Big Turbo Thread

[George Smooth]

I was wondering what everyones thoughts are on this.
At the moment the following is available:

RD Sport
ASR Engineering (I would advise to stay away from this company)
RB Turbos (See Dyno Below)
Turbo Dynamics
EP Labs
AR Design (single turbo in development) videos looks promising.
some local concoctions

Some facts so far:

At the moment ASR and RB has produced 500whp+ dyno runs. The ASR car has run a 179mph exit speed at a mile event which is phenomenal and the car can be found on youtube beating modded GTR's, Porsches etc. They apparently have upgraded the turbo kit which should be seen soon on customers cars. I have had bad experience with this company due to non delivery of a M5 exhaust so I would be cautious.
Turbo Dynamics first car has broken the motor due to a lean condition or extreme detonation. This was either caused by tuning using a JB3 or the owner of the car did not follow instructions on running race fuel only.
The EP Labs turbos seem to add 40whp but the mod only entails changing the compressor wheel.

Here is the dyno of the RB car running a conservative tune which releases quite a bit of boost at top rpm.

 

[nomercy]

Rob beck is the only company that upgrades the wastegate as well!!!
There turbos looks promising and is the best according to a lot of people!!!
Its going to cost 4000 grand us, so its not cheap!!!
Racing dynamics will do upgraded turbos for 750 pounds if yours is in good condition...
All these work on a core exchange!!!
A lot of money for gians, but well worth it!!!

Rob gets my vote!!!
The only problem with these turbos are you need someone that knows how to tune to get then working 100!!!!

 

[saturnz]

Why would a turbo need a tune?

 

[nomercy]

To get everything working together and to run the higher boost levels these turbos are made for!

 

[Twinz]

Good thread starter George:thumbsup:

There is going to be plenty of discussions on the upgraded turbos for the next few months and they now all seem to be happening at once.

Rennzport explored:

1. The RD Sport turbos last year since Racing Dynamics is one of our preferred supliers. Our concern with going the route of the RS35 turbos was that the gains appear minimal and we could not get sufficient customer satisfaction reports/reviews of the RD turbos. We also had concerns about the need for upgraded fuel lines and lack of wastegate upgrade. The other problem here is also the company takes forever to reply to queries about their turbo product. :nono:
https://racingdynamics.com/eStore/index.php/tag/product/list/tagId/27/


2. We then looked into the GT-Pro turbo upgrade but the cost for an outright or and exchange product was way too high and almost zero customer feedback available.However, we had prompt reaction from the company when inquiring about the product. Their website has also been offline for quite a few months:shocked:
http://gtpro.com/

3. Then we got excited about the Turbo Dynamics upgrade in the UK and how well it was running in a customers (Tony) car in the UK; again our concern was also the cost and the lack of a wastegate fix. We went as far as procuring a set of exchange turbos but never concluded the transaction. :thinking:
http://www.turbodynamics.co.uk/

4. The Rob Beck turbos seems very promising and particularly since it is being tested by BMS using the JB3 tune. We are waiting for the final go ahead from BMS before we commit to a set of turbos.
http://www.n54tech.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5029

5. We are also aware of the Tail Sport turbos. These are beautiful creations and they show good gains on the dyno with a couple of customers already raving about the product. We may consider importing these as well. :clap:
http://www.bmwblog.com/2010/04/22/first-customer-bmw-335xi-turbo-upgrade-in-progress/
http://www.tialsport.com/

6. Aware of the ASR turbos but will definitely NOT pursue this route. There is too much secrecy about these turbos only lots of midnight run youtube videos that really mean nothing. We would prefer to promote upgraded turbos that can run with our own prefferred tune such as the JB3 or a known local sw tune and that customers have reported on.:nono:
http://www.asrengineeringinc.com/

7. Aware of AR Design, a reputable company and the good progress they make with their single turbo setup:but a single turbo setup is not what we would promote. Also too many AR videos taken at night that does not tell much. :dunno:
http://www.ardesign.info/catalog/bmwe8x135i-c-42_98.html

8. EPL Turbos: Wow my first time to read about them and there is definitely something here. The price is great too. :thumbsup:
http://www.eplabs.net/products/bmw/n54-turbo-epl-sport-turbo-upgrade/

9. Vividracing: Don't know much about the company and its products.
http://www.vividracing.com/catalog/...rade-kit-60hp-bmw-135i-n54-0810-p-100035.html

Our intention is to make a final desicion on which turbos we will bring in for testing by Summer...untill then we will continue to follow the exciting progress on these turbos for the N54 platform.:excited:

 

[George Smooth]

Tial and EPL is one and the same. Maybe just merge the two. They are developing a second stage where they will replace the exhaust wheel instead of just clipping it back so that should show quite a advantage.

ASR has released quite a few photos of machining of the turbos etc so there is information going out. The fact that it is backed by Shiv means they are producing the power in the initial testing phases and the mile run speaks for itself. The only catch is that they have removed the water cooling and the turbos are only oiled cooled. I have no problem with this principle but the web seems to prefer keeping the water cooling so they are a bit at a disadvantage.

As for the companies that waistegate upgrade I would rather buy a new set from Tischer for R10,000 with the upgraded shaft from BMW and know I am starting with a fresh set. Don't forget guys that the SA RHD turbos are the same as the LHD 135 turbos overseas. Be cautious of Ebay purchases of 335 LHD turbos as the rear turbos are different.

I am waiting for the release of the HPF turbo kit for the RHD E46 M3. If it produces the figures I won't be going big turbo route for the 335. If I am not happy with HPF's numbers I am thinking of hanging two complete TD04's on the car. They should make similar power as ASR and Robs turbo at a much lower boost threshold and also offer a bit of piece of mind that they are not re-engineered. I have placed one physically in the place of the TD03 and it does fit. The flanges of the exhaust housing will have to be cut off the standard manifold as they are not flush fit but have a lip that goes into the cylinder head. We have experimented on larger turbos with my car similar to RB's turbo and unfortunately the local engineering available yielded serious faults in terms of lag as the housing was not machined properly but when on boost Chiplogic's software was able to maintain both perfect fueling and timing with a lack of fault codes which is the most important.

 

[Twinz]

Tial and EPL is one and the same. Maybe just merge the two....

As for the companies that waistegate upgrade I would rather buy a new set from Tischer for R10,000 with the upgraded shaft from BMW and know I am starting with a fresh set.

I made contact with Tail/EPL and await their reply on whether they are the same and what's up with their advertising...:shocked:

We would go the same waistegate upgarde option as yourself if a one stop solution is not provided by the company that also manufacturers the snails.:thumb:

 

[Twinz]

Added vivid racing turbos to the list above:
http://www.vividracing.com/catalog/...rade-kit-60hp-bmw-135i-n54-0810-p-100035.html