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eBay Turbo Kits are NOT a direct fit for the focus and are POS

25K views 98 replies 34 participants last post by  mikebontoft 
#1 · (Edited)
I don't know how many times people on here have to keep saying this:

EBAY TURBO KITS WILL NOT FIT THE FOCUS.

They ARE NOT complete (do a freaking search). The require fab work. They require a REAL turbo, not some Chinese knockoff.

I don't care if you think the supposed "OBX manifold or intercooler is good," the rest of the kit is cheap for a reason- IT SUCKS.

[:)][:)][:)][:)][:)][:)] Read post #5 for reasons why these suck [:)][:)][:)][:)][:)][:)]

Examples:
eBay kit #1

eBay kit #2

eBay Kit #3

eBay Kit #4

eBay Kit #5

eBay Kit #6

eBay Kit #7

eBay Duratec Kit #1

Buy one and let me know how much it will cost you to "try" to finally make it work and how long it takes until your engine blows. I'll be here to say "I told you so."

You will spend as much, or more, than a legitimate kit for the focus.

Please look at the kits in the REAL used kits Buy-Sell section and the kits from our sponsors.

Sheesh.
 
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#5 · (Edited)
Here's why:

1) Cheap oil line fittings. Yes, they are NOT Earl's, Russell, Aero, or XPR. They are extremely poorly manufactured. I have held these side-by-side with the real deal and it's scary. The machining is horrible and not straight and these WILL leak and WILL cause your turbo to fail.

2) Crappy couplers. I bought a single coupler from eBay to compare with Brand Name 5 layer silicone couplers. I think the layers are non existent as these look like a single rubber piece. Good luck trying to add boost and having one of these blow off or apart.

3) Crappy, fake, unreliable turbo. The turbo is no-name. No specs are given, ever. Just a bunch of supposed specs without any flow rates, dyno's, etc. It is cheap and will fail, guaranteed. It will not spool NOR make good power NOR be reliable.

4) Knockoff Wastegates and Blowoff Valves. Some say these are fine to be cheap on, esp the BOV. If you buy a cheap fake BOV or WG and spend thousands on a kit, why cheap out now and get inferior products? What is another $100 when you've spent $3-4,000? Get a real WG and BOV and save yourself from problems later on when these fail.

5) Crappy intercooler. Some will say the intercooler is great. How do you know this? Do you have a picture of the intercooler from the inside of the hose end connectors to show how the fins are arranged to actually show it will flow and cool? You don't, nor do they ever show these pics, nor post how efficient the intercoolers are.

6) Intercooler piping is universal and won't fit. None of the pipes will fit the focus. They are pre-made sizes. You will have to spend hundreds to make them fit and you'll more than likely need more piping.

6) Oil (feed) lines are crappy. I've had one of these fake ones. It's scary. Not flexible at all, very long and will not fit well or look good. The connector ends are cheap and just like the hose fittings, horrible cast and WILL LEAK. The line ends are also crimp so there is no way to shorten the line if need be. You will have to make your own line to have a proper one.

7) No oil return. How are you going to return the oil to the oil pan or block? You don't have an oil pan with a bung nor taps for the block to make one.

8) Gauges are completely crappy. No brand gauges. I wouldn't trust these to be accurate, look good or perform in any way shape or form.

9) Downpipe sucks. All of the parts are mild steel. They WILL crack. That nice silver shine will go away fast.

10) Oil catch can is a joke. No baffle, nor will they tell you info on it. If it has a "baffle" it will consist of a sponge inside the can. Really now, a sponge?

11) No air filter. How are you going to protect the turbo from sucking crap in? You won't because you dont have a filter nor a connector to it in many cases, nor will this fit.

There is more but that's it for now!!
 
#12 ·
Much Better G!

I added a few of my own thoughts/comments.

Here's why:

1) Cheap oil line fittings. Yes, they are NOT Earl's, Russell, Aero, or XPR. They are extremely poorly manufactured. I have held these side-by-side with the real deal and it's scary. The machining is horrible and not straight and these WILL leak and WILL cause your turbo to fail.

2) Crappy couplers. I bought a single coupler from eBay to compare with Brand Name 5 layer silicone couplers. I think the layers are non existent as these look like a single rubber piece. Good luck trying to add boost and having one of these blow off or apart.
This is a hit or miss thing. I've used no brand couplers with 0 issues on moderate boost/power levels. I have blown apart every single no brand coupler on the car now that I upped the boost to 24psi. If you intend to run large power or just want maximum reliability stick to name brand Samco etc

3) Crappy, fake, unreliable turbo. The turbo is no-name. No specs are given, ever. Just a bunch of supposed specs without any flow rates, dyno's, etc. It is cheap and will fail, guaranteed. It will not spool NOR make good power NOR be reliable.
Correct, the big doozey here is spool time. on the vw forums people have shown that the exact same size/spec turbo from a name brand place (bullseye, precision, garret, turbonetics) will spool almost a full 1000 RPMS sooner.

4) Knockoff Wastegates and Blowoff Valves. Some say these are fine to be cheap on, esp the BOV. If you buy a cheap fake BOV or WG and spend thousands on a kit, why cheap out now and get inferior products? What is another $100 when you've spent $3-4,000? Get a real WG and BOV and save yourself from problems later on when these fail.

5) Crappy intercooler. Some will say the intercooler is great. How do you know this? Do you have a picture of the intercooler from the inside of the hose end connectors to show how the fins are arranged to actually show it will flow and cool? You don't, nor do they ever show these pics, nor post how efficient the intercoolers are.
I'll try to find the flow tests on some of these but its pretty common to hear that the ebay godspeed cores are fine for a 300whp or less build you can compensate for the slightly less efficient core compared to a name brand by getting a slightly large off brand.

6) Intercooler piping is universal and won't fit. None of the pipes will fit the focus. They are pre-made sizes. You will have to spend hundreds to make them fit and you'll more than likely need more piping.

6) Oil (feed) lines are crappy. I've had one of these fake ones. It's scary. Not flexible at all, very long and will not fit well or look good. The connector ends are cheap and just like the hose fittings, horrible cast and WILL LEAK. The line ends are also crimp so there is no way to shorten the line if need be. You will have to make your own line to have a proper one.

7) No oil return. How are you going to return the oil to the oil pan or block? You don't have an oil pan with a bung nor taps for the block to make one.

8) Gauges are completely crappy. No brand gauges. I wouldn't trust these to be accurate, look good or perform in any way shape or form.
EXACTLY gauges are the life monitor system of your car. if you dont have reliable gauges you have no clue of the true status of your car.

9) Downpipe sucks. All of the parts are mild steel. They WILL crack. That nice silver shine will go away fast.
Not true, most of these are stainless and hold up pretty well. the jetta had a ebay downpipe all summer long and I had absolutely no issues with it.

10) Oil catch can is a joke. No baffle, nor will they tell you info on it. If it has a "baffle" it will consist of a sponge inside the car. Really now, a sponge?

11) No air filter. How are you going to protect the turbo from sucking crap in? You won't because you dont have a filter nor a connector to it in many cases, nor will this fit.
since its a "custom" kit with end user deciding the placement it doesnt make sense to include an air filter because how are they to know the size limitations of where you are placing it?

There is more but that's it for now!!


Thanks for putting all this info together!
 
#7 ·
Another reason: if you cant spell or make coherent sentences I won't buy from you:

~NOTE~
1. Trubo kits may require modifications to the hardware, components, or to the engine itself professional with experience in installing turbo kits is required for install
2. Item colors vary from pictures depending on stock
3. Included most complate parts, required to custom or purchase a turbo manifold & downpipe to fitting
4. This kit easy to Dyno your vehicle up to 50 HP and more
5. Totle 122 lb. this turbo kit, Most part made by stainless Steel/Aluminum/Cast Material
6. Please contact speeddaddy@live.com through ebay messages if any special requests
"4. This kit easy to Dyno your vehicle up to 50 HP and more"

Wonder what happened to the huge advertised numbers at the top of the page......
 
#8 ·
Thanks for the info...I did not know I could get a turbo for under $1000.00!!! If I order two kits will it go twice as fast?
 
#10 ·
lol lol lol lol !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Just made my day sir !!!!!!!!!!!!
 
#13 ·
i think the biggest issue with these (besides the horrible turbo and wg) is the fact that they advertice them as a bolt on kit. and they are far from that. the IC piping is not a direct fit and will have to be modified, cut, welded, etc. to fit. even though there isnt any thing wrong with the material it still wont just fit the car, it is a bunch of random crap. as well as not mentioning the many, many other things you need to turbo any car much less focus.
 
#14 ·
Exactly.

They don't mention injectors or tuning either, as well as a larger MAF tube or mafia, a proper wideband A/F gauge, etc.

Like you said, just random shit thrown together to make it look like a kit.

Thanks Brad!!
 
#16 ·
Amen!!! Great thread! It's not just ebay turbo kits but the majority of ebay "knockoff" parts. I've heard of knockoff oil pans that were cast from sand. I wouldn't be surprised if these knockoff turbos were the same. I say we test it out, someone get one, see if it's cast from sand and if it is, let's super heat it in hopes of making a glass turbo. lol
 
#17 ·
i got the kiln and the torches... a glass oil pan would be dangerous but cool. glass valve cover would be SICK.

i will never buy aftermarket parts off ebay. The only thing that ebay is good for is finding rare parts for a rare car, and that is still hit or miss. some of the stores are pretty legit but its hard to tell whats good.
 
#19 ·
well, either this kit im installing now blows up my damn motor, or i will make this thread bow to me and ask me how i did it LOL

cause i'm def using a turbo kit from OBX
 
#23 ·
Hahaha a glass valve cover would be pretty sick looking to see the cams spinning.

Your obx kit your making may be worthwhile but the point it just that these parts in general suck and that there is A Lot not included and that people are misled. Overall you may save some money, you may not. Depends on the deals you get in quality parts. It's more important than saving a couple hundred overall and all the headaches you'll avoid.

"fits 286" vehicles? Damn I didn't know 286 models had the same placement of parts in the engine! I wish there would be a way to post up comments on peoples sale ads on eBay and point out all the BS they write.

Google and altavista babel fish translators don't work so well eh? Cuz I'm assuming that's what they are using to come up with some of the horrible grammatical errors on all those types of ads lol.
 
#27 ·
I gave up on telling them the reasons why not to buy, either i dont post in them or im gonna say just buy it and find out
 
#28 ·
Haha same here, but today I am stressed and just got pissed after seeing a thread. There have been a plethora of eBay turbo kit threads and stupid questions asked without research the last two weeks and said I had it and wanted to make a thread where people could see WHY they are crappy.

Btw I might sell your manifold to a chinaman on eBay so he can mass reproduce it ;).




JK. Love the manifold!
 
#32 ·
It seems like every week we have a honda guy stop by for a tune with an ebay turbo kit. They cause nothing but problems. Either they don't make any power or they end up costing the customer more than just doing it right the first time.



I will post some examples later.
 
#40 ·
He's blowing smoke! lol That turbo looks more like a Turbonetics T4. That motor isn't all stock either. lol The fastest recorded stock motor civic was a B18C1 GSR motor in a gutted '91 CRX that went mid 11s on just boost. That Caddy is easily a low 11 or high 10 second car if he's really making 500hp+.
 
#47 ·
Haha, and he never thought to move it? Wtf

A civic that I tuned and did a lot of work on has run 10.7 on a stock bottom end LS/VTEC. This car has also been together for several years and never had any problems. The entire car was built for relatively cheap with all quality used parts and 0 ebay parts. Which just further proves that you can go fast without spending a ton of money as long as you use quality parts.
true, but that is that, 2% of modded honda owners that do it well? Sure sounds good though and not fart-cannon-ish
 
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