Chinacharger review (pics)
 

I'm starting a thread around my experiences with a china charger I am going to be running. Since I was actually shipped the wrong unit from speedyracer-honda I can't give any real measurements or anything yet.

Here is a link to the ebay auction:
eBay Motors: Drift T28 GT2860 S13 S14 Upgrade Turbo Charger .49 AR (item 110369223283 end time Mar-30-09 20:31:14 PDT)

$299 shipped to my door.

Auction was for a 2860, but the compressor has a large .42 A/R cast into it.

The first thing I noticed about this turbo when I opened it up was the overall crappy finish of the aluminum housing for the comp. It looks like a 12 year old poured it into the mold. However, I that was just the outside of the thing. I was actually quite impressed with the quality on the inside of the compressor as well as the CHRA and turbine blades.

If you all remember Levnubhin's thread about his china 2860, it didn't appear to have balancing marks. This one has line up marks on the compressor side, and definitely shows signs of being balanced on the hot side.
Attachment 206901

I'm still working with the seller to get the right one shipped out, but after looking at this one, my mind is a little appeased by what I saw.

just for the record, most garrett turbos look like they've been poured by a 12 year old. mostly because a lot of the molds are 50 years old.

Looks like you got the same turbo as me brotha. The intake housing, at least on mine, feels to be very cheap and of poor material. Otherwise, the turbo is great. Just don't forget to run a restrictor...it seems to be the lifeline on these turbos.

now go measure the wheels.

+1, I'm curious to see how it compares to mine.
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Well, it is definitely bigger than an sr20 t25, if that puts it into perspective at all.

haha.. being so Close to China... well... I am in China! I think I should give these a try someday soon!

Sweet, an insider! Can you hit up cxracing and find how my tb28 is made:jerkit:

I assume you're being dramatic. All of the GT series are <10 year old designs.

Wheels are already measured. I'll post those up later today if anyone is interested. The problem is the listing had some errors in it. It's title said GT2860 and the description was for such, but the manufacturer part number was listed as a TB28, so that's what they sent. They are sending the correct one out to me. Actually, they have been very responsive with communication.

compress A/R :ne: turbine A/R

verify the turbine A/R on the inside of the turbine inlet.


When I look at the ebay ad, I see:
TITLE
TB28 Turbo Charger

you need to measure the wheels to determine the actual size of the turbo

If they sent a "TB28" then they sent the right turbo...these aren't garretts. They probably have little to no clue what those number on there auction even mean/represent.

Measurements done with crappy HF caliper.

Attachment 206894

Attachment 206895

If you can't see it, the base of the turbine measures 45.5 mm and the top is 38.9 mm.

Turbine has .49 A/R stamped in it.

most of the GT series are just pieced together from older stuff and renamed. i remember back when "GT" meant all new CHRA, wheels, and housings. then it meant "ball bearings". now they're not even close. some GT turbos dont even have ball bearings!

Take the disco potato for example. It's half T3-60 which has been around since man first blew air into a fire.

and the compressor wheel......



at 45mm, that turbine is sized between a GT15 and a GT20 at 41.2mm and 47mm respectively.

Which is probably why no OEM runs the aftermarket-style OTS GT series at all.

http://www.honeywell.com/sites/servl...0-134026E1D89A

Its interesting to see how VW, Mitsubishi, Hyundai and Chrysler choose NOT to run the OTS GT series on their respective performance vehicles (GTI, Evo, Genesis and SRT4), while they run them on their bread and butter models.

Sorry, for some reason I thought I did both... Here you go.

Attachment 206892

Attachment 206893

compressor is very close to a 2859, but the turbine like i said, is smaller than a gt20 series.

I've got a t4 compressor housing that came on my original chinacharger and it's got large voids in the casting - yes on the inside where it's important. Definitely looks inferior to my garrett.

So does anyone have any idea what this "tb28" is really based off of?