Forums/Z31P/z31-performance-upgrade-forums engine-mechanical-aa/Cheap ebay turbo lasting over two years now???
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SATAN: (2009-12-15 04:42:41)
This guy has been running one since September of 2007. It is now December of 2009. Supposedly he has not had ONE problem with this $300 GT45 y2004k ebay turbo.
http://www.theturboforums.com/smf/index … ic=96046.0
Dr. Pepper PhD.: (2009-12-15 04:55:38)
That or he sells them
Guest: (2009-12-15 05:03:13)
it seems to be a crap shoot with the ebay turbos.
SATAN: (2009-12-15 05:12:04)
Thats kinda what I thought too… :fear
Rat1314: (2009-12-15 05:17:28)
I've seen a few cars around here with ebay turbos and they have been going for a couple of years.
bleakdragonmage: (2009-12-15 05:33:36)
I've heard its hit or miss. Some run really well and go for thousands of miles. Others like a trip around the block and its first time in boost and go kaboom. It probably has to do with poor quality control, which is why the costs are low.
So, the article doesnt surprise me, but neither do the ones about them grenading on their first trip down the street.
Andrew84zx: (2009-12-15 06:19:01)
prolly runs like 2lbs of boost.....or never drives the car
bleakdragonmage: (2009-12-15 06:46:21)
Careless: (2009-12-15 06:58:32)
There's someone I know that has a "china housing" on a garret center section pushing 15psi on an RB25 with no issues thus far.
I think if I were to buy a dirt-cheap china-bay turbo, I would at least have it inspected by someone with a good reputation. Regardless of whether they tell you that it's "ok" or "fairly good", you can ask them to put certain parts from a similar turbo (and they should know what will fit, or how to make it fit), like step-gap shaft sealing rings and full-face 360* thrust plates and good journal bearings and compressor seals at a fair price.
Also inspecting the compressor wheels and shafts for dimples and integrity of the metal would be a good idea. Or you could even get a wheel from another turbo that comes on a factory car that is the same size and have it lightly blasted with delicate media and installed for factory reliability of those parts.
I would only buy one of those turbos as a good base to start if I had someone I trusted with access to uprated parts to make it similar to it's interchanged or claimed turbo type. And only if it came within the half-price mark.
But lets face it, on an all out build, I wouldn't chance that anyway. half price on turbo, or full price on engine when something gets ingested.
Careless: (2009-12-15 07:08:32)
This looks to be a "Master Power" turbo which is a big name brand in Puerto Rico.
A side note: The south american drag/horsepower monster scene is bigger than Canada and 2nd only to the US in the western hemisphere. The do have some crazy cars there… probably many using these Master Power kits. But they are not as cheap as the china bay ones. Still cheaper than the big name brands though.
Rick88ss: (2009-12-15 07:12:04)
Master Power turbos aren't bad. I think they're made or assembled in Brazil
Careless: (2009-12-15 07:28:37)
currently looking at this one in their lineup
http://www.partsexpressonline.com/cart/ … -Trim.html
Timbo_021: (2009-12-15 12:20:56)
Mine must be going close to 2 years now.Monsta Performance To4E running on 14psi, used to be driven daily but no so much now. Probly done about 25,000k's now. Had it wound out to 20psi at one stage and it didn't seem bothered by it.
NIVO: (2009-12-15 13:53:24)
SPA and Master power are actually a step above XSpower and SSautochrome china ones.
Even the T67 from CXracing is way better then some of those $299 turbos.
hypcodiiihop: (2009-12-15 18:53:14)
I know of a local civic that ran an ebay "70 trim" special, made 46X hp and ran that way for almost 2 years. Guy decided to part it out, so who knows.
There are tons of similar stories, just too spotty for anyone with real interest in making power to take the risk. Why gamble 300+ away when saving for another 2 weeks or so can get you a reliable nice used turbo, or even less popular but new turbo such as a BW or a holset.
Racinjitter: (2009-12-16 00:10:48)
In my personal experience, some ebay turbos will make good power and work. My ebay turbo does not make any boost. [archived image: frown.png] A good friend of mine is running a 60trim ebay turbo, first on his 2.2L sonoma engine, then the rb20det in his sonoma and now with his rb25det in the sonoma. He hasn't had any issues with that turbo. I think with my turbo it has the stock turbine wheel in a P trim housing. I can hear it spinning (not fast) but never makes any boost. I will know more when I pull it out before winter is over.
SATAN: (2009-12-16 02:04:17)
You of all people, I would not expect to have heard you were running an ebay turbo…
Careless: (2009-12-16 03:49:31)
[quote]SATAN wrote:
In my personal experience, some ebay turbos will make good power and work. My ebay turbo does not make any boost. [archived image: frown.png] A good friend of mine is running a 60trim ebay turbo, first on his 2.2L sonoma engine, then the rb20det in his sonoma and now with his rb25det in the sonoma. He hasn't had any issues with that turbo. I think with my turbo it has the stock turbine wheel in a P trim housing. I can hear it spinning (not fast) but never makes any boost. I will know more when I pull it out before winter is over.
You of all people, I would not expect to have heard you were running an ebay turbo…
It was sold right here on Z31P as a GT35. booooooooooooooo! hissssssssss!!!! shame on us. :-(
Careless: (2009-12-16 03:49:54)
oh rearrrrrry
Racinjitter: (2009-12-16 04:03:51)
[quote]Careless wrote: [quote=SATAN]
In my personal experience, some ebay turbos will make good power and work. My ebay turbo does not make any boost. [archived image: frown.png] A good friend of mine is running a 60trim ebay turbo, first on his 2.2L sonoma engine, then the rb20det in his sonoma and now with his rb25det in the sonoma. He hasn't had any issues with that turbo. I think with my turbo it has the stock turbine wheel in a P trim housing. I can hear it spinning (not fast) but never makes any boost. I will know more when I pull it out before winter is over.
You of all people, I would not expect to have heard you were running an ebay turbo…
It was sold right here on Z31P as a GT35. booooooooooooooo! hissssssssss!!!! shame on us. :-(
LOL, it is not that turbo I bought from NismoKid… That turbo is sold again. This is the turbo that I received with the purchase of the car that is bad. No biggie, it is getting the 35r I have collecting dust on my parts shelf.
Mitchd03: (2009-12-16 08:27:24)
I've got an ebay 60 trim T04E/T3 kicking about my bedroom, i'll get it checked out by a turbo shop and if they green light it then I'll run with it. If they say no, its gunna explode, I'll get a Garrett center section wedged inbetween the housings.
If I had a car with a T3 flange that I didnt care about, I'd stick it on there, but I'd rather not plug it into my zed and risk my motor trying to compress bits of compressor wheel.
I bought the turbo when I got bored with jumping my $400 hyundai, was going to do a junkyard megasquirt setup and see how long it would last (and be able to say "its got a T4 turbo, NOS fogger system and a standalone fuel management system" rofl) but I ended up buying another car instead.
NIVO: (2009-12-16 12:23:53)
[quote]Careless wrote:
SPA and Master power are actually a step above XSpower and SSautochrome china ones.
Even the T67 from CXracing is way better then some of those $299 turbos.
oh rearrrrrry
There are a few online places that you can take your XS Power turbos and SSautochrome ones and have them rebuilt/Balanced.
The SPA turbos are South Americas/Central Americas "Garrett" Brand that is what is well known. They are real turbos that are reliable, I've seen them used on cars pushing 800whp on single and twin set ups. Only seen 3 master powers but none granaded on the dyno…
Had a Honda kid wishing to get 600whp, asked him his set up then when he mentioned an ebay turbo I said you sure you want to push this thing? he said oh yeah it's been in there for 2k miles. well 19psi and the shaft broke on the turbo, car made 423whp and a rebuild was in order.
Now This year CX Racing released a T67 type turbo, costs more then the rest of their line, why? because they use real parts so it will not fall apart in their own cars. the turbo comes balanced, can you believe it?!! In total I have played around with 9 cars with this turbo, 2 guys I know personally and those turbos are still working. possibly been over 10k miles on them and 22/24psi.
This is the turbo they have:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/T67-Turb … 2c5238cfbd
Shady195: (2009-12-16 15:37:47)
I've acctualy heard a lot of good things about CX Racing Turbos..
A local honda guy around here who is acctualy very respected, his brothers car has been running an ebay turbo pushing 25+PSI and his car ran an 11.2 iirc.. been running this setup for 2 years now with out issue.
A few 240 guys have been running the cxracing turbo kits as well for quite a bit now without issue..
Its still kinda shady but from what I hear, CXRacing's turbos are from china or wherever, but they do quality control and check turbos at their place in CA..
How much of that is true i do not know.
Careless: (2009-12-16 15:43:17)
NIVO, do you know of any turbo they carry that is more along the 400-450 hp mark. Seems to me that a 550 hp is a tad higher than I would even leave headroom for. I would ask them, but they're not going to flat-out tell me which turbos of theirs suck and which ones are good.
[quote]NIVO wrote: [quote=Careless]
1fast s13: (2010-01-22 13:22:14)
i got a friend that bought a t3/t4 ball bearing turbo (50trim) for 180.00 + shipping from cx racing and his runing 14lbs on a sr20 and that thing its really fast he's pushing like around 350 to the wheels with it. he drift with it all day long
Tempestas: (2010-01-23 06:00:28)
funny… the cx racing turbos… every shot that shows one installed on a vehicle is a different turbo, looks real garrett, but then the off car pics are the knock off turbo. sneaky sneaky.
New 2 Z: (2010-01-23 13:55:52)
I have a ebay turbo T3/T4
it's lasted almost 8 - 7 months on my car, no problems yet with the turbo. still spins like it was new and spools nicely.
Black 89Turbo: (2010-01-25 17:47:25)
I know so many people with knock offs.. i only know one that blew up. It was a girls car and she just has really really bad luck lol. I rolled a chinabay turbo for a while on a stock 4g block pushed 37psi :lol:. i mean there cheap so just push them till they cry. that was back 3 years ago i beleive and the turbo is still good but sitting on a floor in someones garage.
1fast s13: (2010-01-27 03:12:30)
i think this video is intereting it looks like it pulls really hard for a d16
[http://[video=youtube_share;pVgxtqnv03o http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVgxtqnv03o[/video]] [archived image: yt_logo_rgb_light.png]]