Ebay turbos revisited
 

So as we are all aware, the early T3/T04E 57 trim ebay knockoffs sucked.

I have heard more and more of people having good luck with the recent ones. Seems they may be getting their act together, or are they?

I built a TT 5.0L 98 ranger this summer using saab 48/42's. They are way undersized and it is currently running 5-6 psi and trapping 96 mph in my 3500lb truck @ 5900' elevation
I only plan to push 12-15 psi and would like 550whp.

Has anyone had any luck with the later model ebay turbos? Yes, I searched. Yes, I know the past. But it's worth mentioning.

Not BS either, if you have no experience, then don't say anything. I already know all the hearsay.

I've heard from other guys that have used them up to 26psi and they say they are hit and miss.

i used a gt35 and its just fine. no oil leaks, no oil burning.

Still hit or miss but becoming way more hit all the time. In the Miata community, we've had some really good luck with the smaller sized T25/T28 units. So far, none breaking in such a way that they shred an engine... almost always seals and leaking. I haven't seen a compressor come apart and get pulled by bits into an intake.
For the money, you can find used GT25r's for $300 or so... should spool well on your 5.0.

buy my garrett gt30r. see my posts

I have been running an ebay t3/t4 for about 7k now still no shaft play or oil leaking. For $150 I'm not complaining.

I have been running one of the "New" Designed CX Racing turbos for about 9k now. Proper conservative tune, turbo timer 30 secs on short drivers and 60 sec cooldown on long drives. Restricted the oil intake flow with a smaller fitting, and have a 5/8" return.

I bought this after my Turbonetics blew up on me after 20k

Its has blown me away how it has held up, ive had a spare sitting in my garage for over a year, i was waiting for this to blow up. But its still kicking strong, no smoke and VERY minimal shaft play.

This is in a EK civic with an LS/Vtec (b18b / b16a 2nd gen)

I dont beat the ---- out of my car but i use it.

Pretty much using a full CX racing kit, was the EASIEST way to keep A/C and have a real fitting downpipe that i didnt have to get custom welded.

97 civic
t3/4 .50/.63
cx racing FMIC kit (Bar and plate 2.25" to 2.5")
REAL Tial 38mm WG
REAL Greddy type-s WG
CX racing cast log manifold
cx racing 2.5" downpipe
2.5" exhaust w/ 2 resonators to DynoMax UltraFlo muffler
7lbs of boost

Been rolling sleeper style in the EK for over a year, No leaks, No problems.

I know the ebay holset knockoffs are a waste. Guy the maxima forum went through two brand new ones within a month.

A few guys that I know have given them a try over the past year and we have found that we are batting .500 in my friends who took the plunge. Two have worked out well with several thousand miles on them now, while two died in about a thousand miles. Both of the two turbos that died locked up, first it was the fire engine of death sound (compressor wheel on the compressor cover) and they locked up shortly after that.

I know that I have not personally run one, but I do most of the install work for my friends who have tried an ebay turbo route. I don't consider 50% to be great quality results, but it is not as bad as we were seeing 5 years ago with Chinese manufactured turbos purchased from ebay.

i bought my first t3/t4 from ebay about 5 years ago that turbo had seen as high as 22 psi on my 2.8L camaro. i used that turbo for 3 years and about 100k miles of hard driving and lots of track passes before i traded it to somone for a garrett/fullrace 60-1 with a cracked turbine housing that i repaired.he has been using that same turbo since but at a modest 9 psi on a 3.1L v6 camaro.

i installed another unit t3/t4 on a second 3.4L v6 camaro last year this was the newstyle t3/t4 with the bellmouth shapped inlet this turbo deff spooled better and performed better then my first unit due to the redsigned inlet,as far as longevity its been on the car about a year but this car is a stick instead of an auto and also uses antilag system which is really brutal on the turbo. but its sill going strong.

ive installed numerous ebay turbos on all sorts of diff sized engines most failures ive had were the smaller sized units i.e full t3's and the big 16g knockoffs. the t3's would eat bearings and the 16g/evo knockoffs would always have loose compressor wheel nuts

the 61mm units would typically take out the rear oil seals

and the early 69mm units which were small shaft units and would snap shafts but they have since made these units bigshaft

ebay gt45's = great units never had a single issue

do be aware that most ebay sellers do not list the correct compressor wheel specs i.e some advertised as 61mm units are really just t3/t4 48 trims not 61's

oh yeah that reminds me ebay t3/t4 57 trim units are not real 57 trims they are really a 48 trim unit but still cant be beat for the price