1) We never took 1 dollar from the customer until we explained to him that the Turbonetics kit was not longer available (not from us, but in general, Turbonetics stopped making it) and that we were going to have our own kit that he might be interested in. We told him that our kit runs a better flowing manifold (nice looking too), drop in injectors instead of wire/splice in, we were using the AEM FIC instead of the Unichip, we provide a larger FMIC, HKS BOV, GT Concepts Wastegate, Etc. In no way did we mislead him or take his money and then switch the kit. So let's be clear there.

2) Your comments on the kit:
a) The BOV should be HKS.
b) The wastegate is a GT Concepts wastegate, we have used it before and it worked well in every case.
c) We sent an e-mail to him telling him the instructions were just being completed and we would send them as soon as they were, which we just did today.
d) The BOV did not need to be recirculated or we would have. We did not have any stalling issues on our test vehicle (yes we had 2 test vehicles with this kit before we ever sent one out, we did not TEST it on him).
e) Yes instead of having you cut up your factory bumper support, we opted to include the hardware to remove the factory bumper support and install a new support (be it small, to accommodate the FMIC) and FMIC as one unit. Just like Perrin does on all of their Suby FMICs.
f) I talked to him about the turbo clearance today (before I even saw this post) and he thinks that he didn't clock the turbo. This was not an issue on our test car or we would have adjusted it.
g) In regards to the WG location. We had zero issues on our test vehicles.
h) Scion turbo builders commonly use bolts in the top 2 header holes instead of the stock studs, the bolts hold the weight better than the studs and tighten down even harder. There was no need for additional support.
i) In regards to the water lines, the better flowing manifold design and turbine wheel in our kit keeps the EGTs to a manageable level. Less back pressure = lower EGTs, between the better manifold flow and bigger turbine he should see appreciable difference in EGTs, lower EGTs = lower under hood temps = happiness in the world.
j) We decided to use the factory air box and MAF housing mainly so OFF boost drivability would be just like stock. Also, the stock airbox actually pulls in decently cool air. The K & N filter pulls enough flow and does not hold back the kit performance at all.
k) In regards to telling him to fight the charges and return the kit. How about you tell him to call us first. You posted this and gave him this point of view before he even called us. You bought your kit from us, you know we don't play games. I would have expected you to give us the benefit of the doubt before you come on the board, blasting us and spinning the story to make it look like we purposely mislead him. Which we did not... We have been in business almost 10 years and we didn't do that by screwing over customers and playing bait and switch games.

We have sold tons and tons of tC kits and kits in general and to a lot of people on this board. I am sure they can vouch for our business ethics as can our 1000s of happy customers.

We want all our customers to be happy and I am sure that once he installs the kit, he will be on the list of happy customer

Kit Pics:







Thanks Paul, you are too and I wouldn't hesitate to point people in your direction. I know they will be well taken care of.

 

well im glad thats done...kit didnt look too bad to me but im not a fan of that perticular wastegate, iv only seen one like that and its one that Turbochargers.com sells i think. im just more of a tial guy but id try it out for myself. Whats the price on those wastegates?

 

Aww so all the cards are out on the table now, and seeing pics of the kit on the car don't look half bad, still don't like the massive intercooler and removing your main front end protection

 

You'd be looking at about $159 USD for the wastegate. But I don't want to side track this post, so PM if you need anything else.


Part of the trade off for the larger FMIC. The production mounting bar looks better than the pic. The pic was of the development car.

 

So what kind of numbers were you guys making with your kit on the Dev Cars? What boost level were you running? Any plans to develop a kit designed for an auto?

 

The pics of the test car above is on an auto You can see the tranny dipstick Also most kits will work on an auto with a bit of moving i/c piping around during install Nice kit btw Looks like another quality addition to the market

 

Let's get things straight before you start blasting me...

1. Removal of the front bumper support is dangerous. The spearco frontmount included in T-Netics kits doesn't require removal of this.

2. The WG DOES have clearance to fit without any issues EXCEPT if you want to run a manual boost controller. The top mount fitting is less than a finger width from the radiator fan shroud. No fitting is going to fit it to attach a boost line unless you cut up your shroud. Not good for a "bolt-on kit"

3. I fully understand what the top two bolt swap does but how come your kit did not come with those knowing this assembly is really heavy and you told him you guys were working on including those?

4. I don't see how retaining the factory airbox is anything short of keeping a profit margin by not welding a flange to the intake tube. All that "glamour" of a polished manifold and a stock air box?? Kinda defeats the purpose if you ask me. That's just my opinion, it should function properly however.

5. The reason behind the watercooled version of the turbo was NOT for power gains, it was for long term reliability and peace of mind. Even if he wanted it to have two extra shiny stainless braided lines under the hood, it shouldn't be your choice to give him a less superior turbo than the one you supplied.

6. The turbo (properly clocked and assembly mocked) touches the radiator fan shroud. The compressor NPT fitting touches the clutch cylinder bleed fitting.

7. The couplers that were provided had some fitment issues. The compressor outlet coupler required it to be heated up, and the turbo housing grinded flush in order for it to barely stretch over. The same had to be done for the factory airbox coupler.

8. There is no heat shielding for the turbine that resides very close to plastic AND intercooler piping. Some exhaust wrap for the down-pipe would certainly help as well.

9. The 3" band clamp for the turbo intake was missing the lock nut.

That's all I have for now. Hopefully this helps in the R&D department to get your custom kit a true bolt on as advertised. As soon as he E-Mails me the pics we took, I'll post them on the main thread.

I don't want to leave a bad taste in your mouth Jesse. You are a stand-up guy and your customer support was excellent. That is the reason I suggested he go through you guys in the first place. Props to Grant as well for all the help. I just wish you could have worked a tad harder to find him the Turbonetics kit he orignially wanted instead of offering your kit. He doesn't know much about turbo setups and I told him the ease of install on the Turbonetics kit was amazing and Turbokits.com hooked me up with all the info and support I needed. Now that I've had over 6 hours of trying to make things fit under the hood on his car, I'm getting very frustrated with the fitment of quite a few parts as mentioned earlier. In no way shape or form and I calling you guys scam artists or saying you pulled a "bait and switch". There are tons of these kits left on the market available anywhere from Jegs to E-Bay. They are NOT hard to get ahold of. I am doing this install with him and I have already made it my goal to get his car up and running as soon as possible with your custom kit. It was his decision to go forward with the install as soon as we took the parts out of the box. When he first told me you had to build a kit for him, I was under the impression that you would purchase a Turbonetics manifold, Turbo, WG, and BOV, buy a Spearco FMIC core, and then fabricate all the piping in house.

Long story short, I AM NOT BASHING TURBOKITS.COM's BUSINESS PRACTICES! I am expressing my opinions about the new custom kit and it NOT being an equivalent to the Turbonetics kit. I'm sorry if I angered you but it's in my nature to help my close friends as much as possible... especially when it comes down to a 4 thousand dollar purchase. Please please please feel free to contact me in regards to any issues mentioned above and I will gladly give you CONSTRUCTIVE advice on how to correct them.

 

Thank you for clarifying... We understand how frustrating it can be installing parts and having trouble. Water under the bridge. If you would be so kind as to e-mail or have your friend e-mail a final list of the issues with pictures, etc we will forward it onto our production guys and look into them all. We're not hit and run guys and plan to be in the business for many years to come. We openly accept input on our products if it will help make them better.

Thanks

 

He has sent more pics and issues as of last night. I am going to ask you this and I want an honest answer because I know you are an honest guy... did you guys ever test fit this on a 5-speed car? The reason I ask is because if the clutch cylinder was not there (like an auto), the kit would already be up and running.

 

Yes, I received the pics and talked to him last night. Had a meeting with production today. The development of the kit was primarily on a an AUTO tC. The kit was test fit onto a 5 speed to double check fitment. On the development car the compressor port was capped and all lines, BOV, AEM, Wastegate & Boost Gauge ran from 1 tee. That is why it did not give us trouble. There are 3 things we are going to do to help your friend and these will also make it into any new kits. 1. 1/8th NPT CAP on the compressor port, 2. shorter leg coupler from compressor to IC Pipe #1 (this was supposed to be trimmed before it shipped, but wasn't, our error), 3. adhesive thermal wrap for the radiator shroud (the test car has not had any issues here, but the thermal wrap is easy insurance) and a small section on the 1st IC pipe. I have already called and left a message for your friend with a few options on getting him the parts. You are correct, if the cap had been in there, the kit would have been installed already. It was a mistake on our end and we have taken the steps to rectify it!

Thanks for your feedback. Even though this started on the wrong foot, I think it ended well and will only serve the tC community as a whole.



8 PSI - 220WHP & 240WTQ, this was stock S pipe and stock exhaust, 250+ easily with better flowing exhaust. The kit does fit the auto, the auto kit comes with a tranny cooler too

 

not too shabby now if only i had the coin to drop on a turbo system =(

 

I noticed that the SL member m6ar2cel6oTC has the same manifold you guys are using (just not polished finish) but has a much better designed downpipe with the wastegate dump in front of the downpipe instead of the back. I noticed an issue with the coupler being really close to it and maybe you guys can find out where he got his to avoid a few heat problems. He also isn't using a Turbonetics compressor either and it looks to fit like a glove. I met up with your customer last night to try to get that assembly in. It does not want to go in. The compressor is making serious contact with the clutch cylinder. Any way you clock it, you end up hitting the clutch cylinder or putting the IC coupler 90 degree into the fan. PTuning includes two low profile fans in their kit. This would greatly improve underhood clearances. Just a few thoughts.

 

What Air/Fuel ratio was it at under full boost? Is the tune you supplied going to idle at the correct AFR and cruise and the correct AFR? The one I got from you guys ran fine but was rich all the way around. Idle was at 12 or less. Cruising was 11.5-12, and WOT was 10-10.5.

 

here is the issue with the clutch assembly interfering with the turbo housing. As you can see by position of the tube it is at the point where it cannot be clocked any more "counter clockwise" based on view of pics. It would obviously strike just the same, just a slight amount lower on the steel assembly...(not to mention at this point the charge pipe is 5/8" from contacting the DownPipe) and cannot be clocked any more "clockwise" due to clearance issues with the fan housing and charge pipe 90 degree tube adapter.

TO BE CLEAR turbokits.com HAS BEEN in contact with me and are trying (from what i can tell over the phone) to rectify/clarify these issues that i am running into.

frustrated yet optimistic

 

Yes, the tune should idle and cruise at a leaner AF than under boost. Always a good idea to fine tune the map on your specific set up tho.

The tune you had, are you speaking of the Turbonetics kit? We did not do that tune...


Hey Diznix101,

Good talking with you today. Glad we were able to figure it out...

He got the wrong 90 degree coupler and that has been causing all of the issues with the clutch cylinder. The one he is using has longer legs and a longer radius, therefore the turbo needs to be clocked back further for the IC pipe to clear the fan. The short leg, tight radius coupler the kit was developed with should solve everything. Stupid overlook on our end, we are OVERNIGHT shipping him the correct coupler today.

Here is a picture of the development car. As you can see, plenty of clearance.

 

bravo...now thats pretty cool to have you guys on here and to put your best foot forward. Hope to do biz with you guys

 

hmm this thread sure did turn around, that kit doesnt look half bad, and it looks like you can run a duct to the false grille still for cold air... but i also dont feel comfortable taking off the front bumper

 

The bumper has to be removed for just about everything involved with the turbo setup. Besides, this kit is using the factory airbox so the false grille idea is kinda out the window. The large FMIC should do the trick anyway.

 

It has long since been replaced by a professional tune but out of pure curiosity, where did you guys get the tune you sent me with the kit?

 

whatever, im still not satisfied with them cutting the front bumper support and welding on a rod. But hey...its not my car. You can get away with that on a prototype but I'm worried about his car now becoming a salvaged title, or even worse... having an accident in that. But what do i know, i sure TurboKits.com assures us the Intercooler is designed to absorb most of the impact. lol