blades11b

iTrader: (1)

So after looking at rear mounts i decided against them. My car is lowered and i already have issues with my exhaust rubbing on some driveways so i want to go with the APS system.
Some people are saying they have issues with them and wha not. What issues are there? ive looked the kit up and it looks very clean and well made from all the pictures ive seen which is how i like to do things. What are you guys running into? Is there another kit thats more complete or better made? i have to keep my A/C (i live in the desert). Im also going to be combining this kit with some 6.0 truck heads and a trubo cam. what kind of power can i be looking at at say 8-10 PSI?

MY99TAWS6

iTrader: (3)

Lots of threads if you want to search. But ok here goes.
Older kits had inlets that collapsed under boost think past 10psi or so. Base kit is 7.5psi.
Fix is to buy upgraded aps inlets but woudl think the newest kits have them.
Or just buy 3 inch oval exhaust pipe and stent the inlet tubes.

Sway bar. The sway bar can hit the intercooler piping. Especially on lowered cars.
Solution space the sway bar and shorten the endlinks or possibly put silicione where they hit ,cut the pipe and put in silicone sections. I will be using the spacer thing first.
I went to 32mm sway bar and put my 35 mm hotchkis on my 96z. I am also raising my car back to stock height. Mostly because of our roads.

Some guys have oil from the turbos not necessarily bad turbos but possibly the gravity setup dont' work that well. LG who is expert here at upgrading the aps goes with scavenger pumps on the aps kit. I bought one and will be installing it. I think am blowing some oil out under boost. Smell some and my oil does seem to be going down pretty quick. So will install the scavenger pump and hope it fixes things up.

Some guys got dud turbos.I got one that leaked coolant into my oil. M solution and thank god caught the problem in first minutes of new engine start up was to run oil cooling only.The oil cooling is critical ,water cooling is not. Many mits guys run these turbos with the water ports not connected to water.
Peter from APS did tell me to send in my dud and they would look at it,even off warranty. But have been too busy driving my car so will worry about it end of season.
I plan likely on getting LG upgrades they are pricey but sound top quality and will give more power, carry top end power farther on an engine like mine .

Overheating. Up till today had none. I have driven the car on pretty hot days likely 85 degrees with no problems. But today had my air on and usually don't run the air.
It was maybe 80 today tops. But did overheat ,pulled over and shut the car down ,no apparent damage done.I will be installing bigger rad and high flow water pump likely over winter.I don't have to drive the car on really hot days but am a bit paranoid now. I was doing some tuning though so might have leaned it down a bit or maybe took out a bit too much timing. Not sure .Put things back to former settings and drove home and temp never went over 190 but also didn't use the air.
I have 160 stat, redline water wetter,set fans to come on like at 170 both fans.
Unless therm is sticking or have other problem like head gasket.
I am at standard boost right now. Actually have a tuning issue or maybe plug or wire or something and haven't been able to go wot so far. Car is still pretty fast at part throttle actually and have no traction in first and second really. I do have a built 408 though not a 346. And my engine is powerful even with no boost going into it.

Most of the aps kit is high quality. Nice exhaust manifolds, downpipes, intercooler piping, intercooler, overflow tank, washer tank. Kit was very complete, fit decently, manual was very good. install is extensive and long. Doable at home but takes some skills. the bumpers do have to be cut some but its pretty stealth when its done.
I didn't like the supplied recirced blow offs so bought some pricey turbosmart supersonics non recirced. They sound good.

Also cooked up plug wires went to pricey granatelli super high temp wires .They seem to work fine.
Few things would maybe do. Ceramiic coat the exhaust housings. Ceramic coat the exhaust manifolds. Aps should offer this as optional. And the supplied clamps are not great ,some quallity t bolt clamps would be better. Also they should supply spacer kit for the sway or mabye clearance the intercooler pipes or redesign a bit .
The water overflow hose was crap quality installed better one. The oil drain hoses get soft after awhile from heat . I am as said going to scavenger pump likely with stainless and an fittings.

So no kit is perfect and there really aren't any twin kits out there to choose from. I lost 2000 bucks from dealing with a smaller sponsored company on here that went under on me . APS shipped quickly and actually ahead of schedule. Some have had problems with Peter from APS but aside from his sometime habit of being a politician when answering questions I have had no problems in my dealings with him.

There is some doubts though over the base kit turbo quality. They should be bulletproof like aps says in their website if they are truly mits 20gs. I have had lots of mits turbos and they are very good .But there were quite a few bad ones on this forum so a bit leary of that now. The upgraded optional turbos might be better. I got the kit pretty reasonable but still by time add on k member which you have to buy and new ypipe if you don' go to true duals and the scavenger pump and upgraded LG turbos will have a lot more into it. A used aps kit might be best way to go if the price is right then you can upgrade the turbos to lg ones and total won't be too bad. Also you might need to spend more on new rad and high flo water pump. And you also of course need tuning and upgraded fuel system. You can go to single pump likely if you keep the boost down with 60 pound injectors.
You should see around 500 to 550 rwhp or so from the base kit on stockish engine.
There is lots of info and dynos,etc on the aps kit if you do some searching.

trans2000am

iTrader: (49)

dotn waste your money with aps **** they are over priced,cheap *** turbos , cheap inlet ducts,sway bar issues,bad customer service. call up josh at kentucky for a kit. by the time you replace all the junk that they give you in their kit you could buy 2 kits from josh prolly

MY99TAWS6

iTrader: (3)

Josh should offer some twin kits not everyone wants a single. But do think aps needs to step up to the plate better . Every person that got the old kit should get the upgraded inlets free or they should send out stent kits free, ditto on the sway bar thing send out free spacers or different pipes whatever..free . And if they are buying genuine mits 20gs then they should be bulletproof no idea if they got stuck with some chinese knock offs or what the heck happened but its not good for their rep.

gametech

iTrader: (1)

If APS produced a $100 full turbo system that made 12 million HP, I still wouldn't buy from them because of the Dave Inall fiasco. They knowingly employed the most infamous turbo rip-off guy in LS1 history. What makes this truly sad is that they are a knowledgable company, and the previously mentioned employee was once known as a "turbo guru" in this world. I guess I just have a special place on my gun rack for scoundrels and thieves.

trans2000am

iTrader: (49)

he has done a twin kit before im sure he can make 1 if u ask an im sure it will be in the same ball park with aps but with far less issues he actually uses good stuff unlike aps it seems, aps kit does like nice i give that to them but no way in hell would i buy a kit when knowing all of these issues an all they say is order these parts an it will fix it, wasnt they advertising 1000hp kit lol ya how can you get 1k out of those crappy turbos an inlet hoses? ya it has the potential if u spend another 2k prolly

MosesMcgregor

iTrader: (16)

I like my APS kit. Stinted the intake ducts, dont run a front sway bar (didnt before the kit anyway) and its puttin' out plenty of power. I've only got about 2,000 miles on the kit but both of the turbos are holding up just fine so far.

MY99TAWS6

iTrader: (3)

Bad turbos are the biggest problem . Stents cost me like 30 bucks . spacers and shortened endlink will also be cheap fix for sway bar.

I got some spare center sections for pretty cheap and can use them if want to but do want to upgrade now to the LG ones. I paid 5500 shipped for my original kit. Not too bad most twin kits were quite a bit more. Most turbo companies on here have gone bye bye with big money. OFI, Incon, GMR, etc.etc. so always a risk. As said at least APS shipped me product. I don't think its all substandard either. the piping is very nice. exhaust manifolds,most everything but the wild card on the turbos question. I was offered to send mine in for possible replacement and repair even though didn't install my kit till way after warranty period.

But yeah if Josh or someone offers a nice twin kit that can keep the air and give good access to plugs and stuff and no require huge hacking or relocating then it could be a good option for guys that want a twin kit.
Single are simpler and sometimes wish just went with one but have singles on my talons and wanted a twin on my TA.

I am still driving my aps car pretty much daily .Have a couple thousand miles on the kit. I have not had my inlets sucking shut at shipped gate pressure which am still running. I took off my sway bar and don't really miss it that much but am putting one back on shortly. Also going back to stock height. Again sway bar is simple fix anyway.

I have had that turbo putting coolant into my oil but since not running the coolant lines
no problem there. I have got some smoking though and think the gravity system is maybe not the best. I do think that you my oil is minimized by running a quart or so low.
Gravity is simpler but not that great. scavenger pumps are pretty cheap at least.

I did get overheat incident today first one. And was running air .It was not that hot out and was messing with tune a lot so maybe leaned things too much or something and made the car run hotter It was back to normal after reflashed my previous tune but usually don't drive with the air on.

Anyway guess still saying I mostly like my kit. But of course YMMV.
There have been some with next to no problems..Hugger z has lots of miles on his..Kelliente..few others. But others have had problems. Heck early sts kits are pretty junky too .

MY99TAWS6

iTrader: (3)

Any overheating problems on your car? are you running the air much? Anything done to the cooling system?

MosesMcgregor

iTrader: (16)

been in heavy traffic in 90* weather and the temps were running normal. i do have an EWP, jet hot coated the manifolds, turbo housing and run the royal purple additive so i dont know if that is helping but it sure doesnt hurt.

blades11b

iTrader: (1)

well thanks for the info. ill be running in weather hitting 110+ sometimes... so yeah i figured the radiator and water pump would be a must already cuz theres no way im not running the A/C in that weather you will practically die... actually you would its very close to the temps here in Iraq. but anyways off track. so it looks like the kit has some faults ill have to find out if they offer thos upgrades from them now so i dont have to worry about that and see what they say about the turbos.. and ill be doing a scavanger pump also this is good info to know and i do appreciate it

what kind of numbers anyone puting down with 317 heads and cams?

MosesMcgregor

iTrader: (16)

around.

blades11b

iTrader: (1)

great. thats exactly what im looking for. what grade on pump? highest ill be able to get where im at is 91

blades11b

iTrader: (1)

you guys think im gonna have any problem with a stock bottom end running 8-10PSI? if so ill just have to throw more money at it and go forged

calongo_SS

iTrader: (7)

Stock bottom end here, APS twins pushing 10-11 psi, stock heads, small turbo cam=585rwhp through an unlocked 4L80E. Been running for well over a year on pump gas and methanol. I don't drive it much though.

Hugger Z

iTrader: (4)

Stock bottom end here. I think I have been lucky as I have not pushed the turbo's past the 7psi that the kit comes set up at. I have put the most mileage on my kit. I DD the car in the warmer months and since Sept 2007 have put 21,000 miles on my kit. Just drove it 1,000 miles this past weekend on a roadtrip to NY to visit family. Most of the guys that have had problems were pushing the turbo's to higher boost levels. Not all, but most. I believe Louis said pushing them higher was really stressing them with the speeds they were having to spin. You may be OK with the 8-10psi, but I am more than happy at my 7psi. I already have more power than traction.

I KNOW I am near the limit for my stock bottom end. People say they are OK up to around 550hp and I am more like 620hp at the crank when at full boost. I put 538rwhp down last month at a Dyno challenge at a carshow and won! Bunch of mustangs there all in the 3xx and one at 422 so I decided to put mine up as I knew I was higher.

The car rides and drives great. It is normal when driving easily. And if you want an extra kick in the pants, just put your foot down and prepare for the freight train pull of g-forces pushing you into the seat.

Issues: 1) Sway bar contacted the charge pipes. I had dents on both sides from the sway bar contacting the pipes. I have a spacer and shorter end links to take care of that. We'll see what happens when I lower the car. 2) ran hot one day last summer. 95 deg out and had A/C on. Turned off A/C and temp went back down. I kept discovering my coolant was low as well on that trip. Finally figured out the overflow tube was dry rotted and seeping fluid out. Finally caught it dripping when I opened the hood and saw the drip. Changed that hose and that fixed it.

I am running stock boost, racetronix in tank pump, 60lb injectors with a safe 91 octane tune. I only upgraded valvesprings to LS6 ones and pushrods to hardened while I was in there. Turbo's went on at 89k and I rolled 110k this past weekend. I did the install myself in 2.5 weeks in my garage. If you search, you can find my install thread. I took lots of pics along the way.

Overall the kit is very complete and a well built kit. It comes with every nut, bolt, and zip tie you would need to install it. I am happy with the purchase. My goal was a fun, reliable car that could be daily driven and I would say I am there. Granted I still need to eventually rebuild my trans and upgrade the rearend to make everything bulletproof. Hence the reason I am on street tires and not something stickier. Hopefully more upgrades will happen in time or as things wear out.

Nothing is perfect. Just do your research so you know what you are getting into. Good luck.

OUTLAWZ RACING

iTrader: (9)

I have a custom rearmount and lowerd no rubbin issues numbers in the sig just though I would be that *** hat to post about a rearmount lol. Kypt would be your best bet josh can make you anything you want with nice turn around. APS I have no issues with them but there turbos seem to not support the power they claim. There was a ta with the aps kit at the shop where my car was and he ran nines all day with no issues but who knows.

MosesMcgregor

iTrader: (16)

I only have 91 here too, I don't run high boost often though. This is also on a stock bottom end.

MY99TAWS6

iTrader: (3)

Moses or hugger are you seeing any oil under boost? I am smelling and and think seeing some wot. But none the rest of the time.Not much blowby at all from engine either.
I blocked the aps setup into the intake and just running a single breather right now to test if getting oil from the turbos thru the intercooler and into the tb. I did have a bit in my tb so figure if its not coming thru at hose then it must be thru intercooler .and again scavenger pump could help that problem if turbo is ok just not getting all the oil out fast enough.

LG did say he found like 10/12 aps cars needed a scavenger pump so did get one.

Hugger Z

iTrader: (4)

No smoking under boost here unless the car is not warmed up enough and runs really rich. Under normal driving I get into boost a lot just because it't fun and I like to hear the turbo's and I do not see any smoke whatsoever.