I am sure there are a hundred threads on this and yes i did search but i didnt find exactly what i was looking for. anyways

I am building with a custom kit and this kid at my workplace keeps telling me i am wasting my money because if i were to buy a complete kit (such as a greddy kit) it would be much more reliable and worth a lot more in the long run. He also says all the parts in a kit "work better together"

Kit or custom

My custom kit is listed in my build thread https://honda-tech.com/forums/appearance-build-threads-122/my-ej1-build-boosted-ls-coupe-2318659/

 

I don't understand, if you've already bought most parts for your build why are you asking?

My vote goes to putting your own parts together.

Pick what you want, not what greddy puts together.

 

I know i agree with you. He thinks a Greddy kit would be more reliable bc it is all one brand and is made to work together...Personally i think if you buy all of top of the line parts it will work way better than any kit any company puts together

 

well, you have most of the big things out the way, no need in getting a full kit. So far youre in the right path. Any kit or DIY kit can be reliable as long as you get it tuned right! also double check everything and dont take any short cuts. From there you are golden and prove your friend wrong. Nothing better then proving they are wrong with a smile on your face.

 

buying a kit is decent way to go if your expectations are low, unless you are talking of a full race / peak boost or other named company's kit.

i have a full race kit. but it could have been sourced individually.

but with the drag, greddy kits you are severely limited in potential over the others i stated.

 

QFT

If you've already started purchasing your stuff seperately there is no reason not to just pick up the rest of it that way. I personally bought all of my stuff seperately because I liked being able to choose exactly what I want. If you wait around in the marketplace you can find good deals on things you need that can actually make it much cheaper than buying a kit. Like boostedcivicsir said, you are limited unless you buy a higher end kit that is capable of producing a lot of power. With the greddy and drag kits you have very little room to get more horsepower without COMPLETELY re-doing everything. Long story short, your friend? Yea, an idiot. Good Luck.

 

Go.autoworks.com turbo kits FTW! The only kit I would ever buy! did buy!

 

evans tuning has options to put together a kit on their site as well.

it just so happened that the full race kit i have, is full of all the parts i wanted.

 

depending on your power goals and your knowledge

if you have installed a turbo before and know what parts work well with each other than parting a kit together is your cheapest option (if you dont mind certain parts used)

if its a first kit and you just want a little extra power than any kit (except ebay junk) will work just fine

 

I've always been a fan of building my own setups....5 to date. Its really not that hard and i think it actually saves money; however, that's not my reason for doing it. I like being able to tailor my setup to my needs and goals rather than just making due with what's available...

 

X2 ^...I like building my kits...Like stated above kits like greddy are awesome kits, I have one on my Daily Driver, but there made to bolt on to a couple of cars(eg,ek ef civics), so parts like down pipes and and turbo's maybe made smaller and limit your power, so they fit all model cars.Also from my experience I have saved $ in the long run..my friend just bought a full kit, with s300 fuel pump, injectors everything he needed but for what he paid I added up my parts and I save almost $1000. buying my kit 1 part at a time...

 

voted

 

buying a kit is easier.. but piecing together a kit, you learn more about it... imo if you find the right deals, you can piece one together alot cheaper then buying a whole complete kit.... but also you have to focus on tuning also, which plays a huge part 99% of how your car is going to run well and reliable

 

im not going to repeat what adam said. I voted Your friend doesn't know what he's talking about and I wouldn't listen to him too much. He sounds very "noobish" to the honda darkside

 

Piecing your own kit allows room for more horsepower growth.

That is if you want an increase in size ,, (cough), um .. power down the road.

 

i voted for custom build....
but you need to know how to install it ,if not the extra bucks saved, you're going to pay on labor and thats expensive...at least $80hr
i built my own turbo kit in a year piece per piece spent 2g more than what a turbo-kit cost but in the long run didn't hurt my wallet including (tunning,s300,3bar,wideband,labor).

 

Thanks a lot!!

 

I'm not going to repeat what has already been said, everybody has made some great points, I would just like to add that resources, could be another reason to go kit over custom. For example; say you live in an area where speed shops, welders/fabricators, and tuners, are far and few in between. Maybe you may not have the knowledge, skills or tools to build the custom pieces yourself. In that example you are kind of limited, sure you can buy manifolds, downpipes and inter cooler kits that are prefabricated, but as everyone already knows, sometimes they don't fit as advertised, sometimes they need a little love to get them to work right. In the long run, its your money, your car, your decision.

 

what about afi kits?

 

you labeled the person at your workplace as "kid" and that usually means he knows nothing about cars. so i would go with your initial thought and build your own kit.

also i voted for custom kit

 

tell that kid to go buy a greddy kit and run it with an fmu, he'll be owning the streets in notime..

 

I definitely had a blast putting together my own kit. Didn't even bother wasting the money on a charge piping kit. Just went to AutoZone & bought 2.5" exhaust piping.

For less than $1500 I had my entire kit, plus all of the hardware/software to tune my car & any other OBD-I Honda.

 

fullrace all day

 

Only necessary if you plan on making a lot of power. If I were only looking for 300-400whp I wouldn't bother blowing money on a Full Race kit. Even then I'd probably only buy the manifold & make everything else myself.

 

whats the better kit
af kiti or go autoworks race kit?