SSAutoChrome Turbo's Suck!!! Check this.
 

Just wanted to let you guys see something my roomate found having to do with the turbo's that SSAutoChrome (the company on ebay) sells. I can only hope there was something wrong with this from the get go... maybe horribly remanufactured or something. Glued together????

http://www.we-todd-did-racing.com/we...MXk1NDE%3D.jpg
http://www.we-todd-did-racing.com/we...MXk1NDE%3D.jpg
http://www.we-todd-did-racing.com/we...MXk1NDE%3D.jpg
http://www.we-todd-did-racing.com/we...MXk1NDE%3D.jpg
http://www.we-todd-did-racing.com/we...MXk1NDE%3D.jpg

I heard the XS power turbo's are terrible quality. The XS Engineering turbos are the good ones. Call SSautochrome. Get your money back and go buy a real turbo. Thats terrible.

What a piece of shit...

You can see the SHITTY machining of the compressor fins - there are ridges along the trailing edges of the fins!
I've never seen crap like that until now.

As for the compressor housing to backing plate seal, it's actually normal to find some kinda sealant there.
Now, the mating surface between the compressor housing and the backing plate is a whole nother story - that looks just plain nasty!

I'm still waiting for all those suckers who bought those "T70"'s bragging about how good of a deal for a 500hp turbo they just bought.
Funny, I haven't seen any of them come back.

Seriously folks, you get what you pay for, and I've been preaching the SSautochrome / Stone Racing / Master Power stuff is CRAP.

I don't see ANY balancing grinds on the nut or top of the compressor wheel.
I doubt you'd see any under the wheel if you took the compressor wheel off.
This mean those bitches don't balance their shit. :(

THANX for posting those pics!



-Ted

that's awesome......... haha

I have been running a t70 from them now for six months making 390rwhp @11lbs
it is still holding together well the manifold needed a lot of welding and redoing the flanges but the turbo seems to be boosting well for now.

Am I seeing that right... the compressor housing split in half? At first I just thought it was removed from the backing plate, but it looks to be literally split in half. That may explain the ridges on the compressor wheel (contact with housing), too.

-Max

I heard from a reputable source that this is BS. Look at the comp wheel, that damage is from bearing failure. The housing is basically a display peice that been cut for "display". The "internet" is the culprit there.

there is no possible way that those fins could have an edge on the gate edge of the Compressor to be perfect like that due to a bearring failure that is shotty machining. it is also on both the top and bottom of the fin if it was due to bearring failure then it would be only one way. The housing doens't appear to be cut, with any conventional means, I mean a plasma cutter would have left little beads a cutting torch is dirty a bandsaw is clean and would not have the edges same with a hacksaw. So please enlighten me why it is that that break (seam) is so dirty, if it was cut.. Also there is no possible way that it could have been cut soo perfectly to leave the machined edge like that.
I do believe that this is a legitimate failure and that there is alot of shitty workmanship going on here. I am sure the turbos design's may have some legitimacy however the machining they are using is shitty at best.

But feel free to prove me wrong, Your reputable source can prove it to me or you but so far nothing is clear nor does it back up your statement from what I can tell.

looks cut to me. . .

paul

looks glued or epoxyed to me.

well, cut. . . then glued. . .

our local garrett dealer has them cut in half just like that one, for display purposes only. The only side of the wheel that's damaged is the trailing edge. Bad bearing.

Just look at the very first pic! You can follow the CRACK all the way down. This is absolutely positively not cut, its cracked.

It truely does look like it cracked away from the casting line, the surfaces are rough with no tooling marks from a dremel, sawzall or other cutting blade.

thats terrible! I think those turbos are made in Brazil or somewhere in South America :(

Yup, our local garrett dealer has the same display as well, and the housing is seperated just like that ....I stared at the display wondering how they cracked it so uniform.
You are right about the wheel as well, I just did a service route on a bunch of turbo diesel machines, and a couple of the engines have bad turbos , and the damaged wheels , suprise suprise, look just like that, thats not a machining error..
Its not correct to have sealant on the backing plate, its a machined fit, and affects the wheel to housing fit and clearance, sealant has no place on a turbo...
Its also not uncomon to see no balancing marks on the compressor nut or wheel, sometimes the wieght is cut off the turbine end of instead, where the materials tend to be heavier.
If memory serves, Garretts largest plants are in Brazil and Mexico...
I think whats happening, is the patents for the older frames of turbos has expired and garrett is selling off the tooling for the older turbos, some bought it up and is making these things, you could probably rebuild that turbo as well using all genuine garrett parts I bet...

Looks like compressor surge from hell did that! ;)

Interesting reponses...

The "seam" looks glued all the way up.
This doesn't make sense for a display?
Is this some kinda disasterous failure and the turbo was reassembled with glue?
Whatever the case...it stinks.

Too bad they couldn't take a pic of the backside of the comp housing!


-Ted

Nah at some point in time when it was probably sitting on a counter, they got sick of the front half falling onto the floor everytime someone started playing with the turbo...
The garrett displays are done just like that, for the reason that if it was cut instead of crack on the seam, the wheel would not turn, as the cut would make the whole housing thinner, and wheel that doesnt turn isnt very fun to play with...Lets just say its a "stunt" turbo, for those who have seen Orgasmo, they know what I mean...Max

holy crapple!

All the good turbos come that way, its for quick changing the compressor wheel. I would swap the nut out for good ol fashion wingnut and your done.

just use chewing gum

I'm with paul... just use chewing gum.

not koo

get'em seabass

Maybe a BOV would have helped?

The to4b garrett turbo(made in mexico) from ssautochrome turned out nice......don't know bout their other turbos though. 2 cents

U get what u pay for.

im just curious to see, who on here who say that these turbos are junk, actually know by first hand experience? I think that some people wanna say they are junk only because they are A LOT cheaper than the other turbos they bought. Every turbo builder is gonna have a bad turbo from time to time. Just like Rotary engine builders. Does this mean that every turbo (or engine) they make is junk? the parts are available to where you can build your own turbo, Just because it isnt a HKS, or greddy does that make it junk also?

the turbo in that picture is definitely a model. Maybe someone made a mistake, and shipped off the wrong thing.

I have the same turbo right in front of me, and I have taken the exhaust housing, and compressor housing off, and it seems to be a quality piece. and yes, it has been balanced.

when I finally get the turbo on the car, I will let you guys know how it is going.

Oh, come on!
These bitches make COUNTEFEITS.
Isn't that obvious???
If it wasn't for that fact, I'd have given them some slack.
Do a web search on their names...there's a LOT of people who have had bad experiences with their CRAP.

Are you work for them or something?


-Ted

so, do you know by firsthand experience? or are you just on the "hater bandwagon". like i said, lemme get the turbo on, and i will give you my opinion.

Scott, when do you think you'll have it finished?

It is so widely known and obvious that they sell shit, there is no reason to waste your money to try it out1st hand..



Buying something from them is like playing russian roulette.


There have been enough failures on this forum and every other forum that you guys need to wise up. (Reminds me of people always going after the get rich quick schemes)


Are they a low cost turbo? Yes
Does every one blow up? No
Am i willing to take that chance? No.




So decide for yourself. but don't bitch to us when it blows up.

-fast
-cheap
-reliable

pick two.

To be fair, when it comes to ssautochrome, i think you only get to pick one.. and it isnt the 1st or 3rd choice. :D

ive gotta get a v band flange welded onto the turbo, then im ready to install it. Gonna have to trailer it to get the downpipe and intake pipe made. Then TOONIN TIME!

You know, ive always bought my parts cheap, whether it be used, or new. I have been successful with making my FDs reliable( i daily drive my white one) So what do you guys drive now?? Do you do your own work? And yet again, i ask you, who has had firsthand experience with ssautochromes stuff?

even if I have to have the exhaust manifold reworked, and the turbo rebuilt, im still in cheaper than paying $2800 for a "reputable" kit.

where does the reliability factor in to a turbo anyways?

and im not gonna bitch at anyone if my setup doesnt work, i will just put something else on that will work for me. Maybe I can be the guinea pig for a budget buildup. And you know, it isnt because im poor, that i dont buy the "good stuff" , i just like to see what kind of power i can put down for as little money as possible.

Waiting enthusiastically for your feedback...
All the other previous owners who claimed this all kinda disappeared.


-Ted

Click the profile button.


Oh, you gotta be kidding me, right?

I've had their POS SS turbo exhaust manifold in hand.
It's a piece of shit.
We do custom TIG welding on SS, and I know what a good SS weld is.
That turbo exhaust manifold is not even close.


Cheaper, yes.
More reliable?
I doubt it.


HOLY CRAP!
Did I just read that right???
Are you serious?
Then we're wasting our replies on you.


That pretty much sums it up.
I would bet the majority of your "experiments" don't make serious power reliably?


-Ted

here is the original thread of where this particular turbo came from:

http://www.honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=1097918&page=1

I find this thread very funny. Only because I cant believe a company that makes stuff that bad exists.

I really don't believe it, mostly for the fact you have to be a total fucktard to install a turbo with such a visible crack on it in the first place...yeah there's alot of bad stories on the net, but you read some of the threads on the various forums, and some of the people buying these things have absolutly no idea what they are doing when it comes to installing a turbo, so its hard to say whether its the user or the turbo, introduce an affordable turbo to the masses and you find the average of the masses is pretty dim,I even found threads, where people ran them, wrecked them, and then found out they needed oil lines connected to them...Not saying their product is perfect, but neither are alot of people installing them...There are success stories out there as well for these setups believe it or not...Max

I have built about 6 FDs this year alone, 2 for myself. My black car put down 342rwhp, and 316 torque at 16lbs. and 320 at 12 lbs. There are a lot of local people who can vouch for my skills building these cars so dont insult me! Finally someone responded that had a piece of ssautochromes products, thanks for your input regarding the manifold. The one that i got looks to have pretty decent welds, and all of the other parts look very well made also.

before anyone comes on here calling me names, just wait until I put this kit on to see what kind of power i can make with it, because honestly, no one knows!

Then you don't know who you're talking to either...
It goes both ways.


Do you weld stainless steel?
We do TIG, and I know what a good TIG SS weld looks like.
This manifold has ZERO weld penetration on the backside of the weld.
I dunno how they managde to do that (maybe MIG SS?), but SS welds with zero penetration scares me...


-Ted

[QUOTE=oakridgerx7]I have built about 6 FDs this year alone, 2 for myself. My black car put down 342rwhp, and 316 torque at 16lbs. and 320 at 12 lbs. [QUOTE]

I hope that is on stock turbos. Intake, exhaust, IC, and a PFC can net you 350rwhp at 15lbs on stock twins. It takes a hell of a lot of skill to bolt on some parts...

[QUOTE=rfreeman27][QUOTE=oakridgerx7]I have built about 6 FDs this year alone, 2 for myself. My black car put down 342rwhp, and 316 torque at 16lbs. and 320 at 12 lbs. you should know by now that modifying anything these days is just using a few bolt ons. And show me a dyno chart where someone consistently put down 350rwhp on stock sequential twins. Its possible, but not likely. You know, it really pisses me off that most people get on here and tell someone something not by experience, but by hearsay. If you dont have the knowledge to answer a question, you need to stay off here answering things you dont know about.

RETed I see that you are a pretty seasoned rotary mechanic, I look for constructive criticism by people like you, and it doesnt bother me. I am much more likely to believe you because of your firsthand experience with these vehicles. Im not saying that anyone is wrong, but im the kind of person who likes to find out for himself.

BTW i know a guy who tried 2 of these turbos on his DSM.. 1st one blew on the 1st dyno pass. (Oil seal) Turns out the turbo was NOT balanced.

the replacement blew on its 2nd pull.. The front nut came off. Now this could have been due to compressor surge. I dont know i was not there when it happened. But It could just of likely not been put together well IMO.


So i personally know someone who has blown 2 of these, then went with someone elses turbo and has been fine since.

I know their quality control sucks.. So while you may get lucky and get one that holds together, it is like i said earlier. Russian roulette.


-Zach

I'd say its about like Russian roulette with 5 rounds loaded into a 6 shooter

Sure, I got nothing against that.
We're just trying to prevent you from "wasting" your money.
If you insist on doing so, it's your money.
At the very least, it adds more data to the experience pool.
Good luck!


-Ted

oakridgerx7

how about some upclose/detailed pictures of the kit pieces so we can see how it looks firsthand from someone here rather than taken from some other source?

I will get my camera tomorrow, and get some pics

waiting for pix