I've been a major lurker on the forums for a long time. I've read all the ebay turbo kit threads and the majority of them seem to state that ebay turbo kits are junk.
I've been looking for a D-series turbo kit for awhile now and I stumbled across this one on ebay. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors...ZWDVW
Take a look it won't kill you. This guy has almost 5000 positive feedback, they offer support, a 1 year warranty. It's got a cast iron mani and from the pics the quality doesn't look half bad, everything isn't covered in chrome...etc... It looks to me it might actually be a legit turbo kit. I think they want 1125 shipped.

I can also see how those 500-600 dollar kits would be crap because it would seem impossible to manufacture a kit for that little. But I can see a decent quality kit costing 1000. What do you guys think?

 

I don't mean to rain on your parade...but the general consensus is still eBay kits are horrible.

As far as your thought process on the kit costing $1000 so it's decent components, that's a retail price. That kit probably costs $600 to put together, so in the end it's still a bunch of junk parts.

Could you get away with it? Probably, but you have pieces in there manufactured by no-name companies.

I'm a firm believer in just doing it right the first time, don't skimp out, you're only putting yourself in a worse spot

 

just save your money and buy an afi kit from a1320addict

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by civicjoe &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I can also see how those 500-600 dollar kits would be crap because it would seem impossible to manufacture a kit for that little. But I can see a decent quality kit costing 1000. What do you guys think?</TD></TR></TABLE>

That is a good point, but it could also be a fairly clever marketing ploy. This turbo setup still looks to be more of the same. If you think about the cost of actual parts, there is no way you can build a setup consisting of new parts for less than $1k. Also, if a company is selling it at $1k, they're still making a profit meaning the parts cost much less. I wouldn't waste my money....

 

okay this is kind of.... I'm not sure but check this stuff out.
So ebay turbo kit's are supposed to be junk because they are chinese and have all these problems, also it is impossible to make a reliable turbo kit for a cheap price.
Then I went to the sponsor's for sale forum and found this: https://honda-tech.com/zero...age=1
How is this better than the ebay kits? It's only about 700 shipped... is this guy any better?

someone please straighten this out for me...

EDIT **rant warning**
I know that the cheap kits aren't going to be as good quality as the expensive kits but isn't it possible that they can cheaply manufacture a DECENT kit? I've been researching for it seems forever and... If you set aside the ssautochrome stories with the manifolds cracking and the turbos being bad on start-up, the 'cheap' kits aren't that bad. My point being, I don't see any 'horror stories' about cheap kits besides ssac.

I have another point. From what I know about the chinese industry they are pros at taking a quality product, measuring the specs and then producing it to sell. Think of all the research that goes into a quality turbo built by a top brand name company. That costs a lot of money. Now if a chinese company 'steals' their design sure they aren't going to get it exact but it will be darn close. The manufacturing process is already developed so they have no research there.
In my thinking I don't see why they can't produce a decent kit for a cheap price simply because they can cut out the research and development and a lot of labor costs. Sure they aren't going to be 'top quality' but I don't see why they can't come close enough for those of us who don't need 'top quality' and will settle for second.


Modified by civicjoe at 8:43 PM 2/21/2008

 

I hope your civic has a lift kit, cause by those pictures the downpipe would be hitting the ground or damn near close. It also looks like they rotated the engine forward to not make the DP look as bad. Save a little longer and get something decent. You could probably piece a kit together on here with used parts for 1k and then come off 5 or 600 for a decent turbo and your good.

 

ya I noticed that too, in the thread about the cheap kit on honda-tech here the seller admitted it didn't fit at all. All in all it's an easy fix if you have a welder like me

so what do u guys consider around the minimum price for a 'quality' kit?

 

I'll tell you, the real problem with all these threads is that the O.P. ALWAYS ends up being some voice of reason to defend the junk.

You come in here looking for opinions, but when the opinions are the same old "it's ebay junk", then you follow with your defense. If you've made your mind up already, then just buy the stuff. You know they are junk, you've read they are junk, we all come in during every thread and confirm they are junk, yet there always has to be a discussion.

IT'S JUNK....understand....JUNK! For 1000.00 you could EASILY...I mean EASILY put together a quality kit. Shop in the marketplace, buy from reputable people and you could EASILY put together something reliable, that makes descent power and is upgradable.

People turn to ebay kits because they are convenient (so people think initially), and the buyer is too lazy to do research and spend time buying their kit. Just look at that sellers warranty statement...that thing is so see through I can see the seller sitting in his underwear behind his computer screen laughin and drinkin a beer getting ready to buy his old lady some new xxxl lingerie with the money your about to spend.

You think it's easy...the chinese just copy it and make a nice match....look at this thread.

http://www.bblgroup.us/ssautochrome.htm

If you think what you've found is any different from SSAC, your kidding yourself. SSAC just sells the stuff like that seller you found. The reason you hear more about XSPower and SSAC is they are just larger, more well established companies. More of their product is out there...plain and simple.

 

With ebay its tricky because some people do have some authentic stuff . Its not ebay it sell that has the cheap garbage forsale its the seller just keep your eyes open you can find something better either on honda tech market or ebay thats official , Im saying this because i know my **** when it comes to parts and Ive seen some cheap turbo kits hold up just as good as some of the originals and Ive seen kids come to the shop with some performance parts off of ebay like fuel pumps and such which were 100% authentic. Make your own judgement its your money do what you want with it besides everyone does not have full race money nor is everyone trying to build a 10 second 600hp car.

Im not going to front my big *** intercooler is a cheap ebay one and my friend fabed my manifold and look at my power and I forgot my pipe kit was from ebay too lol a cheap *** one at that.

 

RC000E you just knocked a lot of sense into me. When I posted this thread I was planning on putting together my own kit, then I saw some on ebay and wanted to believe I could just find an ebay kit and it would be acceptable. For all you guys that put up with my arguing thanks you have convinced me not to go ebay.

The quest for parts begins