From NA to Turbo for less than $2500 (all bolt on)
 

Hello everyone.
This post documents my experience trying to convert a 2013 BRZ to FI with less than $2500 USD.

Allow me to preface this post with a bit of a disclaimer;
the idea of this build was not to create power equal to a SBD500x kit or other kits.
The idea of the build was to visualize the quality, and fitment differences of a kit, and other kits like it, in order to come to a conclusion on over all value and difficulty of installation.
I have installed SBD500x kits before, and thought it would make an interesting experiment to compare a kit at almost half its cost ($1850 at the time of writing this post) in order to get a real world comparison of different products, while seeing exactly how cheaply you can turbocharge these cars using nothing but bolt on parts.
The car in this post has done over 250k kilometers. If you choose to use this kit, please DO NOT fit this to a good condition engine.

Now lets get on with the show.

We started our build off with this kit (otherwise known as the Unicorn Power LTD kit, or the TDS Performance kit). judging by the photographs on the website, we can all agree this looks rather janky, however we threw caution to the wind and put our faith in a Chinese seller based in Melbourne Australia and went ahead with our order.
having this on its way, we went ahead and ordered quality Mamba gaskets, reflective tape, exhaust wrap, turbo blanket, hose clamps, omni map sensor, boost, oil temp, oil pressure and wideband sensors, and ordered a custom tune from Wayne's Roms. Now all that was left to do was to wait.

5 days later the kit arrived, very well packaged, with one box full of headers, piping, turbo, BOV etc, and the other box solely for the IC.

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First impressions were much better than what we expected. welds were clean, header was strong, turbo was billet, with dual ball bearings and its exhaust side had balance lines. things were looking good. it was obvious where some corners were cut to save time however. with some areas not fully ground back. all exhaust components were inspected with a bore scope to check for loose slag, and bad welds. all looked clean and good quality.

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All other components arrived in the following days and we were all set for a weekend install.

we started off with the trivial things. removing the sump and getting a plug welded in, removing the stock header, overpipe etc. We also took the liberty of replacing the fan belt prior to doing the install.

header fitments was a bit of a pain. the header flanges did not perfectly line up with the exhaust ports on the block. it took some pushing and wiggling to get it perfectly into position, but once it was it was very solid.

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Next we fitted the turbo, (kit also came with a bracket, though not fitted here due to not being able to source the extended pulley bolts required, and will be fitted next week) oil line T piece, and water lines.

The T piece provided with the kit fitted poorly and was clearly a cheap piece. a quick run to supercheap auto for a brass adapter quickly solved this issue.

Water line fittings were also of the wrong size, however, another trip to Enzed provided us with a quick and easy solution with the correct fittings.

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(lines were shortened following this picture)

We then fitted the dump pipe, as well as the sensor pipe and overpipe.
Overpipe was a pain, since on RHD cars, the engine needs to be lifted to get the old pipe out and the new pipe in, however this was relatively simple to do with the correct tools.

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Next up was the intercooler, which required the removal of the crash bar. We left the crash bar off in this case, as we will be replacing it with an after market bar in the coming weeks.

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A bracket was made up using aluminium bar and m5 and m8 bolts in order to securely fit the intercooler.
Pipe routing was very simple, just like the SBD kit, removing the hood bracket and routing the piping was a simple job. securing everything with hose clamps was easy enough, and everything else went off without a hitch.

The BOV was fitted (and consequently blocked off) and everything was securely fitted down for a test run before reflective tape is added.

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next, the tune was done, and after some calibration of the MAP sensor, we were ready to go.

https://youtu.be/JcshJ0hmHIA

The first run went great. the GT28 clone (which can be bought alone from the same seller for around $500USD) spools up a bit slower than the SBD500x turbo, and only runs a wastegate pressure of 7 pounds, however this could be easily rectified with a boost controller or properly adjusting preload.

all in all, we spent around $2400 USD. this included the kit, adapters, bolts, clamps, gauges, etc, and it took us roughly 2 or 3 hours longer to install than an SBD kit did. This mostly came down to the fit and finish of the headers, and the fitting of the overpipe and dump pipe. flanges were just that little bit off, making getting bolts in a bit of a chore.

I would like to daily drive this car for at least 6 months before giving a genuine response, however so far I can recommend this kit if you are on a tight budget, and your engine has done over 100k miles (I would not recommend this on a newer engine. please do not cut corners on a good condition engine).

However, when it comes to fit and finish, this kit is relatively good, and exceedingly great value. So far so good. What is it like to live with? we will find out in a few months.

thanks for reading, and please, before criticizing the use of a cheap turbo kit, please keep in mind this engine is likely to be scrapped in a few years anyway, possibly sooner. All feedback is welcome however.

Reserved

What's wrong with running this kit on a lower milage car? I've been eyeing this kit for a lil bit. Glad to see someone experimenting with it. Subd to see what comes of it in the next 6 months.

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Nothing, however for me at least it comes down to how hitting this hard would make you feel.
Yes, you have boosted your car, but that little bit in the back of your brain saying "hey, this is a cheap kit, are you sure you want to be full throttle right now?"
for me at least, this would subtract from the experience somewhat.

me saying that is more of a disclaimer than anything. I am in no way responsible if you follow up on my experementation and end up putting shards of impeller through your pistons.. etc, but do what you want ;)

Thanks for the response. I think the only thing I would change on kit like this is the manifold (cuz uel), the turbo, Bov and waste gate. But that always brings me back to the JDL kit lol.

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I regret not taking photos of the manifold before wrapping it, but it is quite clean.
I would have loved to go UEL, and will probably modify these headers in the future.

For us the BOV did not matter. we have to replace it with a recirc valve here in australia for it to meet compliance anyway.

Good info. Thx for posting

I like the intercooler routing on this- very short. Did you need to bend the radiator support or cut anything?

What are you using to flash the car and datalog? Their website says you need to special order the dual ball bearing turbo; how much extra was that?
Thanks for taking the time to add photos and a wrote up!

No cutting was required. Modification to the crash bar is required to some degree, same as the sbd kit. We elected to remove the foam and fit some spacers to bring the crash bar out about an inch rather than cutting it. Hopefully it passes regulation.

We used a tactrix to flash the ECU using a Rom provided by Wayne's Roms. The Rom is a pretty standard base map to my understanding, however he is also helping us remote tweak the tune.

Tactrix had the ability to log pretty much anything. So far oil temps have not gone above 105 on 34 degree day.

The turbo would have been extra, however I was able to convince the seller to provide a discount of 150 dollars, which pretty much got me the billet ball bearing upgrade for an extra 150 dollars of the marked price of the kit.

So yes, I did state in the post that it was less expensive than it was which was an oversight, keep in mind it was a completely optional upgrade which i needed not take.

Also I would like to add that the clutch slips on 4th gear full throttle pulls.
It goes without saying, clutch might be something to remember.

Thanks for taking the chance to review other kits. I'd also be interested in the 6 month update.

You can always detune a bit to drop torque until it doesn't slip!

i have to detune it anyway to pass Queensland regulations so this is likely what I will do :)

Still running fine?