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TLDR; For 1/3rd the price of genuine the cct stage 1 replacement turbo for the 1KD seems to be a good little unit.
Firstly let me start by saying this. I know genuine would be best. If you can do it, get it.
But if you're like me and the home Finance Officer says no to a $3.5k turbo, then you are gonna have to go with something else.
I chose this one. Maybe it was a good choice, maybe not, time will tell.
Old Turbo:
As you can see from the photos, the old turbo was not in good shape. Something must have gotten in there and knackered it. That being said, it was still going amazingly well, perhaps even better than before the noise started (this may be due to over boosting, not sure)
Pre-install:
1. The service was great. Prompt delivery.
2. The compressor wheel had no play at all when it was installed and after a quick oil up (we didn't use the supplied oil, but used the oil that went into the car on the oil change) it spun freely and easily with a finger spin.
3. The unit had no dust, contamination in the packaging.
4. The DC motor seems a little larger than the genuine one.
5. The bolts were all marked to show they hadn't shifted or loosened in transit.
Install:
1. Being a bolt-on replacement meant the install went smoothly.
2. No dyno was done before or after, so I don't have the power figures
Post-install:
1. Removing one of the injector leads and starting the motor to crank it over (but not start) to get oil going through the system. There were no leaks.
First test drive:
1. The turbo spools up quite a bit quicker than genuine (assume this is due to the compressor wheel being lighter, billet vs cast).
2. The power delivery is much more linear than genuine
3. Whereas the genuine turbo boosts fairly well throughout the rev range, this one has flat spots where it plateaus.
4. Boost mm Hg (millimeters of mercury) measured the same as genuine.
5. The turbo boosts well to about 2.4k revs, but then it plateaus from the to +- 3.2k, then there is another little boost from there to 3.6k.
6. 1.1k revs to 2.4k revs seems to be a sweet spot.
Overall impression:
Again, yes genuine is best.
But during the 5 1/2 hr drive home, the whole system had a good long time to settle in. During this, I noticed 3 things:
1. As the drive went on the feel of the car and power delivery seemed to improve and the car easily accelerated to and held cruising speeds. Overtaking became easier as well.
2. The turbo developed a nice note and even has a little overboost whistle which is cool
3. The auto-shifting difference was interesting. With the old turbo (and its lag), there was a wait for it to get going, especially between shifts, but once it was going, it just went.
But with the new turbo, the wait is gone. However, trying to keep speed uphill has the transmission searching for the right gear much more often. I think this is because of the boost/power plateaus.
Does the turbo work, yes. Will I be in the next Fast and Furious movie, no. Is it as good as I expected, yes. I wasn't expecting it to be a Garret to begin with.
Let's be honest, I didn't expect a buggered turbo at 188k kms, but it happened. I got a non-genuine and chucked it in and hey, it seems to be ok so far.
I don't know if it's gonna blow up anytime soon, if it does, i'll be posting about it, if you don't see another turbo related post from me, it's probably still ticking along just fine.
Firstly let me start by saying this. I know genuine would be best. If you can do it, get it.
But if you're like me and the home Finance Officer says no to a $3.5k turbo, then you are gonna have to go with something else.
I chose this one. Maybe it was a good choice, maybe not, time will tell.
Old Turbo:
As you can see from the photos, the old turbo was not in good shape. Something must have gotten in there and knackered it. That being said, it was still going amazingly well, perhaps even better than before the noise started (this may be due to over boosting, not sure)
Pre-install:
1. The service was great. Prompt delivery.
2. The compressor wheel had no play at all when it was installed and after a quick oil up (we didn't use the supplied oil, but used the oil that went into the car on the oil change) it spun freely and easily with a finger spin.
3. The unit had no dust, contamination in the packaging.
4. The DC motor seems a little larger than the genuine one.
5. The bolts were all marked to show they hadn't shifted or loosened in transit.
Install:
1. Being a bolt-on replacement meant the install went smoothly.
2. No dyno was done before or after, so I don't have the power figures
Post-install:
1. Removing one of the injector leads and starting the motor to crank it over (but not start) to get oil going through the system. There were no leaks.
First test drive:
1. The turbo spools up quite a bit quicker than genuine (assume this is due to the compressor wheel being lighter, billet vs cast).
2. The power delivery is much more linear than genuine
3. Whereas the genuine turbo boosts fairly well throughout the rev range, this one has flat spots where it plateaus.
4. Boost mm Hg (millimeters of mercury) measured the same as genuine.
5. The turbo boosts well to about 2.4k revs, but then it plateaus from the to +- 3.2k, then there is another little boost from there to 3.6k.
6. 1.1k revs to 2.4k revs seems to be a sweet spot.
Overall impression:
Again, yes genuine is best.
But during the 5 1/2 hr drive home, the whole system had a good long time to settle in. During this, I noticed 3 things:
1. As the drive went on the feel of the car and power delivery seemed to improve and the car easily accelerated to and held cruising speeds. Overtaking became easier as well.
2. The turbo developed a nice note and even has a little overboost whistle which is cool
3. The auto-shifting difference was interesting. With the old turbo (and its lag), there was a wait for it to get going, especially between shifts, but once it was going, it just went.
But with the new turbo, the wait is gone. However, trying to keep speed uphill has the transmission searching for the right gear much more often. I think this is because of the boost/power plateaus.
Does the turbo work, yes. Will I be in the next Fast and Furious movie, no. Is it as good as I expected, yes. I wasn't expecting it to be a Garret to begin with.
Let's be honest, I didn't expect a buggered turbo at 188k kms, but it happened. I got a non-genuine and chucked it in and hey, it seems to be ok so far.
I don't know if it's gonna blow up anytime soon, if it does, i'll be posting about it, if you don't see another turbo related post from me, it's probably still ticking along just fine.
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