Been looking at the ebay turbo headers. I have been thinking this might be a great way to build an FI motor for relatively cheap plus it will save me some fab work.

With these headers can you still run the factory A/C? Because i thought i had read with the truck manifold kits you will not be able to run a/c.

Are these headers good performance wise? I know they won't be as durable as a cast manifold against cracks etc... but the car is a weekend driver seeing little use.

Does the dump tube simply route down and hook into where most exhaust meet after the Y pipe?

Has anyone ran these and is there anything else i need to look out for? Will i still need to move the radiator forward for more turbo room? What are they good for power wise? I'd love to get over 600 rwhp, will be running it on a larger forged motor. not sure what size i will go with yet, and will be running e85.

I had been thinking i would go the procharger route as i hate turbo lag, but seems like this is a much more inexpensive route. I was wondering if anyone has used a variable vain turbo on an ls1 to really minimize turbo lag and spool time?

thanks for any and all help you can give me in this project. Would like to get started on it soon.

 

Ebay kit is junk. It will crack and will be a headache to put on since you will be modifying it to get it to fit.

A t76 turbo has virtually no lag on a 5.7 ls1 or 6.0 lq4.

600rwhp is easily attainable with the right setup. Here's a friend of mines setup I spec'd for him.

Stock lq4
EPP cam and springs
ls6 intake
Kytp turbo kit
6 spd
t76 turbo

It ended up making 503 rwhp at 6.5 psi on pump gas. There is still a little tweaking that needs to be done

 

dont do it! like stated they will crack and fitment will most likely be ****. a budget supercharger build it a lot easier than a "budget" turbo build.

 

do a search. i am selling a complete front mount kit

 

They crack???

 

Ive never heard of them cracking. I ran the ebay kit last year with very little problem. Most of my problems lied in the initial install and trying to figure out what went where and in what order. The clamps that come with em arent that great either. It does keep A/C

For the price, I was very happy with them.

 

I gotta watch how well the welds are and material they are made out of. I'd stay away though. Inless it's a name brand company selling them

 

If nothing else, they definetly are that. I'm into my setup for approx $2k for everything

Yup, one of the few setups that do...main reason that I personally chose this setup.


Nobody's really reported many cracking issues, but you may want to rig up a turbo brace just for a preventative measure.

Yup...search "eBay kit" or "ptk ebay kit" and you'll come up with a ton of pics


Fitment seems to be a 50/50 issue. I had HORRIBLE issues with fitment, although some have had none whatsoever. The downpipe is one of the potential issues for big power, the kit runs a 3" downpipe which could limit you. I ended up fabbing a downpipe that runs under the K and was pretty happy with it...althought I recently pulled the entire exhaust off and am now running about 12" of downpipe which sounds aawweessoooooome


Granted, I have a 3k stall converter, but I have no freaking lag whatsoever. It'll be less expensive, but require a ton more work and potentially require exstensive modification to install at all, let alone live with. Do a lot of research on here before you pull the trigger...

 

For the ebay kit bashers, have you ever seen the kit?? I personally have and the quality looked pretty good. All the welds were really well done. I have not heard of any of them cracking. As stated earlier, I would definitely fab up some sort of brace for the turbo to provide some support. I think the 3" downpipe will still support upwards of 900-1000 hp. I think there was a ForcedInductions.com LT1 car that made in the 900 rwhp range w/ a 3" dp. Back pressure starts to climb at these levels though... The kit does retain a/c.

 

I was thinking the exact same thing, is that if the headers aren't strong enough to support the turbo and crack i can easily make a brace to support the weight. Then i wouldn't see any reason why they would crack as they aren't supporting the weight of the turbo.

Nighthawk, you stated you had horrible fitment issues the first time. What did you all have to modify to make them fit properly? Is it something simple like a few cuts here and there, then weld it up and it is easy the next time? (maybe have a build thread i could look at?)

I'm really starting to lean toward this ebay turbo kit as i love building my own kits like this, but really didn't want to loose A/C with truck manifolds.

What are some good turbo's i should be looking for to make big hp with minimul turbo lag. I would want a good turbo with room to grow, as i know myself and i know once i feel 600hp i will want to turn it up more, however i hate turbo lag so i don't want to go too big. Also what a/r ratio do a lot of guys run? I live at about 4500ft and the elevation only goes up from there so should i get a tighter a/r?

This will be going on an auto car. Does a higher stall help reduce turbo lag? i have driven a 3500 tci stalled car and didn't really care much for how it drove. So i will likely do a 3000 or so stall. Do turbo's like stall so they are on boost quicker???

Also with these ebay turbo manifolds, do i still need to cut the cross brass and mount the radiator verticle? Or install an aftermarket radiator like i have seen many do. I'd really rather not cut the cross brace, is it possible to run a smaller radiator with different mounts?

With the ebay turbo manifold do i need a tubular K member, or will the stock one work and have enough clearance?

Now for engine setups for turbo's. I have built turbo kits before but never on a ls1. Will the cams that work on supercharger setups also work good for turbo's? Or should i get a cam spec'd out specifically for a turbo? I'd also like to get a cam that lopes as nothing sounds better in my opinion, is it possible to have a turbo cam with a lopy idle?

Also what compression raito should i shoot for on a turbo engine? I had read prochargers like higher compression aroudn 10:1, would that be too much for a turbo engine? I'd like to be able to turn the boost down and run on pump fuel if i have to incase i'm on road trip and can't find e85. But will ideally set everything up to run e85.

Okay this might be a stupid quesiton but i searched ebay for turbo manifolds for an ls1 camaro and came up with several different brands. I'm guessing this is why some fit and some don't. also probably why some say they crack and some are fine. Which brand or seller is selling the best kit to use???? I want a complete hot side kit. I figure i will make my own tubing for intercooler etc... unless one has a kit that includes all of this, as it will make life easier on me.

Sorry for the long post and tons of questions, but thanks again guys for all the help and advice. If you have any more pointers please let me know.

 

I had to open up the bolt holes on the driver's side header to get it to fit on the engine in the first place...then I had problems getting the headers and crossover all lined up to where I could bolt up the junction pipe/flange. It took me forever, had to loosen everything up and continually mess with it until I could get it to line up enough to even get the junction on at all. After that, the downpipe was a gigantic pain in the ball sack...I went through three different versions before I finally fabbed up a custom pipe that went under the K. I ended up taking even that up, and now I just run a 12" open dumped downpipe. I use a turbo that the kit wasn't designed for, so I can't really fault it for the downpipe being an issue.

I didn't do a build thread because there had been so many already, but if you search by threads I've started you'll come up with a couple that may be of insight...particualary the one about what I found when I hacked off my wastegate dump pipe, I would STRONGLY suggest that you run an open wastegate just because of that.

Another pro of this kit is that you can leave the factory radiator completely untouched, although I would run a turbo blanket and/or fab a heatsheild like I did since the turbo is literally inches away from the rad. Pics of that are on my fquick page.

For the money they're going for these days, it's not a bad deal to grab one even if you have to hack the downpipe and make your own like I did. Keeping the A/C is huge for some (like myself) and this is one of the few setups that allows for that.

 

My problems were with the initial install as well. It's all covered in my build thread.

 

I'm thinking of trying this setup after the first of the year.

 

Reviving......Does anyone know where you can get JUST the headers from? And for those that HAVE installed them, how much of a pita was it to change the plugs?

Thanks!!

 

Why would you just want the headers?

And the plugs werent too bad, except number 3 and 5(or was it 1 and 3?) took me about a half hour to get out.

 

I just realized they don't both face forward. I thought they did. My bad.

 

Before you buy this just know that you can use a C6 Vette Manifold (Not Z06) and a truck manifold and retain AC.

http://www.theturboforums.com/smf/in...topic=116381.0

 

Thanks for the link, not sure i'm keeping the a/c or not though. I have thought about it and read up on that manifold combo and going with v'bands if i do.

 

this looks like a good option if you have a welder and have time to fab up everything. I agree easier with the stock manifolds, but for the money the ebay stuff doesn't seem so bad.