Wednesday, October 20, 2010 - 10:36 am, by: Jeff Bedsor(Jeff_bedsor)
These arrived yesterday, very well packaged and only took 7 days from Japan. One turbo has a bit less oil coating on it and the waste gate actuator arm was a bit rusty, the inlet on the actuator was bent as well. I contact the company and they are sending another actuator, they were very apologetic about it. Overall I am happy with them, they are definitely new turbo's, there is a good coating of oil around the bearings so they should be OK.
Very good packaging
Turbo one has a bit of surface corrosion (less oil)
Wednesday, October 20, 2010 - 03:42 pm, by: Jeff Bedsor(Jeff_bedsor)
They weren't in the Toyota bags, but I'm 99% sure they are genuine. They even have the number 1 in the same spot on the inside of the compressor outlet. The seller also lists the manufacturer as toyota, so I think they would be open to all sorts of legal stuff if they were fake. They are also a established turbo dealer that has all different brands.
Wednesday, October 20, 2010 - 04:41 pm, by: Jeff Bedsor(Jeff_bedsor)
I sent the company a question about whether they were genuine -
Sachiko, I have been told by a number of people that these CT12A's might be copies and not genuine turbo's made by Toyota. Can you please confirm that these are original genuine turbo's made Toyota as stated in the Ebay advertisement and not copies made by your company.
Reply below
Dear jeffb2293,
Dear sir:Sorry, We don?t understand why do you think these turbos not original Toyota CT12A turbos.Sir, we can promise these turbos are original Toyota turbos.They are overstock turbo.We don?t and never sell any fake turbos.Best RegardsSachiko - kinugawa_turbo
Wednesday, October 20, 2010 - 06:24 pm, by: Sebastian Grant(Saabg)
What a find Geoff. I think you have proven with the right modifications these are the best turbos for the soarer and at that price I could have bought three sets for the same price as my second hand t3gs. Have you thought about trialing the aftermarket exhaust manifolds with these?
Tuesday, October 26, 2010 - 09:05 pm, by: Costa Tsimiklis(Driftshop)
Guys,
I do no think they are genuine CT12A turbos. I have spoken to ATP about Kinugawa parts and they are copy, reproduced items, not genuine items. They advertise as genuine items, but from the parts that I've received, they are not. They have multiple shops on eBay, Kinugawa, Zage, Nickle Sport, Kando Dynamic, etc. All from the same mob!
The guy advertises on eBay that he is in Japan, yet the turbos are shipped from Taiwan? That should ring alarm bells! Soarer's were not exported to Taiwan either! Of course he will tell you that they are genuine, there's no real way of telling unless you strip them down, and even then, they may have done an excellent job in copying.
An explanation as to why the casting is the same - they casted up off a factory turbo setup!
Boris: Aftermarket factory turbo manifolds are impossible, the best thing to do is to get the OEM power ported out. The gain is SFA.. you need sported exhaust ports in the head to get the real benefit. 30+ CFM increase.
See how they go, but I would have to say they are not genuine turbos, especially if they are being shipped from Taiwan. They are probably made by CHSH turbo, the largest Taiwanese turbo manufacture, or Zage, which makes in Taiwan using Taiwan and Chinese parts. They had a falling out with CHSH over contract issues, so they are doing their own thing now.
Jeff, send me the address of where they are from and I will get my Taiwan contacts onto it to see what they are up to!
Wednesday, October 27, 2010 - 10:26 am, by: Costa Tsimiklis(Driftshop)
Jeff,
I just came to the realization that if they are STEEL WHEELS, Turbine Side, then they are a copy.
If they are ceramic - then it is genuine. It is very hard to make a ceramic wheel and about 10x more expensive than a steel wheel, due to the return/fail rate of the process.
You can check this with a magnet. Something a bit stronger than a fridge magnet, such as a bolt pickup tool.
Get back to us regarding this. I may be able to organise a group buy through my contacts and get a cheaper price!
Wednesday, October 27, 2010 - 01:03 pm, by: Costa Tsimiklis(Driftshop)
Taiwan produces excellent products for the automotive industry, but the real question is whether they are genuine or not. I've seen quality surpass that of the Japanese in the automotive industry within Taiwan.
Casting a Ceramic turbine wheel with the Inconel shaft is stupidly expensive for a short run and very delicate. Special CNC machines are required to machine and balance the ceramic wheels. Copy turbo manufactures would not go this extreme length.
I hope that they are real Toyota goods, as it represents a viable solution to failed turbos! The magnet test will tell all
PS: running stupid amounts of boost with stock turbos is not recommended. They are not designed for such heat loads and shaft speeds! 18psi is a tall order, the compressor wheels in the CT12 would be lucky to flow 25lbs each based on their size. Furthermore, the max pressure ratio would be around 2.5 bar, or 1.5bar worth of usable boost pressure. This is only 22psi from the turbo, which means that if you have a 3psi drop through the intercooler system, you are looking at 18psi at the engine.
Any more boost and you are compressing the air and heating it up and providing no power gain.
Wednesday, October 27, 2010 - 01:31 pm, by: Aiden Cheese(Chillpen)
What did they cost again? Sorry i looked through the thread quickly but I just couldn't find the value.
If they aren't genuine toyota would it be possible to have them tested somehow? A few people chip in or something to get them stress tested to see if they'd hold up under running conditions for several hundred KMs? I don't know anything about the testing proceedure, but the reason we all like toyota is because of their quality. If someone else can closely match it then there's not a big deal. Its not like a refurbished toyota one is still toyota you know?
Wednesday, October 27, 2010 - 01:41 pm, by: Gary Poloskei(Mikrucio)
They are $800 for the pair roughly. the other thing you have to remember guys is that they do a "refurbishment" exchange service aswell.
Costa is right about the ceramics. BUT it can be done. If they are taking old ct12's and servicing them with ceramic wheels. then making a bunch of new ceramic wheels could be feasible.
someone with a dead CT12a should send one in to get it serviced and see how it comes back
Wednesday, October 27, 2010 - 01:48 pm, by: Gary Poloskei(Mikrucio)
And one more thing, I initially saw these a week or so before it was posted on Soarer central and I did remember the guy from the store saying that they only had 2 pairs initially.
If you look at their store now there is 9 CT12a's listed as available. and sold 3 or 4 pairs already...
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