thoughts on ebay turbos

[spools420a]

I know most will say junk,trash,dont waste your money but what if you get an ebay turbo and rebuild it right off the bat,Wouldnt that be like having a new turbo for a good price or are most just unbuildable.Anyone buy and rebuild with good results?

[N3cronomicon]

You'd need to get a entirely different center cartridge to get rid of the Chinese junk. At that point might as well buy a legit turbo.

[dorkidori_s13]

ebay turbos are garbage because the materials used throughout the turbo are not QC'd like say Greddy, Garrett or Turbonetics. Name brand turbos are all highly tested before leaving the factory. If clearance or tolerances are even 1/100th off, the turbo is disposed of and doesnt leave period.

when you get into replacing center sections, they wind up costing almost as much as the turbo itself... ball bearing center sections are crazy expensive and having it installed runs a pretty penny as well as its not just a slappy slappy process.

dont cheap out on something as important as what runs your motor! when you spend $1400 on a garrett GT30r, it will work right the first time and every subsequent time you start your car after words. the internals wont go to shit within 2 months, the impeller blades wont shatter sending metal chunks into your motor that will in turn ruin your pistons causing engine failure and most of all, you will be supporting a company that takes its time in R&D and QC making sure your purchase is 100% justified...

but hey, its your car. if you want to run a cheap knock off turbo to save a few hundred dollars on one of the most important aspects of your motor... then in a few months have that cheap turbo blow up and cause thousands of dollars worth of damage to the rest of your engine, then by all means save a few hundred dollars and enjoy rebuilding your motor.

[JBB]

you should probably just lock it up after that response dorkidori, not really much else to be said lol

[dorkidori_s13]

Ill close it if it winds up turning into a flame fest because there is more information that can be added to help dissuade the guy from buying a cheap turbo, i just dont have time to write it all out and i know there are folks on here who can provide technical knowledge that far exceeds what ive written if they so choose to. this is actually a good topic to come up because most 240 kids now tend to see nothing but cheap parts all over the place and its always handy to have truthful and good information put forward instead of "oh its just a piece of shit, dont buy it"

[Frank_Jaeger]

I know most will say junk,trash,dont waste your money but what if you get an ebay turbo and rebuild it right off the bat,Wouldnt that be like having a new turbo for a good price or are most just unbuildable.Anyone buy and rebuild with good results?
Get a Holset in good condition. They're cheap and make good power with OEM reliability. A higher quality aftermarket turbo matched to your setup would provide a better power band, but if you're on a budget a Holset will get the job done.

[Munki]

I would NEVER touch an ebay turbo but I do know one guy who put one on his Honda about 6 years ago and still has it today... He puts maybe 5k miles per year on the civic and rags on the car everytime he drives it.

[jamg]

i have a turbo from these guys- http://jmturbo.com/
they have office in the US. but source their items over seas.

honestly for my application, spending $300 on a 2871 sized turbo is sufficient.

you could go with these guys too- http://www.twistedmotionlv.com/apps/webstore/products

they are based in las vegas, and are also zilvia members.

as for cheap(er) turbos, it really depends on your application for them. they work for me, in my own experience. there's plenty of horror stories but it didn't sway me away.

[brndck]

There are far too many quality items at a budget price for you to need to buy an eBay no-name turbo. It's completely not worth the risk of destroying your entire engine if the inlet wheel frags.

[spooled240]

You can get a brand new Garrett 50 trim t3/t4 off ebay for $600.

[dorkidori_s13]

S15 GT28rs can EASILY make over 300whp... i did it on a S14 turbo with no head work or bottom end work... just FMIC, Aeromotive FPR, Denso Fuel Pump, Power FC Djetro and E85

most 240 guys have this pie in the sky idea of making like 600+HP... anything over 300 to the wheels (not the crank) is just stupid on an S13 and will more than you will ever need. with over 300whp and a proper rear tire setup (not some stupid hellaflush shit) you can EASILY hit high 11s if you know how to drive the car right... which is damn near as fast as a GTR

[Agent S14]

S15 GT28rs can EASILY make over 300whp... i did it on a S14 turbo with no head work or bottom end work... just FMIC, Aeromotive FPR, Denso Fuel Pump, Power FC Djetro and E85

annnnnd i want to this with my s15 sr

[brndck]

Dorki just nailed it. Then add cams and tuning for mid range. I'd go with the new 320lph AEM fuel pump though.

[waxball88]

In a pinch an ebay turbo is not a bad decision to get you by... but the turbo inevitably will fail.
I'd care to see Dorki's performance rap sheet as his claims seem a little far fetched in my experience.
I've ran 2/3 ebay 50 trim turbos for varying lengths (sometimes more than a year) My first turbo broke both the comp and turbine wheel ingesting something, i took two wheels out of another blown ebay turbo, replaced them, and ran the turbo for almost another year as stupid as my 17 year old self was. I've also ran a GT35 style turbo (currently making 400whp on this one, now showing faint signs of smoking). At ~20psi daily they all fail, but the don't catastrophically explode...Not that they couldn't but none of mine have. The seals start to go and you know its time.
All these turbo's i've gotten very cheaply so i've ran them, but its time to finally get this precision 6152 i have rebuilt for longevity as i've dialed in everything else in my set up.

Also food for thought, there is a guy local to us who rebuilds turbos with garrett internals. ~300 bucks for a full rebuild and balance. Many people i know have used him, all have had great results.

[tauntdevil]

I would never use an ebay turbo on something important like your daily or track car but like we got a missile junk car for $400 and used an ebay turbo on it just for the kicks, eventually the engine blew up as we kept crashing the car but not something I would use on anything else other than a junker you dont care about.

[dorkidori_s13]

I'd care to see Dorki's performance rap sheet as his claims seem a little far fetched in my experience.

if by "rap sheet" you mean my old dyno chart... sorry boss, i lost track if it years ago as the last time my 4th 240 was on a dyno was back in 2007. im sure its stuffed away in a box somewhere in my storage room at home, but i really dont care to go looking for it.

my dyno numbers were, i believe, 268hp/256tq to the wheels on a MUSTANG DYNO. converting those numbers over to a DYNOJET readout would be in the 310hp range as dynojets tend to display numbers 12-15% higher (i personally dont like dynojets, but theyre the industry standard for reading horsepower numbers). the tune we set on the dyno was cleaned up on street and the powerband became MUCH stronger once we got it on some asphalt. so my claims are not far fetched and are very believable.

adding a full head package to my S14 turbo along with all the other mods i was running would have easily pushed my dyno numbers well into the 330-350 range. you can only get so much out of stock cams and cam gears.

[spooled240]

You were on E85 also which is a huge factor. I know some guys pushing close to 300 whp on pump gas on t28's no problem.

[Kingtal0n]

S15 GT28rs can EASILY make over 300whp... i did it on a S14 turbo with no head work or bottom end work... just FMIC, Aeromotive FPR, Denso Fuel Pump, Power FC Djetro and E85

most 240 guys have this pie in the sky idea of making like 600+HP... anything over 300 to the wheels (not the crank) is just stupid on an S13 and will more than you will ever need. with over 300whp and a proper rear tire setup (not some stupid hellaflush shit) you can EASILY hit high 11s if you know how to drive the car right... which is damn near as fast as a GTR

Its not really "easy"... E85 is not always applicable in all areas, the fuel mileage will suffer overall, and you also forgot to mention camshafts on your list.

And to top it off, the S15 turbo will not last long at that power level. Its a GT28r not an RS the RS model is an aftermarket procursion capable of 320rwhp aka "disco potatoe" not the same thing as OEM S15 turbo.

not worth pushing those OEM turbochargers through that kind of abuse. I usually recommend people stay around 250rwhp with the OEM S15 turbocharger if you want it to go 100,000 miles.

And to answer the question of the thread, you get what you pay for, usually.

[dorkidori_s13]

Its not really "easy"... E85 is not always applicable in all areas, the fuel mileage will suffer overall, and you also forgot to mention camshafts on your list.

i didnt have cams... stock head and stock block

but i think you missed my post after the one you quoted...

to be honest, there wasnt a huge difference in fuel mileage...i think i dropped a whopping 50 miles per tank, but my car was a weekend driver/track car so i didnt really care about gas mileage. if you wanna go race car, you need to learn to let go of certain things, gas mileage is one of them.

[waxball88]

if by "rap sheet" you mean my old dyno chart... sorry boss, i lost track if it years ago as the last time my 4th 240 was on a dyno was back in 2007. im sure its stuffed away in a box somewhere in my storage room at home, but i really dont care to go looking for it.

my dyno numbers were, i believe, 268hp/256tq to the wheels on a MUSTANG DYNO. converting those numbers over to a DYNOJET readout would be in the 310hp range as dynojets tend to display numbers 12-15% higher (i personally dont like dynojets, but theyre the industry standard for reading horsepower numbers). the tune we set on the dyno was cleaned up on street and the powerband became MUCH stronger once we got it on some asphalt. so my claims are not far fetched and are very believable.

adding a full head package to my S14 turbo along with all the other mods i was running would have easily pushed my dyno numbers well into the 330-350 range. you can only get so much out of stock cams and cam gears.
So where in there did you gain your eBay turbo experience dork
That is the topic were discussing afterall

[dorkidori_s13]

So where in there did you gain your eBay turbo experience dork
That is the topic were discussing afterall

from watching how many of those ebay turbos grenade/fail thru one of my best friends shops here town where all the little boy racers around town who buy cheap parts have their stuff installed or fixed because they bought cheap parts and then buy the real thing like they shouldve done. most kids cheap out on the most important shit in their cars anymore and out here in the heat, damn near every cheap part that involves motion fails REALLY quick! so while i appreciate the bravado of your post, please realize that ive been around a lot of imports (especially 240s) in my 12 odd years of building cars and ive witnessed the trials and failures of spending $300 on a part that looks shiny and promises the world, but falls apart after a few pulls down the drag strip or a couple of laps around the drift track simply because they shouldve spent the extra $1000 and done it right the first time!

are you happy were back on topic now? ;)

[jamg]

In a pinch an ebay turbo is not a bad decision to get you by... but the turbo inevitably will fail.
I'd care to see Dorki's performance rap sheet as his claims seem a little far fetched in my experience.
I've ran 2/3 ebay 50 trim turbos for varying lengths (sometimes more than a year) My first turbo broke both the comp and turbine wheel ingesting something, i took two wheels out of another blown ebay turbo, replaced them, and ran the turbo for almost another year as stupid as my 17 year old self was. I've also ran a GT35 style turbo (currently making 400whp on this one, now showing faint signs of smoking). At ~20psi daily they all fail, but the don't catastrophically explode...Not that they couldn't but none of mine have. The seals start to go and you know its time.
All these turbo's i've gotten very cheaply so i've ran them, but its time to finally get this precision 6152 i have rebuilt for longevity as i've dialed in everything else in my set up.

Also food for thought, there is a guy local to us who rebuilds turbos with garrett internals. ~300 bucks for a full rebuild and balance. Many people i know have used him, all have had great results.

where are you located? where is this shop that rebuilds them?

from watching how many of those ebay turbos grenade/fail thru one of my best friends shops here town where all the little boy racers around town who buy cheap parts have their stuff installed or fixed because they bought cheap parts and then buy the real thing like they shouldve done. most kids cheap out on the most important shit in their cars anymore and out here in the heat, damn near every cheap part that involves motion fails REALLY quick! so while i appreciate the bravado of your post, please realize that ive been around a lot of imports (especially 240s) in my 12 odd years of building cars and ive witnessed the trials and failures of spending $300 on a part that looks shiny and promises the world, but falls apart after a few pulls down the drag strip or a couple of laps around the drift track simply because they shouldve spent the extra $1000 and done it right the first time!

are you happy were back on topic now? ;)

so in other words.... it's all about application use of the turbo. like i was saying before.

[2muchboost]

Being part of the import world since 2002 I would agree with you guys in general about ebay turbos. However, now having a GM V8 setup in the car looking to go turbo, these backyard builders on the GM forums have had some ridiculous success with ebay turbos. Now I am not promoting nor deterring you from any decisions but some peeps over there have had success using ebay turbos so its not all bad feedback for the ebay stuff.

Just one example, Matt Happel's fairmount...its hilarious but this bish boogies.
http://www.stangtv.com/features/car-features/matt-happels-newest-9-second-junkyard-fairmont-sleeper/. In particular Matt is known in the GM community for doing some outrages stuff and pushing the car and parts to the absolute limit....pretty funny guy actually.

There are others running "ebay" turbos like the On3 76mm turbos and the GT45 turbos without many issues or no issues at all. On3 just posted about a stock block with twin 76mm turbos going to 960rwhp and 987lbs tq. These were made at 25psi runs. So I think it really depends on the company you are interested in buying the turbo from more so then just using the generic term "ebay turbos" and then assuming they are junk.

[spooled240]

I've use them and they definitely work, however I've had issues with oil leaks from where the compressor housing meets the CHRA on my previous turbo and there seems to be quite a bit of shaft play on my current ebay turbo after 40,000ish miles.

Did I get my use out of the $150 they are a pop? Sure. But I definitely value R&D a lot more now than I did when I was a broke college kid making min wage. R&D isn't cheap and you do get a lot better quality turbo in the end for just a couple hundred dollars more than an ebay turbo. These chinese companies don't give a fuck about the end user, just profit.

Also, resale value of a car with brand-name parts is a lot more than a car with knockoffs. Just food for thought.

[dorkidori_s13]

i guess maybe to simplify whats being said by everyone in the thread... you may get lucky with an ebay turbo and it may work for a while... but be prepared to take the risk of possible failure of the part that may cause even more damage than just having the turbo go bad.

[2muchboost]

^^^EXACTLY. Now with that being said I have heard of some "higher end" companies also having issues but the Quality Assurance process for these companies is usually a bit more robust. Are there guys beating the heck out of their ebay turbos for years and having no issues yes, is it a bit more risky going that route then a higher quality brand, yes. The mentality of the GM crowed is a bit different, if you pick up a junkyard motor then most people in that culture are on a budget. The cost of a JY GM motor is much different than an SR or RB or 2J. As someone put it on those forums "If i am building a $7k motor then why hell would I put a $70 headstud set in it. If I am spending $300 on a long block, why the hell not."

Again, if you are going to go ebay then make sure you do some research on what company you are getting your parts from. Not everything on ebay is made of the same quality.

[anti tyler]

I'll say this...

I ran an eBay turbo with a gpop shop 360 degree thrust collar rebuild.

It lasted me all of 6 years with absolutely no issues.

[ixfxi]

most 240 guys have this pie in the sky idea of making like 600+HP... anything over 300 to the wheels (not the crank) is just stupid on an S13 and will more than you will ever need. with over 300whp and a proper rear tire setup (not some stupid hellaflush shit) you can EASILY hit high 11s if you know how to drive the car right... which is damn near as fast as a GTR

Take it easy, Dorki. Take it easy.


And to top it off, the S15 turbo will not last long at that power level. Its a GT28r not an RS the RS model is an aftermarket procursion capable of 320rwhp aka "disco potatoe" not the same thing as OEM S15 turbo.

he's right. hot damn, he's right. (sigh)


i dont know how or why anyone would waste time with this china junk. its as if they have no understanding what a turbo does or how it works. do is all a favor and stay away from forced induction.

[Frank_Jaeger]

i dont know how or why anyone would waste time with this china junk. its as if they have no understanding what a turbo does or how it works. do is all a favor and stay away from forced induction.
This. I won't be caught dead with chinese parts on my car, except for ebay taillights and headlights, which I love.