That sounds about right - I'd say maintenance, e.g. new plugs, coils, etc. should be table stakes too.
My official China TD04 16T eBay turbos
- Thread starter vegasboy
- Start date
That sounds about right - I'd say maintenance, e.g. new plugs, coils, etc. should be table stakes too.
@vegasboy hasn't been on since July 16th, which means you guys have three whole pages of shit posts.
I get tired of the shit posts here. My turbos are doing fine no problems, no smoke, no burning oil. I daily run e40 at 20 psi. Another forum member who installed these turbos right after I did emailed me his dyno graphs today. I think he wants to avoid all the shit you guys dish out here and would rather not participate in these threads. He was running Shotgun pump e50 with 75/25 meth, 26-27 psi run max HP 613/ TQ 545 log shows he had misfires @6400 rmp, 19-20 PSI run max HP 515/ TQ 499. I will not post the graphs without his permission. Pretty damn good for $1000 turbos. Should we change the tile of the thread to 600hp turbos?
"$1000 for 600whp turbos" should be the title. Watch the shit post quotient rise
.Filippo
Please no lol, then we'll have to deal with everyone running their uber-build turbos at 600whp "for longevity" arguing even more because they need to justify it to themselves. Diff'rent strokes for diff'rent folks, folks."$1000 for 600whp turbos" should be the title. Watch the shit post quotient rise
Filippo
I'm glad to hear these are working out well for you guys. Despite what some people may say, if there wasn't a want and need for these turbos then they wouldn't be around. Yes I understand that sometimes cheap (price-wise, at least) china knockoffs can be a risk, but sometimes they pay off hugely too.
I'm glad I spent money where I did on what I did when it comes to turbos and the accompanying parts for my own reasons, but I've also saved some serious money by buying Chinese made things in the past. Whether it was the 3" longtube headers designed and warrantied by a US company but built overseas on my LS3, or the stainless steel -10AN lines and fittings kit I used on my N54 oil cooler, I've saved up to 60% less on parts by going with something made overseas and not had any issues that some people "guarantee" you'll run into. If you know the risks, you're okay with them, and you're okay with potentially replacing *if* something goes wrong then there's no reason you should get criticized for making that decision imo.
I'm also interested in giving these turbos a shot as a winter project, but I can't really find what's needed to do the conversion.
I suppose I need to buy new inlets and outlets in other dimensions. Is that it? Can these turbos be run with MHD OTS maps, or will I have to get a custom map made? I ripped out the JB4 as I felt it was causing more harm than good. Will a stage 2 LPFP be sufficient? I don't need 600 hp as I use the car mainly for track use, no drag racing, but as my car has some noise from the original snails, why not upgrade...
I suppose I need to buy new inlets and outlets in other dimensions. Is that it? Can these turbos be run with MHD OTS maps, or will I have to get a custom map made? I ripped out the JB4 as I felt it was causing more harm than good. Will a stage 2 LPFP be sufficient? I don't need 600 hp as I use the car mainly for track use, no drag racing, but as my car has some noise from the original snails, why not upgrade...
I'd recommend looking at the Tomioka Racing turbos if you really want a legit upgrade, cheap price turbo. They're unfortunately still knock-off vtt turbos, but they're built by Zage and warrantied by a US company as well as being sold by some US shops, so any potential issues you run into would be less worrisome. I think they can be had for like $500 more than the full China eBay/AliExpress turbos too.
Given the amount of work to install, ancillary parts in the process which cost several hundred dollars, why would one spend $1,500 (and I believe the Tomioka Racing are actually $2k anyway) on a questionable solution instead of $2k with RB or VTT and get an in-house balanced unit, with far better public track records, backed up by people that have a reputation of standing behind their products?
3rd party turbos has such a shady reputation to begin with. I don't question someone's decision to take a flyer on $1,000 set ... but on this platform I can't begin to see the logic of any of this being sage advice.
Filippo
3rd party turbos has such a shady reputation to begin with. I don't question someone's decision to take a flyer on $1,000 set ... but on this platform I can't begin to see the logic of any of this being sage advice.
Filippo
Rob@RBTurbo
Lieutenant
This is pretty much key stuff. Typically anything stated by a vendor is discarded, despite how forthright they could be, but consider things like this...
We outsourced our balancing functions from N54 market entry 2010 through late 2014 when we finally acquired our own VSR, and then additionally bit the bullet to further optimize quality by purchasing a new cutting edge low speed balancer in late 2016. Using our Classic RB's as a discussion piece, which were all built identical from 2010-late 2014 (really late 2015, but some options were added in that timeframe as well); there were mixed results over the years. Our prototype set, built in 2010, was beat on hard with stock inlets/JB3/etc went 11.0sec 1/4 miles... we have never seen this set since. We had a set sent to who later became TFT (Brian May) in 2013, he beat on them dearly and never had an issue and resold them "as-is" to another in 2017... but they finally came back a couple months ago. We had numerous others have issues in shorter timeframes, perhaps 1 out of 10 sets in less than a year. Consistency was not quite dialed on our end, and although there were many other variables at the time as we were in the stone age (ie. no one ran high flow inlets which we now of course mandate); it was still safe to say that many had very good experiences. In fact just this morning we got an email from someone whose 5 year old RB Classics finally bit the dust- imagine waiting on his "verdict" on the RB Classic product (Hint: surely HE is content) despite the product not being overly consistent.
What we learned over the years is that if (all else done the same) if you are seeing ANY problems in less than 9 months over some great number of units installed, there is usually some manufacturing error responsible. The key to building these turbos is to rule out ANY manufacturing error, and what this takes is making sure you are using the best balancing equipment/internal and external hardware/machining standards/assembly practices and taking the TIME to do it the same every time all the time. Until that is done you may see great experiences, bad experiences, and everything in between. But even when things can be so so with a build, it isn't to hard to make it a few months time of usage. Overall I'd say it took about 3-4 years before all of the history of turbos, reputation, etc.; started to catch up with us. Having a lot of competition sprouting up around that time also helped "push" some into the poor reviews as well, of course. Anyway once these things catch up to you as a vendor, sometimes it is hard to shake the perception as well- unfortunately once on the internet things are "forever" in the minds of some. Once again, just our experience, and happy to be where we have been at the past few years with essentially perfection across all units shipped and an overwhelmingly large and appreciative supporting customer base.
There is no doubt there are a lot of new options, vendors, etc.; coming together. It happens in every platform, eventually. The point of the above was to illustrate that it can take much time before anyone really notices a problem even with the "best" of us, so when in the next year all parties who have installed them are still going strong then they certainly have came out swinging with these products. Ultimately time is going to have to tell as it usually does with all things in life.
Rob
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Here is a link to the turbos I tried out mainly because i'm not sure any other option is really that much better.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Billet-16T...-0L-N54-B30-/332717798268?hash=item4d7786b37c
I do all of my own work and if these were/are to fail instantly as many say they would, I am able to swap them out. The car is just an expensive money pit/hobby at this point so it's not the end of the world when things go bad.
Currently the turbos have 1574 miles on them (yes, I am aware that's low) and have been 100% problem free. They have at least 100 WOT multiple gear pulls for logs/tuning, 3 passes down the 1/4 mile and 3 dyno pulls. I do not daily drive and beat on this car anytime it's running.
-Car setup- (Main modifications that are asked)
MMP relocated inlets
JB4
Vader solutions stage 3 low pressure fuel pump (dual walbro)
VTT single barrel shotgun
Xhp Stage 3 transmission flash
AEM v2 methanol injection kit (75% meth with AEM 1000cc nozzle)
NGK 97506 plugs
RB external pcv kit
Arizona ambient temp during pulls - 95*
Map 6 with slow boost ramp (for the auto transmission) on my modified BMS hybrid BEF, E50-ish fuel
27.4psi max (target was 26psi) with avg 9* timing
The engine was breaking up past 6000rpm due to spark plug gap of 0.022. After the dyno, the plugs were gapped to 0.018 and it cleared up. 50% ethanol with 75% methanol on 2 step colder plugs is very hard on the ignition system.
Log- https://datazap.me/u/skampstra/dyno-pulls?log=0&data=1-3-4-11-25-26-27-28-29
After the second pull and the car breaking up I switched to Map 7 to see if things cleared up.
20.39psi max (target 19.7 to 17psi at redline) up to 10.8* timing
Log- https://datazap.me/u/skampstra/dyno-pulls?log=2&data=1-3-4-11-25-26-27-28-29
Feel free to ask questions. Keep in mind I am not one to hold anyone's hand.
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Honestly in my experience the FUD is Justified. I find myself with failing and not well developed aftermarket parts frequently coming off my car. I have zero interest in doing that with turbos given the level of effort it takes. Having just replaced my outlet today I'm reminded of this once again.
Filippo
Filippo
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