To make my car sound nicer... what's the hose connected to my bov pointing downward? The new one I bought doesn't have a spot for this hose?

 

The hose recirculates the air that is vented when you let off the throttle back into the intake. The one you bought probably just vents 100% to atmosphere, hence the lack of a spot to put on a hose

 

can i take the hose off and keep the old bov on?

 

No, the factory bypass valve cannot be used without the hose back to the intake. Removing it will make you car run poorly. The 100% venting BOV isn't a good idea either, but that's up to you. If you do install the BOV and it's a venting type the open intake return must be plugged, the BOV should have come with a plug for this purpose.

 

so can't i just take the hose off and plug it and leave the stock bov as is?

 

Sure you can. It won't make much difference in sound if it's not vented to atmosphere, but it might make your car run worse because plugging the hose prevents recirculation of intake air under boost, causing the turbo to take a bit longer to spool up after suddenly letting up on the throttle then getting back on it.

Lemme put it this way - if Subaru felt that the bypass valve was unnecessary (by preventing recirculation), they would have saved money on every car by leaving the thing off in the first place.

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0==WW==0
"…axles of evil…" - george w. bush

 

People who have attempted this to make the stock bypass valve a "BOV" have had to quickly put the hose back on, because it makes the car run like crap. It isn't designed to work that way.

 

Just for fun I tried it. It sounds just like a gfb bov, or a turboxs rfl. But it makes the car run super shetty. In the 24hr period that I had my hose off, my car must've died at least 5 times.

 

yea i knew that would happen, when i had my hks bov i didnt have the little block thingy for that rubber hose, had to wait a day, car ran like **** and died a few times, check engine light stays on too. depending on how much your car is modded and how much power it has a non recirculating bov might now be the best idea, it will make u slower between shifts... i just got an intake maf and filter and a catless downpipe and now i can hear the stock recirculating bov from inside the car... it sounds great kinda like the forge bov. I had my hks bov for about half a year until i got sick of it... stock bov runs much better