no its not
i would never rely on the Chinese to replicate ANY aspect of a name brand turbo. R&D work should ALWAYS be done with the same quality components you plan to sell the end user, except where its DOESN'T MATTER
for example, if you build all your piping out of carbon steel, but the end product will be SS, that's fine, as long as you prototype system is built to the same quality as the production system.
if you have some knock off BOV that WORKS PROPERLY fine, go for it. a BOV really only operates OFF throttle so it doesn't directly effect HP numbers
a turbo on the other hand is the absolute heart of the system, and a Chinese turbo will never be as good as the Garrett turbo that they tried to exactly copy.
the turbo selection can make or break the entire project, so i would never bank an entire project on a crappy chinese part.
Why the **** would I be talking about a tune or any final numbers with a chinese turbo?
I AM TALKING ABOUT FABRICATION. Instead of spending so much time on turbo selection, get a chinese turbo to start fabrication for headers, oil lines, flanges, piping, etc. Get a PLACEMENT.
lrn2read.
I never said a Chinese turbo is as good as a brand name, there are so many differences (materials, manufacturing process, internals, etc etc). I also never said let the chinese turbo be apart of the final build, but when it comes to developing a product, and you want to make a "jig" you don't need the real thing.
When developing a prototype, it is important to get a good idea of where things are going to be. How hard will it be to install, how much blood will you lose, etc.
My other point is that these cheap chinese turbos aren't half as bad as many people make them out to be. It's even cheaper to buy a chinese turbo and rebuild it with quality components and still have a turbo comparable to a stock Garret T3 (ask me how I know).
My whole suggestion was for shosource to take a different approach to their prototype, so they have a much easier and cheaper way of making their product. And giving the customer the option of having no turbo so they can make their own selection is good too, which if shosource does that, I would consider picking up their kit and putting in a cheap chinese turbo to prove you wrong. In fact I'll use the very same one that's been in my 411whp Turbo Coupe and still in plenty of high HP BMW's and DSM's that I know.
Because what really counts is consistency, if you get a consistent build going now, it will end up being cheaper for everyone in the long run.
