GOOD KA-T Kit?

[RPS13KA-T]

sorry im begginer on this website and to 240sss(ima rotary guy) period so bare with me....

i was just curious bout this turbo kit for a KA24de on ebay. let me know what you think and is all the info it says is true, bout how the kit can use stock injector and stock ecu for now... by the way my motor has about 60k on the ka24de. let me know what you think thanks...http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors...witem=

if not what's a good kit that's about 1600 thats come with EVERYTHING to get it running. and yes i did some research and lke i said im a noob and theres alot of info out there and just need to know asap thanks.

[nelson8708]

The best kit imo is one your piece together your self after researching (cheaper too). The only actual kit i would go with is JGS. The only way i would suggest using a stock ecu and injectors is with a walbro 255 and 8:1 fmu backing it up along with a few degrees pulled at the distributor.

The only things i would get off eghey is FMIC's and intercooler piping kits.

ebay turbo and manifolds.....FTL

[GEO]

AMS has a kit, IAP ( What I have ) or Greddy.

[Chris28]

AMS screwed the 240 crowd a while ago, not sure I would trust them, IAP went out of business(?), and the Greddy kit sucks for how much it costs. Research and piece together your own kit and it will save you some cash. If you want to buy a "kit" then go for the one JGS sells, but there are still things you are going to have to buy, it's not a complete kit.

[DroptopDrifting]

AMS screwed the 240 crowd a while ago, not sure I would trust them, IAP went out of business(?), and the Greddy kit sucks for how much it costs. Research and piece together your own kit and it will save you some cash. If you want to buy a "kit" then go for the one JGS sells, but there are still things you are going to have to buy, it's not a complete kit.

what's the deal with ams?

but yeah, i got the jgs kit and im still workin on buyin a few more things. seems like a nice route for those of us fairly new to ka-t. definately read the stickies on the ka-t page, great info on there.

[Chris28]

what's the deal with ams?

They made a kickass manifold and set up a group buy, only to back out when they realized it wasn't going to sell as well as they wanted to. From a business standpoint it was a good call, I mean you don't continue production on something that is losing you money, but they screwed everyone that had put a down payment on the manifold.

They recently started re-producing the manifold, but they now mainly cater to people with higher income...basically evo/sti owners.

This whole thing happened before my time here, so this is just what I've heard. There is a thread on here somewhere about it, basically just tells what happened.

[DroptopDrifting]

oh wow. i'm gonna have to check that thread out.

[WDRacing]

It wasn't the fact that they made a bizz decision. It was the fact that they established themselves as liars. They repeatedly made excuses about their steal supplier. Saying the steal was unavailable...um what? Buy from someone else. Funny how the steal was available for the EVO mani's though. Then they wouldn't return phone calls, emails etc. Took months for anyone to get money back or their manifolds.

If a business sucks at customer service, then they suck at business. I'll never recommend them...real bummer to. I wish Ivan still posted on here.

WD

[RPS13KA-T]

ill keep that in mind

[GEO]

AMS screwed the 240 crowd a while ago, not sure I would trust them, IAP went out of business(?), and the Greddy kit sucks for how much it costs. Research and piece together your own kit and it will save you some cash. If you want to buy a "kit" then go for the one JGS sells, but there are still things you are going to have to buy, it's not a complete kit.

wutt?

http://www.import-autoperformance.com/

I have their kit and I have been running 5 years strong. Granted I got it for 'NICO" price back then.

zerothread?id=119969

Modified by GEO at 2:13 PM 4/4/2009
Modified by GEO at 2:15 PM 4/4/2009

[SX APPEAL]

They made a kickass manifold and set up a group buy, only to back out when they realized it wasn't going to sell as well as they wanted to. From a business standpoint it was a good call, I mean you don't continue production on something that is losing you money, but they screwed everyone that had put a down payment on the manifold.

They recently started re-producing the manifold, but they now mainly cater to people with higher income...basically evo/sti owners.

This whole thing happened before my time here, so this is just what I've heard. There is a thread on here somewhere about it, basically just tells what happened.

AMS has always catered to evo's, they were the biggest evo tuning shop in the country when I lived in chicago, probably still are. You can't throw a rock in that city without breaking the window of an evo with an AMS banner plastered on it. Actually went over to their shop one time, parked the 240 next to 8 evo's lol. went in just to look around and they showed me the KA-T manifold they were working on, presumably the one they later screwed all of you guys on, I was out of the scene by then. But yeah from what I could tell their offerings for KA guys are pretty much an afterthought compared to their evo business.

[dwaynedman]

Look into a kit from Extreme turbo systems. http://www.extremeturbosystems....htmlI bought one of these for my 96, and am very glad I did, very strong construction on the hand tigged stainless manifold. All brand name parts,includes Tial wastegate, walbro 255, custom downpipe, greddy RS BOV, Custom handmade intercooler and piping, vortec FMU, oil feed and return lines, genuine garret T3/T4 turbo good for over 500 RWHP, all nuts, bolts, fastners, clamps, couplers, air filter, etc...... You will need to look into Injectors & Possible engine managment if you want toi run over 7 PSI that the wastegate comes set with.

This kit is awesome, and their support over the phone is great.

Later D
Modified by dwaynedman at 8:12 PM 4/4/2009

[SX APPEAL]

Definitly a nice kit, wastegate recirc looks a bit suspect though, quite a sharp angle. Any problems with boost creep?

[480sx]

I organized that group buy with AMS. It took them 8+ months from the time 10 people paid on average 500 dollars(at least 400) as a down payment to the time our manifolds were available. A few people waited 8 months with their cars in pieces.

Like WD said, they repeatedly lied to us. In the end, Ivan had the balls to tell us what we already knew. That to AMS, the 240 crowd were second rate customers and the Evo projects and Scoobs were top priority.

Chris, our 'goto' guy to AMS never showed up into his own thread in his own freaken sub forum on the .Org to apologize, give an explanation, nothing. He just stopped lying and making excuses and disappeared for the last 4 months. We got no discounts at all for the BS, we even asked and felt it was fair.

That being said.. Mannnnn, IMO, the AMS manifold is the sickest manifold made for our cars.. I personally like it better than Full Races manifolds design. Full race uses an at least 9 axis robotic tig welding setup(SIK).. In addition to a twin scrollish equal length top mount design that is also a piece of art. Both are incredible manifolds, i however prefer the bottom mount for weight distribution. In addition i dont believe that the full race manifold should really qualify as a true twin scroll design. I really, really, really want to talk to full race and figure out why they didnt fab two separate wastegate ports for each 'scroll' like a true twin scroll is supposed to be setup. If a company would make a true twin scroll manifold for a Ka id be over it in a heartbeat. Anyway..

The co-owner of my business is a professional fabricator and welder, and was generally wowed by this thing. You dont find any better fab work than you do through AMS or Full Race. However, they do all this butter fab work, pipe fitting, welding, then use cheap plasma cut flanges.. I paid 900 dollars for a manifold and you give me a rough cut turbo flange and head flange?

That all being said, i will never ever buy anything from AMS. Now that i have my manifold...

OP - A solid kid is the JGS kit. Best bang for the dollar by far. Get their basic kit, stay away from the Turbonetics turbos they push. Then just go from there. Also, unless you want a budget build and are content with a T2 flanged bottom mount setup or can fabricate/weld yourself, i would stay the hell away from Ebay stuff.

[480sx]

Definitly a nice kit, wastegate recirc looks a bit suspect though, quite a sharp angle. Any problems with boost creep?

Iv seen that kit and made the same comment. In addition, they have two O2 sensor bungs right next to each other which is.. just stupid, like they dont even know the basics of turbocharging. Basically.. One narrow band(OEM) o2 sensor goes right behind the turbo. The wideband o2 sensor goes 18-24 inches away from the turbo because they fry in the heat.

Seriously though, for that kit, if you turn the boost up i bet it would creep. That wastegate setup isnt ideal at all.

-- To clear some air.. IAP is no longer in business i believe and is no longer an option. 5 years ago their quality might have been good, however they went down the tubes fast. A lot of their later manifolds were prone to cracking. Same thing happened to Boost Designs.

[WDRacing]

AMS' manifold is nice. But Full Race is almost if not just as nice. Add to that customer support and a background in racing that far exceeds AMS and they get my vote everytime. Not to mention they support NICO at some of our meets and whatnot. Great people all around.

[joenismos15]

I didnt know that about AMS but i have had quite the opposite when dealing with them, Got there crate engine and a cam shaft bent so i had sent it back to them they fixed it and sent it back, yes i did have to pay for Some parts( Brian Crower sent a new set of cams for free!) but the parts i did have to get where heavily discounted and i felt that they did a good job rectifying there mistake.

And i still plan to purchase there Turbo manifold. which they now have for sale on there website.

[SX APPEAL]

hey dwaynedman, just noticed your engine bay pic in your sig is the same one from the pics in the ETS website Also noticed that you have the first O2 bung plugged, is the O2S in the second bung the wideband or OEM? What boost do you run with that kit?

[2FourTee]

Iv seen that kit and made the same comment. In addition, they have two O2 sensor bungs right next to each other which is.. just stupid, like they dont even know the basics of turbocharging. Basically.. One narrow band(OEM) o2 sensor goes right behind the turbo. The wideband o2 sensor goes 18-24 inches away from the turbo because they fry in the heat.

Seriously though, for that kit, if you turn the boost up i bet it would creep. That wastegate setup isnt ideal at all.

True, but it still doesn't seem like a bad deal if you can redo the wastegate recirc yourself. I mean, the JGS kit is $1800 and doesn't come with half that stuff. I am seriously thinking about selling my JGS (not on car yet) and buying this. I'd be running low boost (7-12 psi). If boost creep was ever an issue, a good friend of mine has a welder. I'm sure we could redo it to where it enters the downpipe further down, and at an angle that would prevent creep.

I dunno. Maybe I've had one too many drinks tonight, but that kit seems very nice for the price.

[480sx]

ROTFLMAO. Please tell me someone else see's what im seeing.

Anyway. The kit isnt bad for the price, ill agree. For lower boost i dont think you would have any problems, it might not even creep at 300-400 hp. Really depends on the turbine and housing you got. Its not ideal, i can tell you that much. Might not matter though.

[bruinbear714]

ROTFLMAO. Please tell me someone else see's what im seeing.

Anyway. The kit isnt bad for the price, ill agree. For lower boost i dont think you would have any problems, it might not even creep at 300-400 hp. Really depends on the turbine and housing you got. Its not ideal, i can tell you that much. Might not matter though.

The water pump's running backwards.

[WDRacing]

ROTFLMAO. Please tell me someone else see's what im seeing.

Anyway. The kit isnt bad for the price, ill agree. For lower boost i dont think you would have any problems, it might not even creep at 300-400 hp. Really depends on the turbine and housing you got. Its not ideal, i can tell you that much. Might not matter though.

Wow...way to post pictures of utter failure on the WWW about your own friggin business. Trust these guys? Not so much...

[D-UNIT]

I don't see it. Not to familiar w/ s14 engine bays. I wanna laugh too.

[ZiG]

The upper rad hose leads to the bottom of the rad and the lower rad hose leads to the top. Not really a big deal imo?

[D-UNIT]

Oh I see , said the blind man. Considering that looks like pre fire pics yah simple mistake. Funny thou. Good thing they don't sell coolant hose installation services. Thanks u made my day ....kinda.

btw I think Ariel is the hottest Disney character ever.

[ZiG]

Course she is.

[S14slider09]

what are the other parts needed that arent in the kit??

[j-z]

ive had both the jgs, and IAP kit on two different cars. the jgs stuff is quality, but their wastegate placement is fuccking retarded if you ever need to get to it!!! their downpipe is really nice, but im not a fan of the manifold. for the money, you cant beat it.

the IAP kit is way overpriced, and the manifold is a pile of shlt!!!

my $.02 get a full race manifold, and make the rest. /thread

[ka-t 300]

i used peak boost and i have 20,000 miles on it no issues oncce installed, but it took a month to get it. then when i went to install it i couldnt bolt on the waste gate to the wastegate flange as they weled the flange on wrong. the turbo wouldnt clear the hood all the way when closing it so I had to use 3 washers to space the engine cradle down on the drivers side. lol I called ken at peak boost and he didnt beleave me lol after a long conversation he agreed to look at it so i shiped it back got it back 3 weeks later waste gate flange was fixed but turbo still hit the hood lol . any way it was a pain in the asss to make it work and i felt customer service was not that good.

just some info for the record or thought .