In march I bought a Kinugawa billet 25g and ran it for appx. 3 months when I noticed rub marks on the comp housing. It took another 2 months to get the new one under warantee. Some things I noticed and addressed along the way:

The OEM style thrust bearing with very shalow oil slots and one tiny oil feed hole.
SS 360* 3 hole thrust plate is about $40

The stupid wga needs to be preloaded after every drive cause the comp housing dowel pin is missing, the turbine dowel pin broke due to the clamp not being tight enough. (think oem says 42in/lb) The housings kept spinning just enough to release the preload as I would drive.
Made new dowel pins and tighten it down snug.

For future purchasers of these turbos, I reccomend doing this before the turbo goes on.

 

Did you hear anyhthing from the turbo to make you look at it and realize the rub marks? or did you just feel like looking at it..

 

I was removing it for a clip/port job when I niticed the damage. Still made boost and no noise.
Has anyone else had issues that we can address here for future reference?

 

Also, My WG springs never made as much boost as they were rated for. I put an FP 25psi WGA on it fully preloaded and it made 17psi. I extended the exterior wastegate arm from 3/4" on center from pivot to pivot up to 1" on center. Now the FP WGA makes 24 psi.

I know all this stuff is really kind of a PITA but then again, if they did r/d and perfected this turbo the price would double.

 

Same here man. I got a1.5 bar spring rated at 22. I'm still only at 17. this 25g crap is bull****. The money you save on the turbo you still spend on trial and error and time. I'm over my 25g.

 

sorry to say but these turbo's are nothing but **** , i've got one i've had issues from day one . Cheap and nasty spend the extra money and get something decent.

 

You get what you pay for. And that statement is the damn truth.

 

Can anyone post photos of the damage on the turbos?

 

If you don't have anything to offer this thread but oppinion, go troll another thread.
I have come up with solutions so this turbo performs like it should. I think you all would be smart enough to know that you can't get a bnib $2500 turbo for $1100 especially with a 1 year warrantee simply cause it was made elsewhere.

I only have photos of the rub marks as I didn't want to prove to Kinugawa that I opened up the turbo and still wanted it waranteed. There was wear on every "wear-and-tear" part of the turbo as well as the wheels.

This time around it was ported, clipped, balanced by Gpop shop, fitted with a SS 360* thrust bearing with 3 oil feed holes and ceramic coated. I know my warantee is out the window now but there is no reason left for this to fail.

Now that my turbo has cost around $1700 at this point I feel like it performs like a $1700 turbo.

Now that you all know what "should" be done to have a great performing turbo it shouldn't cost that much. Bare bones minimum, I would install the better thrust plate, extend the outer flapper arm and add a dowel to the comp housing.

 

im just being honest , telling you how it is.

 

You also get what you work for. Build a nice turbo and don't cut corners and you should do well with it. Stock, it sucks. Hence the thread!