Lith wrote:Garrett themselves even have the odd turbo they have released which are not too flash in terms of reliability and performance (GT2540R is argueably an example of that, putting a GT40 comp wheel on a shaft expecting to carry the load of a T2x series wheel).
Turbo shopping is a potential nightmare, hence the fact I personally lean towards following the "You get what you pay for" philosophy. If I was on a tighter budget, I would have got a Holset turbo myself.
I had a GT28 die on me after very few k's and a pretty easy life, not entirely sure if it was due to a setup problem or if it was just a "dud" turbo. I used the you get what you pay for philosophy as well as I didn't have much experience with turbo's at the time.
Now that I've found out the rebuild price (replace core and wheels) I came to the conclusion that I might as well use an un-branded copy which has been proven and it won't be such a blow to the bank account if it fails.
I've ordered a t3/4 through Bazda so will need to get a new manifold and dump pipe made, which is actually cheaper all up than the replacement garrett core!
PS is anybody after a gt28 comp housing, exhaust housing with welded up internal? Wheels may be salvagable too, will see when I get it back.