Buying From Ebay And Abroad

[Richie Cross]

Hi folks,

Just wanted to get your opinions/experiences.

I thought the ballpark figure for a VF34 was about £600/£650 from what I'd been told, but looking on ebay

http://shop.ebay.co.uk/?_from=R40&_trk...3&_nkw=vf34

there are 3 going for £512 and £499 (Japan) and £490 (UK). Are these good deals?

They say they are new but is it worth buying 2nd hand? Can you go wrong?

If I remember, Gus was looking at getting a VF34 from Japan last year for the fozzy?

Gus???

The sellers are JAWarehouse and KINUGAWA Turbo which I know nothing about.

Also.....for the above....is it safe to buy 2nd hand pink injectors?

Just curious..............

Cheers

[craigdmcd]

I don't know about the spec of turbo, but I would buy from the last seller, simply because of the amount of sales. Make sure it goes through e-bay, and pay by paypal, and you should be fully covered. The only problem is if it goes bang, then getting a warranty repair would be virtually non-existant.

Is this turbo a better turbo than a AndyF modified TD04, and is it a direct replacement?

[jac]

The vf34 a very good turbo, jimser embarrassed a few bigger powered cars with it on his REX ROCKET.

I think he got his from Japan,sure he will be along soon to let you know.

The pinks you can safely get from me, as mine are still in the car and running well.

Jac

[iain01]

I bought my VF34 custom ported from Andy F, £625 + vat, it makes more power than Andy's modified TD04.

For 01-05wrx

http://www.andyforrestperformance.co.uk/58901.html

[paul555sti]

I wouldnt buy a jaw warehouse turbo. Do a search over on soobynet , i am sure there have been a few peole who have bought them and when they get the cars mapped they dont make the power expected. i am sure Andy Forrest even posted up to say a few things about them. Some of the turbos make good power and some dont ( poor Quality control).

[craigdmcd]

I bought my VF34 custom ported from Andy F, £625 + vat, it makes more power than Andy's modified TD04.

For 01-05wrx

http://www.andyforrestperformance.co.uk/58901.html

Can I ask how early the VF34 spools up? At the moment I am still convinced that the modified TD04 is more suitable (the car is primarily the wife's car - hence a very usable power band is required) after reading how impressive this unit is at low engine revs. In fact, in the last article that was published by Andy in Scoobymag, the TD04 outpowered and outdragged a TD05 to 4000rpm.

I am just wondering if the VF34 with it's rollerball bearings make good early boost?

[iain01]

Can I ask how early the VF34 spools up? At the moment I am still convinced that the modified TD04 is more suitable (the car is primarily the wife's car - hence a very usable power band is required) after reading how impressive this unit is at low engine revs. In fact, in the last article that was published by Andy in Scoobymag, the TD04 outpowered and outdragged a TD05 to 4000rpm.

I am just wondering if the VF34 with it's rollerball bearings make good early boost?

The VF34 spools up slightly later, but that noticeable(on the 2.5). The car is still very good to drive normally.

Before the power band was very smooth but now I feel more of a kick when the turbo spools up.

The car had the ppp fitted before, it feels alot quicker now.

[Richie Cross]

Mmmm, maybe I should alter my post a bit? To start with I thought the VF34/35 were better than Andy F's

hybrid of the TD04 but I'm no expert.

When I saw the prices for the VF34 on ebay, I wondered if it was too good a deal, hence the post.

Now I could ask.....'will I just go for Andy's hybrid?'

Ideally I'd love to get as close to the 300bhp mark as possible without going into spending big bucks.

My wagon is a MY05 WRX PPP with decatted downpipe/sports cat.

Was looking at the new turbo, injectors, up pipe and remap.

So, based on that target, it seems the AFP4H is ideal and at £400 exchange is cheaper than the VF34.

But...I see Andy does the AFP5-16 which is suited to more power but comes in at £80 cheaper? I'll maybe

have to e-mail Andy unless anyone can tell me why this would be?

For the folks who have been to Andy and have one of his turbo's, I'm assuming I don't have to worry about

buying reconditioned????

I've never heard anything bad about Andy's stuff but usually prefer 'new stuff'!

So..........with the prices being close, is it a good saving with Andy's own etc.

Cheers again.

Edited September 23, 2008 by Richie Cross

[craigdmcd]

Richie, I don't think I have been swayed by the option of the VF34. I think for a 2.0 car, Andy's TD04 is the way to go for everyday driving. I'm quite happy to go down this route, and have all the other mods in place (STi TMIC, Sportcat downpipe, decat up-pipe, ported/aftermarket headers, Walbro pump, STi injectors, panel filter) so that in the event that the wife uses the car less, and me a lot more, I can just dump a bigger turbo on and not have to worry about supporting mods for it.

Like I have mentioned, I have an article by AndyF, and he has datalogging showing the pickup in seconds through the different speed increments.

MPH TD04 Hybrid TD05-16G

30-50 ------ 2.6 ------ 3.5

40-60 ------ 2.0 ------ 2.4

50-70 ------ 2.1 ------ 2.1

60-80 ------ 2.2 ------ 2.2

70-90 ------ 2.7 ------ 2.4

30-90 ------ 7.4 ------ 8.0

I think that this shows that for a real life enviroment, the TD04 is probably the better option in a 2.0WRX

Edited September 22, 2008 by craigdmcd