AVO Turbo Kit issues in 2018

[brianzlive]

I just want to share my experience with an AVO turbo kit and AVO Turboworld as a company.

I purchased a V2 AVO turbo kit in October of 2017 and due to delays in some custom supporting mods the install wasn't 100% competed until February. Immediately during install I started to run into fitment issues among other things.
The metal charge pipe leading from the turbo towards the driver side headlight has a mount point pre-welded on that is meant to bolt onto a factory airbox mount location. No matter how much adjustment I gave it if it was bolted to this point it would rest on my A/C compressor. Not a big deal, but a minor annoyance nonetheless. I simply unbolted it and let is suspend from the silicone charge pipes. The second issue I ran into was the silicone charge piping and the silicone intake pipe. Every single pipe had to be trimmed. The turbo to intercooler pipe I had to remove an entire 4 inches from to fit. The silicone intake pipe I had to remove an inch from to prevent it from pushing the airbox away from its mount location.

I want to make an important note here before you continue reading the paragraph below. In addition to the ceramic coating that AVO uses I put DEI header wrap on my turbo manifold. The primary reason of this was to reduce engine bay temperatures even further and help with spool. This could very well have factored into my issue, but I can't say for 100% or not. I also want to note that my tune was done by James Martin at HRI tuning and everything tune wise looked great, so I was not running excessively lean or anything like that which could have also factored in.

Unfortunately immediately after completing the install during first start up I noticed an exhaust leak. I checked all the hardware and re-torqued everything with a torque wrench. That didn't fix the issue. I then took it for a drive in an attempt to heat cycle the manifold. After this I torqued the hardware again to no avail. I then removed the manifold and machined the flanges flat. I used copper gasket spray and Grimmspeed manifold gaskets with JDL lock nuts and washers. First start up everything is good and quiet. After the first heat cycle the driver side manifold flange warped again and a exhaust leak developed. I attempted to re-torque it after another heat cycle and this did not help at all and then the downpipe, (which comes pre-attached to the turbo and pre-tightened), also developed a massive about 1 inch in size exhaust leak at the bottom of where it bolts to the turbo. At this point I began to become fed up. With the amount of metal that was machined off the manifold I am now at a point where I cannot machine it a second time due to that bringing the turbo too close to my block. I also want to bring up that the turbo support bracket was machined in line with the flanges as recommended by AVO. I also want to make note that the ceramic coating began flaking off the downpipe after the first heat cycle.

Because of what happened with the turbo manifold my thought process is as follows. 1. If I buy a new manifold from AVO I could very well be in the exact same situation a second time putting my car down for an even longer period of time. 2. Something is seriously wrong with the materials or material thickness chosen if both the manifold and downpipe cannot handle the heat. 3. Because I want to drive and enjoy my car and not play put the manifold off and on again 10 times, I decided to purchase a JDL V2.1 kit instead which I am currently waiting for.

The other thing I want to address is AVO as a company. I have received a warranty form from AVO and am about to go through the process after I remove the manifold again for photos for them. I will update this post with the results of this process. I am going to say right now I don't expect to get a replacement manifold after witnessing other peoples experiences with AVO. I also expect them to tell me the headerwrap voids the warranty and I outside of the 3 month warranty term.

My impressions of the kit as a whole. It is a good concept and idea, but for the amount of money your paying there are far better and higher quality options and honestly you should get a modern turbo for the price you pay. Not everyone has the issues I am having so I can't completely write this kit off for everyone, but for $5000 do you really want to take a chance? Also the 3 month warranty speaks volumes for what the company thinks of their own product.
Just my experience and opinion.

[brianzlive]

Reserved for Photos

[spdbydesignchris]

I honestly didn't realize they were still in business, so glad to hear they are still kicking.

Hope you get your issues resolved, these cars so much fun to drive with forced induction!

Good luck

[brianzlive]

Originally Posted by spdbydesignchris

I honestly didn't realize they were still in business, so glad to hear they are still kicking.

Hope you get your issues resolved, these cars so much fun to drive with forced induction!

Good luck

Thanks. I agree, even though I was having problems the driving I did while data-logging was still extremely fun. Nothing more fun then when that 8 psi hit.

[Grady]

Well that sucks!

I will have to say I am on the other side luckily. AVO kit installed on a 2017 yellow BRZ great fitment and operation. Header and downpipe double wrapped, turbo blanket.

[toast]

Originally Posted by spdbydesignchris

I honestly didn't realize they were still in business, so glad to hear they are still kicking.

Hope you get your issues resolved, these cars so much fun to drive with forced induction!

Good luck

This is an awesome quote. AVO Turboworld has been around since the eighties at least and actually engineers their own products instead of selling copies of other people's engineering.


For the BRZ AVO kit, every time I've read anything about people having problems with the manifold sealing it was done in their own garage. Never once read about someone having a problem with a kit installed by Moto East or someone at their level. I think if you are going to pursue this kit the only thing to do is have it installed by the shop that sells it to you. Then any leaks or warpage are all on them.

[mrg666]

My impression is that you have just failed to install the kit and complaining here. This is one of the oldest turbo kits around. Those should be standard pipes that go with all kits. Did you just cut those pipes and seriously wrapped a ceramic coated header? And now asking for warranty? Why didn't you call them first before modifying the kit?

And, one of the cheapest copy-cats (SPD) here trying some cheap shots on AVO. This thread sucks!

Originally Posted by brianzlive

I just want to share my experience with an AVO turbo kit and AVO Turboworld as a company.

I purchased a V2 AVO turbo kit in October of 2017 and due to delays in some custom supporting mods the install wasn't 100% competed until February. Immediately during install I started to run into fitment issues among other things.
The metal charge pipe leading from the turbo towards the driver side headlight has a mount point pre-welded on that is meant to bolt onto a factory airbox mount location. No matter how much adjustment I gave it if it was bolted to this point it would rest on my A/C compressor. Not a big deal, but a minor annoyance nonetheless. I simply unbolted it and let is suspend from the silicone charge pipes. The second issue I ran into was the silicone charge piping and the silicone intake pipe. Every single pipe had to be trimmed. The turbo to intercooler pipe I had to remove an entire 4 inches from to fit. The silicone intake pipe I had to remove an inch from to prevent it from pushing the airbox away from its mount location.

I want to make an important note here before you continue reading the paragraph below. In addition to the ceramic coating that AVO uses I put DEI header wrap on my turbo manifold. The primary reason of this was to reduce engine bay temperatures even further and help with spool. This could very well have factored into my issue, but I can't say for 100% or not. I also want to note that my tune was done by James Martin at HRI tuning and everything tune wise looked great, so I was not running excessively lean or anything like that which could have also factored in.

Unfortunately immediately after completing the install during first start up I noticed an exhaust leak. I checked all the hardware and re-torqued everything with a torque wrench. That didn't fix the issue. I then took it for a drive in an attempt to heat cycle the manifold. After this I torqued the hardware again to no avail. I then removed the manifold and machined the flanges flat. I used copper gasket spray and Grimmspeed manifold gaskets with JDL lock nuts and washers. First start up everything is good and quiet. After the first heat cycle the driver side manifold flange warped again and a exhaust leak developed. I attempted to re-torque it after another heat cycle and this did not help at all and then the downpipe, (which comes pre-attached to the turbo and pre-tightened), also developed a massive about 1 inch in size exhaust leak at the bottom of where it bolts to the turbo. At this point I began to become fed up. With the amount of metal that was machined off the manifold I am now at a point where I cannot machine it a second time due to that bringing the turbo too close to my block. I also want to bring up that the turbo support bracket was machined in line with the flanges as recommended by AVO. I also want to make note that the ceramic coating began flaking off the downpipe after the first heat cycle.

Because of what happened with the turbo manifold my thought process is as follows. 1. If I buy a new manifold from AVO I could very well be in the exact same situation a second time putting my car down for an even longer period of time. 2. Something is seriously wrong with the materials or material thickness chosen if both the manifold and downpipe cannot handle the heat. 3. Because I want to drive and enjoy my car and not play put the manifold off and on again 10 times, I decided to purchase a JDL V2.1 kit instead which I am currently waiting for.

The other thing I want to address is AVO as a company. I have received a warranty form from AVO and am about to go through the process after I remove the manifold again for photos for them. I will update this post with the results of this process. I am going to say right now I don't expect to get a replacement manifold after witnessing other peoples experiences with AVO. I also expect them to tell me the headerwrap voids the warranty and I outside of the 3 month warranty term.

My impressions of the kit as a whole. It is a good concept and idea, but for the amount of money your paying there are far better and higher quality options and honestly you should get a modern turbo for the price you pay. Not everyone has the issues I am having so I can't completely write this kit off for everyone, but for $5000 do you really want to take a chance? Also the 3 month warranty speaks volumes for what the company thinks of their own product.
Just my experience and opinion.

[wbradley]

AVO makes probably the most OEM looking kit in the market.

My only input here is that if you wrapped the headers which are also heat coated, those things are retaining the maximum amount of heat. Sure it helps the engine bay and IATs but there will be significant thermal expansion and contraction. The pipes from the turbo exhaust side can become red hot as well as headers.

So, that probably explains loosening bolts.

I have a pretty hot engine bay while stationary but decided not to wrap my headers after reading of resulting issues with header failures.

As long as my thermostat fans and wiring harness don't start to melt I'm good. Won't idle the engine in the summer at the coffee shop parking lot.

Cause known, fix is fairly straightforward. I'd remove the wrap.

[Coheed]

That's too bad. I have seen similar issues with mass-production kits as well. Warped flanges and such. Hopefully you get it resolved.