garrett turbo from USA?

[fuzzy]

has anyone bought a turbo from the USA from e-bay?,they all seem to come from there and seem to be half the price as they are here even allowing for postage.for instance a cossie t4 is usually about £1400 here but can be had for under £600 from the usa.is it to good to be true?

[jmc330i]

I guess you would need to watch the duty when it comes into this country, although Im not sure how it works on ebay.
Its probably still cheaper than buying in this country though

[RichIS]

wouldent buy from ebay unless its a proper turbo company. it will probaly be easy to buy straight from a company in usa and get it shipped over

[garyp_E30_325i]

I've bought parts on ebay which have come from the US, and been stung by customs - they charge you duty and an admin/handling fee, overall it added ~30% onto the price, t' b'stards That was for new parts though, I believe you pay less on used parts...

As for buying a turbo on ebay, sounds like a whole load of trouble to me. I had been toying with buying a used Supercharger and looked at a few, but every time I asked questions on them I got really ropey answers. I reckon if I'd gone ahead there was two possible outcomes:
1. I'd get stung for the money... bye, bye £600 (funny, the last SC I watched on ebay was £600, same as your turbo...)
2. I'd get a heap of sh*t which would take the same again to put right (missing parts, worn, damaged, etc.)
Remember, what you gonna do if you buy from the US and get stung, claim your money back thru PayPal (yeah right), jump on a plane and go find the SOB who stung ya?

Fuzzy mate, it's not worth the bother. If you want to upgrade your turbo go with a ligit' mob - reputable company stateside or somebody here where you have UK law on your side. Surely having the Cosworth lump you must have loads of options for upgrades...?

I assume this is your route to the 380bhp you're after.
I wanna see that!

[Jon_Bmw]

Fuzzy keep away from ssautochrome at all costs, I have heard very very bad things about their turbos and refund policies. They are also named something else, so be a bit careful!

[Ant]

Fuzzy

Phil Nelso was selling a T3/$ hybrid , its in the UK too, drop him a pm dude, still had it last I heard

Do not buy SS autochrome or XS power , cheap nasty tat fella !

Do you a nice HX35W dude, PM me , will split the diff between US and UK for £Â£Ã‚£Ã‚£ brand new and much bigger than the RS500 T4

[e30_Turbo]

I agree with Jon, too many bad things said on too many forums.

Turbotechnics are always worth a shout, good service too.

I'd say hunt the ford ( ) forums and see where they source them, hopefully with good feedback too.

Or....you could always slap a real turbo on there ( Holset )

[fuzzy]

thanks for the opinions guys,the turbo i have just now is the garrett t34 which is capable of my goal off around the 400bhp mark but would be at its limit so would be under constant pressure and would ideally like to achieve it without the turbo being at full strain.im also looking for something thats a straight swap for mounting bolts etc,would there be much alterations required for the hx35w ant? sounds like the turbo phil nelso's selling is the same as mine.mine is getting a bit smokey again after hard boost so looks like theres an underlying problem with it as its had new seals twice this year already.i wont bother with the usa ones i think but i have around £800-£1000 i can spare thanks to the great british tax rebate system

[RichIS]

what about a t38? no more lag than a t34 but keeps makeing power to almost t4 levels ? (460+bhp) theres a few diffrent versions of the t38 about dependin on what you want

[WillG]

The thing that started the XS power thing off was someone (not SS autocrome) sold one of their demostration turbos which wasnt made for use and wasnt welded just glued, so ofc the housings broke in 1/2. Toby is using a XS power turbo isnt he? and so do a few people on e30tech all 300 hp+ and havent heard of any going wrong yet but that doesnt mean they are good turbos you get what you pay for in most cases and they wont be good quality.

Would go for a recon HX35 myself, save money and get a strong and good quality turbo

[Jon_Bmw]

The thing that started the XS power thing off was someone (not SS autocrome) sold one of their demostration turbos which wasnt made for use and wasnt welded just glued, so ofc the housings broke in 1/2. Toby is using a XS power turbo isnt he? and so do a few people on e30tech all 300 hp+ and havent heard of any going wrong yet but that doesnt mean they are good turbos you get what you pay for in most cases and they wont be good quality.

Ant and Will, thanks xs power is the other name they use.


Hmm whilst this maybe true will, a guy on sxoc.com brought one and it died on him quite quickly(<--2 months iirc). Now this maybe a case of the guy being a muppet or whatever, just I have heard to many -ve things about them and its my viewpoint that I would stay well clear.

[WillG]

oh i totaly agree im just saying one reason I know they got bad name and there is people they worked for.

[fuzzy]

i think every maker will produce the odd bad one that will go wrong,especially with a component that is under so much stress all its working life.garrett is standard equipment for cosworths and is the most common in the aftermarket tuning world but i have read of even their new turbos going bang within a couple of weeks.is the hx35 a holset turbo? im not sure if im brave enough to deviate from the proven tried and tested cosworth route.when it comes to cosworths things tend to be 2 or 3 times the normal price and it can become an expensive game puting things right,as ive already found to my considerable cost

[WillG]

the only reasone to use a garret GT ball bearing turbo is for a very slightly faster spool up, the holsets are stonger and just as efficent.

I dont think the XS power turbos are ball bearing are they?

[fuzzy]

are they a straight swap though or would my manifold need modified?

[WillG]

I think both XS power and HX35 will be T3 untill you get to 18cm+ turbine housing like GT37+

[e30cossie]

i brought my turbo ,intercooler ,cosworth radiator,external wastegate all from ss auto chrome .$89 shipping and arrived in three days .a friend of mine has fitted over forty of these and has had no problems.ss autochrome has over 35000 feedback so everyone wont be happy.my turbo cost $250 at this price if you get a few years use its worth it.

you will have to read the description some t4 have a different flange .

the one i got bolts straight on but you will have to custom make the downpipe side and oil drain.

the turbo has no wastegate or water feed

mine is t34 exhaust side t4 inlet

hope this helps

robin

[fuzzy]

thanks anyway mate,but ive just taken delivery of a brand new stage 2 t34 with 360 bearing and cut back blades,this one has a .48 housing rather than my .63 for lower down boost.i cant believe it cost me £9 extra for each stud and nut required to bolt it down,heat treated stainless steel allegedly this turbo is good for 380bhp which is all im aiming for really but has set me back £1000 with the samco hoses