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I'm doing up-pipes today and a Hybrid-turbo install . I have a Banks 1.00 housing I got for super cheap ($100 NEW) that I had machined for the 1994-1997 70mm turbine shaft and turbine wheel from Turbo International as well as a new bearing housing from TI . New bearings from Turbolabofamarica with a machined compressor housing and 67x88x94mm compressor wheel. The compressor wheel is on back order so I ordered a SPX Turboost 66x88x94mm compressor wheel that was as usual when I order from them "junk" . The SPX wheel wasn't machined right in the center bore and when I tried to install it wouldn't fit over the turbine shaft . So I email them and they send me a video of heating a wheel up and it falling right into place but how could I possibly to this when there are threads on the inside of mine and the wheel in the video was held on buy a nut . Anyways besides SpTurboost being the 3rd compressor wheel that I have purchased from them I couldn't install without machinists work (and they don't do refunds on billet wheels ) I waited for my turbo labsofamerica wheel and it has arrived so I'm installing everything today ? Any advice on the uppies and v-bands I hear they are a pain. I have new v-bands from ford and was wondering why I couldn't just cut everything out with my Dermal or hack saw lol . Any advice will be appreciated.
If SPX "usually sends you junk", why do you continue to order from them?
I have been a customer of SPX in the past and had nothing but good things to say about them. I know many other FTE members have been happy with their product and services as well.
Getting the up pipes mated to the turbo can by very trying, be patient and don't rush the job or you will regret it.
Leave everything loose until the last bolt/flange is aligned. Then go back and tighten what you left loose for wiggle room.
I assume you're changing pedestal Orings on the bottom also while you're there. If so use something just tacky enough to keep the Orings in place while you're moving your turbo and everything else around.
If SPX "usually sends you junk", why do you continue to order from them?
I have been a customer of SPX in the past and had nothing but good things to say about them. I know many other FTE members have been happy with their product and services as well.
Getting the up pipes mated to the turbo can by very trying, be patient and don't rush the job or you will regret it.
Maybe I have bad luck ?? I'm just being honest though I have had 2 banks style wheels that wouldn't thread on and now this
Third times a charm SpTURBOOST I've learned my lesson
Leave everything loose until the last bolt/flange is aligned. Then go back and tighten what you left loose for wiggle room.
I assume you're changing pedestal Orings on the bottom also while you're there. If so use something just tacky enough to keep the Orings in place while you're moving your turbo and everything else around.
Everything I'm installing, yes non EBP pedestle and bellowed uppies with hybrid 67mm compressor wheel 70mm turbine turbo
I can't get the y pipe collector v band loose . I have new ford v bands so I been beaten the shi* out of it
If SPX "usually sends you junk", why do you continue to order from them?
I have been a customer of SPX in the past and had nothing but good things to say about them. I know many other FTE members have been happy with their product and services as well.
Getting the up pipes mated to the turbo can by very trying, be patient and don't rush the job or you will regret it.
Question me this . Just because you have never had any bad luck with a company's products means that They are a good company? Maybe to you , but what about the other people (ME) that spend there hard earned dollars ($250) for a product(s) that where inadequate ? The first wheel was just a 50$ banks style wheel that had the wrong thread pitch . Contacted them and they sent the exact same flawed product . I let it go . whatever I thought it's a 50$ wheel and I'm getting a new turbo soon anyway. So last week when I found out my 67mm wheel was on back order I panicked and spent 180 on SPX rather than 200+ on ww . And to no avail some problem . Couldn't use SPX wheel because of this . I emailed Kevin the president and I was pretty Irate . He called me a liar , tried to make it as I was incapable of installing a wheel , and told me there was nothing he could do . So just a heads up to other people in the market for billet compressor wheels , turbolabofamerica is a much better product and a more aggressive upgrade wheel for a gtp38 hybrid or a gtp38r . I'm not out to offend anyone of bash a company for no reason . Just a heads up to fellow 7.3 Powerstroke brothers . Get me once shame on you get me twice shame on you get me three times shame on me SPX aka SpTurboost has lost my business. I'm sticking to name brand tried and true high quality products with companies that will back there products just to name a few RiffRaff ,Banks Wicked Wheel, DieselSite ,Sinister , irate , beans , swamps . SpTurboost does not fit in this category (in my opinion)
Take the downtube out. The extra working room is a godsend. It means you have to drop the trans crossmember to re-install the downpipe when you're done, but that's not really that hard, and like I said, it was worth it to me.
When I installed my RR uppipes, I started with the downtube in place. After trying a few times to put it in a piece at a time and tying everything together once in place, I pulled it all out, loosely assembled the baby's butt & both uppipes, and dropped them in from above - but now with the downtube out. I then loosely seated the turbo, attached it to the baby's butt and tightened that, and then went to seating the uppipes against the manifolds. It was so much easier.
That's a first from SPT? 3 times the same thing something funky is going on.... As for the clamps the one on the baby's butt is the hardest one, put the bolts on the up pipes but let them loose and tighten the up pipes to baby's butt to spec and work the turbo around until it sits right on the baby's butt tighten the clamp, then tight the turbo to the pedestal and finally the up pipes to exhaust manifolds. Good luck and make sure you have a swear jar next to you you'll see a small little fortune.
This is Kevin from SP Turboost. I am here to offer the other side of the story. There will be ZERO personal feeling, opinions or prejudgment found in this post. It's simply a "What Had Happened Was..." type of post.
Mr. Mason purchased our banks style compressor wheel ($49.99) back in March this year then contacted us in May regarding issue with the thread pitch of the compressor wheel being the incorrect size to fit on his turbine shaft. At the same time he informed us that he should have received our SPX billet wheel instead of the cast banks style wheel for $49.99. After showing Mr. Mason his own proof of purchase he settled with just a replacement wheel, he then demanded that I send him a replacement wheel with the thread pitch of 6 x 1.00. Unable to come up with this random thread pitch I decided to send him a new replacement wheel which was tested on our OE turbine shaft with picture proof then sent it to him 2nd day, while he was not requested to return his original purchase. Unfortunately Mr. Mason continued to have the identical issue with the 2nd wheel's thread pitch. At that point I informed him that he might have either thread pitch issue with his turbine shaft, or he might be trying to fit our wheel on an aftermarket turbo.
I informed Mr. Mason that I would not send him a 3rd replacement and informed him to try to take his purchase to another company for better "luck".
Last week Mr. Mason ordered our 66x88mm SPX billet wheel, which was not a new product but something we have been using in our D66 in-house build for many years. This is what we received from Mr. Mason in his email:
This is what I wrote in reply to his email:
"Mr. Mason:
First off, we don't appreciate the foul language you used in your email. It's certainly not the way to handle any situation in life.
Second, there is no refund or return on modified size billet wheels we sell. We use these billet wheel for our in house build for the last couple years and never had any issue with them. In fact, if you had such bad luck with our "defective parts" in the past, why not take your business somewhere else like we have informed you in the past.
Third, ball bearing turbos are sensitive to imbalance, so we do not recommend using our wheel without having the turbo VSR balanced.
Lastly, you should consider taking your brand new GTP38R turbo and the billet wheel to a certified turbo rebuilder instead of trying to do something clearly not within your own ability to do. We have attached a video of how to deal with tight wheel bore tolerance so you have an idea of how pros do. We will be happy to discuss any real issue of our product with any certified turbo rebuilder thereafter.
Best regards,"
The tolerance of the bore on billet wheel and the OE of the shaft's stem area can be ±0.05mm. Sometimes tight tolerance on both parts can cause minor fitment issue when installing. Even with counter productive comments from Mr. Mason, I went on and emailed him a video I made, showing him how to deal with tight bore tolerance. However, Mr. Mason continued to insult me with his counter productive comments, that's when I decided to inform him that he needed to take his turbo and the billet wheel to a certified turbo rebuilder.
In his next email I received yesterday, Mr. Mason informed me that he took his turbo to Turbo International (Home page) and they informed him that the bore of the billet wheel needed to be machined out. I found this odd that Turbo International is located 2 hours driving from us in California and Mr. Mason had the time to travel all the way from the east coast to west coast, then back to the east coast to inform us the information he received. In addition, Turbo International is a wholesale OE spec parts supplier rather than a rebuilder (They are actually my vendor for the Banks style wheel for the 7.3L).
This is Kevin from SP Turboost. I am here to offer the other side of the story. There will be ZERO personal feeling, opinions or prejudgment found in this post. It's simply a "What Had Happened Was..." type of post.
Mr. Mason purchased our banks style compressor wheel ($49.99) back in March this year then contacted us in May regarding issue with the thread pitch of the compressor wheel being the incorrect size to fit on his turbine shaft. At the same time he informed us that he should have received our SPX billet wheel instead of the cast banks style wheel for $49.99. After showing Mr. Mason his own proof of purchase he settled with just a replacement wheel, he then demanded that I send him a replacement wheel with the thread pitch of 6 x 1.00. Unable to come up with this random thread pitch I decided to send him a new replacement wheel which was tested on our OE turbine shaft with picture proof then sent it to him 2nd day, while he was not requested to return his original purchase. Unfortunately Mr. Mason continued to have the identical issue with the 2nd wheel's thread pitch. At that point I informed him that he might have either thread pitch issue with his turbine shaft, or he might be trying to fit our wheel on an aftermarket turbo.
I informed Mr. Mason that I would not send him a 3rd replacement and informed him to try to take his purchase to another company for better "luck".
Last week Mr. Mason ordered our 66x88mm SPX billet wheel, which was not a new product but something we have been using in our D66 in-house build for many years. This is what we received from Mr. Mason in his email:
This is what I wrote in reply to his email:
"Mr. Mason:
First off, we don't appreciate the foul language you used in your email. It's certainly not the way to handle any situation in life.
Second, there is no refund or return on modified size billet wheels we sell. We use these billet wheel for our in house build for the last couple years and never had any issue with them. In fact, if you had such bad luck with our "defective parts" in the past, why not take your business somewhere else like we have informed you in the past.
Third, ball bearing turbos are sensitive to imbalance, so we do not recommend using our wheel without having the turbo VSR balanced.
Lastly, you should consider taking your brand new GTP38R turbo and the billet wheel to a certified turbo rebuilder instead of trying to do something clearly not within your own ability to do. We have attached a video of how to deal with tight wheel bore tolerance so you have an idea of how pros do. We will be happy to discuss any real issue of our product with any certified turbo rebuilder thereafter.
Best regards,"
The tolerance of the bore on billet wheel and the OE of the shaft's stem area can be ±0.05mm. Sometimes tight tolerance on both parts can cause minor fitment issue when installing. Even with counter productive comments from Mr. Mason, I went on and emailed him a video I made, showing him how to deal with tight bore tolerance. However, Mr. Mason continued to insult me with his counter productive comments, that's when I decided to inform him that he needed to take his turbo and the billet wheel to a certified turbo rebuilder.
In his next email I received yesterday, Mr. Mason informed me that he took his turbo to Turbo International (Home page) and they informed him that the bore of the billet wheel needed to be machined out. I found this odd that Turbo International is located 2 hours driving from us in California and Mr. Mason had the time to travel all the way from the east coast to west coast, then back to the east coast to inform us the information he received. In addition, Turbo International is a wholesale OE spec parts supplier rather than a rebuilder (They are actually my vendor for the Banks style wheel for the 7.3L).
Question me this . Just because you have never had any bad luck with a company's products means that They are a good company? Maybe to you , but what about the other people (ME) that spend there hard earned dollars ($250) for a product(s) that where inadequate ? The first wheel was just a 50$ banks style wheel that had the wrong thread pitch . Contacted them and they sent the exact same flawed product . I let it go . whatever I thought it's a 50$ wheel and I'm getting a new turbo soon anyway. So last week when I found out my 67mm wheel was on back order I panicked and spent 180 on SPX rather than 200+ on ww . And to no avail some problem . Couldn't use SPX wheel because of this . I emailed Kevin the president and I was pretty Irate . He called me a liar , tried to make it as I was incapable of installing a wheel , and told me there was nothing he could do . So just a heads up to other people in the market for billet compressor wheels , turbolabofamerica is a much better product and a more aggressive upgrade wheel for a gtp38 hybrid or a gtp38r . I'm not out to offend anyone of bash a company for no reason . Just a heads up to fellow 7.3 Powerstroke brothers . Get me once shame on you get me twice shame on you get me three times shame on me SPX aka SpTurboost has lost my business. I'm sticking to name brand tried and true high quality products with companies that will back there products just to name a few RiffRaff ,Banks Wicked Wheel, DieselSite ,Sinister , irate , beans , swamps . SpTurboost does not fit in this category (in my opinion)
Edited: Some have good luck and some have bad luck. I have both, but try to focus more on the good than bad. Again, Kevin from SPTurbo, Clay from RiffRaff and many others have provided a great product with great customer support that you just don't see in the market of today.
Three cheers to you finishing your projects in a timely manner so you and your truck can enjoy them.
If you are implying that I don't work for my money, you are wrong sir. I was only stating what appears to be obvious to me in that why would you continually pay for a product or service that has let you down. I was not poking at you, or calling names by any means.
I had many emails out to Kevin from SPX when I rebuilt my turbo this past winter and he was always very respectful and polite. This was my first experience with SPX and rebuilding a turbo, so I was in the dark.
Maybe Turbolabofamerica is better, I don't know because the parts I ordered from SPX were spot on and delivered promptly at a good price. I hope that you don't have any problems from here on out, but remember that the saying goes like this. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice shame on me...
I hope the rest of your upgrades go smoothly for you, my up-pipes were a pain in the *** to mate to the turbo, but the truck is much better for it now.
Three cheers to you finishing your projects in a timely manner so you and your truck can enjoy them.
Thanks brother!! I'm gonna finish up today (hopefully) . My knees knuckles and elbows are beat to shi* from fighting this monster but we are going to finish today 💪🛠🔩 . When I said we are going to finish up I was including all my supporters. Thank you
I just purchased a 3 year Gold Member Subscription using all the profit my company made off Mr. Mason, so I can support this forum and offer technical assistance on turbochargers to members here. PM me if you have turbo questions.
I apologize to Mr. Mason and everyone else here for hijacking this thread, and for this reason, I will drop ship the "Club FTE" hat that comes free with the forum subscription to Mr. Mason so his truck building experience can be that much more enjoyable when finished.
Last edited by spturboost; Jul 31, 2016 at 01:56 PM.
Reason: Hat
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