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Star Performance Turbo Kit - By Jeff
Pros
The Turbo: Star uses a Turbonetics designed T3/T4 turbocharger with optional trims and a ball bearing option. This turbo is great for 350, 400 or more horsepower. With the ball bearing option (which tacks on another $500 to the price of the turbo mind you), turbo lag is almost none existant.
The Pipes: Star pipes are chrome plated for looks and style.
The Intercooler: Using a Spearco core and custom end tanks, the Star FMIC (you get the FMIC with stage two) will support 400whp.
Fuel Pressure Riser: Star uses the Vortech FMU. Enought said, when it comes from Votech you know it's good.
Wastegate: External wastegate is more relilable and better for controlling boost spikes and flow.
Cons
The Instructions: They really don't have a set of instructions. They are only a couple pages long. The install itself is really for experienced people.
The Manifold: I would have rather seen Star sell this kit with at least an euqal length runner manifold.
The Bov: The kit comes with what I consider a stock 1g bov, however it's more or less a simply HKS generic Bov.
All in all I have to say I like this kit. Then again I'm not new to turbo's and turbo systems and know how to make this work. Star dosen't have the support that HRC offers which I don't like. None the less if you want a turbo system and have an idea of where you want to go with it, and know how to get there as well, the Star kit may be for you. Either way, both kits are awesome, and either way you're going turbo. It's really up to you to decide. Here is the Star kit www.raceprep.net
HAHN Racecraft Turbo Kit - By James
Pros
HAHN has several stages of kits. You can start off with a stage 1 kit and work your way up, or jump in with a stage 3 kit. Its up to you. If you want to know about what comes with each kit, check out www.hahnracecraft.com. I bought the stage 2 kit which comes with an FMIC, 16G turbo, black polished intercooler pipping, 300gt blow off valve, cast iron exhaust manifold, external inline fuel pump, and a Cartech fuel pressure regulator. There are other things that come with the stage 2 kit, but those are the big ones.
The Turbo; The 16G turbo does spool faster than the STAR’s T3/T4. However, the STAR T3/T4 can create a bit more horsepower at top end. Furthermore, the STAR T3/T4 has a larger horsepower potential than the 16G. I personally like the 16G better because of the company backing the turbo. If you like to autocross or drag, the 16G is a very good turbo for both. The STAR turbo might take too long to spool when autocrossing.
The Intercooler; The intercooler HAHN uses is huge. Its deeper and taller than the STAR intercooler. Its worth the extra money for an upgrade in the stage 2 kit. There are some cons for this listed below though..
About the company; The main reason why I purchased a HAHN kit was because of the company backing the turbo kit. HAHN has tested and tested their kits and is constantly updating them for the better. I enjoy being able to call and talk to technical support when I have a simple question to a 45 minute discussion about something dealing with the kit. I enjoy the fact that they know what they are talking about when it comes to my car and the potential it has.
The Directions; Damn, ok here is another deciding point for me. The directions that come with the HAHN kit are about 30 pages long, unlike the STAR’s kit which is no more than 1 page long. Not to mention the fact that I can call technical support during the installation to ask questions.
Cons
The Directions; Granted the directions are very detailed, however they can be somewhat hard to follow at times. It only really happens when you are dealing with the fuel installation instructions.
The Cartech Fuel Pressure Regulator; I’ve noticed that this fuel pressure regulator starts dropping fuel pressure after many runs at the track (about 10 straight runs without a cool off period). You shouldn’t do 10 straight runs without cooling off. So if you don’t drive your car like an idiot, you’ll be fine and never see it happen. Remember that when you race, do a run, let the car sit for about 30 to 45 minutes and run again. You need to allow cool off time. (I know the consequences if you don't and its not pretty) Some people say that the Cartech FMU drops pressure more often then just at the track. I personally haven't seen it except for at the track. Furthermore, the Cartech FMU sucks when you are going with bigger injectors. Its just not setup to handle the larger injectors.. Basically, you will run way too much fuel and be unable to control fuel pressure under boost. Im about to find out if switching to the Vortech FMU fixes this problem. I will report back then.
The Price; Like I said before the HAHN kit does cost more, however I feel that the HAHN kit is worth the money. This is going to sound odd, but I have a sense of security with the turbo kit, which is something I didn’t have with the STAR kit.
Injectors; HAHN says you can run with stock injectors for up to Stage 2, however, I feel that larger injectors are needed. My car was running too lean and I actually cracked one of my injectors because of the enourmous amount of fuel pressure HAHN has you run. I pu in 310cc injectors which is now making me run rich, but rich is ok. If you change the injectors, get a vortech FMU as well and replace the Cartech FMU.
The FMIC; The FMIC is very big and nice, however many people have to cut their bump stop out a little in order for it to fit. You must also cut the inside of the front bumper to allow for the room. Its not that big of a deal but worth mentioning.
I haven’t noticed many cons with the HAHN kit besides those mentioned. I would like to see the HAHN kit come with some more gauges and a better BOV, but all in all, Im very happy.
Inevitably, which kit you choose is completely up to you. Hopefully this will help you in deciding which one to go with. Both kits are very good.
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