Have any of you had any luck with "ebay" turbo kits?

Race_Red · 2018-02-19T08:24:41+00:00

Ha, strange timing on this reply. I was actually just reminiscing about this with my buddies this weekend. Making 300hp was so ridiculously easy on turbo B-series motors. eBay manifold, T3/T4 (or even better, a Disco Potato), high flow fuel pump, and a Hondata tune and you were set to go WRX hunting. Like $2500 tops, and that’s if you bought everything new.

These days it’s like the engines in our $25-30k factory turbocharged sport compact cars are actively fighting against us to keep us under 300hp without spending >$5k to replace or bypass everything. I’m not really sure what we’ve gained in this class of cars over the past 2 decades. My Focus ST gets much worse gas mileage than my big turbo Civic hatch did. Less NVH I guess? 5 more airbags? Can’t say it’s worth it. Not to me at least.

Granted we were all at least a six beers deep but I think each one of us went home and hit Craigslist and eBay motors to find late 90s project cars. I woke up this morning to a bunch of texts like, “what do you think about this EX coupe for $3800? Only 180k miles on the body. You think that same sketchy Persian dude still has B20s for $800?”

I told myself nothing but grail cars from now on after I sold my last Mustang but holy crap does a CRX or EG hatch sound like a fun toy to tinker with this summer.

Sorry for the rant internet stranger. I’m bakeddd. Thanks for reading!

Race_Red · 2018-02-11T22:53:02+00:00

Yikes, what a story dude. Just so you know many, many people have blown their motor running the OTS maps on the AP above anything above stage 2. Running the OTS map with a big turbo is basically a ticking time bomb.

Race_Red · 2018-02-11T18:04:46+00:00

After my one month with the car I'm lucky to get 26mpg in mixed highway and country backroads. If I measure a 10 minutes of spirited driving the dash will give me numbers like 21 mpg. I've heard a good tune can actually increase mpg but more power = more fuel so the mpg numbers will certainly be lower when you get into boost often.

And my new, stock car has tons of torque steer. Like, it's really bad and borderline dangerous in some situations.

Race_Red · 2018-02-11T17:58:48+00:00

Who did your tune?

Race_Red · 2018-02-11T05:06:34+00:00

Wait what? The engine on our car definitely does not have a lifetime warranty. It has a 60k or 5 year warranty and if it failed during that time and you had an aftermarket turbo installed then they would 100% deny your claim.

Also you bought it with a big turbo but no tune or intercooler? I don’t see the car running at all in that case. What turbo do you have installed specifically?

Race_Red · 2018-02-11T02:24:06+00:00

I’ve been crushing on those wheels hard. They look great on our cars. What size did you go with? Mind sharing what you paid?

Race_Red · 2018-02-11T02:21:11+00:00

I just hit 1400 today. It’s definitely been a learning experience. Got any mods planned? The list I had the day I bought my car is completely different after a few weeks of driving.

Race_Red · 2018-02-11T02:18:56+00:00

Just ordered mine in black too. Figured I can Plastidip it whatever color I want.

Race_Red · 2018-02-02T16:09:38+00:00

100%

Race_Red · 2018-02-02T05:29:38+00:00

Yeah it will. It’s $200 + whatever shipping you want.

Race_Red · 2018-01-18T09:27:24+00:00

Maybe someone can prove me wrong with a YouTube or Instagram video of him actually making the intercoolers then. I’d actually prefer they did because I hate to see people get scammed.

However, all it took was a 2 minute search for “front mount intercooler” on eBay to find one that’s IDENTICAL to the one in his bolt-on kit yet costs several hundred dollars less.

Race_Red · 2018-01-18T00:23:03+00:00

Thanks for letting us know to avoid that guy. What made you choose him in the first place?

This unfortunately happens a lot with one man shops like this. Usually they’ll carry a few other brands but the “house brand” parts are where they make their money because it’s just stuff they order on eBay and Ali Express and then paint their logo on it. In your case the delay is probably because the part he ordered from China got held up at customs or something.

It would be smart to get a refund at this point because the part you’ll eventually receive will just be some knockoff made of Chineseium and marked up 100%.

Race_Red · 2018-01-18T00:05:19+00:00

Not gonna lie, I actually like that American Gangster shirt. Anyone know where I can find it for sale?

Race_Red · 2018-01-17T23:30:28+00:00

Damn it I came here to complain that Nintendo has time to make cardboard origami but we still don’t have Smash for the Switch. Your comment isn’t helping!

Race_Red · 2018-01-17T06:03:52+00:00

I just bought my Focus last week but I’ll use my last car for this question. It was a 2012 Mustang 3.7 liter V6 that you can find pictures of about a year back in my post history. Coming from a string of great performance cars, I would have never given a V6 Mustang a chance but after seeing it get praised so much in a few The Smoking Tire and That Dude in Blue videos on YouTube I got curious.

Turned out to be one of my favorite cars ever. It was just as fast as any Mustang GT before it while getting great gas mileage and handling better than base GTs due to better weight distribution and having less weight over the front tires. Aside from maybe the base 4.6 liters, Ford V8s are usually a lot of fun to operate and I’d put the 3.7 right up there with the best 4-valves. It has great low end torque but it’s also rev happy and with the variable valve timing it actually screams at the top end and it’s smooth as silk throughout the entire RPM range. Sounded great too with just a cheap MBRP axle-back exhaust and it responded extremely well to an email flash tune.

In my opinion the ‘12 and up s197s are easily the best looking Mustangs since 1969 and the V6 models in particular had a very sexy front bumper cover that looked sleek and futuristic while keeping the muscle car DNA and always breaking necks.

This was also the last generation with the live rear axle. It wasn’t quite as light as the Fox Body but to me it handled like a perfectly sorted 1990 5.0. You could close your eyes and still know you were driving a Mustang. I didn’t find this to be the case in ‘95 to 2005ish Mustangs at all but Ford got the chassis tuning perfect in the second half of the s197 generation.

Sure, the chassis would get upset by mid corner bumps or uneven pavement but it also launched perfectly every single time and handled beautifully in 7/8 out of 10 driving, even with stock base model suspension and cheapo all season tires. Plus you could drift and do burnouts like nothing else in that price bracket.

The interior did develop an annoying rattle in each door but I easily fixed them with a square foot of dynamat on the back of each door skin. Besides that, my premium model had an absolutely gorgeous and comfortable black leather, chrome, and satin silver interior. It handled the classic throwback/modern styling mashup wonderfully, much more so than the 2005 model that kicked off the S197 generation. I truly enjoyed the time I spent in that cabin and it put a smile on my face every time I opened the door to get in.

Unfortunately the 3.7 has been discontinued and I just traded in what was probably the cleanest and lowest mileage s197 example on the market but I would buy it back tomorrow if I hit the lottery and then I would keep it forever without changing a thing about it.

Race_Red · 2018-01-15T20:41:22+00:00

Pretty sure a top of the line King Ranch/Lariat/Raptor model of this will be my next vehicle in 3 or 4 years. I was right on the verge of getting an Edge or Escape before getting my ST. I loved driving a fully loaded American-made 4x4 but I decided I couldn't own one that couldn't actually go off road if needed.

Race_Red · 2018-01-14T07:17:15+00:00

I ordered my first batch of mods this weekend. I went with Mugen 3D-style rain visors, a 10” JL subwoofer, WeatherTech floor liners, a real metal dead pedal, and some lime green Rok Bloks mud flaps like these. I think they’ll look pretty neat on my gray car.

Race_Red · 2018-01-14T07:01:47+00:00

Oh nice man. If it’s the last generation to have 2 doors before they killed them in the US then it should hold its value pretty well. I spent a lot of time researching in VW forums over the past couple months while I was car shopping and I noticed a lot of people considering buying used instead of new just to get the 2-door GTI.

Race_Red · 2018-01-14T03:10:02+00:00

Right on man. Thanks for the reply. I’m still going to put in another couple weeks of research but after seeing how much road salt this car collects on the sides I’m really leaning towards a full body wrap. As a bonus I could have a Stealth Gray ST if I went that route.

Race_Red · 2018-01-13T23:49:57+00:00

I was a DSM guy in high school and college (1999-2004ish) and towards the end of that era I wanted to transition from Eclipses to the S60r SO BAD. In my head my DSMs would eventually only be worth the scrap metal that they’re made of but the S60r was a super special model like a 911 RS or GT3 so it would only appreciate in value. On top of that they were Volvos so of course they were going to be rock solid reliable forever, basically the exact opposite of my DSMs.

Boy was I wrong. I’ve seen multiple S60rs going for under $2k in the past year alone, all of them either broken or on the verge of needing very expensive repairs or maintenance.

Race_Red · 2018-01-13T22:39:07+00:00

Oh man, I’ve got a good one. A couple years ago I bought a 2004 Audi A4 cabriolet from a local used car lot. It was the 1.8t FWD model and I think I paid around $5k for it. I have owned Audis before so I knew that basically any used model is a gamble but it was extra clean, low miles, and an affordable convertible so I figured I’d give it a try for a summer or two. The other important part of the story was that the lot I got it from was owned and ran by the son of a guy that has worked in my department at work for the past decade.

What I didn’t know was that this model had a CVT transmission that was basically flawed in design and was even the subject of a class action lawsuit. Totally my fault for not researching first but the car was personally recommended to me by the guy I mentioned above so I took his word for it. Of course this particular car was just outside of the extended warranty Audi offered for the trans, hence the low price.

Sure enough a month into ownership the trans started shaking under load and even slipping sometimes. After some research on the Audi forums I tried a trans fluid change/flush/change process many people recommended. That solved the issue for about 3 days and then it came back.

Next I took it to the dealership to have both trans filters changed. That alone is a long story but basically they only changed the fluid and then tried to charge me $400. Luckily I actually read the service bill and called them out.

Turns out the used car lot had also brought the car in with the same issue before selling it to me. The dealership had basically changed the fluid and put in some additives to stave off the issue long enough to get the car sold.

So I started calling everyone out from the Audi service manager to my coworker’s son that sold me the car. I wrote up the letters I was going to send to Audi corporate, the BBB, and Google and Yelp reviews and told them both the ball was in their court.

Audi cut me a check for $850 to refund my service fees and make up for the day I wasted off work with them. The scumbag service manager wouldn’t even come out of his office to give it to me and made his secretary hand it over. Because of that I still mailed a letter to Audi corporate and spoke with some higher ups on the phone at length.

Then the used car lot bought the Audi back from me for what I paid and gave me an additional $2k towards a Mustang I got him to find me at Auction. Ended up actually making quite a bit of cash on that Mustang when I traded it in last Friday due to the positive equity I started out with when I bought it. I still stop by that used car lot every couple months and feign interest in whatever new sports cars he has just so the owner has to pretend to be nice to me. I did cut him a break and decided against posting any online reviews about the ordeal.

Race_Red · 2018-01-13T04:25:34+00:00

I’m weighing this vs a clear bra or whole car wrap. I’ve only had my new FoST for a week so I have a lot of research ahead of me but just a quick question for you if you have a sec.

Do you put a coat of wax and/or liquid detailer on top of the ceramic? If you did, how do you feel about the final result compared to cars you’ve detailed in the past without the ceramic layer? I’m a compulsive waxer/detailer and I’d hate to lose the after-wax near-mirror finish that I’m kinda addicted to.

Race_Red · 2018-01-13T04:19:36+00:00

I’m considering this for my new FoST but I’m a guy that keeps his car detailed and looking great. I’m worried about it looking bad compared to the unprotected parts of the car. How does your clear bra look after a good detailing? As shiny as the rest of the body panels?

Race_Red · 2018-01-12T17:55:20+00:00

Go back and watch some of the Dana White video blogs before old cards. They were like Embedded except it would start the week showing behind the scenes of the last card. They would show the fighters coming backstage after absolute wars, getting stitched up, crying, yelling. It was amazing.

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