wondering if any of you guys have used the apex performance s400 billit turbo's on ebay

seems like a good deal I have ben thinking about an upgrade from my tc78 and seen there s474 billit t4 turbo.

it is a 74-101 mm compresser billit 11 blade
77.5-87 turbine
t4

any feedback will be appreciated.

 

ForcedFed86 runs one of their turbos.

It seems they take older BW units and rebuild them. They're probably getting them for next to nothing and rebuilding them before slapping on billet wheels and race covers and reselling them.

I have one of these billet S474s, the exact one you're looking at. The only thing I've noticed is that the center section is a good bit longer than a regular BW. Its an older center section but should get the job done.

 

I would use Lil Johns Motorsports Solutions and Forced Inductions. Sponsor of this site and will help you after the sale as well.

 

My buddy just bought on of their Billet S480's for his 2JZ project. Doubt it will see a motor for a LONG time though. Im hoping to borrow it to see if it fits on my car, Ill get some pics of it. But yes Forcefed runs their Billet 76mm 11 blade? He picked up power from his cast 75mm (obviously) I dont think he has had any issues with it.

Jay

 

The rebuilds are based on genuine BW S410 cartridges. (or so they told me) These have a larger 77/87 turbine wheel and unfortunately a smaller 2.5” discharge compressor cover. (76mm and up anyway. He also sells race covers for them). Apex rebuilds use a 360* thrust bearing too, which is a nice upgrade. My unit looked top notch and hasn’t given me any problems yet.

I went from the small cast S475 1.10 T4 with the 83/74 exh wheel. To the 7 blade billet S476 Apex, 1.25AR 86/77 exh. wheel.

I picked up 5ish mph at the same boost level. With no other changes. The cast S475 stopped making big gains on my 5.3 setup over 23ish psi. The Apex unit made big gains up to 25ish lbs. Never turned it up past there.

I think their billet 11 blade "S474" (74.5mm compressor, just like the cast “S475”) would be the unit to try for 4.8/5.3 guys. It has the larger compressor housing we are used to seeing on the S400 based turbos along with the larger 77/87 wheel and 1.25 T4 housing option. HPranch picked one of these up but unfortunately wrecked the car just after install. I’d really like to see how one of these performs on the baby LS engines.


Couple things to note/watch out for…

I found some polishing compound behind the silencer ring that had a few metal shavings stuck in it from when the housing was machined.

Removing the compressor silencer ring was a bastard. The steel pins have to be drilled out of the alum. housing. I ended up with larger holes than I wanted drilling these out by hand. (I’d suggest a drill press)

They require a deep threaded fitting on the oil feed. Standard depth fittings leaked on mine initially. When I mentioned this to Apex, they sent me the correct fitting free of charge.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Borg-Warner-...-/221631393796

I'd like to see someone try their Garrett GTA50 billet 83mm on a 6.0 too... I'm told he can get a 1.29AR T6 for it as well.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Garrett-Turb...-/221627018435

 

Their machining of the backplate to match the wheel is terrible. The centersections they claim are genuine borg do not have a genuine borg part number on them.

There are much better quality units out there.... I can have you a unit built with the same compact compressor cover they offer and there wont be any questions about its performance and machining quality.

 

All may be true... Only reporting my experience with the one turbo I purchased from them.

Are there better performing units out there at a competitive price though?

Nearest I can tell the small cast S475 with a T4 is $850+shipping. This unit was $900 shipped and I gained roughly 5mph over the cast unit with no other changes made. IMO that's a healthy gain. If I had to pick between the two I'd go wiht the Apex unit. Which is not to say a better (more expensive) turbo wouldn't have gained more...

 

Doing a 5.3 stock bottom end with stock heads one of martins new 4.8/5.3l stage 2 cam, ls1 intakes etc. ordered a s476r with billet wheel and the compact housing from apex turbos and we will see what kind of power it will put down. I'm sure there is plenty of boost there to Gernade the motor with out breaking a sweat. I liked the polished housing on them and compact. Can't beat the price for there turbos.

 

Sounds like you need to be very careful having to find metal shavings. I am all for saving a buck, but on the 10+ borg turbos I have used over the years on various builds, I have never had one fail and never seen any issues with production. I can't imagine having to go through and drill out stuff just to check to see if a brand new turbo was good....not sure what the silencer ring is. Pics would be great.

 

It was a very small amount, I doubt it would have damaged anything. Not making excuses for them though. I informed the seller of it and that I wasn’t pleased. Probably why they sent me a free fitting.

I always pop off the housings off and look things over. You could have found and cleaned the debris out of it without removing the silencer ring. It’s purpose is to quiet down the turbo. I could have left it on but I like the turbo “whine”. It wouldn’t be an issue on the larger covers, they do not have the silencer ring.

Here are pics of mine with and without the ring. you can see the drilled out holes on the lower picture.

 

Ah ok, I would have thought that to be some sort of bell mouth or something, haha. None of mine ever had that.

 

I bought the 11 blade billet wheel "s471". On the listing it instructed to request your desired A/R along with allowing 2-3 days to ship. 10/3/14 I purchased it and requested a 1.1 A/R. No response. 10/9/14 Asked to be notified when the turbo shipped and to include tracking number of available. He said will do. 10/20/14 Asked for an update on the status of my order. Got no response. 10/21/14 I inquired on the status of my order again. He informed me that he was waiting on the cover to be polished. I received the turbo 10/30/14 with a .90 A/R and notified him of the mistake. He offered to send me the correct turbine housing. 11/18/14 I sent a email inquiring about the replacement turbine housing. I got nothing. 11/19/14 I resent the email. He sent this "Hey sorry about that I have the housing here the note got buried on my desk I’ll get it out to you today!" 11/26/14 I finally received the correct turbine housing. So all in all it took almost 2 months to get what I ordered. I had been super flexible with him. The last thing I wanted was a slapped together turbo. I just didn't want to tarnish his image. But all it takes is a little communication goes a long ways. But after it was all said and done he offered no partial refund or even a simple thank you for my patience. He did give plenty of excuses and said sorry once. The customer service is lack luster if there's any at all. They don't answer/return calls. They don't really respond to ebay messages either. I had to got out of my way to find a email to attempt to contact them. Even then it's like pulling teeth to get a response. So if you want to take the chance on waiting for months for your unit, go for it. My unit appears to be nicely constructed but I haven't ran it yet. So long story short price=good, unit=good (appears to be), service=terrible.

 

Here's a pic of my unit being mocked up in my build.

 

I agree, 2 months is nutty! I spoke with owner a while back and asked him why he didn't become a vendor on some of the popular LS sites. He told me he was a one man operation and didn't have the resources to keep multiple units in stock. He builds a couple units and puts them on EBay. If the buyer happens to want something he doesn't have in stock it has to be ordered. If it were me, I would list the turbo "as built". If a different housing was wanted there would be "x" amount of a delay in the order. I wanted the 1.25 housing and waited a week for it to come in before my turbo shipped. Sounds like he may also be outsourcing a lot with the polishing and what not. Maybe even overseas, which would explain the ridiculous wait time. I know HPranch got his right away with no problems. Luck of the draw I guess