AVO turbo kit for BRZ - initial build thread

[Whatabouteggs]

Originally Posted by AVOturboworld

We saw the issues on stock cars w/stock tune - those pictures are from a stock engine we took apart to find what was going on.

Could this be responsible for the periodic drops or surges at idle I experience after coming to a stop, or is this normal for FA20s?

[AVOturboworld]

From my experience over a great variety of BRZ's and FR-S's, there is a bit of dip when coming to a stop, and that is relatively normal. If it's enough to cause the car to stall, then it's an issue that needs to be looked at. If the air conditioning is on, it'll do it when it cycles on and off.

[DD_FT86]

New to the forum and have been looking for a reasonable Daily Driver FI upgrade. This turbo kit is peaking my interest so I have a few questions:
1) Does the stock crash beam remain intact?
2) For the Stage 1 kit, would upgrading to the billet turbo be worth it? What are the advantages?
3) Any good installers/tuners in South Florida that have previously installed these kits on the FR-S/BRZ?
4) As a daily driver, MPG is still important. Do you have any figures on that?

Thank you!

[King Tut]

Originally Posted by DD_FT86

New to the forum and have been looking for a reasonable Daily Driver FI upgrade. This turbo kit is peaking my interest so I have a few questions:
1) Does the stock crash beam remain intact?
2) For the Stage 1 kit, would upgrading to the billet turbo be worth it? What are the advantages?
3) Any good installers/tuners in South Florida that have previously installed these kits on the FR-S/BRZ?
4) As a daily driver, MPG is still important. Do you have any figures on that?

Thank you!

1. Yes
2. Worth it is a relative question. They wouldn't offer it if it wasn't worth it to someone.
3. @Sportsguy83
4. All turbo kits will get similar MPG it will come down to your tune and how you drive the car. Expect a 10% loss in MPG.

You're welcome!

[DD_FT86]

Thank you. One unanswered question: What advantage does the billet turbo have over the non-billet?

[AJPG]

Originally Posted by Whatabouteggs

Could this be responsible for the periodic drops or surges at idle I experience after coming to a stop, or is this normal for FA20s?

Mine use to do the erratic idle stoke, went FI and it continue, start using race gas as DD and improve a little, change TUNER a couple of times and presto it run like you may expect from a new car with the latest in technology.
I'm not a certify master tuner but been tuning my cars since 1994, is fun, time consuming, at times frustaiting... And will need a secondary car.

[AJPG]

Power! higher boost capability, can run higher boost pressures more reliably simply because they are less susceptible to fatigue. The same compressor (billet vs cast) at the same boost almost the same CFM.

[AVOturboworld]

Originally Posted by AJPG

Mine use to do the erratic idle stoke, went FI and it continue, start using race gas as DD and improve a little, change TUNER a couple of times and presto it run like you may expect from a new car with the latest in technology.

The thing to keep in mind here is that Subaru/Toyota has been updating the ROM's of the cars, from 700 to A00, then A01, then B00 and B01. It's likely that you were experiencing the idle issue because of the ROM revision in your car was an earlier one, and the last tunes were updated to the latest ROM revision by the tuner.

Ecutek does it's best to keep up with updates from the manufacturer for this reason, often the manufacturer is making changes to the ROM files to fix issues that were on the early release models.

[AVOturboworld]

Originally Posted by DD_FT86

Thank you. One unanswered question: What advantage does the billet turbo have over the non-billet?

The main advantage of the billet turbo will be seen at higher boost levels. It's best to plan any FI build around your power goals. If you are planning to stay on pump gas (91-93 octane), then it is fairly easy to plan it out. On pump gas you'll max out at 300-320whp, which is easily attained with the standard turbo setup with upgrades to surrounding components (exhaust, fueling). So no overriding reason to upgrade to a billet turbocharger.

However, if you are planning on an e85 build and are looking to do 400+whp, then the billet turbocharger would be good to start with. It would probably be the least of your costs given all the supporting mods and upgrades you'll also need.

[AJPG]

Originally Posted by AVOturboworld

The thing to keep in mind here is that Subaru/Toyota has been updating the ROM's of the cars, from 700 to A00, then A01, then B00 and B01. It's likely that you were experiencing the idle issue because of the ROM revision in your car was an earlier one, and the last tunes were updated to the latest ROM revision by the tuner.

Ecutek does it's best to keep up with updates from the manufacturer for this reason, often the manufacturer is making changes to the ROM files to fix issues that were on the early release models.

Completely agree!
Do some back and fwd with the different tunes (from different tuners) and there is almost the same idle with each one, rpms, AFR, ac on and off, but only with the more recent tunes.

[s2d4]

Originally Posted by AJPG

]change TUNER a couple of times and presto it run like you may expect from a new car with the latest in technology.
I'm not a certify master tuner but been tuning my cars since 1994.

If so, why not tune your own car?

[AJPG]

Originally Posted by s2d4

If so, why not tune your own car?

From 1994 to 2010 I was a student so have plenty of time and little or no money, now I do have work but almost no time plus I got married.


Changing part is easy ( except for the fuel pump ) but to make an good tune take a lot of time, ann outstanding tune even more time, this platform have tuners to chose so why not? If we talk about the 22re or the 4G63T with piggyback then my friend, there is no way some one would email some tune...

[SkAsphalt]

Originally Posted by protpibe

Yeah I'm thinking avo gaskets may be part of the fix, but also if the header is already warped, I'm thinking I will need a new header. Not sure what effect the AVO header studs would have, but they now offer those on their website too.

The leak is pretty clear once you stick your head under the car


That was about 3 weeks ago I think, about a week after I had the OEM gaskets installed. I'm sure it's much worse now.

edit: Oh, and I have about 4,000km on the kit now.

No need to post the same pictures, but mine appears to be leaking about the same if not a little less... not affecting anything it seems, but certainly a bit of a leak. I thought it was my downpipe matting up to my SRT headerback that was leaking, but i see the black off of the headers. I will drop it all sometime soon and cut some custom gaskets - its a bit old fashion, but it worked in my dad's turbo 350 small block and that thing was pushing 2-3 times my boost.


Note for clarity Still loving this kit. Thinking of picking up a EBC and delicious tuning SD maps

[onzippy]

Originally Posted by SkAsphalt

No need to post the same pictures, but mine appears to be leaking about the same if not a little less... not affecting anything it seems, but certainly a bit of a leak. I thought it was my downpipe matting up to my SRT headerback that was leaking, but i see the black off of the headers. I will drop it all sometime soon and cut some custom gaskets - its a bit old fashion, but it worked in my dad's turbo 350 small block and that thing was pushing 2-3 times my boost.


Note for clarity Still loving this kit. Thinking of picking up a EBC and delicious tuning SD maps

Same boat here. Woe is me...
2k miles since I last looked under the car (3k total AVO miles) and today, while installing my shiny new perrin over pipe, I see little soot marks on both heads... and a gnarly coolant leak from a banjo bolt. I thought was the lucky one.

Just going to let it ride for a while. Can't hear it yet.

(I'll post the same pictures again... )