Why are all the turbo kits for snowmobiles junk?

tangerine_sky · Oct 20, 2018

Do people just not care for a quality product like this?
Cody Phillips Pro RMK

I'm tired of people on the forums defending incompetence and acting as if issues don't exist.

Junk Turbos
PiggyBack fueling
water/air intercooler heat exchanger too small to be effective or stupidly being combined with engine cooling loop
deadend turbo oil line
most lack EBC
trash tunes
poor quality fit and finish
Lacking customer service
- non-responsive
- accusatory attitudes
- unwillingness to admit issues

The only kit worth running is Impulse Turbos, but they still do piggyback boxes to control things and don't have a high boost/intercooled kit.

I just want to see more kits produced by people that actually care about quality.

Spaarky · Oct 20, 2018

I don’t know Cody, but I have seen video and know turbos well enough, that it’s a purpose built machine. Size of turbo ect... huge power but won’t work for most of us for typical tree riding most of us do.

Turbos..... the auto turbos, are designed to run huge amounts of miles. If they perform equally do power sports toys really need turbos that run 2.3,400,000 miles??? I will address oiling while I am here. My experience goes back 20 years plus. After struggling with oil pumps, I will gladly take dead end oil. I see some other advantages too.

I will keep my “piggyback”. Most people can not effectively tune a full ecu. Flash is ok for some, I prefer a tuner.

Water/air.... proper set up adds about 40lbs to your sled give or take ... no thanks.

I will lump the rest together... I am picky as can be, border line anal. I am happy with fit and finish of the kit I purchased. Customer service has been fantastic.

The main problem with the “ultimate kit” is cost. Some guys these days can’t change a belt, but can have a turbo installed and pull the trigger. They don’t know the difference between $3500 and $8500, except their wallet is lighter.

The ultimate kit is awesome, but in this day it’s just not practical anymore.

tuneman · Oct 20, 2018

Yeah! And those sleds too! Why are all the sleds junk! What's with the weak cast blocks, bendy forged arms, wimpy aluminum rails. If they would just use billet aluminum, titanium and unobtanium everywhere, along with dependable 4-stroke engines made by Honda, we'd no longer have junk to ride!

turboless terry · Oct 20, 2018

I guess I should start a thread asking why is my turbo so awesome when everyone says they're junk.
Runs flawless
Not impulse.
If I were you I would run stock or build your own !
If this was a sales pitch, well, good luck with this attitude.
Nice post.
Have a nice day.

sumtinwong · Oct 21, 2018

I hear ya have hade 0 problems with my turbo not even a set of plugs or a belt all ways starts and idles and never lets the me or the skies down! they answered the phone when I bought it and answered the phone for the 1 question I hade on the install and told me to just call back if I hade any more.... ben the easiest and best mode for the $$$$ I ever spent and glad it didn't cost 9,000!

tangerine_sky · Oct 21, 2018

Spaarky said:
I don’t know Cody, but I have seen video and know turbos well enough, that it’s a purpose built machine. Size of turbo ect... huge power but won’t work for most of us for typical tree riding most of us do.

Turbos..... the auto turbos, are designed to run huge amounts of miles. If they perform equally do power sports toys really need turbos that run 2.3,400,000 miles??? I will address oiling while I am here. My experience goes back 20 years plus. After struggling with oil pumps, I will gladly take dead end oil. I see some other advantages too.

I will keep my “piggyback”. Most people can not effectively tune a full ecu. Flash is ok for some, I prefer a tuner.

Water/air.... proper set up adds about 40lbs to your sled give or take ... no thanks.

I will lump the rest together... I am picky as can be, border line anal. I am happy with fit and finish of the kit I purchased. Customer service has been fantastic.

The main problem with the “ultimate kit” is cost. Some guys these days can’t change a belt, but can have a turbo installed and pull the trigger. They don’t know the difference between $3500 and $8500, except their wallet is lighter.

The ultimate kit is awesome, but in this day it’s just not practical anymore.

You make some good points.

The size of the turbos used on snowmobiles are the same as on stock 4 cylinder cars. Aside from aerocharger I don't believe a perfectly sized turbo exists for sleds.

With backcountry tree-riding, hill climbing and riding snowmobiles in general you'd want the quickest spooling, best tip-in turbo possible.

The best you could do would be to get the new G series Garret G25-550 compressor side with the Borg Warner EFR 6258 turbine side. (if that were possible).

Or better yet would be a Garrett twin scroll dual boost turbo (used on the Porsche 919 Evo) with twin pipes to isolate exhaust pulses to the turbine wheel.

I would think a properly sized water/air intercooler would add ~15lbs not 40.

I agree with you that cost is the main factor in why the kits are lacking.

tuneman said:
Yeah! And those sleds too! Why are all the sleds junk! What's with the weak cast blocks, bendy forged arms, wimpy aluminum rails. If they would just use billet aluminum, titanium and unobtanium everywhere, along with dependable 4-stroke engines made by Honda, we'd no longer have junk to ride!

Haha, I don't think the block is an issue at the power levels of snowmobiles. It would be cool to see the yamaha 4 stroke in an axys chassis.

turboless terry said:
I guess I should start a thread asking why is my turbo so awesome when everyone says they're junk.
Runs flawless
Not impulse.
If I were you I would run stock or build your own !
If this was a sales pitch, well, good luck with this attitude.
Nice post.
Have a nice day.

I don't work for Impulse or Cody Phillips Racing, nor do I own a turbo kit from either of them.

I love those posts by kit builders or sponsored people saying [Insert Brand] kit runs flawlessly. Let's see some videos where it runs as clean as an Impulse Turbo

Try being objective in your analysis of your kit, not caught up in the mindset of you bought it therefore you must defend it at all cost.

tangerine_sky · Oct 21, 2018

sumtinwong said:
I hear ya have hade 0 problems with my turbo not even a set of plugs or a belt all ways starts and idles and never lets the me or the skies down! they answered the phone when I bought it and answered the phone for the 1 question I hade on the install and told me to just call back if I hade any more.... ben the easiest and best mode for the $$$$ I ever spent and glad it didn't cost 9,000!

Well damn, maybe I should just stop caring about 12 psi kits, EBC and throttle tip-in and get a Silber. I'm not being sarcastic, if those kits really run that well I should buy it.

turboless terry · Oct 21, 2018

I don't work for Impulse or Cody Phillips Racing, nor do I own a turbo kit from either of them.

I love those posts by kit builders or sponsored people saying [Insert Brand] kit runs flawlessly. Let's see some videos where it runs as clean as an Impulse Turbo

Try being objective in your analysis of your kit, not caught up in the mindset of you bought it therefore you must defend it at all cost.[/QUOTE]

I've been around the block a time or two. I know what works and doesn't work. I've rode with some of the best and I can ride a snowmobile just fine. I don't buy stuff because of a video or rider. Don't know if your butthurt because you did or what your deal is. Some people can make stuff work and some can't. I can see where your at. I've had turbo sleds since 99. Do you even own one?
Just so you know, these sponsored riders help make kits better and keep progressing. They are not the most evil thing you make it out to be.

Please tell me you don't vote.

roughrider99 · Oct 21, 2018

Here's how I Look at it. If you were to buy an OEM turbo kit it would cost 3x what we currently pay for a standard turbo kit. So these small business building kits will always have quirks, they do not sell the volume to pay for a full time R&D Dept with a million dollar budget. With that being said there are guys who know how their turbo systems work and have the technical capability to make them run well. And the rest have little knowledge just bolt
It on and expect a modified sled to run like stock and it doesn't, this we get poor reviews on how ****ty they run.

I'll spend my 5k sort out the quirks rather than spend 15k for What would be oem level turbo kit. Picking a turbo kit that works for you and a company that can service you are major factor as yes service with some outfits can be worse than others. So call and ask questions, gather info from reputable sources and be honest with yourself and your abilities to keep up with maintaining a high performance machine. When it comes to high performance don't expect to have your cake and eat it too unless your willing to fork out some serious money.

tangerine_sky · Oct 21, 2018

roughrider99 said:
Here's how I Look at it. If you were to buy an OEM turbo kit it would cost 3x what we currently pay for a standard turbo kit. So these small business building kits will always have quirks, they do not sell the volume to pay for a full time R&D Dept with a million dollar budget. With that being said there are guys who know how their turbo systems work and have the technical capability to make them run well. And the rest have little knowledge just bolt
It on and expect a modified sled to run like stock and it doesn't, this we get poor reviews on how ****ty they run.

I'll spend my 5k sort out the quirks rather than spend 15k for What would be oem level turbo kit. Picking a turbo kit that works for you and a company that can service you are major factor as yes service with some outfits can be worse than others. So call and ask questions, gather info from reputable sources and be honest with yourself and your abilities to keep up with maintaining a high performance machine. When it comes to high performance don't expect to have your cake and eat it too unless your willing to fork out some serious money.

This is the type of attitude I'd like to see more of on this forum. Thank you for being honest, objective and informative. Seeing it this way makes a lot of sense. I just got the impression from other forum members that all the kits run very close to flawlessly these days.

It would be so much better if people talked about the little things they do to fix the quirks rather than lying and talking **** like the guy in the post above yours.

I would love to talk about the things that need to be done to improve my kit without getting attacked by people that claim the issues don't exist.

willjogervais · Oct 22, 2018

tangerine_sky said:
This is the type of attitude I'd like to see more of on this forum. Thank you for being honest, objective and informative. Seeing it this way makes a lot of sense. I just got the impression from other forum members that all the kits run very close to flawlessly these days.

It would be so much better if people talked about the little things they do to fix the quirks rather than lying and talking **** like the guy in the post above yours.

I would love to talk about the things that need to be done to improve my kit without getting attacked by people that claim the issues don't exist.

You literally just said the same thing about your impulse turbo. It's the best and runs flawless..... Their are a lot of people on this forum that have had great luck running silber and boondocker setups (along with others) with little to zero problems, my self included. I had an occasional off idle bog, called justin and he had me reflashed and running great within a week. Just my personal experience, I haven't run a different brand but would not be afraid to. I don't know why, but you appear set on ignoring all of the good experiences people have had and are sharing. Their are multiple posts about the issues that different makers have had as well if u take the time to search

madmax · Oct 22, 2018

Biggest thing is cost and profit margin. Most people aren’t willing to pay the price tag of an impulse turbo. Especially on a machine they use a few days a year and will only last 3,000 miles before it’s almost worth nothing. The consumer has pushed for lower turbo prices for years and manufacturers have responded with lower price and hence questionably lower quality kits. I’ve run MPI, boondocker and Silber kits over the last few years. If the kit is installed properly they have run fantastic. Put my axys sidekick turbo threw 1,000 miles of abuse last season and it didn’t even mis fire or hiccup once. Ran perfect all season. I could have spend double for an impulse kit that ran perfect all season as well, but why? For most of us there is no reason to spend over $7,000 on a kit.

sumtinwong · Oct 27, 2018

look their isn't a maker of a product anywhere that does not have a lemon hear or their it just will never be that way ...... EVER .... doesn't matter what your buying. that being said all I can offer is my experience's with what I have run and what I have seen my riding partners run. your statement was I'm tired of people on the forums defending incompetence and acting as if issues don't exist. all I offered was my experience with what I have and im not going to "act" like any thing for any one my kit is just what I said it was and I would think that your kit(as I have never run that kit its just me assuming...) is a good kit and probably has a quark/defective part/bad flash or something of the sort as I have read of many happy people with that kit!?!? as for silber I can only speak for running low boost low elevation as I live in Alaska and cant imagine 12 PSI at 0-5000 ft so I have no need for piggy back injectors.. intercooler.. have no dead end oil lines.. no need for a EBC.. my tune has ben spot on{with the exception of a light load up on the mornings warm up}..my fit and finish is something that even I was surprised about as I have hade bran new twin pipes that I hade to take a hammer to to make them fit right and the kit just set into place....well with the exception of the silicone Y it was pretty tuff to get on just like silber said...as I stated above they were more than happy to help me...and as for the turbo being junk welllll I just need more time to say how long it will or wont hold up for but so far so good going on season 4

. I can tell you that I never tried sliber's clutching just bought indy dans low elevation turbo clutch kit from day 1 and never looked back! all that being said what you are looking for out of your kit and what I am looking for out of my kit are like comparing apples to oranges... yea their both fruit but very different. I wouldn't rule out silber for your application but I will say that I would have strongly considered a different turbo kit if I was looking for intercooler, EBC , and 12 pounds of boost and yes I would have ben prepared to pay more. their is a CRAZZY wealth of knowledge hear on snow west in this turbo form and if you just start asking for help I would bet dollars to donuts that you can get your setup fixed right up to your standards! I know it wont take care of the bad taste in your mouth from the purchase that your not happy with but you can end up happy with the setup that you end up with.... sorry I don't have a better answer for ya and hope you can find a fix/fixes for your kit to meet your standards!! happy riding and keep them skies pointed up

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Why are all the turbo kits for snowmobiles junk?

tangerine_sky

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Spaarky

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tuneman

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turboless terry

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sumtinwong

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tangerine_sky

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tangerine_sky

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turboless terry

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roughrider99

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tangerine_sky

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willjogervais

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madmax

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sumtinwong

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