I am an installer and a tuner. My car is never a finished product. There will always be something that needs tweeking or adjusting or could be improved.

 

I dont know how a kit like this would work. IMO this is a very poorly designed kit. I know camaros use rear mounted turbos and such but the oil return line is just WAAAY too low. The oil returns back into the oilpan via gravity feed so this setup is going to lead to lots of blown o-rings and smoking.

 

it utilized an oil sump pump.

 

the onl reason i don't like the ZPI kit is that the turbo sits so g0d offaly low to the ground and from what i've found it actualy sits 1/4-1/2 inch lower then the ride highth it's self wich really tweeks my nerves knowing a $800-$1,000 turbine is so wide open to grinding and being ripped out of the buttom of the car. though how much i love ZPI for all thier trouble and tests they have done to help us better understand the limitations of the stock block and what we could expect from a built one and so on, i just don't like how they designed it. this is why i'd like to go with turbo toyota's, basicly the same kit, just a little more comferting design.

 

I am currently at a crossroads. Part of me loves the fact that my car can accellerate decently in 5th gear. But part of me is agrivated over the poor tuning and the seals in the turbo having issues. As it stands my car needs a stage 2 clutch to be able to handle the power. It needs a good tune, since it was tuned for 7.5psi originally but was running 5.8psi and is supposed to be tuned for 7.25psi. Since it was tuned wrong, my upstream o2 sensor is shot. A new one from the dealer is $155. The turbo seals either have issues or the oil pump has issues. I have rebuilt both. I replaced the springs and seats in the oil pump, changed the hose diameter to a more fitting size and changed the fitting on the turbo to match. (large opening and hose going to small opening (changed all to same size)). I replaced both piston rings and o-rings in the turbo, yet I continue to blow smoke at start up and first few boosted blow offs. My intercooler has oil in it and continues to blow it out through the HKS SSQBOV. I also have to keep adding a quart of oil every 2 weeks as it is going somewhere. That plus the exhaust system rattling and banging all the time drives me nuts. It will vibrate and bang the underside of the car and rattle the dash bad. I had removed my heat sheilding to combat this issue but its still there. As you can see I have be though every part of this kit tweeking it and it still has issues. I just want to yank it off and start from scratch. Don't get me wrong, I love the kit, the fact that my engine bay looks stock, that my guages are hidden and that I have extra power, but When I can't fix my issues, it's time to start over. As I stated in another thread, I am looking for header to axle back exhaust including Cat and posibly o2 sensors. (maybe off a wrecked one) so that I can drive my car while I fix my issues.

 

I must say, that post is very bi-polar.

 

As it was supposed to be. Like a Shakepearian play, the main character is torn with internal conflict.

The other thing that is driving this is the whole collapse of ZPI. When I can't get tech support or anyone to answer questions and there are only two people that know the kit inside and out (Kenny and I), it's kinda annoying to try and fix issues.

 

just a thought being i'm still somewhat new to th turbo world. but would havng oil in the intercooler just give you more smoke problems as the oil is being looped around the system over and over again? and it almost seems like theres no oil restrictor thus why you could be going through seals and loosing your oil into the system. just a guess but can oil restrictors end up not doing thier job anymore and could the high amounts of oil pressure do what is happening now?

 

I hope everything works out, that's all I can say.

 

wow, I've been away for a while and after reading this thread and looking at the pictures of the kit...WOW...that kit is just SCARY. I wouldnt have installed it if it was given to me for free.

 

Well my plan was this, to get this kit, get som RPI pistons, rings and wrist pins and be a pioneer. Now I just want my car to run right.

 

I'm sure it will run properly with some more work. It just frustrates me because it should run fine out-of-the-box. The guy from the Noics club in Ricmond is dealing with the same issues you are with his box and ZPI kit. When i slapped my Greddy kit on, i was racing it 3 days later at an auto-x. That's how it should be IMO.

 

I am to the point now that I will trade it in on a 08 xB just to get rid of it. Whatcha think? 70000 miles, needs exhaust.

 

Is ZPI not helping you resolve these issues? The entire set up scares me. I see how low the components are to the ground and it just does not look like a good idea. The rubber lines connected on the bottom could get snagged....well all kinds of issues with that thing.

What I did was build the motor (pistons, rings, valves, retainers, valvesprings, rods) and then turbocharge with the Turbo Toyotas kit. If you put the two kits side by side, the quality of worksmanship is evident right away. I had the Greddy kit and it IS a plug and play system (although the tune is lean).

 

ZPI cannot help me. Only one man knows this kit better then me. That is Kenny Strickler. He is no longer associated with ZPI as is half the ZPI staff. I talked to his wife the other day and he was supposed to get back to me but never did. I could always get ahold of him when he was at the shop, but the shop is closed now pending a legal dispute.

 

TuningIsLife, it's a tuff pill but at some point you need to say enough is enough. Been there a few times myself.
There are some design factors, with this "kit", that I don't you could have solved easily. The biggest problem was the instaltion, not for the average guy. A ton of distance to the IC had some issues, mostly loss of boost. There were many other hurdles to jump as well.
After watching this thread it seemed that this project would be sucessful, given your dedication. Not many would try a project like this.
The next 1 WILL go better,
Steve

 

lol, man. This is not geared towards you at all. I said months and months ago what I thought about ZPI and the kit that was put together. NO ONE listened and now this.....

Will you be able to part the kit? Too bad you are across the country. We would be able to fix your car.

 

Ptuning has done well with resolving ZPI defect issues on the tC's. They are located in Manassas you should look into that. Go to www.ptuning.com for info and directions. Be prepared though, they do good work but you should be willing to dish out the $ for that work.

 

Its kinda funny, Kenny advised me AGAINST going to ptuning when I brought it up to him. He instead suggested Chad Block Racing Development in York, PA. I talked to Chad but he hasn't returned any of my phone calls lately about just getting it turned.

 

There is a reason for that. It is because P-Tuning refused to be a distributer of their products (ZPI)because they continued to get tC's in which were turbo'd by ZPI, and frequent problems were apparent. They (P-Tuning)don't want to tarnish their reputation by selling a product which is not up to par. So of course Kenny advised against them. But I asure you they are the best shop on the east coast, and an awsome facility. If you owned a busness would you risk selling a controversial product? Probably not.