap valve, but on the e-force it's right underneath the vacuum cannister mount. There's no physical way to mount the servo as shipped (with an e-force specific bracket) where the arm isn't at a ridiculous angle that I didn't feel comfortable with or the servo interferes with the top of the valve. I ended up using 1/2" stainless spacers and extended bolts to mount the servo higher, which in turn required me to adjust the throw of the arm while my wife floored the pedal. If you get one, do yourself a favor and remove the cover plate before you mount the servo. The arm throw adjustment is literally loosening a bolt and extending the lever arm position, but removing the cover is a size 0 Phillips, and it's hard to get to when mounted.
Hope this helps somebody in their search. I'll throw some pictures of the install below so that anybody who wants can see the setup.
I did a whole bunch of searching here and elsewhere while I was considering the SmoothBoost for my eForce '15 and came up fairly empty. I thought I'd just post some thoughts and feedback for anybody who was in the same boat as me.
Believe it or not, I started out by searching for this exact type of product multiple years ago. I'm an engineer by trade, and figured there had to be a more controllable way to make a boost bypass valve than relying on manifold vacuum. As much as I pitched the idea to my EE counterparts, I couldn't get anybody to help me work on it.
I'm better off than most because my car is a manual, but there were still situations where I'd be turning right on red into traffic and hit that sweet spot where I'd oscillate in and out of boost, making me look like a teenager learning how to drive stick. I've probably tried 10 different orifices in the bypass hose to get the transition dialed in, but couldn't quite get it where I wanted it. I also noticed after getting my car back from tuning that it felt flatter out of boost than before supercharging, almost like the AC was on all the time. Honestly, I was getting to the point where I was looking at trading my car to get back into NA or turbo/centri because that's more usable most of the time in a daily driver.
Finally, SmoothBoost appeared on the scene. The only problem is that the $1k buy-in is a hard pill to swallow. When they finally transitioned into doing Mustang plug-and-play, I said the hell with it and bought it.
I can't say enough good things about drivability now that it's installed. I'd say the servo starts moving at about 20% throttle and reaches full close at about 80% throttle. That controlled progression makes for a fantastic driving experience, offering partial closure during those daily drive moments. The car no longer feels dead out of boost, and feels almost linear like a NA car.
Not gonna lie, install wasn't the easiest. The wiring itself is fairly straight forward. I de-pinned the engine bay harness and ran it through the passenger fender grommet that I and everybody else use to run the amp power wire. If you opt for the plug and play harness, you simply connect the throttle tie-in at the accelerator pedal like it's a factory connection. I mounted the control unit out of sight on the passenger side behind the radio stack, and ran a 5A fuse tap for 12V and grounded with a bolt at the factory fuse box. I also opted for the boost control knob and mounted it in the glovebox. In retrospect that was silly, and there are wiring combinations to ground on the harness where you can disable movement if you're in snowy conditions with a simple toggle switch.
The difficulty was actually in attaching the servo motor itself. I'm not sure how Roush, Whipple etc. mount the Evap valve, but on the e-force it's right underneath the vacuum cannister mount. There's no physical way to mount the servo as shipped (with an e-force specific bracket) where the arm isn't at a ridiculous angle that I didn't feel comfortable with or the servo interferes with the top of the valve. I ended up using 1/2" stainless spacers and extended bolts to mount the servo higher, which in turn required me to adjust the throw of the arm while my wife floored the pedal. If you get one, do yourself a favor and remove the cover plate before you mount the servo. The arm throw adjustment is literally loosening a bolt and extending the lever arm position, but removing the cover is a size 0 Phillips, and it's hard to get to when mounted.
Hope this helps somebody in their search. I'll throw some pictures of the install below so that anybody who wants can see the setup.
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