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Hey guys,

I'm starting to look at turbo upgrades (I've got a funny feeling that my turbo is going to let go soon)...I'm looking at a billion and one different options...

I have read the FAQ in the DIY section...and has given me good ideas

I was looking at KKR Turbochargers (the KKR430 or KKR480) has anyone use this on their Stagea and how does it go?

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https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/229806-kkr-turbochargers/
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I did read alot of turbo forums and got conflicting information....some say they are shit but yet some say they are good and had no problems

I just wanted to see if anybody here has installed them...and what their experiences were

dont do it to yourself you will really regret it

I Most likely won't - had a chat with a friend...told me more about them and how much of a hit or miss affair they are..

But I'm really stuck in terms of what I should do in terms of upgrading the turbo

Choices are:

Option 1 (sounds like the cheap option - but seems effective)

- just basically service my current turbo and change the wheels to steel and possible change the actuator

Option 2 (what my friends suggested to me)

- high flow to GT2530 or GT28RS internals

What do you think?

On a Stagea i would go one of two upgrades.

1/ High flow your current turbo using a sierra-sierra combination. ie: using the front and rear wheels off a sierra cossworth turbo and also upsize the rear housing. I made 274rwkw@15psi, but any more boost didn't really improve the power much, so i dare say 270-280rwkw is probably max for this combo.

2/ Fit a HKS GT2835ProS or even a Garrett GT30R.

The GT30R should see just over 310rwkw, just do a search on both turbos, both have great results.

Just another note: The Stagea is a heavier car than the Skyline, thus will load up the rb25 more, resulting in boost spooling up a little quicker. Also the 4wd will make the surge in power, once on boost, easier to handle.

it has been covered to death in forced induction which sometimes makes it hard to find due to the number of "its been covered a million times" posts.

if you want a reliable and reasonably priced upgrade then the most reliable choices are:

1. GCG hiflow $1800ish straight bolt on. wait till your turbo fails and then send it away to be rebuilt with all new internals.

2. HKS GT-RS $2300ish straght bolt on. seems to work slightly better than the GCG hiflow but it is a very close thing additionally you can sell your old turbo for $300-500

both of these turbo do not require a new dump pipe and as stated are bolt on both will make around 250rwkw +/- 20kw.

3. HKS 2835 ProS $3000 (kit with all the bits oil water lines, short dump etc)

4. GT3071 or GT3076 but will require oil water lines and a new dump and possibly some intake modifications.

there are lots of other options but consistently these seem to come up with predictable and pleasing results.

other cheaper turbos have variable results so why take the risk?

nothing wrong with a good quality oil AND water cooled journal (bush) bearing high flow with highly ported intake and exhaust, with good matching steel wheels

:worship: thats around $1200-$1500 (mine was under $800)

or same as above, but ball bearing GCG, $1800

As most guys know I use my Stagea pretty much daily and I tow the race car with it. So I needed a turbo upgrade that would give lots of torque and handle the temperatures generated by 4 tonnes (Stagea + 2 people + trailer + R32GTST + spares and tools). I wanted to keep the rpm down at the same time, as using lower gears generates a lot of heat in the auto trans, which has an upgraded cooler of course. I didn't want to have to rev the engine to get the boost to make the torque and outright horsepower was not a consideration. I also wanted 100% reliability, it's not much fun if the tow car turbo dies on the way to or from a race meeting. Plus it had to be a half day bolt on solution, I don't want to spend time on the tow car that would be much better spent making the race car faster.

So my choice ($1750 on the Group Buy) was a GCG Ball Bearing high flow. However I used an RB20 turbo to take advantage of the smaller compressor cover for faster boost build. It fits the above criteria perfectly, makes a bar at under 2,000 rpm, went on in a few hours, with zero mods and hasn't given one ounce of problem.

Cheers

Gary

So many options, so many different ways to attack it...thanks for everyones input so far.

I'm total newbie when it comes to stuff like this (as this is my first turbo car) and for me it's going to be first of many changes done on my car (gotta do exhaust system, intercooler (which i'm in the process of modifying - no need to go into it as i have stated on here before), suspension (hopefully SK's group buy is still going when i've got enough cash) but the turbo is the first thing that needs to get done as I have a feeling that's the first thing that is going to go. Basically I want to get my car around the 180 - 200kw at all fours with very minimal mods

Quick question what is the flange on the stock Stagea turbo (so I know what to look for if i'm going to buy another turbo) also (though it may sound silly) should you buy a new turbo or a good - very good second hand turbo (obviously get the turbo serviced to make sure it's not completely wrecked)

jason

you can get about 200rwkw +/- out of the stadard turbo which is is pretty close to what you are asking for.

i wouldn't rate the turbo as the first thing to do. why not save your money for a little longer, get the rest of the gear, tune it, drive it then see how you feel.

given the price of the new turbos for your application i would be buying new.....unless i personally knew the history and the owner. (something i just did btw)

T3 flange, and a world of options between a grand and two in cost

then factor in tuning

some sort of ecu whether that be piggyback or standalone. Good luck with that !!!

you can get 180kw with the neo engine/turbo/smic. grab a z32 afm, a nismo fpr, a bosch 040 fuel pump, a safc neo and a sitc (or emanage in lieu of these 2 piggybacks), full 3" exhaust, auto trans cooler and shift kit, sk's bilstein shocks and whiteline swaybars and bushes, braided brake lines, and you'll have a good stagea thats an allround wagon. go, stop, and cornering. hiflow the neo turbo (make use of the bigger exhaust housing that you have in the S2 over the S1) and there is 200+

about 5k tho all up ^

ATP near chady if you want a cheaper bush bearing turbo, or Eastern Turbochargers in bayswater if you want a BB job. Kev at eastern knows his shit, and would most likely match the GCG price. I know AlexCim's GCG was laggy as f**k. and it was tuned by a decent tuner. Also, if you go local, its easier to sort things out.

Access Autoworks(trade place, vermont) are Nismo dealers i'm pretty sure, and they would be able to organise the S-tech suspension package.

Better than being like so many other members and waiting for months on products and refunds from a 'trader' on here, with no return to e-mails/calls.

ATP near chady if you want a cheaper bush bearing turbo, or Eastern Turbochargers in bayswater if you want a BB job. Kev at eastern knows his shit, and would most likely match the GCG price. I know AlexCim's GCG was laggy as f**k. and it was tuned by a decent tuner. Also, if you go local, its easier to sort things out.

My experience has been exactly the opposite, I have had 4 x GCG ball bearing high flows all tuned by a crappy tuner (me) and laggy is most certainly not a word I would use, not even remotely close. Against any measure they have all been super responsive. The Stagea makes well over 0.5 bar from a standstill against the torque converter at 1800 rpm, on l;aunch it leaps up to 1 bar instantly, that's a pretty good indication of the total abscence of any slowness of boost build.

Don't always blame the turbo, sometimes it's not the real cause of the problem.

Cheers

Gary

PS; that also applies to blaiming the middle man (the poor old Group Buy co-ordinator) who does it for nothing.

My experience has been exactly the opposite, I have had 4 x GCG ball bearing high flows all tuned by a crappy tuner (me) and laggy is most certainly not a word I would use, not even remotely close. Against any measure they have all been super responsive. The Stagea makes well over 0.5 bar from a standstill against the torque converter at 1800 rpm, on l;aunch it leaps up to 1 bar instantly, that's a pretty good indication of the total abscence of any slowness of boost build.

Don't always blame the turbo, sometimes it's not the real cause of the problem.

Cheers

Gary

PS; that also applies to blaiming the middle man (the poor old Group Buy co-ordinator) who does it for nothing.

gary, my slide turbo is exactly like that

awesome response, slightly slower off the line Id imagine compared to a rb20 housing, but nevertheless for $800 wow what value

My experience has been exactly the opposite, I have had 4 x GCG ball bearing high flows all tuned by a crappy tuner (me) and laggy is most certainly not a word I would use, not even remotely close. Against any measure they have all been super responsive. The Stagea makes well over 0.5 bar from a standstill against the torque converter at 1800 rpm, on l;aunch it leaps up to 1 bar instantly, that's a pretty good indication of the total abscence of any slowness of boost build.

Don't always blame the turbo, sometimes it's not the real cause of the problem.

Cheers

Gary

PS; that also applies to blaiming the middle man (the poor old Group Buy co-ordinator) who does it for nothing.

gary, could you or matt please get in contact with me? i can appreciate that you dont get much besides a job out of this(eg, Jamex now have a market for your products) but 4+months of avoidance isn't great customer service.

Cheers,

Ryan

gary, could you or matt please get in contact with me? i can appreciate that you dont get much besides a job out of this(eg, Jamex now have a market for your products) but 4+months of avoidance isn't great customer service.

Cheers,

Ryan

Hi Ryan, there are 275 PM's in the inbox and not one of them is from you, so I have no idea what it is that you want. So I sent you a PM asking exactly that.

Cheers

Gary

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