[BMWhartgeM3]

Is there anybody willing to lend a hand in helping me replace my turbos on my N54 RWD?? I live in south east MA, and have access to a garage, or possible a shop with lift if needed.

[Torgus]

As I just converted to a single turbo this year it is still all fresh in my mind. Feel free to txt me or call me with questions. 978 3nine9 9.3 7 two

It's a shit job. I don't envy you.

What turbos are you going with? Why are you replacing them?

[BMWhartgeM3]

Im looking at the stage 1 Vargas install kit from ECS, I don't have a lot of coin to throw at it right now. I just did Injectors, plugs, and coils trying to correct a lean condition. Bank 2 is still running lean, and my fear is that it is the wastegate rattle failure, as they've been making noise for some time now.

Any recommendations for turbos or other to-dos while Im in there? Just had the motor mounts and oil pan gasket done a couple months ago.

[Torgus]

Originally Posted by BMWhartgeM3

Im looking at the stage 1 Vargas install kit from ECS, I don't have a lot of coin to throw at it right now. I just did Injectors, plugs, and coils trying to correct a lean condition. Bank 2 is still running lean, and my fear is that it is the wastegate rattle failure, as they've been making noise for some time now.

Any recommendations for turbos or other to-dos while Im in there? Just had the motor mounts and oil pan gasket done a couple months ago.

VTT's owner Tony is a POS. He beats women and has been arrested for it, multiple incidents. Also, his turbos are questionable. There are a ton of threads on this and other forums about his failed turbos. He also has taken customer's money for R&D etc. and never delivered product.

To go on, the only reason some customers got refunds is because I called VTT out of their bullshit policies. Many customer had to do charge backs to VTT because he was happy to take their money but strangely so hard to get a hold of after he missed the shipdate for months. He would post on the forums all day but ignore customer emails trying to figure out where their product is and why their car has been down for months. VTT is so toxic he has to pay a forum handler to post and promise to never post himself because he is/was banned from every BMW forum in existence because no one wanted him around. Do you know how hard it is for a forum to not want a vendor's money? Banning vendors is basically unheard of. He could never keep a job(toxic personality) and the only reason he has one is because he inherited the company his father built.

I would never put a product of his on my car and I would advise all other people to stay the fuck away from that train wreck of a company. Anyone who beats on chicks does not get a penny of my hard earned money.

So, I would not get those turbos. Rob Beck RB turbo makes stage 1 rebuilds so does turbolab of america, I am sure there are more and those all come with upgraded wastegates and a better wheel iirc.

You should do the water pump as they fail every 75-100k miles. That's like $550 from FCP.

Is someone tuning your car? if so, ask the tuner what they think. If not, email some logs to a tuner throw them $20 bucks, and ask them what they think. Be a shame to rip out turbos that are functioning. Usually really bad wastegates will give you a CEL as you can't hit boost target.

What are you using to tune your car? JB or MHD?

[BMWhartgeM3]

Originally Posted by Torgus

VTT's owner Tony is a POS. He beats women and has been arrested for it, multiple incidents. Also, his turbos are questionable. There are a ton of threads on this and other forums about his failed turbos. He also has taken customer's money for R&D etc. and never delivered product.

To go on, the only reason some customers got refunds is because I called VTT out of their bullshit policies. Many customer had to do charge backs to VTT because he was happy to take their money but strangely so hard to get a hold of after he missed the shipdate for months. He would post on the forums all day but ignore customer emails trying to figure out where their product is and why their car has been down for months. VTT is so toxic he has to pay a forum handler to post and promise to never post himself because he is/was banned from every BMW forum in existence because no one wanted him around. Do you know how hard it is for a forum to not want a vendor's money? Banning vendors is basically unheard of. He could never keep a job(toxic personality) and the only reason he has one is because he inherited the company his father built.

I would never put a product of his on my car and I would advise all other people to stay the fuck away from that train wreck of a company. Anyone who beats on chicks does not get a penny of my hard earned money.

So, I would not get those turbos. Rob Beck RB turbo makes stage 1 rebuilds so does turbolab of america, I am sure there are more and those all come with upgraded wastegates and a better wheel iirc.

You should do the water pump as they fail every 75-100k miles. That's like $550 from FCP.

Is someone tuning your car? if so, ask the tuner what they think. If not, email some logs to a tuner throw them $20 bucks, and ask them what they think. Be a shame to rip out turbos that are functioning. Usually really bad wastegates will give you a CEL as you can't hit boost target.

What are you using to tune your car? JB or MHD?

I was looking at the RB turbos as well. Knowing a little more about VTT I'll stay away. I just did the water pump last winter so Im good there. I have a thread on N54 and I've been getting some help working though. Vacuum test came back strong, does the same thing whether I'm on Jb4 stand alone, running the 93 backend flash, or disabling all together. I get a low boost engine light when the tune is enabled, code 3100. After the injectors, plugs, and coils the car sounds pretty smooth and feels strong, just can't get past 12lbs and still running lean. I've been driving with JB4 disabled for a couple of days and I'm going to check to see if there are any stored codes. I reset adapatations and cleared codes right after I did all that work.

I also noticed smoke upon start up every once and a while.

[Torgus]

Originally Posted by BMWhartgeM3

I was looking at the RB turbos as well. Knowing a little more about VTT I'll stay away. I just did the water pump last winter so Im good there. I have a thread on N54 and I've been getting some help working though. Vacuum test came back strong, does the same thing whether I'm on Jb4 stand alone, running the 93 backend flash, or disabling all together. I get a low boost engine light when the tune is enabled, code 3100. After the injectors, plugs, and coils the car sounds pretty smooth and feels strong, just can't get past 12lbs and still running lean. I've been driving with JB4 disabled for a couple of days and I'm going to check to see if there are any stored codes. I reset adapatations and cleared codes right after I did all that work.

I also noticed smoke upon start up every once and a while.

Personally I would uninstall the jb4 and run on a 100% stock tune to rule out any variables. If you still think swapping the twins is the best go for it. It is not a fun job. But doable with patience and time.

I'm happy to help with any questions that come up!

Is this your daily driver? If you can limp for a few months a new inexpensive bottom mount turbo may be availible for sale with a cast manifold. 4kish.

Be a shame to do all the work for basically just stock twin turbos. The wastegates will end up rattling sooner than you want. My vote is single turbo but that is 5k.

[BMWhartgeM3]

Yeah, Shes my daily driver! I don't have 4k to put towards a turbo unfortunately. I am leaning towards RB and building to my budget. I'm replacing the O2 sensors next where I have 135k and they are original to the car. I have a sneaking suspicion this might solve my lean condition. I replaced the crankcase vent valve because that flap was faulty so Im sure that wasn't helping.

[RCB]

RB stage 1 or stage 2 are great. I have been having great luck with both. My E61 has been running a set of Beta RB twos for 8 months with zero issues. Great spool, , great response and pulls like hell all the way to redline.