powerlifter405
Active member
This is a quick write up on my recent interactions and install of this turbo.
Long story short, maybe..... Got this as a salvage a few months ago. It didn't run. Towed it from TX to bumscrew no-where middle America. I planned on stripping it down using the suspension and interior to update the 99 intending to sell the motor and drivetrain and part out what I could. The interior and suspension parts coupled w/ the part out and selling the old parts off the 99, I would have made $$ on the deal and been ahead.
Well reality is this :toast:
I spent the better part of a week pulling codes trying to figure out why it wouldn't start. It had a BUNCH of codes and refused to start. Why I was so persistent, I have no F-in clue.
While trouble shooting the FICM I decided to swap relays. Magic happened, the injectors did their clicky warm up cycle :clapping:
It fired right up, and after a few trips around the block we figured it we might like this better than the 99.
Sold the 99 several months ago and now fast forward to last week. From the start the compressor side of the turbo had some oil coming out of it, enough that it wasn't the ccv. Plus when I had the ccv off during some separate trouble shooting oil flow remained the same.
I sent Barder and KC several emails describing what I wanted and KC best met my needs. I ordered a 1.5 w/ the 13 blade wheel and the .72 cover.
Got the turbo in and of course USPS dropped it. The compressor mouth had two places that were slightly deformed but nothing that prevented it from functioning.
I swapped them out, did the prestart lube and no-start crank. I drove it around the block and checked for leaks and all clear. I then took it for a short test drive and suddenly I fogged the neighborhood. I get back home and after doing a LOT of harness checking, injector buzz testing and no codes I decided to pull the DP. For whatever reason there was oil coming out of the exhaust side. I pulled the UP-PIPES and they were bone dry.
Now this is all happening on a weekend mind you. So I called KC's up (sunday evening) and told him what had transpired. He was very apologetic for the problem and promised to ship out a replacement the next day. Before night's end I get an email w/ shipping info and w/in a couple of days the new unit arrives.
So new unit in and I do the pre-start lube and pre-start no crank drill. I fire things up and it's sings. I put away tools and get cleaned up while the truck is warms up for almost 30 minutes. I take it for ride around the block being very easy on the pedal and listening to the new turbo. I pull it into the garage and check for any new leaks. All good and I call it a night.
Next day I have an all day event .9 miles from the house. I have to make several trips back and forth during the day and this almost 1 mile drive is 3 stop signs and a whopping 35 mph. Each time I check for leaks and listen to the sound of the truck. Today I have a 28 mile trip into town and some errand running to do. I make my trip and on the way back get a chance to goose it to 70, and thankfully all good.
Truck notes;
Basically all stock. Once I got it running I did GP, GP harness and egr delete. I flushed the coolant, refilled w/ red and added a dfuser filter. That was immediate once we decided to keep it and that was all that was done. It has 291k miles or so. Stock TTYB, stock air filter stock muffler, stock pcm, stock FICM etc etc. I just installed a kittie no more from Riffraff diesel/diamond eye for my factory exhaust. It will remain as stock as possible for reliability and cost and I haven't much into it.
Observations on the turbo:
IMHO loosening the uppipe bolts is still the best way to get things lined up. Some guys just loosen the pedestal.
1- It is louder than stock. It is whistely but not too loud and overwhelming. At 60 mph I can't hear it but my hearing sucks. At 30 windows down or up, I can hear it but not too loud. Most importantly though, Mama is not bothered by it and she doesn't really like loud noisy sh$t. Why she puts up w/ me is
fftopic
2- It drives just a good or better than stock. Off Idle from a stop, throttle tip-in driving into a 30 mph neighborhood is smooth and easy. I honestly think it drives a little smoother than stock AND I'd argue you do NOT gain any lag. Like I said I think it's a bit smoother and quicker to build boost. I think just the extra cfm, helps. If I was running twins, I use this as the HP and have tuning keep the VGT tight for even better off idle response and use a decent sized LP. On my 70 goose, it shifted very solid and had power up to the 3800 shift point and it didn't feel like it was running out of air at that rpm like stock. Maybe at that RPM it's not like a tuned truck but compared to the stock unit IMHO the 63.5 feel good at that RPM comparatively.
3- When I goosed it, boost was solid and it built up quickly. I have no hard data to compare to stock but again, I wouldn't settle for anything feeling less thansuch.
For a completely stock truck just needing a new turbo I think this is a great option. It's not much more than a new turbo and it's not a piece meal garrett pmax. I spoke to Charlie about that and he gave me some data on his parts. If you'd like specifics please call him.
And I really like that fact you do NOT need tuning to run it properly out of the box. I've read too many stories about the Pmax or others being laggy or tuning is a must to make it work right. I didn't want to do more to make this "work right". I wanted something proper out of the box and Charlie delivers.
I'm betting this would be great for someone who doesn't want or need "the whistle" of a 10 blade but wants more usable mid range over factory. I know a lot of talk here is based around HP and top end but 99.9% of my driving is under 2K or right at it. This is a DD, grocery getter, travel truck so I needed a turbo that would perform best while the truck was tasked in those areas. I have no doubt this would do great as a tow turbo.
I will get some GH tunes for the SCT x4 that is still uninstalled and see how it behaves. I'll do new ford injectors this summer w/ studs and I'll run some of GH ++ tunes and see how it behaves.
Lastly, Charlie was a pleasure to work w/. There were many things that made him my choice. I liked the fact that I rarely see/read from him in the forums. He doesn't talk bad about other products, vendors or otherwise in his postings. He answered my calls and calls back when I leave a message. Most importantly, when I had a problem he answered, on a Sunday no less. He listened to my issue and didn't try to pawn the off the problem on me. He didn't try to make it my problem or my being the creation of the issue. When I spoke to him the 1st time for the actual order he sent the turbo out and answered my questions. He has since then stayed in touch inquiring about the install. He does not come off as a know it all and was eager to please his customer vs just trying to make a sale. I definately give Charlie/KC turbo 2 thumbs up :thumbsup:
Long story short, maybe..... Got this as a salvage a few months ago. It didn't run. Towed it from TX to bumscrew no-where middle America. I planned on stripping it down using the suspension and interior to update the 99 intending to sell the motor and drivetrain and part out what I could. The interior and suspension parts coupled w/ the part out and selling the old parts off the 99, I would have made $$ on the deal and been ahead.
Well reality is this :toast:
I spent the better part of a week pulling codes trying to figure out why it wouldn't start. It had a BUNCH of codes and refused to start. Why I was so persistent, I have no F-in clue.
While trouble shooting the FICM I decided to swap relays. Magic happened, the injectors did their clicky warm up cycle :clapping:
It fired right up, and after a few trips around the block we figured it we might like this better than the 99.
Sold the 99 several months ago and now fast forward to last week. From the start the compressor side of the turbo had some oil coming out of it, enough that it wasn't the ccv. Plus when I had the ccv off during some separate trouble shooting oil flow remained the same.
I sent Barder and KC several emails describing what I wanted and KC best met my needs. I ordered a 1.5 w/ the 13 blade wheel and the .72 cover.
Got the turbo in and of course USPS dropped it. The compressor mouth had two places that were slightly deformed but nothing that prevented it from functioning.
I swapped them out, did the prestart lube and no-start crank. I drove it around the block and checked for leaks and all clear. I then took it for a short test drive and suddenly I fogged the neighborhood. I get back home and after doing a LOT of harness checking, injector buzz testing and no codes I decided to pull the DP. For whatever reason there was oil coming out of the exhaust side. I pulled the UP-PIPES and they were bone dry.
Now this is all happening on a weekend mind you. So I called KC's up (sunday evening) and told him what had transpired. He was very apologetic for the problem and promised to ship out a replacement the next day. Before night's end I get an email w/ shipping info and w/in a couple of days the new unit arrives.
So new unit in and I do the pre-start lube and pre-start no crank drill. I fire things up and it's sings. I put away tools and get cleaned up while the truck is warms up for almost 30 minutes. I take it for ride around the block being very easy on the pedal and listening to the new turbo. I pull it into the garage and check for any new leaks. All good and I call it a night.
Next day I have an all day event .9 miles from the house. I have to make several trips back and forth during the day and this almost 1 mile drive is 3 stop signs and a whopping 35 mph. Each time I check for leaks and listen to the sound of the truck. Today I have a 28 mile trip into town and some errand running to do. I make my trip and on the way back get a chance to goose it to 70, and thankfully all good.
Truck notes;
Basically all stock. Once I got it running I did GP, GP harness and egr delete. I flushed the coolant, refilled w/ red and added a dfuser filter. That was immediate once we decided to keep it and that was all that was done. It has 291k miles or so. Stock TTYB, stock air filter stock muffler, stock pcm, stock FICM etc etc. I just installed a kittie no more from Riffraff diesel/diamond eye for my factory exhaust. It will remain as stock as possible for reliability and cost and I haven't much into it.
Observations on the turbo:
IMHO loosening the uppipe bolts is still the best way to get things lined up. Some guys just loosen the pedestal.
1- It is louder than stock. It is whistely but not too loud and overwhelming. At 60 mph I can't hear it but my hearing sucks. At 30 windows down or up, I can hear it but not too loud. Most importantly though, Mama is not bothered by it and she doesn't really like loud noisy sh$t. Why she puts up w/ me is
fftopic2- It drives just a good or better than stock. Off Idle from a stop, throttle tip-in driving into a 30 mph neighborhood is smooth and easy. I honestly think it drives a little smoother than stock AND I'd argue you do NOT gain any lag. Like I said I think it's a bit smoother and quicker to build boost. I think just the extra cfm, helps. If I was running twins, I use this as the HP and have tuning keep the VGT tight for even better off idle response and use a decent sized LP. On my 70 goose, it shifted very solid and had power up to the 3800 shift point and it didn't feel like it was running out of air at that rpm like stock. Maybe at that RPM it's not like a tuned truck but compared to the stock unit IMHO the 63.5 feel good at that RPM comparatively.
3- When I goosed it, boost was solid and it built up quickly. I have no hard data to compare to stock but again, I wouldn't settle for anything feeling less thansuch.
For a completely stock truck just needing a new turbo I think this is a great option. It's not much more than a new turbo and it's not a piece meal garrett pmax. I spoke to Charlie about that and he gave me some data on his parts. If you'd like specifics please call him.
And I really like that fact you do NOT need tuning to run it properly out of the box. I've read too many stories about the Pmax or others being laggy or tuning is a must to make it work right. I didn't want to do more to make this "work right". I wanted something proper out of the box and Charlie delivers.
I'm betting this would be great for someone who doesn't want or need "the whistle" of a 10 blade but wants more usable mid range over factory. I know a lot of talk here is based around HP and top end but 99.9% of my driving is under 2K or right at it. This is a DD, grocery getter, travel truck so I needed a turbo that would perform best while the truck was tasked in those areas. I have no doubt this would do great as a tow turbo.
I will get some GH tunes for the SCT x4 that is still uninstalled and see how it behaves. I'll do new ford injectors this summer w/ studs and I'll run some of GH ++ tunes and see how it behaves.
Lastly, Charlie was a pleasure to work w/. There were many things that made him my choice. I liked the fact that I rarely see/read from him in the forums. He doesn't talk bad about other products, vendors or otherwise in his postings. He answered my calls and calls back when I leave a message. Most importantly, when I had a problem he answered, on a Sunday no less. He listened to my issue and didn't try to pawn the off the problem on me. He didn't try to make it my problem or my being the creation of the issue. When I spoke to him the 1st time for the actual order he sent the turbo out and answered my questions. He has since then stayed in touch inquiring about the install. He does not come off as a know it all and was eager to please his customer vs just trying to make a sale. I definately give Charlie/KC turbo 2 thumbs up :thumbsup:
