I just installed the wicked wheel today, I didnt notice a difference at all it seems as if I lost throttle response and will not boost as high as the stock wheel, has anybody eles put in the wicked wheel and if so what didyou notice. Any help or advise would be great thanks.

 

After installation of the Wicked Wheel I actually noticed a faster spool up of the turbo and slightly better throttle response. However, I installed a boost gauge just before installing the Wicked Wheel so the spool up was easier to observe.

Some thoughts: Did you remove the turbo to install the Wicked Wheel? I remember what a PITA mine was to install and how challenging it was to verify that the turbo pedestal dowels lined up correctly. Not sure if the downpipe would line up if the turbo is misaligned but that may be a possibility.

If you installed the wheel with the turbo still on the vehicle a turbine vane or two may have gotten bent. Believe me it is easier than you think I know cause it happened to me and now I have a turbo with bent turbine vanes sitting in my garage

There are a number of things that could cause these symptoms and I am sure others will chime in. Good Luck

 

Yea that's the thing with the wicked wheel - you are taking apart so much stuff - I'd double check and make sure that everything is put back together tight. The whicked wheel really only has one purpose - to get rid of turbo surge that modded PSD's are notorious for. I hear all kinds of other performance talk about it - but it just isn't so. When I put my WW on - that's exactly what it did for me - got rid of the horrible surge I had - not anything else. The turbo is louder with a new whine to it - but my boost gauge acted just the same as it had with the stock wheel, though with the lounder/new turbo sound it seems like it is spooling up a little faster because you can hear it.

BUT - you should not have any drop in performance with just the WW either. I would say that it almost has to be something install related, or something else with your truck that just happened to show up at the same time as your install.

 

good point im going to go back through everything and make sure it is all tight and i have no leaks. Thanks again for the info.

 

Like CAT_man said, the purpose of the WW is to rid modified vehicles of turbo surge. It is able to do this because it is less efficient than the stock wheel i.e. it's spinning slower than the stocker at a given rpm. Installing the WW on an otherwise stock truck has to degrade the vehicles performance, there's no way around it. Plug a nice hot chip in along with the wheel and you'll be G to G.

 

Not to be ignorant Cookie - but how is the WW "spinning slower" than the stock wheel - when you are just messing with the intake side of the turbo?? I know the blade design is different, but..... Maybe I'm taking your wording the wrong way or something. I was unaware that the WW is less efficient and that's how it gets rid of surge - that sucks!

 

Sorry. That was not worded correctly. I think a whole lot faster than I type....get's me in trouble some times.

What I should have typed was the WW moves less air at a given rpm than the stock wheel does, which is a good thing if you have the fuel to make it surge, but if you don't have the fuel your performance will drop off.

Changes to the intake side can change the speed of the turbo....or, the time it takes to get on speed anyways. People claim that the WW spools up faster than the stocker, I believe this is probably because the less efficient wheel also offers less resistance, which makes it easier for the exhaust wheel to turn it.

 

Huh - well the learning just keeps on coming. I was under the impression that Ford went the the current wheel (the one that we are replacing with the WW) to cut down on the noise of the turbo, and that IT was actually less efficient than the previous design (which are pretty much like a WW if I'm not mistaken), and that's what made the surge.

SO - I'm not trying to be dumb - how did I not see any difference at all in my Boost gauge when I put my WW in?? Just because of everything I have done to my truck?? If I'm understanding you right - basically I am just pushing enough fuel to overcome the in-efficientcy (sp?) of the WW??

 

Maybe efficency is the wrong term too. Perhaps it's just better to say the different wheels have different flow characteristics. The net effect of replacing the wheel is similar to regearing the rear end, or changing the pitch of a boat's propeller.

That's how it works in my mind When I put my WW in I was only running a Superchip 80. I lost about 2 lbs. of peak boost, but I achieved it quicker and without the surge. When I upgraded to the big chip the lost boost returned, but I could also make it surge a little...even with the wheel.

I wish I was a superbrain engineer instead of a lowly mechanic, but there is a simple test you can perform on your truck that is very helpful in understanding the relationship between the drive pressure and the intake flow. Remove the filter from your intake and block increasingly larger sections of the intake tube. You'll find that the more of the intake you block off, the faster the turbo will spool but with lower peak boost. A similar effect can be obtained with a household box fan and a piece of cardboard....cover a section of the backside of the fan, and it speeds up but blows less. That's about how I determined the WW was less efficient, but like I said, maybe efficiency is the wrong word.

 

cookie,

I am not meaning to be dense either but here are my observations of the WW. In fairness to the disscussion above I must confess that I got my Diablo Predator and WW at the same time therefore that probably accounts for what I perceived as a quicker spool up and better throttle response. I never tested the WW vs stock wheel without a program. SOOO:

My observations of the WW, I thought the design of the WW with staggered vanes and a slightly different pitch would make the exhaust side "see" a smaller compressor wheel but yet still move the same volume of air. Maybe not the same max boost PSI due to design.

I agree that the purpose of the WW was to get rid of the compressor surge and to that end it is very effective but I am having a hard time believing it is moving less air. Simply put the architecture of the WW does not bear this out. In essence the WW should conform to the shroud better and therefore move at least the same amount of air. Of course I may be over simplifying this so feel free to correct me.

 

Hey - thanks for the info Cookie - food for thought...



Come hang out with me some day - then you WILL feel like a superbrain!!!

You da man Cookie!

 

Jeez!! Ya' skip logging on for one night and your conversation gets pushed back to page three....Gotta love how how the popularity of this site just keeps growing.

Mike. I think I figured out where I caused all the confusion. In my first post I should have made the comparison of RPM verses drive pressure. You are absolutely correct that the hot side "see's" a smaller compressor wheel. This is because it is smaller, the WW has less surface than the stock wheel, soooooo when an equivilent amount of drive pressure is applied, the WW is spinning faster than the stocker was, so it is moving roughly the same amount of air as the stock wheel at a higher (turbo, not engine) rpm and <generally> lower pressure.

CAT...man I'd love to....there are so many more enthusiasts out towards the coasts then there seems to be in the middle. Lots of my local PSD buddies like to hang out and talk shop, but so very few of them share my fondness for the hot rod stuff. I think they just hang with me because I do all the maintenance. OK pity party's over

 

Thanks...I think I understand now