I recently turboed my s13 and well the boost design kit is really a good deal. I pieced my kit together for about 2k and my engine started smoking about a month after I put it on (motor had 176,xxx on it and was in need of rebuild) If your motor has alot of miles you may want to consider a rebuild first. If it has been takin care of though it should run fine with the stage 1 kit on it.

 

I had a 91 s13 with 155k on it. But the old lady that I bought it from ahd all the service records since new. Dealer kept, always dealer parts installed by the dealer when they should have been installed. It recently had a dealer tune up, and runs mint. No smoke, the only problem it has is that it seems to go through o2 sensors (she had a 2year old receipt for a o2 senosr, and I had to replace one a month ago) anyway, that's the motor that is going into my '90 s13. By the time I buy the turbo kit it will have about 5k more miles. I will eventually do a rebuild, but a little after I install the turbo.

 

I've looked at lots of "Turbo Kits" and yeah they are worth the money. you can look around a little more and find deals though and piece it together, with sometiems better parts that you won't have to upgrade later. the problem is, daily driver. i would love for the car to sit in the garage so i could tear it down, and just work on it all the time. but, as the primary vehicle it is hard to do that? someday when i get another car. this one is going on blocks in the garage and it'll probably take me like 2 or 3 years, but it'll get done.
need 4 speed...
J

 

what so bad about the kit on ebay, how do you fix a cracked manifold? and cant you just buy a different mani?

 

couple quick answers.

First: I have read several posts of people having problems with the ebay kits. Not to mention there are several other components and piping that you need to instal it.

Second: The reason the stage 1 boost design kit will work is that at stage one you don't need additional fuel management**as long as you don't turn up the boost**. Most of the good aftermarket fuel management systems i have seen are odb2 (not to say that odb1 stuff isn't out there).

Fuel is the biggest hump withthe KA. As long as you have enough fuel the engine will hold large amounts of horse power. Inccorect fuel ratios will blow it up right quick. So don't turn up the boost without proper fuel management, the engine won't last long.

 

Update: It is now 2/23/05 (over 4 months) I have still not received parts from boostdesigns. His response to a recent email was (I will let you know when it is delivered from the manufacture); this is the same ploy he has been using for 4 months. Again I urge everyone to buy from anyone else. I am not the only one with this same complaint. There are complaints from earlier dates in this forum. Please check these out as well.