the difference is personal preference.

Complete kit from a company average about $2700- $3500. depending on stages and upgrades. They' re pretty basic but all there and complete. dificulty is simple

Custom kit you can make for about $1200- $2000. you get to choose everything you want in the kit. which turbo, intercooler, bov, wastegate or manifold, ect. but you need to buy absolutely everything. hardware, pipe, hoses and lines. difficulty is more complex.

with all the knowledge from this forum a custom kit would be more than easy to make.

does the turbo brand matter if I am doing a custom setup?






Give a man a fish he will eat for a day, teach a man to fish he will eat for a life time.

Yes turbo brand matters. It always matters.



I used to race cars, now I race myself.
5K PB: 24:50
10K PB: 54:26

OK so which is better?






Give a man a fish he will eat for a day, teach a man to fish he will eat for a life time.

runnslow03 wrote:OK so which is better?

Ok, I've seen you ask what is better for two different things now...

Get this whole "better" or "best" thing out of your head. It's all about preference. Some people prefer to go with one brand over others. I will say that quality could be a factor if you go with some brands over others but that could also come down to reputation and what people "hear".

But we can not say "get this cause it's the best" because really, that choice is up to you what is best.

I will say if you want companies to check out for brands of turbos look into Garrett or Turbonetics. As far as what size you should get, that's something you have to decide on your own.

As far as getting a kit vs. getting a custom setup, I would say if you really wanted to go custom, you better find a place that knows what they are doing and has had experience doing custom setups. I say this because I had gone custom and we had experienced a few problems and someone who doesn't know what they are doing would have dropped the project mid stream. So if you're going to take it to a shop to have them weld the piping and setup everything for you, than you should be ok. If you're having a friend do it, make sure he's done it in the past or knows what to do if you have problems occur.

If you want less hassles out of your installation, go with the Hahn Kit.

pete vong wrote:Custom kit you can make for about $1200- $2000. you get to choose everything you want in the kit. which turbo, intercooler, bov, wastegate or manifold, ect. but you need to buy absolutely everything. hardware, pipe, hoses and lines. difficulty is more complex.

People usually go custom for the fact of making less money come out of your pocket initally. When I was starting buying parts, I was in the state of mind of "budget turbo project" which is the wrong state of mind and quickly grew out of that. I started getting away from how much money I want to spend to how much money I NEED to spend for the right parts. Of course you could get things cheaper but sacrifice quality for price...this is the best advice I can give you on this topic.

Good luck. If you have anymore questions, just ask.



www.kronosperformance.com / 732-742-8837

its not that I am trying to go cheap its that I want to know which is going to give me the better setup in the long run. I have been talking to people and I think I am going to go with a custom setup but I was just asking which turbo had better quality as far as brands go. I am going to start piecing it together next month I just wanted to do some research and pick peoples brain for information.






Give a man a fish he will eat for a day, teach a man to fish he will eat for a life time.

Runnslow 03,

Custom is always best to me, however, you go custom, you better have some patience. I did my own custom setup and I paid well over the amount the hahn setup would have costed me. I didn't have an option when I built my setup. Just go with hahn. You will be happy, until you get the I want to go faster itch.

runnslow03 wrote:its not that I am trying to go cheap its that I want to know which is going to give me the better setup in the long run. I have been talking to people and I think I am going to go with a custom setup but I was just asking which turbo had better quality as far as brands go. I am going to start piecing it together next month I just wanted to do some research and pick peoples brain for information.

I didn't mean to imply you were trying to be cheap, just giving reasons why SOME people go custom.

Good luck with your setup. If you have anymore questions, just ask here or privately.



www.kronosperformance.com / 732-742-8837

When doing a turbo setup I know it is good to build up the motor but on the ecotec is it necessary right away?






Give a man a fish he will eat for a day, teach a man to fish he will eat for a life time.

Its not nessecary. You can safely run 8 psi on stock internals according to hahn but alot of people are running alot higher than that on stock internals. Hypsy, QBE, and others for example. Im not rebuilding and im going to be running 6psi daily and 10 at the track hopefully

Do you have any pics of your setup thus far.






Give a man a fish he will eat for a day, teach a man to fish he will eat for a life time.

runnslow03 wrote:Do you have any pics of your setup thus far.

I assume you were asking Bluesplash. Look at his profile and click on his cardomain link.

my .02 is that the more you read and learn the more the awnsers will come. when you research youll figure out what you want and need.


"Kick azz is my boost hero!!! "

I just installed my Hahn kit and it only took the weekend to get it done. Still doing some minor tuning but I am very pleased with the kit.

You want to piece together a turbo kit next month yet you don't know what manufacturers make high quality turbos, or even what size and trim to go with?

Are you kidding?

You don't even know what kind of pressure and stress the stock ecotec can take? Do you even have a power goal? Any idea what it will take to get there and how?

Want to know all the answers? Search the goddamn forum because it's FULL of all of these answers 20x over.

Get a freaking clue.

Research what the boost gurus had to say when they still gave advice and didn't get tired of these stupid questions again and again. Don't listen to what the boost newbs of this year think and heard from some guy in a civic running 5psi through a hairdryer.

You have no idea what you're doing, or what you want to do. Don't go buying parts. Buy a few books and read them, search the internet and read more, scour this entire forum and read it post to post.... and after those 6-7 months are over THEN you can get an idea of what you need to do to achieve your goals.

Until then, this post is useless.

-Chris-



-Sweetness-
-Turbocharged-
Slowly but surely may some day win this race...