Yea.... i was reluctant to post this topic up once i started typing because i knew it was "against the grain." But i think it was the right thing to do. I believed a company was getting undeserved credit and i wanted to publicly state my "opinion." "The APS TT kit is not a superior kit." I want to make that clear because it seems some ppl are upset and think i called the whole kit "trash." I did not and that was not my intent. Alot of the kit is well designed and constructed like a +7k TT kit should be, but a few key components where not. I stand by what i said in my original post.

It seems a couple of the reponses to my OP was a bit hostile. I can see why. They are proud owners of APS TT kits. But i am not just a simple hoo ha or ricer tring to flame or cause drama. For the members that have been in the FI section as long as i have, you all know what ive seen, read, and been through, as so can relate unlike some of the newer members here.

 

I do recall that much from playing with a couple APS kits, i just cant remember about the turbines (where the actuators are, as you know of course). They probably are Garrett anyway, I was just throwing that out there.

 

I should clarify that I clamped the vacuum line that T's off to the actuators. I'm no turbo expert but maybe this increased spring pressure by preventing the diaphrams from moving with the air trapped in the lines. My manual boost controller simulates that same setup by clamping those vacuum lines shut but with a valve. I don't even have the valve completely shut and I'm hitting 10 psi at WOT.

 

Actually the turbos and the wastegate actuators are manufactured by Garrett Turbo not APS themselves. any issue with the wastegates and or actuators would be a Garrett turbo issue, not an APS issue..Just playing devils advocate.

 

What type of evidence or documentation did you provide to APS? I contacted Peter about 3 months back about a large amount of smoke that comes out the exhaust at idle and he said to contact Garrett, w/o providing me a number/email/contact name.

 

Peter does respond like that. however most smoking issues we have seen were swiftly resolved with proper oil weight,drainage, and oil level...Garrett turbos are VERY good and have a very low defect rate.

 

Would you be a gentleman and recommend a few brands and weights that might help? I had suspected using 10W30 Mobil 1 synth was too thin for the turbo seals.

What did you modify the oil return line with to reduce the back pressure? Im afraid an inline pump of some sort might pull in air from those turbo seals.

Oil level? Are you referring to the APS reccomendation to fill only up to 5 quarts and not the 6.5 quarts capacity? Ive done that and it helps to a degree but i only consider that a bandaid.

 

We use 10-40 synth on stock motor cars, and 10-60 Greddy oil for 450+whp built motors....the oil return lines need to be trimmed just right to give optimal return flow back to the pan.As silly as it seems, it is a fix that must be correct to work properly... Also we fill with 5 3/4 Qts or just enough to reach the LOW line on the dipstick..

 

Thank you.

Im a little reluctant to let the oil line reach low on the dipstick but then again, the low oil light doesnt turn on until the oil line is almost another inch below low and you have to pull a good +.8G. Hmm i wonder how i knew that.

 

That's an interesting problem... it seems odd that you are the first I have heard of with that problem and it effects BOTH of your turbos. I may be quick to blame APS (actually Garrett, but that horse has already been well-beaten) if it happened to ONE of my turbos or if it was a common problem... however, that is not the case.

At the risk of getting my head bit off, may I suggest that this may be something that is unique to your car, not the APS/Garrett turbos/actuators?

Stuck actuators = "too little experience" & "dishonest business ethics"??? Are you serious? Seems a little harsh to me.

I have been guilty of calling out a vendor on the forums when I was dissatisfied with a product... only to find out that it was not the vendor's fault. Needless to say, I was very sorry and posted a long and humbling reply in my own thread appologizing.

When you find out what actually happened, you may want to consider doing the same.

 

I took my car to GRD and ended up rebuilding my engine because it blew after tuning.

 

I made a mistake. I assumed the audience reading my original post has seen/read almost everything I have regarding the APS TT kit from day one. Obviously that cant be the case and im not about to try and site 2 years worth of posts, again my mistake.

APS is relatively new if you compared them to the other FI companies we have kits from. ATI, Vortec, Greddy, HKS, PE, etc. The exhaust smoke problem and the choice of internal wastegates where poor design choices IMO. The Subaru community had simular issues with the APS kits. When they put a larger turbo on a small displacment engine, one should assume they are going to run higher boost yet internal wastegates have always faired poorer doing so. That might explain why APS has the Extreme kit with external wastegates on our 350Z.

I could go on and on beating this dead horse, but look at it this way. The Greddy kit has been out a few months longer then the APS kit and dozens of 500+ and even 600+ HP cars run them successfully. The APS kit marketed to be able to produce 500+ HP has almost no cars doing so consistently. APS either entered the market knowing that the internal wastegates could not hold 500+ reliably or they simply didnt know. I doubt the latter.

 

My kit has more mileage and time under its belt then most others. Plus, the lose in power was so subtle, i bet there are ppl with simular problems and dont even know it.

At least the design locks the wastegates open and not shut.