makes sense in a way. have you done a rebuild like that before and never had an issue? I plan to rebuild some stock K03's and was always curious about having them balanced.

 

well good thing for me i have a friend who works for a company that rebuilds truck turbos. Im sure he could walk me threw it too.

 

Yes, i have rebuilt 4 K03's and an assortment of turbo's out of some of my old cars.
Nissan 300zx, Porsche 951, GMC Typhoon and a handful of friends turbo's.
I also have a friend that works for Cummings and has access to the balancer. I can have them done there but figured i would save the $130 for 2 turbo's to be balanced.

Mott, if you are planning on doing the rebuild yourself then i highly recommend OE kits.
I also noticed that i left out the tic mark for the compressor wheel. When you get under way feel free to contact me at pepsicolla4444@yahoo.com and i'll give you a more detailed description.

 

Thanks man, I'll definitely keep in touch when the time comes.

 

Personally,I would reccomend thinking about it a little more before you spend the money. Ebay companies buy in large quantities from china and typically sell a low quality product for a very small profit so YOU think your getting a good deal. Its really hit or miss, and IF they do end up being junk and they blow after 50 miles then not only are you out the price for the turbos but also the time or paid labor for replacement, that is, puling the motor twice and buying ANOTHER set of turbos.

Now theres alot of banter, arguing, and people who arent even open to the idea of these "ck04's" but try to get past it as there are quite a few good points made. Number one being that the wastegate ports are not large enough to bypass enough exhaust gas to prevent boost creep. Ballance, clerances, and wastegate rod clearance could also be an issue.

http://www.audizine.com/forum/showth...light=ebay+ko4

http://www.audizine.com/forum/showth...light=ebay+ko4

http://www.audizine.com/forum/showth...light=ebay+ko4

Im not saying they wont work because i havent seen them and have no experience with them at all. I just know I wouldnt put em on my car, i would rather use the OEM RS4 turbos made in germany. An ebay fmic or exhaust is a completely different story than a turbo.

 

this does not help my confidence. lol

 

There are plenty of people with other platforms that use ebay turbos with little or no problems, but they are generally very easy to swap if/when they do blow. On our cars there is alot of work involved with a turbo swap so right off the bat its a little riskier.

Some reputable people did give their opinion in that thread, the wastegate ports really do need to be opened up at the very least. If you dont your boost will go up and up and up which will damage the turbos. A good turbo shop should check the ballance, wastegate crack pressure, and make sure the acuator rods dont rub on the housing. Id also ask generally what they though of them, if they check out by all means put em on. You wont be the first.

FWIW the person who bought them and started a couple of those threads decided it wasnt worth it and got rid of them. Be cautious though, if it seems to good to be true, it probably is.

 

Was wondering how it goes with Ebay K04's after a years now. I asked
one Ebay supplier about warranty issues, they told be over 37 sets sold in 09, they had 2 warranty returns. They offer 1 year unlimitted milage warranty.
I'm going stage 3 this spring and price of Ebay K04's are really tempting.

 

Check out jhmotorsports.com They sell a kit of k04s from a company called RP for like 1400 or so. I don't know much about the company, but the guys claim that RP is a solid company and the turbos are totally sound. If your having any doubts about ebay k04s maybe check out RP turbos.

 

+1 to the RP turbos... Thats who im going with when my KO3's go.

josh