Well, after seeing a couple of people on here say the knockoffs work, i went ahead and bought a kit off of ebay, The ones u see with the tubular manifold, 02 housing, and 2g install kit.
fun fact, im almost 18 years old, so i really don't have a high spending limit and 500 bucks was in my price range. I went ahead with the purchase, and recieved it within 2 days (purchase monday, recieved wednesday) Everything was packaged very well. Upon first impressions, everything looked legit. And SSAutochrome threw in a Fuel Pressure Regulator.
Before installing my turbo, i hooked a bicycle pump up to the wastegate, The arm was way out of adjustment and set for 25+Psi, which would have caused my talon to go KABOOM. I adjusted the arm to run at under 20Psi and then let my boost controller handle the rest. After removing my stock manifold and turbo, i went ahead and removed the stock water lines, trust me, just use your stock ones, but imo i'd go ahead and use the new copper washers to make sure of a proper seal( i don't think a copper washer is a knock off product...ha) I then got out the 2g install kit, revealing the j pipe, oil line, oil return line, misc. nuts and bolts and plenty of gaskets. The oil feed line was impressive quality steel braided line. It also came with a lower intercooler pipe which is tapped already for a boost source, NOTE: hooking up your boost gauge here will cause boost gauge to read only boost, not vacuum!
Things you are going to run into. The fact that there are no instructions Kills precious time. even though i knew what i was doing, instructions to help in some areas or just as a reference for double and triple checking. Manifold to Turbo bolts are not the right pitch, and the stock bolts are to long, nothing a trip to the hardware store didn't take care of. The kit only comes with one gasket for the oil return line(from your turbo into your oil tank) and you need TWO! nothing a little high temp red RTV couldnt handle. The Kit comes with studs to put your 02 housing onto the turbo, which is great and all, but the kit did not include nuts to put on the ends! Also, before installing turbo, test fit it, pull it out, then tighten down the oil, and water lines.
Pre-Starting: Removed spark plugs(for replacement) and disconnected the electric connectors to each injector. Cranked the car over 3 times for 10-15 seconds, by the second crank your oil light in the dash should turn off. i then checked for any leaks before starting. Assembled everything and she fired right up. No leaks, breaks or anything. purred like a kitten.
Test drive. CAR SPIKES 25LBS OF BOOST, BLOWING MOTOR...j/kj/k after driving around like a granny for a couple of miles i got on it, noticing that it spikes 20 lbs of boost, concidering i don't have the supporting mods to run boost like that, i hit fuel cut and backed off. other than that, a quick turn of the boost controller takes care of that setting it at 15 psi, and she seems a lot more driveable on roads because it spools later than the little T25 does. The new manifold and 02 housing makes the car very throaty sounding. I continue to check for leaks and monitor all my gauges at all times. Other than that i have about 100miles on it with no complaints.
fun fact, im almost 18 years old, so i really don't have a high spending limit and 500 bucks was in my price range. I went ahead with the purchase, and recieved it within 2 days (purchase monday, recieved wednesday) Everything was packaged very well. Upon first impressions, everything looked legit. And SSAutochrome threw in a Fuel Pressure Regulator.
Before installing my turbo, i hooked a bicycle pump up to the wastegate, The arm was way out of adjustment and set for 25+Psi, which would have caused my talon to go KABOOM. I adjusted the arm to run at under 20Psi and then let my boost controller handle the rest. After removing my stock manifold and turbo, i went ahead and removed the stock water lines, trust me, just use your stock ones, but imo i'd go ahead and use the new copper washers to make sure of a proper seal( i don't think a copper washer is a knock off product...ha) I then got out the 2g install kit, revealing the j pipe, oil line, oil return line, misc. nuts and bolts and plenty of gaskets. The oil feed line was impressive quality steel braided line. It also came with a lower intercooler pipe which is tapped already for a boost source, NOTE: hooking up your boost gauge here will cause boost gauge to read only boost, not vacuum!
Things you are going to run into. The fact that there are no instructions Kills precious time. even though i knew what i was doing, instructions to help in some areas or just as a reference for double and triple checking. Manifold to Turbo bolts are not the right pitch, and the stock bolts are to long, nothing a trip to the hardware store didn't take care of. The kit only comes with one gasket for the oil return line(from your turbo into your oil tank) and you need TWO! nothing a little high temp red RTV couldnt handle. The Kit comes with studs to put your 02 housing onto the turbo, which is great and all, but the kit did not include nuts to put on the ends! Also, before installing turbo, test fit it, pull it out, then tighten down the oil, and water lines.
Pre-Starting: Removed spark plugs(for replacement) and disconnected the electric connectors to each injector. Cranked the car over 3 times for 10-15 seconds, by the second crank your oil light in the dash should turn off. i then checked for any leaks before starting. Assembled everything and she fired right up. No leaks, breaks or anything. purred like a kitten.
Test drive. CAR SPIKES 25LBS OF BOOST, BLOWING MOTOR...j/kj/k after driving around like a granny for a couple of miles i got on it, noticing that it spikes 20 lbs of boost, concidering i don't have the supporting mods to run boost like that, i hit fuel cut and backed off. other than that, a quick turn of the boost controller takes care of that setting it at 15 psi, and she seems a lot more driveable on roads because it spools later than the little T25 does. The new manifold and 02 housing makes the car very throaty sounding. I continue to check for leaks and monitor all my gauges at all times. Other than that i have about 100miles on it with no complaints.
