citrusdrop

I hav eheard alot of people say it is cheaper to piece together your own turbo setup? vs. buying a "kit"....plus you get better quality ....I've tried and had better quality but it cost more ...what set-ups do you have that were cheaper then a kit but better quality

vtec.dc2

you gotta shop around, for example, cheap turbo sells turbocharger + tial wastegate for $750.00 - http://store.yahoo.com/cheapturbo/t3to4turandt.html

as well as other parts could also be found on special, group buys, clearance or even used. Some retailers could exclude a few things from a kit, for example, fmu if you want to run standalone.

First. you should decide how much hp you want to make and what you're going to use it for. As far as price difference between custom kit (new parts) vs brand name kit, it will be about the same price, plus/minus $100-300.

silverEH2

you can shop around and get everything "you" want for a good price, new or used, and you dont have to settle with whatever the "kit" comes with

Speedworks801

Doing your own kit is the way to go!

Drews Bitch

bump..
i am getting ready to do this so i would like to see what ya'll think

Apex i ITR

The biggest advantage to the kit is getting what you want. FOr example: Like drag kit but are afraid of the build quality of the manifolds what do you do. Don't like the HKS BOV or Greddy, what do you do. Don't like the IC they are using what do you do.

I started building my own kit because I found some parts @ great prices.

I have a brand new SFP manifold for 300. A never used brand new t3/t4 for 300 and a spearco IC for 300. I have a boost and oil temp gauage (Just need a A/F gauge). I got most of the main components for less then 1000 bux. I like the Blitz SSBOV. I need a DP. I like the AVC-R (Something no turbo kit comes with). I'm going to run a an FMU setup until I go down Florida to get tuning.

I'm getting some 450cc DSM for free. I'm waiting until I find a great deal on a Tial 35mm wastegate. I'm buying an oil pan and taping that. All that would be left is custom IC piping.

My All my parts will come up to about 3000 bux (Including my gauges my Hondata and my Boost controller which is almost 500 bux). That is hella cheap to me.

Firedrake

Making your own kit is the way to go, however:
1. It's not necessarily cheaper, you just get all the parts you really want (like a t04e housing rather than a b)
2. It's a LOT of work to make certain things, and you need to have the capabilities to make them (like downpipe and intercooler piping)
3. If you don't know what you're doing, you can mess stuff up....

Other than that, kit is the way to go......much more rewarding!
Brian

kenbdSi

I pieced my kit together. Perosnally, there were many headaches involed(turbo fittment,piping,etc).Almost finished. But in the end, I had a much better understanding on how everything operates.

SI_DRIVR

I hear that. Pieced together my kit and now I'm going back and getting better stuff. The manifold I got was cheap, but I would have to remove AC and cut the block so I decided to break down and get the inline pro so I don't need to do all the other work. Alot more custom work involved on building your own, but I learned so much more about turbo systems other than just buying a kit and bolting it up. I still build my own kit if I had to do it again though

Jdm_Rice_Monster

Peacing a kit together is better for some people, but you have to be able to invision the kit. Some people just dont have it in them, meaning patience, and know how. If your patient and know what you want then its good. Otherwise buy a cheap kit and upgrade what you want.

swrdply400mrelay

I bought a GReddy kit, but now I wished I had pieced the kit together so I could have gotten what I wanted.

falcongsr

i started piecing a kit together but then i couldnt control myself and wanted all the best parts and never finished piecing together so i got the greddy kit. fortunately its pretty much exactly what i want. its not the best for drag racing. but for picking my way through traffic it gets a

swrdply400mrelay

LOL, yea that's probably what would've happened to me too!

kenbdSi

I know what you mean. Lots of patience.

Jdm_Rice_Monster

Yeah, all I stared out with was a manifold, turbo, and ic. It was alot of fun building the rest but it was well worth it.

falcongsr

when i was about $3k into the custom route, i had an EMS, turbo, manifold, and WG and some other stuff, and i made the mistake of doing budget tracking in excel and i realized i needed another $3k of stuff just to get the turbo on and that was with making my own piping etc. **** adds up.

how many people go custom the 1st time around? not a whole lot. there are a lot on this forum and there are more now that there is so much knowledge out there. but i'll admit i couldnt swing it unless i was buying used parts and i didnt want to...

hmmm i think i'll make a poll. i bet the ratio of kit to custom is worse than 10:1.