Revworks turbo 10k update
 

I'm about to roll over 10k miles on the revworks kit, and i'm pretty sure they're going to be widely available within the next few months, so here's an update as to how it's been working out for me.

As many of you know i had some major tuning issues when the kit was first installed that culminated in my total loss of faith in the tuner and the decision to just do the damn thing myself. That was the best decision i've made in a long time, and now the car runs like a top. It took me a few months of fiddling to figure it all out and get everything dialed in to my liking, but now i have a solid repeatable process and can do the same for my friends relatively quickly and to great effect, so it was worth all the late nights. It's been a great opportunity to gain experience tuning cars, after many years of tuning sportbikes and other powersports-y stuff.

It turned out the problem wasn't the MAF tube, or the fueling components, or anything else. The guy was just applying a fatally flawed process, and frankly had no clue what he was doing with an 86. By all accounts he's a great tuner, but this isn't an Evo and it requires a fundamentally different process to get right. I've looked over the original BRZEdit tune that the car was run on, and it's very clear the guy just didn't take into account the fact that the car has two fuel systems. Even with 6 months of blind flailing it wouldn't have ever been right. But it is now, so with that out of the way....

The kit itself has been nearly flawless. The only issue i've ran into was a coolant line that rubbed against an idler pulley. Fixed with a zip tie, no harm done. Drivability on the gtx2867r is fantastic, spool is instant, and the around-town performance leaves very little to be desired (especially on e85). Absolutely no cooling or overheating issues, even with 100% stock cooling system (not even an oil cooler) in stop-and-go traffic during the hot florida summer. The kit required absolutely no modification whatsoever to the factory crash structure, which was important to me. Fit and finish is fantastic as Scott (their head tech) is pretty damn picky when it comes to that sort of thing, and it shows. They put a lot of time and effort into the work that they do, and they don't cut corners. That's hard to find these days unfortunately. Overall i couldn't be more impressed, and i'm extremely happy that I went the route i did having them prototype the kit on my car.

As far as negatives, there are a couple. First and foremost, the gtx2867r compressor housing doesn't have a proper bung to drill and tap for a high pressure boost source, so fitting a 3-port boost control solenoid requires using a Garrett QuickTap in the coupler attaching the compressor to the first intercooler pipe. Not a huge deal, but it's something i wish it would've had. Also, the intake doesn't have a vacuum nipple. This means that you can't run a recirculated catch can on the breather side. Again not an issue since i never recirculate anyway, and prefer to use a dual-vented catch can (which they are producing now btw). If you wanted to use one you would have to tap one in yourself.

Going forward i'm going to be testing a larger turbo, just because i can :). It'll be a gtx3076r. after tuning @Sportsguy83's KAB kit with the 3076, my fears of lag have been blown out of the water, so i'm jealous and feel the need to upgrade. Also i plan to build the engine at some point, and the extra overhead will be nice to have.

Once the kit is available i recommend that anyone in the market give it a hard look. It's a great piece of kit, and the quality is as good as anything you can get. If they're able to price it the way they want to, it'll be one hell of a deal too ;).

Great writeup!

nice, I look forward to the 3076. I don't get why more housing don't include a solid place to tap for the reference line. Ive been putting off drilling mine.

i went to pull mine off to drill and saw there wasn't a place to do it. went online and looked at others, they didn't have one either. it really baffles me. maybe because the housing is smaller on the 28's and there isn't room? i don't really know, but at least it's easy to remedy with the quicktap.

@jamesm you left out the smoking tail pipe caused by the breather

When you do upgrade to a 3076 will you do the bigger ar or go with a .63 ?

On the kit you paid for: what kind of pricing are we talking about, like JDL intro pricing or PTuning intro pricing?

@jamesm so u have ur waste gate just running to the silicone hose? i thought about that since my turbo isn't pre tapped and idk how comfortable i am with doing that even tho Toni told me it'll b fine, but was curious how good it will work at the hose

ur looking at over 5K from what i was told

that's not really related to the kit though, and would be the case even if it weren't turbocharged. what he's referring to is that my pcv valve keeps getting clogged with oil and causing smoking under deceleration. it's due to inadequate ventilation from the stock breather/pcv, and my having removed the line connecting the pcv to the manifold (which would've pulled vacuum at idle and cleared the valve). an alternative would be to keep the manifold line hooked up and run an inline check valve, which i did for a while. i lost the check valve when i removed it a while ago and haven't been able to find it to put it back on. you can't just leave the line hooked up to the pcv without a check valve because the pcv valve will leak boost into the crankcase.

the best solution (which i'll do soon) is to replace the pcv with a straight-through fitting and run both the breather and what was the pcv to a dual vented catch can. simply running the catch can without replacing the pcv with a fitting would likely cause the same issues over time.

i'll probably stick with a 0.63

i'll let them announce that when the time comes, but suffice to say it should be significantly cheaper than the equivalent full blown premium kit.

Hopefully ill haz numbers in 2 to 3 weeks :)


Sent from my IBrick

looks like i have local competition :) im soon to upgrade to a NEW MONSTER TURBO as well just havent made my mind up yet..nice job tho :respekt:!

i'll never push it as far as you do. well.. maybe ;)

@jamesm @KAB-FRS drilled my turbo. Next time down here he can do it in a minute.

did it have a bung there to do it though? mine's got nothin' lol.

@Sportsguy83, I want to say the 30's have a nice meaty boss that can be drilled. Lots of others don't. I should have added a bung when I welded on the the elbow to my housing, now I have one shot to weld one in. I could just tap the elbow but I just don't know if its enough meat to hold the fitting. It would really suck to loose that line under boost, I'm already going with braided stainless reference lines.

No bung, but @mrk1 might be completely on point about having more area to do it.

http://www.streettunedmotorsports.co...76r_turbo5.jpg

35r or no balls James

little round nub at 4:00 there

Yes, but it was tapped towards the end of the outlet. I'll get a pic tomorrow.

http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q...ps364f3ec7.jpg

Photo of mine prior to the elbow, maybe that little "L" at 9:00 maybe thick enough, I just don't know

You can always tap your hotside IC piping on the bottom so no one can see. DSM guys used to do this with methanol injection on the cold side, same concept though.

sweet maybe i could do it on the welded on elbow. i was just worried about messing up the housing where it's too thin to tap. i already ordered the quicktap so i'll try that first and go to the housing if it leaks.

Is it a vibrant elbow? I have a spare I will be trying before attempting on my housing.

Yes, 90 deg.

Good report. On your negatives list as far as ports etc are Revworks addressing this items prior to releasing final production for sales??

i have no idea. i'm sure they'd add them by request if nothing else. it's pretty specific to each setup. in either case it's a pretty simple thing to do. i didn't notice at the time or i'd have just had them add it to mine. the car had a hallman pro mbc on it before (actually it still does until my grimmspeed ebcs arrives) so i didn't need the compressor nipple until now, and the intake bit i don't need anyway because i plan to use their new dual vented catch can.

I did some testing with this turbo. The .82 reached boost onset quicker and made 30whp on the same 24psi. I didn't notice any degradation in throttle response either on an SR20.

Playing around with this turbo I found that the 6-blade non-gtx compressor sounds incredible. Like a jet engine spooling. The GTX doesn't make any noise. The T30 turbine does seem to be pretty restrictive given the size of the compressor. The GTX3576r is a better match overall, the smaller ar housings will want more boost to compensate.

I like to keep the exhaust free-flowing, it lowers backpressure, EGTs, reduces pumping losses etc. The T350 turbine in the GTX3576r is much better suited for what the GTX wheel can flow. Don't forget that improving the exhaust backpressure will also improve VE, and depending on the engine can offset the loss of transient response gained by going to a larger volute. At least, this is what my personal testing shows.

you could always weld a -3 or -4 AN fitting to the compressor housing or the cooler pipe, then run Teflon braided lines for your plumbing. That's what I've been doing with my setups for the last few years now and never have to worry about melted hoses etc ;)

thanks for the info.. appreciated. i have to contradict your statement on the gtx30r's 11-blade wheel being quiet. @Sportsguy83's definitely has the jet engine noise :). not so much as @Ironsquid's 35r, which is insane, but it's definitely there and noticeable.

i haven't really decided for sure what i'll do for the turbo. the 3576r actually sounds like a decent option as well, and more people are pushing me towards the .82 housing. decisions decisions...

what 35 is Ironsquid running? I havent seen any 35's other then fbm

full blown stage 2... gtx3582r

Hi, build in sig.

After reading the report...you say cooling isnt an issue, even in florida, where is the turbo mounted, if not the front?

It's in the front. People's cooling issues don't come from where the turbo is mounted. They come from removing both of the stock fans and replacing them with slimlines that flow much less air. This kit retains one of the oem fans, which apparently makes a world of difference.

Interesting. good to know there is still hope for "cool" front mounted kits...my jokes suck I know.

So when can we see some more detailed photos of this layout/design and some dynos? Eta to market sale?

They had an announcement thread a while back with all the build pics. A search should turn it up. Dynos were posted way back when as well, made 260whp on a mustang off the wategate (~8psi). Recent dyno showed around the same... 257 on an md-150 @8-8.5psi. Pretty much the same as any other kit with a 28r.