I'm considering upgrading my turbo

[jonot]

I'm thinking of upgrading my turbo and am trying to avoid dropping a bomb on it.
There are a couple of options I'm looking at. To be honest, these are mostly because of price.
CT Turbo have a $600 and $800 option and Forefront have an $800 option (currently out of stock).
Does anyone have any expereince with these? Also, is it worth avoiding the cheap imports?

I have an '04 D22 ZD30 (210000km) and my current turbo is not broken, but I'm upgrading the exhaust (full of rust holes) and I can 'include' a turbo in the build budget.
I'm not looking for massive gains, but have read all the bad press about these turbos crapping themselves.
I'm also considering an intercooler and remapped ECU down the track.

Is it worth my while to be considering this, or are these turbos not as bad as the stories I've read?

Thanks

 

[OldManBeard]

The obvious question is - why do you want to upgrade your turbo? What do you hope to gain by doing so. I only ask because there is often more than one answer to such a question. This would of course be an opportune time to replace it, while you're doing the exhaust anyway, but is it necessary or warranted? Perhaps that sort of money could be better spent elsewhere.

FWIW, I recently replaced my defective turbo with one from this company and so far have no complaints. Although I opted for the standard replacement, I've been told good things about their high-flow turbos. I just figured I wouldn't see the real benefits while still running a standard exhaust system.

 

[tweak'e]

Is it worth my while to be considering this, or are these turbos not as bad as the stories I've read?

they are not as bad as you think.
i think what tends to happen is people get oil all over the turbo due to over filling, then mechanics blame the turbo and sell the customer a new turbo.
bit like block fuel filter causes timing problem so they sell them a new injection pump. seen that one a lot.

its not worth while to consider it. if nothing wrong with existing turbo then leave it be.
spend the money on intercooler, egt gauge and then chip.

 

[jonot]

The obvious question is - why do you want to upgrade your turbo?

There are a couple of reasons:

• I'm replacing the turbo, so its a good time.
• I'm fixing some things, so its easier to get approval from the CFO.
• I figure I could future proof myself a little if I go down the path of remap / chip. I could probably get more out of it when the time comes.
• I was concerned about the turbos being a little dodgy.

To be honest, I wasn't really looking for immediate gains.

FWIW, I recently replaced my defective turbo with one from this company and so far have no complaints. Although I opted for the standard replacement, I've been told good things about their high-flow turbos. I just figured I wouldn't see the real benefits while still running a standard exhaust system.

There seems to be a number of businesses selling what looks to be the same turbos. I was looking at these, but saw them on a couple of sites.

its not worth while to consider it. if nothing wrong with existing turbo then leave it be.
spend the money on intercooler, egt gauge and then chip.

I had a feeling that's what the answer might be. Its a bit of coin back into my pocket (for the time being).
Do you think a chip is better than something like a Jamie Knobel remap?

Thanks guys.

 

[Horatius]

I'm thinking of upgrading my turbo and am trying to avoid dropping a bomb on it.
There are a couple of options I'm looking at. To be honest, these are mostly because of price.
CT Turbo have a $600 and $800 option and Forefront have an $800 option (currently out of stock).
Does anyone have any expereince with these? Also, is it worth avoiding the cheap imports?

I have an '04 D22 ZD30 (210000km) and my current turbo is not broken, but I'm upgrading the exhaust (full of rust holes) and I can 'include' a turbo in the build budget.
I'm not looking for massive gains, but have read all the bad press about these turbos crapping themselves.
I'm also considering an intercooler and remapped ECU down the track.

Is it worth my while to be considering this, or are these turbos not as bad as the stories I've read?

Thanks

The Forefront ones are a noticeable performance upgrade from the stock Hitachi, as to longevity I can't say as yet. As to fleabay cheapies, you roll the dice and take your chances there. I know of one that lasted a few thousand kilometres and the bearing crapped out, impeller was hitting. I know another one (300 dollar cheapie) still going strong after nearly a decade and over 200k kilometres, is better quality than the stock turbo IMO for about 1/5th the price.

I really think that if these cars have a weak point, the turbo is it.

 

[OldManBeard]

There are a couple of reasons:

• I'm replacing the turbo, so its a good time.
• I'm fixing some things, so its easier to get approval from the CFO.
• I figure I could future proof myself a little if I go down the path of remap / chip. I could probably get more out of it when the time comes.
• I was concerned about the turbos being a little dodgy.

To be honest, I wasn't really looking for immediate gains.

It sounds to me a bit like you're fishing for a reason to replace a turbo without actually having a need to do so.

There seems to be a number of businesses selling what looks to be the same turbos. I was looking at these, but saw them on a couple of sites.

There are. The main appeal for me to buy from the company I linked to is that they're less than an hour and a half drive away, so I didn't have to wait for it to be delivered. The $50 discount for cash was quite welcome as well.

I had a feeling that's what the answer might be. Its a bit of coin back into my pocket (for the time being).
Do you think a chip is better than something like a Jamie Knobel remap?

I don't have any experience with remaps, so can't offer any valid opinion of them. There will be others here who will be able to contribute to this topic.

For my purposes, the chip was a better choice for a couple of reasons.

• Short-term, it offers the advantage of being able to choose from multiple settings to suit the current needs. I can set mine to maximum economy for normal driving and then crank it up for towing, or somewhere in between if I'm just carrying heavy loads. I do wish I'd purchased the Bluetooth option though, as I currently have to pop the bonnet to change settings.
• Long term, I can keep the chip when I eventually get rid of the Navara and get it reprogrammed and buy a new wiring harness to fit whatever I buy next, if it's a diesel, for significantly less than the cost of a new chip kit. If I don't buy another diesel I might be able to sell it and get some of my money back.

 

[jonot]

Thanks. I am fishing a bit. Also, the chip sounds good. I'll have a look at them.

 

[Been a while]

Howdy , I've had a forefront one in for 80000 k's I'm guessing, no issues. I went with them over flea bay... Definitely improved the zd30, chip helps, intercooler helps, snorkel , exhaust all help..

The zd30 turbo from the patrol works too! If your doing a dump pipe! Worth a thought! I would! inlets to the turbo are nothing to fabricate!

The Turbo needs the chip or re map and you'll need the exhaust, intercooler and snorkel to help with extra boost and fuel. So it's basically those things in the one hit!
Not much Change out of $5 to $6gs I'm guessing, you'll love it though!

Me, time over, I'd go garret v.t !

Look on Utube, there's a few patrol to d22 conversions.. extreemly easy conversion too... good luck

 

[Boogieboots]

I got an East coast performance tuning ECU remap and for$450 I couldn't be happier. That was an exchange ecu. I expect that I could change the program to suit further upgrades myself using the info from Rumpigs remap thread

 

[tweak'e]

Do you think a chip is better than something like a Jamie Knobel remap?

remap is better if its done properly. we run one of rumpigs maps on one of the utes.

the chips, when i last looked, where hard to find. i doubt many are in production these days, tho some 2nd hand ones come up for sale. they are certainly not swappable with any new vehicle as the tech is completely different ie all new vehicles are common rail and zd30 isn't.

the big flaw with navara is the lack of intercooler. adding an intercooler will increase the amount of air going into the engine more than increasing the boost will.
plus the drop in egt's helps keep it safe from the extra heat from adding more fuel.
need to make it more reliable to be able to handle extra fuel.

 

[Esotericnomad]

I've been running a CCT high flow for a year now, less lag, faster spool rate, I'm just about to put a intercooler in and do the remap.. for stage 2 remap you need a high flow turbo..
Done the 3 inch exhaust and snorkel..