Ats

[salad]

Hi guys, the purpose of this thread is not to tell people to never go there again, just put a bit more research in before taking an expensive part to him...

I recently bought a GCG highflow that was in need of the rear seal being done. I took the turbo there and dropped it off with his lackies (he wasn't there) and then asked them to give me a ring with the price before they did it. The next morning I got a call saying it was done and I owed $400. I wasn't too fussed about this because I wanted it done in a hurry, but the phone call with the price would've been nice. He also said it had another 2-3years life left in it which made me feel a bit better about it.

Anyway, then I put the turbo on and get it dyno tuned, then took it to Mallala and it seized after 4laps. On the dyno it was clearly blowing lots of smoke and on the drive to Mallala, my mates told me it was blowing lots of smoke. I didn't think much of it because I thought it was my engine and I know my engine's not healthy. Also when the turbo came off, there was a HUGE amount of blowby, so much so that it filled my boost controller solenoid, all piping and there was a puddle in the compressor housing...

I took it back to him, he pulled it apart and said it was oil starvation, then did an oil flow test on my car and it was only getting 0.9L/min and they apparently should be getting 1.5L/min. So while there, we modified the banjo bolts (drilled out the restrictors) to flow 1.5L/min. I thought this was a bit odd as the turbo is supposed to be used with standard lines, and hence restrictors in place, so I rang up GCG and asked how much oil the highflows are supposed to get, and what did they say? 0.9L/min!

So now my car's feeding far too much oil to the turbo (in the range for bush bearing turbos) and is puffing smoke. So I need to find a couple of standard banjos to return it to normal.

I think it's also worth noting that before this incident, I had done about 2 years worth of track driving with the stock RB25 turbo and stock lines with NO oil related turbo problems.

Anyway, all I can say is dont believe all the hype about Bill (like I did). I also went to MTQ later about it and they were VERY helpful, no money paid, gave me some advice, got a technical guy to look at the turbo and gave me a quick quote on a rebuild, unlike Bill who just wanted to sell me a brand new turbo...

[Pauly33GTS-t]

bad luck man, bill sorted me out pretty darn well and mine goes very strong.

[Deluxe]

Yeh likewise Paully, Although I havn't actually dealt with Bill for a long time, the Hi Flow in my car is a ATS job, which was done a good 5-6 years ago when the car wasn't in my hands, and still holding strong!

Think it's almost luck of the draw, I know for a fact Shaun at Boostworx uses Bill, and he actually has done work on our race car also, and thats on a 3SGTE out of a MR2 which is now in a RWD car, and we all know they have issues with oil feed!

[Pauly33GTS-t]

salad, fact of the matter is all reputable places and people have had problems with customers, even shaun I spoke to him after my turbo blew and got some advice out of him, he said to me its just luck of the draw and sometimes you get people that get soemthing done, walk out of somewhere and somehting stuffs up and run back saying it was their fault. I'd talk to Bill and tell him what you have discovered and what he plans to do and if you need to bring someone with you that knows more than basic. I doubt it'll have any affect though because Bill has been working with turbos since the 70's and has done numerous top jobs but im sure like any other place, he has done sub-standard work too. No one is 100 percent perfect.

Get Bill to ring up GCG about your turbo so he can hear from them himself and perhaps realise what he has done wrong if you are indeed 100 percent certain you are correct.

[KISIN]

bad luck man, bill sorted me out pretty darn well and mine goes very strong.

and u cant pull away with the gt30 + mods from a stock 34 with catback:P

[Pauly33GTS-t]

Its a GT30R Compressor wheel in a Rb25DET turbo shell since my turbo when it blew, it indeed blew the f**k up!.

I pulled away from you, pitty I was still running 6psi.

Edited July 18, 2007 by Pauly33GTS-t

[KISIN]

Its a GT30R Compressor wheel in a Rb25DET turbo shell since my turbo when it blew, it indeed blew the f**k up!.

I pulled away from you, pitty I was still running 6psi.

pitty i was running 5 to 7 max (stock.) and u stepped on it first

Wonder if i had full zorst and FMIC and 6psi constant...

Lol anyway u did pull away by half a car lenght, ill stop being a smart ass.

[Pauly33GTS-t]

lol, i changed gears quite slowly too since I still had "crunching issues". but yes, you stop being a smart ass.

[Tangles]

make an official complaint to the consumer authorities. dont hold back, you have rights mate.

you got screwed over 2 ways:

a) asked for a price first, but work was done without your consent and money was demanded (a big no-no),

and b) substandard workmanship, obviously by the lackies.

ATS is recommended by GrahamWestWorkshops as well, so most ppl are happy with their products and services.

but in this instance the stars obviously wernt aligned for you, and its cost you time & money when it shouldnt be like that.

Id recommend Sliding Performance (slide on sau) for a rebuild to the turbo. hes a great bloke, tell him the facts and Im sure he'll give you his best price. slide highflow FTWiinnnnaaaaahh!

[mr_rbman]

have had one experience with Bill aswell, took my turbo there as everyone said he is the man to see when it comes to turbo's but my experience defintiely wasn't positive!

[salad]

Yeah, the point of this thread wasn't to say dont go to him full stop, but do a bit more research before hand as before this, I had only ever heard good things about him. After it happened, I found out about a few more people that weren't too happy with his work

[Nightcrawler]

I have some banjo bolts if you want to buy some stockers

[pixel8r]

pitty i was running 5 to 7 max (stock.) and u stepped on it first

Wonder if i had full zorst and FMIC and 6psi constant...

Lol anyway u did pull away by half a car lenght, ill stop being a smart ass.

If you have a think about whats going on with a bigger turbo, its not as easy as saying "same boost and mine was faster".

The stock turbo is noticeably more responsive than a GT30. The GT30 also needs more boost than the stock turbo to hit its peak efficiency.

Its not comparing apples to apples. With the right mods a skyline with a GT30 will easily beat a stock skyline, but will have slightly more lag.

The GT30 really needs like 14+ psi to hit peak efficiency. I have the same turbo setup (from ATS) and even at 12psi it definitely wants to boost higher.

[Cubes]

Agreed.

A mate of mine used to run a Gt35r at 8psi. It made 182rwkw. He pushed in another 8psi and picked up almost 100rwkw.

Once it got up over 10psi it started to net large gains in power per pound of boost; that was until the ext. wastegate started to tail boost off at high rev's. Which is why you don't run a soft 8psi spring and try to push double the amount of boost through it.

Such a pitty he never got that car sorted before selling it.

[D_Stirls]

I would have thought that MTQ would have been able to help you out with the banjo bolts?

[salad]

Yeah, I'll try a few wreckers near me first as MTQ is a bit of a drive.

[KISIN]

If you have a think about whats going on with a bigger turbo, its not as easy as saying "same boost and mine was faster".

The stock turbo is noticeably more responsive than a GT30. The GT30 also needs more boost than the stock turbo to hit its peak efficiency.

Its not comparing apples to apples. With the right mods a skyline with a GT30 will easily beat a stock skyline, but will have slightly more lag.

The GT30 really needs like 14+ psi to hit peak efficiency. I have the same turbo setup (from ATS) and even at 12psi it definitely wants to boost higher.

Notice the "ill stop being a smart ass" at the end of my post lol ?

I agree with, i was just messin with paully...doesnt take much to get him started lol.