Budget boost

[Reaper27]

I believe they are $680 shipped on Speedy.
The way I see it is every good company had to start somewhere. (I am by no means defending EMUSA! I dont even have a turbo, from ANYONE.) Hell, when I was in the military, I had a '94 Accord. I found a REALLY good deal on a full exhaust, header back, from some no name company named "Megan" for less than $300. Best $300 I ever spent on the car. (Besides the suspension.)
Not everyone has the money to spend $1000 on a new motor to swap into their car, then $4000 on a new kit (with KPro), then $300 on a tune. And Im sure there are still several things that will need to go with it. I think a $700 kit allows the average guy with barely any money to be able to boost his car to have some fun. Sure, maybe some parts will have to be replaced over time. But thats over time. That way he has been boosted until then and has had fun with his car. I think a lot of people miss the first point when it comes to doing ANYTHING to their cars...we all do it to have fun. We love our cars, and take pride in them. After that, "the details are in the pudding."
Again, this isnt to talk bad about anyone, or any part in/on anyone's car...for ME, if I have a $700 kit in my car, and can make the same or close to the same power, for what the next guy that paid $4000, it's a win in my book.

This has been my main point in this thread, yea i'll prob have to replace some nuts and bolts and maybe the BOV or have the turbo rebuilt later but at least I'll have fun with it, get some descent numbers and not had to spend 4k on my car.

[japarossa]

I have been running the emusa kit now for almost 3 years and couldn't be happier with the kit. I have daily driven the car aswell as beating it pretty hard on track days. I changed the BOV out but ended up changing it back to the emusa one. I changed some of the bolts and the oil feed line I added a 90* fitting other than that its pretty much the way it comes out of the box. I have had it on a k24a2 as well as the a3 and it performed good on both motors. In my opinion its the best kit out there if you dont want to spend $2000+ on a brand name kit. When I bought mine it was $479.99 and I see now its up to $679.99 so the kit must be gaining in popularity and I doubt that would happen if it was a junk kit as there are 25+ other sellers on ebay selling similar kits and I don't see any threads about them in my travels.
I figured ebay boost was better than no boost!!

[PAPITUYO326]

You wont get anywhere near 4k power with a 700 kit. You might replicate Greddy, Rev Hard, or CN kits and reach 270whp. Those are closer to 3k new. Down towards 1.5-2k if you go used.

Where are you guys getting these inflated prices? For 4k you can almost buy a new Full-Race Sidewinder kit FFS.

I guess part of my beef might be with the fact that these companies blatantly use replicated turbos that STEAL technology from US/Japanese companies. As a turbomachinery engineer, I could not see myself supporting technology theft in my own industry.

[AKEP]

nah if they were really stealing the technology, they would have some real legit ball bearing turbos that last just as long if not longer. the design is stolen, not the technology. the china chargers get the job done, but i see where you're coming from.

what they are stealing is the market base. and right now thats what the entire scene is falling to, unfortunately.

dont worry man. this coming season i will be dropping the money on a brand new real 30r. and probably paying a garret tech to rebuild my ebay one.

and with that, it would be worth the same price as a real garret t3/t4 freshly rebuilt. about $450

[Popeye]

You know, Ive read through a lot of these threads, and people say that the A3's are rubbish. What kind of numbers are they putting out SAFELY and RELIABLY? I know one wouldnt get 400hp oit of one reliably, but couldnt they still do 225-250hp safely?

[AKEP]

300 max - bone stock a3 block.

[PAPITUYO326]

You can run 300 hp fine. It's all about how much you push it. A car making 300 hp, but boosting full throttle only a couple of times a day is going to last much longer than someone pushing 270 doing street runs every other night.

nah if they were really stealing the technology, they would have some real legit ball bearing turbos that last just as long if not longer. the design is stolen, not the technology. the china chargers get the job done, but i see where you're coming from.

The technology is stolen. What they can't steal (or rather choose not to steal) is some of the quality requirements inherent in the legitimate cousins. This keeps costs low and people jumping to their ship.

[03 inspire]

You wont get anywhere near 4k power with a 700 kit. You might replicate Greddy, Rev Hard, or CN kits and reach 270whp. Those are closer to 3k new. Down towards 1.5-2k if you go used.

Where are you guys getting these inflated prices? For 4k you can almost buy a new Full-Race Sidewinder kit FFS.

I guess part of my beef might be with the fact that these companies blatantly use replicated turbos that STEAL technology from US/Japanese companies. As a turbomachinery engineer, I could not see myself supporting technology theft in my own industry.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Truth!!!...

and also my whole thing is why waste money on a kit that will only last for X amount of time with turbo all the following can happen on a cheap kit:
Boost leak
Boost spike
Cracked manifolds
A leaky turbo worst then a 56 Chevy..

[blueandgoldep3]

ill be honest this thread is really starting to sell me on this kit lol a reliable 250-275whp on daily driver off a turbo kit for $700 that needs some polishing aint too bad, thats 7 bucks for each horse youre gaining and that is damn good imo... and while im boosted theres nothing stopping me from buying upgrades parts down the line but ill have the boost ive been waiting for in the mean time... you won me over

[Popeye]

You said "block." What does that do to the head, etc? I know it will cause the tranny to wear the clutches a little quicker.

[Reaper27]

300 max - bone stock a3 block.

That's great numbers for a $700 kit. I'll be happy with 275 tuned. I was wondering tho, if i put in stage 2 or stage 3 cams, would that push the engine or the turbo too much and cause issues?

[blueandgoldep3]

You said "block." What does that do to the head, etc? I know it will cause the tranny to wear the clutches a little quicker.

ive heard the trannys hold really well actually , ijust put in a new exedy clutch and f1 light flywheel in so im set with that lol

[japarossa]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Truth!!!...

and also my whole thing is why waste money on a kit that will only last for X amount of time with turbo all the following can happen on a cheap kit:
Boost leak
Boost spike
Cracked manifolds
A leaky turbo worst then a 56 Chevy..

All turbo kits only last for "x" amount of time, How can you argue with 3 trouble free years on this kit? My buddy with the greddy on his RSX has had alot of small problems and he has only had that kit for 1 1/2 years. As for stealing technology, thats about the dumbest thing that has been said in this thread. I guess greddy, turbonetics, comp., etc are all thieves as well because turbo technology has been around alot longer than any of those companies and when they all started out and were sitting around the table doing R&D I bet there was a competitors turbo on the table torn apart.

AKEP: They should be giving us a kick back on these kits, since we started talking about them they have gained popularity and must be selling alot more of them.

[PAPITUYO326]

All turbo kits only last for "x" amount of time, How can you argue with 3 trouble free years on this kit? My buddy with the greddy on his RSX has had alot of small problems and he has only had that kit for 1 1/2 years. As for stealing technology, thats about the dumbest thing that has been said in this thread. I guess greddy, turbonetics, comp., etc are all thieves as well because turbo technology has been around alot longer than any of those companies and when they all started out and were sitting around the table doing R&D I bet there was a competitors turbo on the table torn apart.

I wont address your friend's issues with his greddy kit because frankly I don't know how well/poorly the initial install was or whether he bought it used/abused etc. I've seen greddy kits catch peoples cars on fire because they don't plum lines correctly. I've also seen kits last for 8 years. The life of a quality turbo kit is defined by quality of the installation and quality of the part. When both aspects are maximized, you get something very reliable.

Your Turbo example is grasping at straws. There is a difference between making a similar product and outright copying something. Look at Chevy, Ford, and Honda. All make automobiles with similar engines, yet the innovation between one company and the other is still seen. The others may dissect and inspect each competitor vehicles, but their is still innovation whenever the "new" product is announced. Same thing applies with nearly any other technological product with multiple suppliers.

Most of these Ebay turbos are literally Garret Clones. Why do you think you can rebuild them with Garret parts? There is nothing wrong with modifying existing technologies, but these companies are taking known fruitful designs and modifying none of the turbomachinery. They are blatant copies. The only reason they don't get sued off the planet is because there is no U.S. patent security in China.

[Popeye]

I think there is validity in everyone's arguments, some more so than others. No matter what technology we discuss, there will most likely be some sort of plaigerism. I wouldnt say someone is "grasping at straws" when you are doing the same thing. Either that or using a bad analogy.
You can't talk about different automobile manufacturers copying anyone. It's all about technology. Or more so, BACKWARDS technology. In 1680, a Dutch Physicist, Christian Huygens designd the very first combustable engine that was to use gunpowder. I'm not going to breakdown the whole timeline, but think about it...every single person that has used some sort of combustable engine to power ANYTHING has copied him. What each and every company does, be it an automobile manufacturer or not, is take a design from something and put their own spin on it. It's how we come up with new and exciting stuff! Henry Ford did it. So did plenty of other people. If we didn't have people doing that on a regular basis, technology would move a loooooooot slower. But, there is one example of someone that did KINDA step outside the box. It was/is a combustable engine, but was COMPLETELY redesigned. I'm talking about Felix Wankel's Mazda masterpiece. Well, it wasn't designed FOR Mazda, but you get the picture.
So seriously, let's not argue about this stuff but enjoy it.