Outer Limits 4x4 Board

I have seen quite a few turbos for sale on ebay, using factory parts names ie: CT26 TO4 etc etc. I was wondering if anyone has purchased or knows anyone (directly, not friend of a friend...) who has one of these units and can give some feedback as to what they are like, and if they are infact toyota/garret/mitsubishi turbos and not cheap chinese knock offs. Seems funny then are being advertized as specific fatory turbos if they are copies....


http://stores.shop.ebay.com.au/Performa ... ec0Q2em322


http://stores.shop.ebay.com.au/Tuning-P ... QQ_armrsZ1

buying turbos off ebay makes baby jesus cry

Garrets will have Serial numbers and Part numbers on them

Also
Buying turbos off ebay makes baby jesus cry

beinthemud wrote:Garrets will have Serial numbers and Part numbers on them

Yeah your right and the chinese have never worked out how to copy them

What makes adult jesus cry.................. using a turbo purchased of ebay??

RUFF wrote:

beinthemud wrote:Garrets will have Serial numbers and Part numbers on them

Yeah your right and the chinese have never worked out how to copy them

I dont think they would do something that dishonest

Surely they Would'nt be allowed to make a Turbo ,Cast Garret in it put there serial number on it

beinthemud wrote:

RUFF wrote:

beinthemud wrote:Garrets will have Serial numbers and Part numbers on them

Yeah your right and the chinese have never worked out how to copy them

I dont think they would do something that dishonest

Surely they Would'nt be allowed to make a Turbo ,Cast Garret in it put there serial number on it

Yeah again your right it is perfectly safe to buy a cheap new turbo off ebay as long as it has garret on it. The Chinese would never try and rip anyone off like that.

I know someone in the industry who recently came back from doing some trade in China in the auto industry, and he was amazed at the 30 storey buildings that are floor after floor of 10 ft square booths of parts that are copies, rip offs, even same packaging if you want, or your own, and these building are like a trade show for companies to be able to sell to purchasers.

Everything from Toyota boxed radiators, oil filters, brake pads, ARB lockers, snorkels, Bendix pads, super pro bush knock off's, turbo's, intercoolers, shocks, you name it.

This pic also comes to mind:

I love it when dickheads buy ebay turbos saying "they're just as good as Garrett etc" then a few weeks later they have to fork out for a real Garrett after the China turbo went bang.

they are all described as "Garrett Spec" and "replacement" etc none of the descriptions actually call them Garret or Genuine etc.

The Toyota replacement one is listed for around $600. A genuine new turbo is around $2700 from Toyota.

But Im sure these are real turbos

chunks wrote:I love it when dickheads buy ebay turbos saying "they're just as good as Garrett etc" then a few weeks later they have to fork out for a real Garrett after the China turbo went bang.

It's the engine rebuild after the "bang" that really sucks.

The CT 26 "replacement" has Toyota and CT26 all over it, unless they are using factory toyota turbos for advertizing but not actually selling them. Either way, ebay should not allow it, and I thought aussie consumer affairs would be all over it, but I supose we cant upset out trade partners can we, what a great federal government we have!!

flyology wrote:The CT 26 "replacement" has Toyota and CT26 all over it, unless they are using factory toyota turbos for advertizing but not actually selling them. Either way, ebay should not allow it, and I thought aussie consumer affairs would be all over it, but I supose we cant upset out trade partners can we, what a great federal government we have!!

You might think that but with the new wizz bang internet filter coming, soon ebay will be blocked to 'protect consumers', with the very consumer affairs laws you speak of to back it up.

There was an article in a car mag about this topic not long back.

The general consensus was that, while they arn't at the cutting edge of Turbo advancement, they are not the time bombs that most people think.

As long as you know what you're looking at, they can be quite good for modest power levels, there are crap ones, and there are some great ones out there.

The cheap Chinese knock offs, mainly suffer poor balancing.

And no i don't run one

Being in the trade, we get emails from Chinese brokers all the time, and in orders of 50 or more, I can buy chinese turbos for as little as $150 ea in the CT26 style.

The better ones which might be ok are more around the $400-$500 mark, but the bearings are still rubbish for something that would be driven daily.

The metalurgy and consistancy of material pureness, and thickness also leaves alot to be desired on most chinese units.

If I were building a crawler, or mud racer, I might consider a better chinese unit, but not for a road car.

Yep I get constant emails from Chinese companies wanting distributors for their airbag or coilover suspensions sytems...mmm...no thanks.

The chinese language is quite difficult and some words are lost in the translation

EG...The word Patent, does not exist in the chinese vocabulary.

RN wrote:The chinese language is quite difficult and some words are lost in the translation

EG...The word Patent, does not exist in the chinese vocabulary.

doesnt exist in chinese law either.

Importing 1 turbo for yourself through ebay etc, to my understanding, is not illegal (no matter how immoral).

but importing quantities of counterfit goods for re-sale is ofcourse illegal.

yeah i saw ct20 available from the states delivered to aus for $350 brand new.

clearly displaying toyota and ct 20 in the casting.

but considering toyota charge $100 for a fan speed resistor you can guarantee they are knock offs.

considering what you can buiy a real ct26 for, then get it rebuilt. thats the way i would go.

I had mine rebuilt, very suspicious about buying stuff on ebay that comes from china. I do have some gear from there, but not mechanical parts as such, got a stereo/DVD/MP3/combo jobbie unit from eonon, works quite well.


Still, back to turbos, I dont think anyone that has replied has actually had first hand experience with one of these chinese turbos.

Plus as i said previously, ebay should be stopping these being sold, as to put "toyota CT26" on an item, make it look the same as a factory toyota part is counterfeiting and ebay state selling counterfeit goods on their site is not allowed.

(but I am sure they will take all the funds they can get from the sales of counterfeits...)

I've been planning on buying some chinese turbos for a while now, just haven't got around to it.

I found one seller who advertised the three different models I was after but was told that none of them were in stock. Sounds like they planned to make them if demand was there but hadn't actually done the work yet.
I've since found some suppliers that do appear to have turbos in stock and for sale. Watch this space.

You'll notice that all the turbos for sale are for engines and vehicles that are no longer in production. Maybe these companies were able to buy the original tooling/moulds etc, possibly the OEM's give them a contract which allows sub-contractors to sell these pattern parts after a certain time has elapsed or possibly companies don't care about enforcing copyright on obsolete products.

While the chinese have produced their share of junk, all countries world-wide are guilty of that too. It's pretty silly to badge all chinese parts as garbage. Many genuine parts come from there, possibly the same factories.

I agree Kiwi, I also remember it was only around 30-40 years ago when if you bought something made in Japan it was considered crap, now have a look at them. Quite likely China will go the same way, but a lot quicker I think.

I have rebuilt many cheap copies, the main issue i find is none of them come with oil restrictors and 99% of guys using them have no idea what im talking about

High pressure along with high volumes of oil kills these turbos, and this then gets me work rebuilding them

If you fit genuine "garrett" parts to these turbos, balance them correctly and add the correct rated oil restriction they last for many years of abuse

jet-6 wrote:I have rebuilt many cheap copies, the main issue i find is none of them come with oil restrictors and 99% of guys using them have no idea what im talking about

Is this people fitting them in place of existing turbos or fitting them to a motor that never had a turbo?

chunks wrote:I love it when dickheads buy ebay turbos saying "they're just as good as Garrett etc" then a few weeks later they have to fork out for a real Garrett after the China turbo went bang.

had one for 2 years with out a problem

Sadly its not Ebays fault. There is no way they can VET every ad that is put up. If they did there fees would go thru the roof.

Buyer Beware.

Bazzle

B.D.R wrote:There was an article in a car mag about this topic not long back.

The general consensus was that, while they arn't at the cutting edge of Turbo advancement, they are not the time bombs that most people think.

As long as you know what you're looking at, they can be quite good for modest power levels, there are crap ones, and there are some great ones out there.

The cheap Chinese knock offs, mainly suffer poor balancing.

And no i don't run one

I'll second that. I have used a cheap chinese unit before without any dramas, and there are PLENTY of great budget buildups i've seen using them - although they do tend to go for the "better quality" or brandname chinese units (like KKR). Two cars come immediately to mind - Team PEER drift AE86 who was sponsored by KKR for a season IIRC (WTF might be able to confirm), and also a backyard-built 9.96sec twin turbo ED XR8.

Now, before any of the brand-name police shoot me down, for the record all i'm saying is that there are good and bad units - but just because they're Chinese, it doesn't mean its all bad.

ive been running a chinese t3/t4 turbo for 8 months or so now, cant fault it, its my bush toy and does everything i need it to, cost me 350, and i have had no major issues, just v band clamps cost a fortune

I've been running a chinese TO4E for over 2 years and 30K running 18 psi, had no problems at all.

It was installed with the correct oil line restrictors, the seals don't weap and it shows no sings of endfloat.

I am happy with my $300 investment, not everything chinese is crap.