BroskiZach

• Firstly, this is not a "Would you recommend an eBay turbo kit?" kind of thread. So please don't go there.
  
• Secondly, please keep all posts related and constructive. I really have no interest in what happened to "your boy's" car on startup, on the dyno, etc.

Just to clarify, I do know about the general opinion when it comes to eBay turbo kits. But what I've noticed is that a lot of the hate towards these cheap kits comes from people with big dollar setups or people who still can't afford such a setup. I'd say 98% of the hate is coming from people with no firsthand experience.

So with having said all that... Who here has actual firsthand experience with an eBay turbo kit, good or bad? I'm actually encountering a lot of positive firsthand reviews of these kits and am already the owner of one myself (although it was the PO's decision, not mine).

wantboost

iTrader: (2)

I have first hand experience from working in local shops... pure ****. i think anyone else who's even had to touch them will agree.

I've had customers bring in cars with eBay turbo kits slapped on them and been told "make it run" we've seen turbos bad out of the box, fail on first startup, and blow apart on the dyno. we even had one compressor cover split in half because it was glued together.

Wastegates have had torn diaphragms out of the box, all fasteners were loose, no springs or the wrong spring, no fire ring, etc. We've had the wastegates fail a month after install, either the diaphragm melts or fails or the shaft seal around the valve fails allowing hot exhaust gasses into the diaphragm

the manifolds are just as bad. I've had cars come in where the manifokds weren't fully welded, had warped flanges, sugaring and blobs inside the runners just waiting to come loose and grenade a turbine wheel, cracks out of the box, wastegate elbows fall off, etcetera

avoid at all costs. the price savings isn't worth it when you have to replace it with a name brand component down the road.

BroskiZach

Thanks for your feedback bud! Yeah, the two biggest things I've come across from other owners to making these kits last is a quality wastegate and an oil restrictor. I've also heard that a lot of the issues that plague their reputation from earlier are non-issues now, or at least greatly improved.

I have a newer kit on mine, thankfully, because word is the newer turbochargers are actually pretty decent as are the cast iron manifolds (which mine also has). Either way, I'm not here to defend their reputation because I have nothing to gain or lose.

I personally feel I would've been hard-pressed to find a clean title GSR coupe for the price I paid for my turbocharged clean title GSR coupe, so I'm stoked anyway.

sirtef9

iTrader: (4)

The manifolds are cheap, compare it to a good brand name and you'll see the difference.
Non ported , very restrictive crap, never cracked on me though,
Had a t3 t4oe turbo , lasted maybe 3 years, but maybe 10k miles, on low boost.
Like everyone says buy nice or buy twice.

boosted94gsr

Check out "the official eBay turbo thread" a lot of good info about eBay parts in there.

bungalo101

+1

You need only search to hear the horror stories (fitment, quality, longevity, etc. etc.) or even take a look at the pictures of some of the manifolds on Ebay. It's amazing how many of those kits still haven't changed the ghetto wastegate location from a single runner…

If it works for you, then great. I'd consider any engine it's on to be expendable and likely to go at any time.

OneBadTurboCRV

I had one on my Civic years ago when XS Power, SS AutoChrome, and all the other trash was rampant.

I was going to write a lengthy response but I will sum it up in two words: Pure ****.

Intercooler piping would be as far as I would go with any knock-off brand. Everything except the piping and BOV failed after about 1,000 miles... horrible experience.

*Waits for all the fan boys to pour in...*

Marvin1985

iTrader: (5)

Well my buddy who I helped along the way went half eBay half legit on a rsx type s turbo. Spent 3 months fabbing and install to only have the eBay gt35 turbo blow it's seals a week before his tune date. Luckily he got another in time. Waiting on how long it lasts atm. At 422whp on an eBay gt35 turbo. Cx racing intercooler and pipes. Tial wg/bov.

Day after his tune the couplers started tearing. All of which he had to replace. Car was tuned at Evans tunning in eastern pa.

I myself after seeing all the headache have been piecing my kit together idc how long it takes I'll never buy anything egay for boost.

TravisBiggie

Its specific parts that are junk, like turbos, manifolds, wastegates, blow off valves.. I have an ebay fmic, intercooler piping, downpipe..


I bought an ebay wastegate and the diaphragm ended up ripping and creating boost creep. Avoid ebay turbos, manifolds, wg, bovs, and you'll be fine.

turbomaniac

concerning intercooler pipes, intercooler and cast manifolds, the kit was almost.... ok

but i believe that turbo must be bought from a prof dealer.

i think that in the future, chineese turbo would be ok, like happened with the external wastegates. At the beggining they were crap, but now they are ok for their money.

i used chinese externals and they are almost ok.

i believe same thing will happen with turbos...

after all same happened with japanese car industries. At early 60s they were a joke, but now they are pionieers...

m4xwellmurd3r

im sorry turbomaniac, but japanese cars of the 60s are anything but a "joke"

They were deemed unsuitable for the american market because america liked big and v8, where japans small island ment small and efficient.

Take the honda s800 for example. It has a 791cc engine making 70hp at 8000rpm with a redline of 10,000rpm and a top speed of 100mph.

There was also the nissan fairlady roadster, the toyota sports 800.

Actually, the 60s saw the birth if the japanese sports car industry.

You cant compare the chinese knockoff turbo industry to 60s japan auto industry.

Chinese **** will always be **** as long as they use cheap underpaid labor, **** quality materials, and **** tolerances and quality control

wantboost

iTrader: (2)

don't even get me started on the early GTRs... I'd murder every person on this forum to own one lol

m4xwellmurd3r

Pure sex on wheels. Lol. Id help if you let me just RIDE in it

turbomaniac

for me also not a joke

i think you got my point...

chineese are using jap style managment so it is a matter of time to see good value for money chineese turbos

m4xwellmurd3r

I dont think it will be a matter of time. Unless there is major changes in chinas industry theyll just keep cranking out cheap **** since peopke keep buying cheap ****.

The only reason why anything increases in quality is that higher quality manufacturing processes become cheaper over time as technology advances

For ***** sake konnisegggieiggegeg is 3d printing stainless steel exhaust housings! Bet you coukdnt imagine that 10 years ago

lostforawhile

define ebay turbo kit? they are just an auction site, they sell cheap kits and also name brand stuff, so how do you lump it all together? I would clarify to see if there is a particular "insert wung foo" name kit.

m4xwellmurd3r

Ebay turbo kits generally refer to cheap chinachargers

Dark_Teg

I wouldn't use one for safety alone. I don't want some Chinese POS turbo dumping oil/water on the track @120mph.

wantboost

iTrader: (2)

I'm going to pick up an affordable open-source 3d printer so I can rapid prototype parts before spending money to have them made. also i can pretty much make anything I need that doesn't have to be structural... not to mention the money I could make lol

raene

Had an eBay style T3/T4 before they were commonly known to be ***** - bought it off someone secondhand. Ran great for about a year, made 277whp on 7psi (Uberdata 1.66wootwoot for the oldschoolers) on a B16 before it blew the oil seals. Waste of money. Got a Garrett T3/T4 and never looked back (until I built my motor and upgraded the turbo).

They've been hit and miss since ~2004, is what I'm saying. Why invest in a part with a high failure rate. I'd rather save another month, and get something where I don't have to worry if my turbo will blow. I've got enough worries when making a pass, I don't want to think about if my turbo is going to crap out.

blackeg

uberdata holla!! i still have all my old bin files.

yeah so one of my friends had a new ebay kit on his integra that i tuned. the manifold cracked by the first weekend of running. it was rewelded and braced and didnt crack again to my knowledge. shortly after that it started smoking like mad. blown turbo exhaust seal pissed oil into the downpipe and exhaust. replaced that turbo with another ebay turbo and that one seemed to hold up a bit better. my buddy moved and sold the car which i still see around town and it doesnt blow smoke anymore.

my take - the **** is going to break. expect it.

Aradin

I'll share my personal experience. I started out with a simple stock motor turbo setup on my F22 Accord back in 2011. Since I'm not really a baller at this stage of my life I can't afford to drop $1000 on a single piece of hardware like a turbo but I still wanted to have fun with it. Majority of my bolt on parts are from eBay, but I've slowly been upgrading them to legitimate pieces over the years. I have tuned/built a few local cars utilizing ebay parts. Some last 10 miles, some have lasted years. Most failures I've seen are strictly mechanical failures.

No name cast log manifold - Still working perfect after nearly 3 years of hard abuse including a lot of high EGTs from a restrictive exhaust and highway pulls.

No name Wastegate - Still on the first one I bought 3 years ago. Works exactly like a wastegate should. Diaphragm still looks like it's in decent shape.

No name BOV - Also still working great after 3 years. Does exactly what it's supposed to. Doesn't leak on my new setup at 20+ psi. However I bought an "EMUSA" one to change it up about a year ago and it only lasted a few months before it started leaking.

Generic Chinacharger - In the 3 years I've been boosted I've only ruined one of these. First was a completely generic 57 trim that lasted for 2 years before the seals went and caused ridiculous amounts of smoke. Only ran about 12psi max on this one. Probably my fault it got ruined because I let it see lots of compressor surge when I would get bored. Upon taking it apart I noticed one of the compressor fins had chipped slightly.

Currently using a CXRacing "60 trim" and it works fine at much higher boost levels. Very very little shaft play. Had that about a year now.

Generic intercooler - Also been through a couple of these. The one that originally came with the universal kit was way too small and caused me to detonate some during the summer because of it's horrible inefficiency. Upgraded to one twice the size that was black after that. The "black" was just some cheap spray paint. It worked like an intercooler but after swapping out to a Mishimoto M line I noticed quicker spool, more boost and more power without changing anything else.

Oil lines - Cheap material. Drains leak 90% of the time. Feed lines are junk. I've been through 4 on my personal car alone. They break easily if they even have the slightest kink.

The piping, silicone couplers and clamps are all fine to use.

I would stay away from things like boost controllers, adjustable fuel pressure regulators, fuel pumps, etc from eBay.

Use quality injectors, fuel pump, engine management and boost control to avoid any potential issues.

If you know what you're doing you can make most of this stuff work....It's all about knowing where you can save money and where trying to save money will only cost you more in the end.

NotARaCist

iTrader: (1)

Uh...no, they aren't. They aren't at all. You might want to spend some time learning about business management before you go making such blatantly wrong generalizations like that.

Are you intentionally being dense? Everyone knows what the phrase means.

turbomaniac

anyhow, time would show...

lostforawhile

I was making a point, since the ebay brand name turbo is so elusive I've never seen one