Tjabo

The outward appearance of them is pretty good, and I was just wondering if anyone had actually used one? If so, I'm obviously interested in how well it worked, and for how long?

Clearly this is Chinese product that they're trying to position somewhat "upmarket" from some of the other Chinese stuff, but not as upmarket as Synapse, and maybe some others I'm not sure about.

So, please try not to make the general statments about Chinese turbo parts, unless you've used some that you have reason to believe were made in the same factory, or came through the same distributor or something. . . I'm really hoping for some specific information about these parts from actual experience with them!

Thanks in advance as always! ! !


Modified by Tjabo at 9:22 AM 12/10/2007

b20vtechb

it looks like a hks copy from what i've seen of them. never used that one in particular but i had good luck with as xs power 46mm about a year ago never had any problems with it

Tony the Tiger

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Tjabo &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">The outward appearance of them is pretty good, and I was just wondering if anyone had actually used one? If so, I'm obviously interested in how well it worked, and for how long?
</TD></TR></TABLE>

If it is the HKS Racing series copy, I had a customer in here with one which seized on him after several pulls on the dyno. The valve actually seized partially open and it was wastegate dump even at idle If it was seized shut, oh man, that wouldn't be pretty during middle of a 4th gear pull.

You are really gambling a lot by using non-reputable brand name parts that are critical (wastegates, boost controllers, injectors, turbos, etc)... Even if several guys post their good results, it doesn't mean the one you'll get would be good as well. Unless the wastegate is like $5, and so is your motor, I wouldn't deal with one when you can literally pick up a Tial 38mm used for like $150 on the classifieds these days.

Another note, these no-name wastegates aren't really tested in and way shape or form. Several guys may have luck with them because their EGT's are nice a low with a nice manifold design, or they have never taken their setups on the track for real abuse or endurance testing. The unit that seized was on a Supra 7M-GTE, pushing around 360 WHP, and his car was street driven for more than a year (probably just cruising around 99% of the time), but all it took was several pulls on the dyno to murder the wastegate...lol

Tjabo

Thanks guys

Tony the Tiger, obviously you make good points there. What it makes me wonder though, is whether the brands reputed to be of high quality ever have similar problems of function. If not, it's a strong statement in behalf of using only them. If so (as I suspect is the truth, no mechanism is perfect), then I guess the weight of your comments is down to the relative frequency of problems. Right?

Are more of the quality pieces sold, or more of the cheap Chinese stuff?

This is an interesting topic to me for a LOT of reasons!

Thanks again

b20vtechb

i abused the hell outa my car with the xs power wastegate on it.. it had 428whp and was at the track all the time. egts where in the 1500* area under full acceleration. now this isn't too say there all good. Its just from the experience i had with mine i wouldn't hesitate to get another one and probly will on my next setup.

Now if it does seize there is no reason that should tank your motor unless your running no boost cut, which is dangerous anyway a cut vacum line to your wastegate is about the same as it seizing.

So i guess if you can afford the good stuff then get it, if not then try the cheaper stuff but allways be prepared that it might fail and have things setup so that if it does its the only thing you have to replace!

Tony the Tiger

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Tjabo &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Thanks guys

Tony the Tiger, obviously you make good points there. What it makes me wonder though, is whether the brands reputed to be of high quality ever have similar problems of function. If not, it's a strong statement in behalf of using only them. If so (as I suspect is the truth, no mechanism is perfect), then I guess the weight of your comments is down to the relative frequency of problems. Right?

Are more of the quality pieces sold, or more of the cheap Chinese stuff?

This is an interesting topic to me for a LOT of reasons!

Thanks again </TD></TR></TABLE>

Up to date, I really haven't seen any wastegates from Tial, Turbosmart, HKS, or Greddy failed by physically seizing during operation whether in person, from heresay or even on the internet. I have seen them seize when they were sitting in the shop floor for decades (from corrosion or whatnot), but never seen them fail in a running car. The worse case I've seen from a Turbosmart gate was a leaky diaphragm which caused the boost to spike a lot more than usual.

It's no coincidence when customers come with problems and it points to no-name China parts quite often... Everybody is in for cheap parts, including myself, and I also suckered into getting some shitty stuff in the past. Problems ranging from leaky BOV, BOV not opening at all, fuel pressure regulators loses fuel pressure all of a sudden (ripped diapragm), wastegates running at boost levels that were unintended (label says 7 psi, gave 13 psi instead), etc..

A lot of parts are made in China now.. probably 90% of the products, but American companies are there to do some sort of quality check and product testing. The no-name brand you see sold for cheap are basically raw products with no quality checks or product testing at all. This is really what it all boils down to

One other way to ensure better quality is to have a middleman to help do some basic testing. I believe XSPower is doing just that... A few basic operation tests can tell a lot before they decide to sell the item.

Tony the Tiger

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by b20vtechb &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
Now if it does seize there is no reason that should tank your motor unless your running no boost cut, which is dangerous anyway a cut vacum line to your wastegate is about the same as it seizing.
</TD></TR></TABLE>

Boost cut feature would save the motor, minding though that you are out of an event, or a track day cut short when that happens as well. A lot of guys also try to run race gas tunes and pump gas tunes under the same map as well. I know quite a few guys here locally would have their 20+ PSI regions mapped for 109 octane, but low boost regions are back on pump gas. This is quite convenient when you can just plop in some race fuel at the tracking without needing a laptop to change tunes. When the wastegate seizes, well, kinda puts you in race gas tune without the race fuel.

A potentially loose vacuum line can be easily jusifited with -AN line connections just like how you trust all your oil cooler lines, but a knowingly inferior wastegate is just asking for problems. Like I said, unless the wastegate is so damn cheap, it's not worth the gamble to save $50-100. If I can save up to $300-400, then I would reconsider...lol