So im strongly considering doing the whole ebay single turbo thing. Ive got a 1JZ GTE and want rid of the horrible twins. my question is does anyone here have experience with eBay turbos? how long do they last? whats so bad about them? do they actually work? do they make power? are they grenades in disguise? Cheers
Lots of genuine good stuff on eBay too. I guess you are talking about the absolute cheapest Chinese stuff? No personal experience but as with every noname chinese product they are hit or miss. Friend had one in his ca18 and it held up fine for few thousand kms and made some power too. Heard it was laggy for its size, although I dont know the rest of the setup. Then Ive read lots of stories of turbo exploding or breaking after just few kms. If that happens you propably end up spending way more than you wouldve spent with a proper turbo in The first place. Turbo (and manifold etc) make a big difference on how the car behaves and performs. You can get a Chinese turbo for 300€ or so, but If you are on a tight budget I would (and did actually) spend a bit more and get something reliable like Holset. Even new they arent very expensive and second hand they can be quite cheap. And If you get a decent manifold and properly sized turbo they are good. What is your budget and goals? Where are you using your car?
Question is, why are you considering the eBay turbo option? Depending on the situation, I would run one. But the situation would have to involve things like a really low budget, lack of other options, not my primary vehicle for transport and a "hack" car (ie not something i have any sort of pride in). I would love for someone to compare a genuine Garrett, a Kinugawa / Mamba, the cheapest eBay, a secondhand Holset and a new Borg Warner EFR. Compare things like balance, output, flow restriction, strength of components and a wear test.
Thebe, Yeah im talking about the gt30 reps you can get for literally £125. a mate at work has gone down this route (whilst spending good money on wastegates, BOVs and gauging, sensors etc) and says hes a big time convert. He makes the argumant that if it does blow up then 50% chance it will go out the exhaust which obviously doesnt really matter and 50% chance it will just get stuck in the intercooler. Ideally all I want is to get rid of the stock twins, I hate the design, theyre heavy, and after having taken them off once I dont fancy putting them on again. (Im currently rebuilding the engine after a spun bearing, so funds are going to be "Impacted" in coming months. A little power increase and keeping the same throttle response would be ideal. I am by no means looking to be a dyno queen. (its a street car, JZX90)
BenRice, Awkward. its kinda a main transport car, and its certainly something I take pride in. Only problem is, with the way Id plan a "proper" turbo set up, it would cost almost as much as the car did when I bought it, as Im rebuilding the engine at the moment I find the idea a temporary ebay turbo tempting until Ive got some more dollars. Id also be interested in that comparison, I feel like we could all learn alot. Balance and flow characteristics etc are something Id look into if I were buying genuine, but from an ebay turbo all Id really want would be the knowledge that it wont explode, if it wears out quick I wouldnt be arsed and if it just kept the same power level Id be completely indifferent
I hear what your saying, and with an engine rebuild happening at the same time there will be a run in phase where nothing is going to be pushed hard, including the turbo. With any engine rebuild, something catastrophic could go wrong, putting you back to square one. And then your left staring at a turbo with a chunk of money invested in it that could otherwise go towards getting the engine back up and running. When you get to the point you want to push for more, you can make the decision then to swap out the turbo for something else or see what Taiwan's finest can pump out. I'd opt for swapping it out if it was me, because after all the hard work that's been put in i would want it to perform as good as my budget allows. If i left the cheap turbo on I'd be haunted with "what ifs". And i'd still have a proven backup unit if anything was to fail in the future
The problem being an eBay turbo isn't a particular brand, so there's loads of different ones out there, some alrite some totally shocking - it's abit of a gamble. Buy a Holset/Garrett/BW you know what you're getting, plus if it go's pop then you've no problem sending it off for a rebuild.
and 50% chance the bearings explode and shit a bunch of metal fragments down the oil return, straight into the sump.
Benrice, The possibility of going back to square one certainly is one of the biggest worries of mine haha. starting to lean towards having the car off the road for longer and saving funds for proper gear.. /:
If the twins are still working i would slam them back and enjoy the car while they last or till you have funds for a proper setup. Its lots of time and money to make a turbo setup good and If you only want a bit more power I wouldnt bother yet. Talk about exhaust manifold, wastegate, boost controll, custom downpipe, exhaust, intercooler, oil feed/return, intercooler piping, tunable ecu, tune, perhaps injectors, Fuel pump and clutch and then we get to the turbo itself. After spending a few thousand on other parts saving hundred or two on getting a gamble turbo (which could blow after a few miles and you lose your savings or worst case ruin your whole engine) over something reliable isnt a worthwile gamble imo. And without good supporting mods I dont think the the cheap turbo would be much of an upgrade Can you up the boost on the twins to get a bit more out of them?
Thebe, youre talking alot of sense here. yeah the cars already got alot of supporting mods as it was drifted in japan , the standard turbos are upscaleable but theyve developed play now and i hate everything about them hahaa, I think im likely going to just grin and bear it and put them back on though. ...for the time being
My friend has an ebay T3/T4 hybrid on his boosted b16. Thing gets abused and 2 stepped all the time. To the point where the heat from the 2 step killed his aem wideband lambda. TWICE. Still has zero play, no smoke or anything. From personal experience dealing with turbos, as long as the core is well balanced there shouldn’t be any issues at all. If your not sure its balanced bring it to a local turbo shop for them to check the balance and balance it if need be, it’s not too expensive. Many ebay turbos get trash talked just because they aren’t mainstream brands like garrett, holset, precision and so on, but I’ve personally not seen one die. Buy it, check if its balanced, if it is you should be fine. Make sure oil supply is good, water supply is good (if necessary) and you’ll be golden.
