General consensus on turbo kit nowadays?

[erbaker67]

Just out of curiousity, is the Greddy kit not that good? Not sure if I have seen more than 1 recommendation on that kit. Just curious as I am putting together all the pieces for my install.

[TurboBRZ]

The way I look at a turbo kit is as follows - how much power will it give me compared to the investment? This is why I bought the CX-Racing turbo kit, as I can make 350 whp from a $2k investment in the kit itself.

I know wholesale and retail, know how OEM works and know that most manufacturers outsource their products to someone else to make them. For example the oil cooler kit sold by Perrin and MAP ($499 and $745) use the exact same oil filter adapter with thermostat. Typically in these instances neither company makes this part - they buy it from an OEM and then slap their markup on it (typically 40-60% or 2-2.5X what they pay for it) and sell it to you. There is no difference if I buy the adapter from Perrin, MAP or the OEM other than price, as it costs me less than half to buy the exact same part from the OEM. So whenever I can, I go direct to the OEM.

What I'm getting at is that the price of a turbo kit has very little to do with its quality. Instead people often perceive higher quality with a higher price tag, but that's not always the case. What really matters is how much power you're going to make from it. If I spend $5k and make 400WHP and you spent $10k to make the same power, who was smarter? Granted you might have bragging rights for buying a $5k turbo kit, but to me it's more of an ego thing and trying to be perceived as rich rather than smart. There is SO much markup in most of the turbo kits on the market it's not even funny. Half the time all you're paying for is the name - not more power. That's not to say their turbo won't last a few thousand miles longer (if it's a Garrett or other name brand), but those are easy to swap to down the road when a cheap turbo blows up.

[Deadpool_25]

FWIW, I have The PTuning kit and couldn't be happier. My goals were the same as yours. Initially. Any decent turbo kit is probably overkill for your goals but that's not necessarily a bad thing--room to grow. I got mine with a JDL UEL header and it sounds amazing, but if you like the sound of EL better, JDL and PTuning both have sweet ones.

But if you're really wanting 300whp max on e85 you could find cheaper alternatives. PTuning is great at making power, and you pay for that quality. If you're not going to ever use it though, it might be like buying a Ferrari and using it only to pick up the groceries.

[WHITE]

Originally Posted by TurboBRZ

The way I look at a turbo kit is as follows - how much power will it give me compared to the investment? This is why I bought the CX-Racing turbo kit, as I can make 350 whp from a $2k investment in the kit itself.

I'm just going to focus on this part, becuase when It comes to a turbo kit you should be looking at more then just power per dollar.

When your buying a turbo kit your buying more then just hp, your buying quality, how much quality in most cases will depend how much you spend....yes there are some cases this isn't true.

But when you look at kits such as full-race or jdl autodesign your looking at a high quality kit your putting your money into, a work of art to say the least.

Your also buying support, so if somethings not working or something breaks you have someone to rely on to remedy your problem. Again this isn't true in all cases, but that's were research comes in.

[raven1231]

Originally Posted by WHITE

I'm just going to focus on this part, becuase when It comes to a turbo kit you should be looking at more then just power per dollar.

When your buying a turbo kit your buying more then just hp, your buying quality, how much quality in most cases will depend how much you spend....yes there are some cases this isn't true.

But when you look at kits such as full-race or jdl autodesign your looking at a high quality kit your putting your money into, a work of art to say the least.

Your also buying support, so if somethings not working or something breaks you have someone to rely on to remedy your problem. Again this isn't true in all cases, but that's were research comes in.

As well as knowing your wastegate won't get stuck causing your engine to overboost and blowup, or that your turbo won't explode and send pieces flying into your engine.

[WHITE]

Originally Posted by raven1231

As well as knowing your wastegate won't get stuck causing your engine to overboost and blowup, or that your turbo won't explode and send pieces flying into your engine.

Hahaha exactly, I was narrowing all that down to the quality category. Didn't want to write a novel of all the variables your really buying when your buying a turbo kit.

[scarfo]

what issues have you had with internally gated turbo's like the Borg warner efr?

[TurboBRZ]

Originally Posted by raven1231

As well as knowing your wastegate won't get stuck causing your engine to overboost and blowup, or that your turbo won't explode and send pieces flying into your engine.

The last turbo I had explode was a stock Garrett turbo from a R34 RB25DET. If anyone bought a turbo kit and they didn't buy a boost gauge so they could monitor whether or not they are overboosting, in my opinion they'll get what they have coming to them. Monitoring your setup is something you have to do continuously. If you monitor it and see your boost hitting 15psi when you're only set at 8, then it's time to fix your car. There is a decent sized grace period when it comes to this, and the only way you're going to miss it is by not paying attention. Anyone can feel overboost if they are used to driving at a particular PSI.

Cheap wastegate or the most expensive - if it sticks you are SOL if you don't pay attention to your gauges and the feel of your car. And nothing guarantees that the most expensive wastegate out there will never stick... I look at things from an engineers perspective as I understand how parts function (and design a lot of parts). Everything eventually fails.

[TurboBRZ]

Originally Posted by WHITE

When your buying a turbo kit your buying more then just hp, your buying quality, how much quality in most cases will depend how much you spend....yes there are some cases this isn't true.

As a manufacturer in another industry I can tell you that there are plenty of competitors who have their products selling at an equal or higher price to ours, that don't have anywhere near our quality.

I've known some of the welders that worked for full race in the past. I also knew the guy who started the company. YES they do produce a beautiful work of art, but I also know why they are so pricey and it has to do with volume/time and paying someone in the US to do the welding as well as maintaining a US facility.

All I am saying is that what a lot of you are talking about is "perceived quality" which you base on price. A lot of manufacturers know this game and price their products higher for greater perceived quality, so they can make more profit. It's not a game where the consumer wins.

[raven1231]

Originally Posted by TurboBRZ

The last turbo I had explode was a stock Garrett turbo from a R34 RB25DET. If anyone bought a turbo kit and they didn't buy a boost gauge so they could monitor whether or not they are overboosting, in my opinion they'll get what they have coming to them. Monitoring your setup is something you have to do continuously. If you monitor it and see your boost hitting 15psi when you're only set at 8, then it's time to fix your car. There is a decent sized grace period when it comes to this, and the only way you're going to miss it is by not paying attention. Anyone can feel overboost if they are used to driving at a particular PSI.

Cheap wastegate or the most expensive - if it sticks you are SOL if you don't pay attention to your gauges and the feel of your car. And nothing guarantees that the most expensive wastegate out there will never stick... I look at things from an engineers perspective as I understand how parts function (and design a lot of parts). Everything eventually fails.

When engines are popping when not over boosting I wouldn't say there is a decent grace period. A few seconds in an over boost condition could cause serious issues for a high compression engine, especially with glass rods and pistons. I do agree everyone should be monitoring their car and have the equipment needed to do so, but let's be honest while gauges are useful it's hard to stare at a gauge every time you go WOT unless of course you're not watching the road.

And yes any brand and quality waste gate could get stuck, but why increase those odds? A quality waste gate is cheaper than replacing an engine. Same with the turbo, what's the point in getting a cheap one if it will need to be replaced, causing you to have to expend extra labor and funds to purchase another, and risking harm to you engine in the mean time.

[WHITE]

@TurboBRZ I'm not going to discuss this anymore. You obviously are just going to keep defending what your saying and I obviously disagree with you. Your not going to sway my thoughts on this and I'm clearly not going to sway you. Just please be sure to post any and all problems you encounter, I sincerely hope you have none but just incase it would be nice for people who also might be thinking about getting the same kit to know whether or not its worth getting.