How bad are chinese turbos?
Thread Starter
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 1,959
Likes: 4
From: The trailer park
How bad are chinese turbos? Buddy of mine is looking at an eBay setup for his 5.0 mustang, he had a powerdyne on it before, and is looking to go turbo. He showed me this and asked me what I thought, i didnt' know what to tell him, besides you usually get what you pay for. These have to be chinese turbos, and im sure the manifold tubing gauge is thin, anyone have any experience? if you go by Garrett's chart, these are ball bearing, water cooled turbos. (they've got the little brass neck coming out of the compressor housing, water inlet, looks like they're water cooled 
)
what goes wrong on these things? I know that the manifolds can crack with time, but as far as the turbos go.. catastrophic failure? seizure? can you replace them with true garrett internals? you see lots of this kind of thing, even some that say garrett a/r (air research ) for alot less than they should go for. how does the whole knockoff thing work ?
oh, here's the auction
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Musta...47980351QQrdZ1
) what goes wrong on these things? I know that the manifolds can crack with time, but as far as the turbos go.. catastrophic failure? seizure? can you replace them with true garrett internals? you see lots of this kind of thing, even some that say garrett a/r (air research ) for alot less than they should go for. how does the whole knockoff thing work ?
oh, here's the auction
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Musta...47980351QQrdZ1
If your going to go Turbo go with quality. It will ended costing more $$$ and causing more problems than just go ahead and getting the nice stuff first. trust I have been there done that go with a known name 
looks like a normal turbo with internal wastegate, not watercooled. Nothing special. I actully would buy this kit anyways if i had a 5.slow
Nothing is there to contest to quality, but i have seen worse products work very well. It just seems everyone here on ls1 tech has the WORST luck with these things. Go to turbomustangs.com and it is a different story.
Nothing is there to contest to quality, but i have seen worse products work very well. It just seems everyone here on ls1 tech has the WORST luck with these things. Go to turbomustangs.com and it is a different story.
Originally Posted by 67RSCamaroVette
that's what i'm thinking, but how do I explain it in black and white to the guy. If it was me i wouldnt hesitate.
Black and white...hmmmm...I think a decent analogy would be comparing Snap on tools to Harbor Freight.
I think the worst that could happen would be the compressor wheel hitting the housing and sending metal into the engine. That would probably be bad.
I think the worst that could happen would be the compressor wheel hitting the housing and sending metal into the engine. That would probably be bad.
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Originally Posted by DrTurbo
That kit and turbo are made by SSautochrome. Type that into the search engine on pretty much any board and you will see the overwhelming response.....
well no one is going to go all over the internet and scream at their sucess with a part... but if something goes wrong, of course the entire internet will know because they will make a monster deal out of things going wrong, not right.
They actully have a much higher sucess rate tahn failure. Just people dont feel the need to scream about how well it works, only how bad it dont.
A lot of ssautochrome turbos have a different compresser housing now and the case spliting issue seems to have been solved.
Look on turbomustangs. Half those people are using them and I have not read about one failure outside of the few cases that were spammed all over the net.
If it is his "nice" ride then i would not recommend it. But if it is his cheap toy then I say use them. Just put a intercooler between the turbo and intake to help catch anyhting if they scatter. Should be alright.
Originally Posted by Dragframe
If it is his "nice" ride then i would not recommend it. But if it is his cheap toy then I say use them. Just put a intercooler between the turbo and intake to help catch anyhting if they scatter. Should be alright.
Originally Posted by 350SS
The kit ended up selling for 695$ plus 89$ shipping. For that amt of money i cant imagine why u wouldnt give it a try. Worst thing that happens is u threw that money away. All u gotta do is weld up some exhaust and IC pipin along wit one of SSautochromes intercoolers and give it a whirl. Makes me wish i had a 5.0 GL
John
John
Originally Posted by 99SS-T
The kit ended up selling for 695$ plus 89$ shipping. For that amt of money i cant imagine why u wouldnt give it a try. Worst thing that happens is u threw that money away. All u gotta do is weld up some exhaust and IC pipin along wit one of SSautochromes intercoolers and give it a whirl. Makes me wish i had a 5.0 GL
John
John
TECH Apprentice
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 363
Likes: 0
From: Blackwood, NJ
Dude, stay away from chinese turbos.
http://www.differentracing.com/multi...ath/index.html
http://www.differentracing.com/multi...t/turbo_drama/
http://www.differentracing.com/multi...ath/index.html
http://www.differentracing.com/multi...t/turbo_drama/
Originally Posted by XxGarbSxX
Dude, stay away from chinese turbos.
http://www.differentracing.com/multi...ath/index.html
http://www.differentracing.com/multi...t/turbo_drama/
http://www.differentracing.com/multi...ath/index.html
http://www.differentracing.com/multi...t/turbo_drama/
lol... scurred? What if i told you there were name brand turbos that have scattered before??? would you tell everyone in the world to not buy them?
You get what you pay for, but they are not built as bad as you think. I owned one... ask me. But they are no name brand... but they work.
Those chinese turbos are crap, i know somone who bought a kit for his imort and the turbo seized after teh second start up. Also i seen allot of them failing and such somwere on the net. I would stay away from those.
Please buy turbos from our advertisers, guys like Forced Inductions seem pretty solid and I hear they have good service/warranty follow-up.
I don't mind buying stuff on eBay below $100, I will go higher if I know the person or the shop or they have a ton of excellent feedback.
I don't mind buying stuff on eBay below $100, I will go higher if I know the person or the shop or they have a ton of excellent feedback.
