WPB Ep3s CN kit is probably amongst your best choices for reliable, relatively cheap boost. I have helped him work on that car since 2004 and seen it make great power on an a3. He was netting mid 13s and trapping 108 on only 9lbs. You can't do better for less.
Last edited by PAPITUYO326; 09-10-2011 at 10:11 PM.
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2003 Ep3 - K24A1/K20Z3 Hybrid - currently under the knife
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boost will always cause problems. i have never had my car running "perfect" for more than a month. mainly cuz my heavy foot and pride. if your a conservative driver then emusa is the best bang for the buck. gonna need a great tuner as well. remember that numbers arent everything and dynos are tuning tools.
Dynos are bragging rights, lol. To show how big your ep3 cock is. OP, if you are only looking for 230-270 whp, find a used rev hard kit, swap the compressor, and buy a downpipe. Easy, and fairly cheap.Originally Posted by heyvortek
What sort of issues are you talking about?
Haha. OP, Thats all i'm looking for now on the a3 but I do want to upgrade and plan on an engine swap down the line. But I guess as long as it is an K20 series turbo there should be little mod needed to put it on an a1 or a2.
godspeed, although just as chinese as the emusa kit, for whatever reason, that company chose a cheaper version than what the emusa kit comes with. not all t3/t4 china chargers are the same. i've seen a handful of godspeed kits on dc2's come through my shop, the last one making 360/300 on e85 with a fully built bottom end and crower stg2's on top. they work fine, but i can't promise a godspeed kit will come with an ep specific ic and piping like the emusa, which is exactly why i went with it. we had some guys come in with the godspeed "dc2 specific turbo kit" and in reality it was a universal honda kit that needed the ic piping welded together to work. we charge $150/hr for fab work so yeah, paying 300+ for some welding vs nothing is pretty obvious.
all i gotta say about it is take ALL THE NUTS AND BOLTS OUT OF EVERYTHING AND REPLACE THEM. i will probably put this in any thread about emusa.
So what exactly do you mean? Would I have to basically take out all the componets, turbo, wastegate, BOV, IC, and the nuts and bolts for this to be a good kit?
I take it just as he said it....JUST the nuts and bolts. Going through the EMUSA thread told me that, and that the turbo itself may need to be rebuilt one day. BUT, most turbos do. Some people just prefer to do that, apparently, to build the turbo to Garrett specs. Not trying to be rude...Im just acknowledging the fact that its hard to believe someone makes a decent quality ANYTHING for cheap, you know? Regardless, even if you did replace all of the nuts and bolts, rebuilt the turbo, and bought your own wastegate, its still cheaper than most other kits. When I finally get this kit, Im just gonna get my own wastegate and bov.
Either way, Im sold on this kit.
its hard to say what i want to say, without making it sound bad. but here it goes:
This setup is CHEAP. its also probably got 0% backing of R&D. and it comes with REALLY low quality nuts and bolts, and gaskets. and its all bought from a GIANT chinese company that manufactures all these turbokits, bov, wg, microwaves, fishing poles, garage door openers, you name it. i've seen their global website, and they even make commercial/diesel grade equipment.
So what I'M saying is, you MIGHT get the shit end of the stick and have a blown turbo in 50 miles, crazy ugly welding done in your i/c pipes that might have different wall thicknesses that could potentially crack, snapping bolts, leaking gaskets, warped/cracked log manifold, and blow couplings. the list could go on, because this is made not by a company that specializes in ep3 turbo kits, or ANY turbo kits. they just copy whats on US patents and make it.
what i'm also trying to say is, this kit straight out of the box for that emergency turbo build weekend if you gotta have it and there are terrorists holding a gun to your head while i'm answering this thread, is the best turbo kit brand spanking new that you could get for the price, because it comes like 90% complete, just needing a few pieces like that TB to IC pipe coupler and a dump tube (from the top of my head list of parts it needs to be a complete kit). like seriously if you got those 2-3 parts you could bolt this bad boy up and baby it till you can get it tuned.
it comes with all ic piping, couplers -1, turbo, manifold, downpipe, test pipe, wastegate, bov, different wg springs, prewelded bov flange, all gaskets (i didn't get a greddy gasket, but i also asked for them to put a greddy flange on since they normally put hks flanges on), nuts bolts, washers, spring washers, studs (also changed these out) and t-bolt clamps. the pipes are even FLARED so they don't pop off under boost. just need to cut the test pipe ends to fit your exhaust and have an exhaust shop weld up a flange or something to connect it to your midpipe.
what you can do for some peace-of-mind, is replace all hardware items (nuts, bolts, screws, washers, spring washers, studs and gaskets [that also means the bolts on the turbo, wastegate, if you can find them for the bov, and ones that fit inside the wastegate spring cup) maybe machine any faces of the manifold and turbo, dremel the burrs off the i/c piping, get the turbo rebuilt to garrett specs or sell it on craigslist/ebay and get a legit turbo, even a $450 rebuilt garrett t3/t4, get name brand bov and wastegate, although i do know a TON of people running ebay versions no problem, but like i said at least change the hardware on those, and get some good vacuum hose from napa. and maybe replace the couplings for some vibrant pieces.
i don't remember if i said it already, but if you're going to wait hella year to put it in, you could just buy name brand parts and piece it together while you wait. just buy them as you find the deals.
and its true, i believe in "you get what you pay for" - this kit is not the exception, but depending on what you're ok with, you can save some serious dough on it, or pay a little more and make it even better, while still being cheaper than say, a greddy or revhard log manifold setup, name brand everything, complete. you would need to get some serious deals on all used stuff to beat this kit, which are out there, but i really try not to buy non-rebuilt turbos from people unless i see them first. even then, i wouldn't buy it unless it was also unused after a rebuild, unless they were practically giving to me for free (and with some of these used kit prices, its real hard to say no to a whole bolt on affair cheaper than this kit =\) but like i said, it depends on what you're ok with. you might be ok with a used turbo and want to spend the money if you need to to rebuild it, maybe you're ok with mild steel i/c piping. maybe you're ok with cracking cast manifolds. list goes on. i'd rather not ever have to deal with these kind of things so i chose a proven (thus far) kit that does the job. i spent the extra cash on the little things to make it better, i've yet to have problems caused by the kit. money has been well spent.
honestly, the internetz is scaring people from alot of ebay products, and i don't blame them. but don't think that brand name market is holding down 99% of the game out there on the streets and track, almost all my honda customers are running ebay stuff and its holding, along with some nissan and toyota guys too. i do see name brand things come in and its pretty sweet looking, and honestly we should be seeing more of that stuff. but these people want the best bang for the buck, and if none brand named items are cheaper and hold their ground, they will go with it.
well thats my take on the whole thing. if you want a turbo project this kit is great. you'll learn a lot and all that good stuff. once you get your hands on it you'll be able to see what you want to do with it. i highly recommend reading turbo 101 if you've not been boosted before or done a turbo build before. for what this kit is, its a great deal. even for $700. thats chump change by the time you're done with a proper build.
kbai
Wow, thanks man. That was a lot of good info that I needed. I am kinda leaning toward buying this kit and slowly rebuilding it till its better and going from there because sadly me having 5k to spend on a brand-name turbo kit is not going to happen any time in the next few years. Thats just the bottom line, no matter how much I would love to its just not fesible with my economic situation and pay grade haha. I've done a lot of research in this and I've seen a lot of people running ebay parts with success but I also have some reservation with its quaility. That why I'm thinking about swapping out all the odds and ends in this kit and giving it a try. Then upgrading down the line. I was wondering tho, are you still running the emusa kit on your ep3? and also what have you had to fix/repair on it or the car for that matter since you've ran it?
yes im running it. nothings broken.
i actually just saw the emusa turbo kit for 699.99 on ebay lol tempting but idk... i feel as though after all of this information your just asking for a headache and youre better off just doing what was listed... just piece together a kit over time itll be cheaper than paying 4g's for a greddy kit and itll be more reliable than buying a turbo that might blow up in 50 miles lol
yup. do what you feel is best for you. i have a hardware store a block from my house that has a sizing thing for bolts and every size bolt i needed, and all the dressing for it. so its not all that bad for me. i had to make my own oil resistant gaskets cause i didn't trust the ones it came with. you just need a roll of it from autozone and scissors.
i didnt do everything i listed, just nuts bolts and gaskets, but if i ever take it off its getting all that done to it.
AKEP, how long have you been running the kit?
Blueandgoldep3, that what I'm prob going to be doing but I'm thinking about using the emusa kit as the base and build from there. Having the trubo rebuilt, new wastegate and BOV, odds and ends like nuts and bolts and trying it from there. Even after all that it will still be 1/3 or less than dropping 4-5k on a greddy or brand name kit.
y even buy the kit if youre just going to replace all the major parts of it lol what else does the kit come with other than the turbo (which youre rebuilding) waste gate and bov (which youre replacing)? does it come with fuel management? injectors a pump? oil return lines and tap kit for the pan? and if you upgrade the turbo youre gonna wanna upgrade the ic too ... so what does this kit come with that youre actually going to use out of it? lol
I believe what AKEP is TRYING to say here is that even though the EMUSA kit is a "cheap" kit, someone can still have fairly reliable fun with it. If someone wants to buy parts individually and have a "bling bling" set-up, then great. But not everyone can afford the expensive stuff. Like he stated, he has seen plenty of people with Ebay kits/parts on their vehicle, and they served their purpose.
Not everyone has the money to spend a lot of it to build a killer turbo set-up. For me, as much as I LOVE this car, it would be hard to spend more money than its worth to make it go faster. Not saying I wouldnt, but it would be hard. lol
I feel like if someone wants to buy a cheap kit and learn from it, so be it. Maybe it will benefit them and work well. Even AKEP has the kit in his car, makes good numbers, and hasnt broken down yet. Honestly, what more do you want from a turbo kit?
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