Alright guys, i know the regular ka-t people have seen this question countless of times and i thought it would be a good idea to get a real thread on these kits going that would be sticky worthy. A thread that noobs who ask this question can be linked to, and maybe we will see less of the Q.
For those of you who dont know, these kits are made in China and look pretty much the same across the board. Heres a link to one vendor that sells the kit so you guys have an example. --->
http://www.autozconcept.com/pr...=5431
If anyone has some better pics of the kit please feel free to post them up so people will know what were talking about.
To start things off, i want to say that some people can use these kits and have them last a year or two with no major issues. However, the majority of people who buy the kits have problems within 6 months. The two biggest problems with the kit that i have seen from first hand experience and second hand is that either the manifold will crack, or the turbo seals will blow. In other occasions, the wastegate flange just completely blows off the manifold, as has happened to a few ka-ters. The stainless on the manifolds is thin, and of poor quality resulting in cracks around the welds or collector. I have also heard that the turbos are poorly balanced, and if you push them into high boost the compressor wheel will explode sending metal into your engine. I have also heard of the wastegate diaphragm ripping, causing an over boost situation and blowing a motor. The BOV's typically need to be taken apart and the casting marks sanded off of them so they dont leak. Those are the main problems i can think of off the top of my head about these kits.
The main problem here is that the Chinese kits lack any real quality control. They are mass produced as quickly and cheaply as possible.
That being said, we have guys who run the kits and they work fine. On a sidenote, you MUST run a .63 size oil restrictor with these kits or you will blow your turbos aft oil seal. This will cause your car to be undrivable, smoke so thick that you cant see out your back window. You can pick one up from Mc-Master Carr, the part number is 2712T488 (.63 orfice).
I 100 percent regret buying one of these kits for 800 bucks a year and a half ago. Now that i have a ka-t, the only thing i still use on my car from the kit was the intercooler, half of my IC piping(which was thin as crap and hard to weld), and a really nice Blitz boost gage/turbo timer(what a way to spend 800..). I was going to use the manifold, but after seeing how crappy it was, and hearing all the horror stories about it, decided not to put it on my car and went with something else. I used the turbo without a restrictor and it lasted all of three wide open throttle runs.
So thats that, please anyone with first hand or good second hand knowledge of the kit chime in to make this a better thread.