Ok well I have been saving for a turbo kit but am now at a dilemma at what to do. I have enough money for either the stage 1 star or hahn kit. Summer is comming closer to an end and that means money for me stops coming in( I do alot of yard work). Also my impatience is getting to me as its taken me awhile to get the money (teenager not making great money). I thought about taking the custom route, researched it, but i dont think my knowledge it would be a good idea. I have read josiahs turbo comparison like 10 times and still am not sure.

Now with stage 1 I would be without an intercooler ( luckily it will begin to cool down soon), the Hahn you need to do some welding apparently, but the prices for these intercooler kits for both kits seem dam expensive, couldnt i just have a shop build one.

Also since im not on highway much and use more low end power, another plus with Hahn. And when it comes to installation, i could get someone to help with Hahn, and Ive heard about Stars guide.

"Star have a better BOV, external waste gate, and a better turbo." <--I dont want to end up changing everything in the end.

I guess you should know my goals and what I have. Its a 97 engine, manual, 63,000 miles. I want to just have a daily driver with some power. 280-300. I will rebiuld the bottom end but that will come later on.

Basically I would like to hear from from some of you guys with either stage 1 kits and how you are liking them so far. Regrets with not getting stage 2s at all? Thank you

Unless you have another car and you have AAA, don't put a turbo on it or start seriously modifying it. Things will go wrong no matter how careful you are and you will get stuck.

Originally posted by ner947
Unless you have another car and you have AAA, don't put a turbo on it or start seriously modifying it. Things will go wrong no matter how careful you are and you will get stuck.

He is righ, my car is my daily driver and there has been times where I had to pay people to take me to work/school n such. Personally if you ask me I think that you sould go the custom rout. Ya it takes alot more knowlage than if you were going to go the hahn/star rout. Lucky for you this place is a gold mine for info. I baught my car on 7/17/04 at that point in time I didn't even know what the hell a waste gate was. As stupid as it may sound the best thing to do is read and research. If you take everything that the starr/hahn first stage kit give you and go onto either ebay or other misc. sites you can easily find almost everything needed to put the kit togather for well under 1500.

if you can get the manifold, turbo and downpipe all together then just get everything else you'll need separately, its not that hard and much cheaper, there's usually some sort of turbo kit or part out on a turbo kit here, that's how i got mine, including all gauges and sfmu and fuel lines (almost 700 right there) the whole thing only cost me about 1800 and i didn't really know what i was doing until reading many posts on this site after some reading its easy

Thank guys..WEll right after i did this post i got an email saying some bidder dropped out on evay so i got a complete HRC stage 2 with intercooler and boost controller with less then 1000 miles on it for a pretty good price so I took it. Thank guys. Now the task of installing this thing..scary.

Originally posted by DarkEclips96
Thank guys..WEll right after i did this post i got an email saying some bidder dropped out on evay so i got a complete HRC stage 2 with intercooler and boost controller with less then 1000 miles on it for a pretty good price so I took it. Thank guys. Now the task of installing this thing..scary.

Na install is the fun part, for some handy tips visit corbin's site.

there was a post about a week or two back about tips too

Go to Borders or Barnes & Noble and buy "Maximum Boost" by Corcky Bell, trust me it will be the best turbo money you ever spend. Good luck with your install, you will love the change.

Thanks for the help guys, I have heard of that book but forgot about it. I will go pick it up tomorrow

Where do you live? If you're near Lynchburg, VA, I'd be more than happy to come and help you install the kit. And an HRC Stage 2 kit is a good deal. You might want to replace a few parts, but you can get to those later.

Thanks, im in near reading, PA about an hour out of philladelphia. That might be kinda of a long drive for you lol.

hey i live like 45min away from reading. I'm about to install my kit sometime in the next 2 weeks. PM me when you got it installed. It'd be nice to see another turbo'd 2gnt.

Nice, will do, you installing yourself or having some1 else do it?

im doing it myself. I went the homemade route and pieced a kit together.

Is your eBay kit used or new?

I'm betting it's used, and given your time restraints it will be a good combination of cheap and getting to know the parts (what happens when you do a custom install).

Your gonna get hooked on that boost my friend. Enjoy it :)

Haha thanks. I think I already am hooked. Its all I can think about, ill be driving and when i hit 2700 rpms, i think this is where id be flying. I just got my car back today from the new engine getting put in. Im happy with it, it seems to sound better with my exhaust.

Originally posted by DarkEclips96
ill be driving and when i hit 2700 rpms, i think this is where id be flying.

hahahah thats funny cause I think the same thing. I can't wait.

Good luck guys! Plan on saving half of your money for repairs :) I would help out but I'm on the west coast.

Originally posted by normajean
im doing it myself. I went the homemade route and pieced a kit together.

me too, I have so much work to do. I finally got everything I need to do the install, all I need to do is fabricate the charge piping and I will be boosting.


What setup you doing man?

Originally posted by ScreaminE

Originally posted by normajean im doing it myself. I went the homemade route and pieced a kit together.

me too, I have so much work to do. I finally got everything I need to do the install, all I need to do is fabricate the charge piping and I will be boosting. What setup you doing man?

I have a 14b setup from a fellow 2gnt'er, sfmu, walbro 255, 1g smic, one of those electric exhaust cutouts and all the other goodies. Unfortunatley i'll be running off of stock injectors for a little bit though.

Originally posted by DJ420a
Well I pretty much live in York, PA. Not far from you at all and I built my own, so I guess you could say, I know some, lol.

yea well you may be gettin some PM's hahah

Well I pretty much live in York, PA. Not far from you at all and I built my own, so I guess you could say, I know some, lol.

I HATE EBAY! The guy was a scammer! URG This is the second time now. I cant take this. Im just going to buy a stage 1 kit i think.

thats messed up man. did you pay any money?

No. Thank fully I didnt. That would be the turbo money down the drain. ;(

Hey you have consider concept illusions Stage 2 kit. Just another option to look into though.

Its not out yet. If I kne when it was coming out then maybe. But with them its really hard to tell. I would be up for it otherwise.

can you put a link on which turbo kit you got? just curious i wonder if its chris's

Lol rub it in some more. Guess you didnt read last few posts...kit was a scam. Am buying a stage 1 kit now.

buy the stage one then look on this site or somewhere else and get a 1g smic and piping of your choice. You should be able to get the smic and piping for like at MOST $200.

AFter the install go to a muffler shop and get them to make you a down pipe or order hahns b/c the way to hook up the turbo to the factory down pipe is Mad Ghettoezzzie ya herd!

Lol yea I heard about this, I couldnt believe it lol. Didnt expect something like that from Hahn.