Frankenturbo Reviews? Long-term reliability?

[BlazinB5]

I've currently got 150,000 miles on my car and I wouldn't doubt it if it's still on the original turbo, so I think now would be a good time to freshen the car up with a new turbo. I'm thinking of going the Frankenturbo route, but I have a couple things I'm trying to find out:

1. How has reliability been so far? With how many miles put on the new turbo?
2. Is this setup really worth the extra money over a K04? I do want more more boost, so regardless, I am going to need a better turbo (
3. Do you regret getting this turbo instead of a K04?

Input would definitely be appreciated.

[EastTNPharmD]

1) I have personally put about 15k on my frankenturbo.
2) I may be wrong but I thought the frankenturbo setup was cheaper then a K04?
3) I have rode in a K04 car and I swear I felt like my car was quicker.
4) I have a FMIC, forge dv with mbc, single mass flywheel and upgraded clutch, motoza tuned HFC, and tt225 injectors. This is all I can think of.

Now I love my set up, but was told to take full advantage of my setup I needed bigger injectors.

[Jflow23]

1. How has reliability been so far? Turbo reliability has been fine for 6k miles...overall reliability is not great, car is 10+ yrs old.
2. Is this setup really worth the extra money over a K04? Bundled kit is cheaper than K04 + supporting mods.
3. Do you regret getting this turbo instead of a K04? No, perhaps regret not going with a 2871
4. What other mods are required? You will need a tune and fueling...can be bundled with a kit. You can throw in a spring type DV for an additional $50 or stick with a 710N. Intercooler or meth are a must. 3" DP is overkill, 2.5" is plenty for this turbo. Recommend a brake upgrade as well, pads and lines at a minimum.

[00passat]

1. How has reliability been so far? Very well around 20k miles on the second one (first one had an issue with the wastegate flap since installed, everything else was excellent)
2. Is this setup really worth the extra money over a K04? I think so, my car dyno'd at 244 whp.
3. Do you regret getting this turbo instead of a K04? I would prefer this over a k04, wish i went with a gt2871r
4. What other mods are required? Diverter valve at least, tune, uprgaded intercooler,injectors ...

[BlazinB5]

Sweet, thanks for the input guys. Sounds like Frankenturbo is where it's at (for the money).

I gotta ask though, are any of you using the 3" maf? I'm kinda curious as to if it is a plug and play affair, or if it involves some custom fabrication

[JBM]

1. How has reliability been so far? 2K on it and it is fine. Get a MBC because the "tuner" that did my car with UM file had me boosting 25+ with it surging.
2. Is this setup really worth the extra money over a K04? Yes. It is a good hardware kit, just go with Motoza as he has a specific file.
3. Do you regret getting this turbo instead of a K04? I would prefer this over a k04, wish i went with a gt2871r, as it is SMOOOOTH boost and power
4. What other mods are required? 007, FMIC, brakes and bigger injectors.

[BlazinB5]

Good info so far, but has anyone put more than 15,000 miles on the F21L yet?

[PreciseD]

Good info so far, but has anyone put more than 15,000 miles on the F21L yet?

You should really wait for their new turbo. The F21L is just a rebranded CX Racing or Godspeed "K04"

[NathanGrayW]

^ ^ ^Clicky for context on new turbo

[Doug@FrankenTurbo]

The F21L is just a rebranded CX Racing or Godspeed "K04"

That's news to me. And here I thought we were selling hybrid turbos, ones which predate any copy-cat effort made by either of those two companies.

[BlazinB5]

You should really wait for their new turbo. The F21L is just a rebranded CX Racing or Godspeed "K04"

^ ^ ^Clicky for context on new turbo

I've actually been waiting for their newer turbo to come out, but I figured in the meantime, it would be nice to gather some information and get an idea of what to look for (such as any flaws).

[Charlie240sxt]

I'll just leave this here....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4i1XyQbbBhk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNyjtNqXnaY

Now i'm sure after this this came to light the guys at frankenturbo came up with a new design and bet there future products will be marketed better.

[BlazinB5]

I'll just leave this here....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4i1XyQbbBhk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNyjtNqXnaY

Now i'm sure after this this came to light the guys at frankenturbo came up with a new design and bet there future products will be marketed better.

that was definitely interesting. it makes a person wonder.. but at the same time, people are making quite a bit more power with the Frankenturbo, so the results are still there. it does raise a few red flags though..

[Charlie240sxt]

I'm not trying to bash frankenturbo but marketing like that is bad business. Doug has a great reputation for standing behind his product its just bad marketing. I have not seen many if any bad reviews on his stuff or his service. Now his new turbo he has coming out almost makes me sad about how much i spent on my elm setup.

[PreciseD]

That's news to me. And here I thought we were selling hybrid turbos, ones which predate any copy-cat effort made by either of those two companies.

Then can you explain why yours and theirs share the exact same casts, stamps and even paint colors on the turbine nut?

Why your frankenturbo tags can be bought on alibaba?

Why you used a K04 Map and just stretched it calling it your own?

[ZipMeUpJ]

The only issue with any of the Chinese turbos is the cartridges. The casings are just fine. Using those and quality cartridges could be what the Franken turbo team does. I dont see many stories of them failing

[PreciseD]

The only issue with any of the Chinese turbos is the cartridges. The casings are just fine. Using those and quality cartridges could be what the Franken turbo team does. I dont see many stories of them failing

If that is the case then FT should clarify that. I have not seen one post of theirs in response to the 3 questions I have asked (which have been asked many times my many members of AZ). If they use to just re-brand the Chinese Turbos and mark the price way up, they should say so. Seems to me like they got caught and are now trying to produce their own higher quality turbos to remove the bad lineup. If I am proven wrong with any of the 3 questions I have answered then I (and maybe a few others) will stop asking about them.

[mec]

I'm not trying to bash frankenturbo but marketing like that is bad business. Doug has a great reputation for standing behind his product its just bad marketing. I have not seen many if any bad reviews on his stuff or his service. Now his new turbo he has coming out almost makes me sad about how much i spent on my elm setup.

Doug has a reputation for being a two timing scammer. Let me put it this way.

There are four guys in the b7 section who frequently post and bought frankenturblows. All of them have failed. 2 of them have failed twice, Doug is now on v3 of his 2.0t frankenturblow. Lol how many revisions do you have to make your customers fund before it has reasonable quality?

They all failed within 6-8 months too lol


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[mec]

Let me add in that he charges $1500 for the b7 turbo which he pays $200-300.

This would be Doug during a warranty :


Oh your turbo blew? I'm sooooooooooo surprised. ( rubbing nipples vigorously) well here let's use that frankenturblow warranty, just pay me $150, cool now I'll call my Chinese distributor to send me a $30 chra, boom $120 profits! Oh you want to look at other turbo options that aren't shitty? What are you going to do buy ANOTHER $1500 turbo? No ? I didn't think so. (Really gets after those nipple strokes)Sorry about your turbo though that's so rare my frankenturblows never blow because here at frankenturblow we are the highest quality that is comparable to Garrett, borg Warner, and ever other multimillion dollar oe turbo suppliers. Never mind you that we are a 3 man operation that just resells shitty turbos for 5x profit, our turbos are just as good! Even if we have no research, and experiment on customer cars, our quality is fantastic!




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[PreciseD]

( rubbing nipples vigorously)

LOL... I just peed a little

[blitz2190]

Let me add in that he charges $1500 for the b7 turbo which he pays $200-300.

This would be Doug during a warranty :


Oh your turbo blew? I'm sooooooooooo surprised. ( rubbing nipples vigorously) well here let's use that frankenturblow warranty, just pay me $150, cool now I'll call my Chinese distributor to send me a $30 chra, boom $120 profits! Oh you want to look at other turbo options that aren't shitty? What are you going to do buy ANOTHER $1500 turbo? No ? I didn't think so. (Really gets after those nipple strokes)Sorry about your turbo though that's so rare my frankenturblows never blow because here at frankenturblow we are the highest quality that is comparable to Garrett, borg Warner, and ever other multimillion dollar oe turbo suppliers. Never mind you that we are a 3 man operation that just resells shitty turbos for 5x profit, our turbos are just as good! Even if we have no research, and experiment on customer cars, our quality is fantastic!




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smaller order machine shops actually tend to do more quality work (not necessarily better design as having a massive r&d doesn't hurt), atleast as far as tolerances are concerned, that being said if it really is true that they just ship rebreanded chineese crap than yes the quality would suck.

[mec]

smaller order machine shops actually tend to do more quality work, atleast as far as tolerances are concerned, that being said if it really is true that they just ship rebreanded chineese crap than yes the quality would suck.

Small shops who CARE about quality do fantastic work.

But frankenturblow buys the shittiest cheapest components. From small shops that don't give a shit about quality. I mean when a chra costs $30 to replace, why spend $500,000 on a balancing machine, and proper tooling and r&d when it's just so cheap to swap the chra out.

So in this case, a turbo giant like borg Warner or Garrett will put out something that is light years better than frankenturblow, an ft21 will never compete with the lifespan of a Garrett or borg Warner.


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[blitz2190]

Small shops who CARE about quality do fantastic work...

excellent point I sould have said that as well ha

[Lysergik]

1. How has reliability been so far? With how many miles put on the new turbo? - Installed for over a year, roughly 12k miles, zero mechanical issues with the turbo, no cracks in the manifold, both are ceramic coated.
2. Is this setup really worth the extra money over a K04? - Yes
3. Do you regret getting this turbo instead of a K04? - No, The Eliminator setup is another option if you have 2-3x the amount funds and install everything yourself.

You have Motoza already so you wont need a MBC.

I use a 3in MAF but I am also not using the stock airbox, I cant recall if the gains from upgrading were noticeable.

I would recommend using a piston style diverter valve, not the one sold with the FT kit, it does not come with any documentation regarding spring rates and their corresponding psi, this is not something you want to take a guess at. I ran a 710n for about 8 months until it gave out. (this may have been due to running it in "reverse orientation")

You will need a decent FMIC, In my opinion Evolution Racewerks sells the best one available, do not try and piece one together, the amount of fabrication and modification is NOT worth the extra few hundred dollars, take my word on this.

[texasboy21]

That's news to me. And here I thought we were selling hybrid turbos, ones which predate any copy-cat effort made by either of those two companies.

Then can you explain why yours and theirs share the exact same casts, stamps and even paint colors on the turbine nut?

Why your frankenturbo tags can be bought on alibaba?

Why you used a K04 Map and just stretched it calling it your own?

Soooooooooooo

Then can you explain why yours and theirs share the exact same casts, stamps and even paint colors on the turbine nut?

Why your frankenturbo tags can be bought on alibaba?

Why you used a K04 Map and just stretched it calling it your own?

[mec]

Soooooooooooo

Then can you explain why yours and theirs share the exact same casts, stamps and even paint colors on the turbine nut?

Why your frankenturbo tags can be bought on alibaba?

Why you used a K04 Map and just stretched it calling it your own?

He has "explained" his way out of fraudulently faking his compressor maps before.

He says that they use a trial by error method to make the charts........and it just coincidentally happens to line up perfectly. What a fuckin joke. Of course the b5 guys drank that koolaid. I'm a bit pickier. When someone lies to my face....then lies again to my face horribly to cover up the first lie, I tend to consider them scam artists. You know....like a normal person who doesn't like deceit


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[texasboy21]

He has "explained" his way out of fraudulently faking his compressor maps before.

He says that they use a trial by error method to make the charts........and it just coincidentally happens to line up perfectly. What a fuckin joke. Of course the b5 guys drank that koolaid. I'm a bit pickier. When someone lies to my face....then lies again to my face horribly to cover up the first lie, I tend to consider them scam artists. You know....like a normal person who doesn't like deceit

Agreed. If it walks like a duck..

[B72011]

I'm surprised he hasn't sued you for libel/slander about what you've claimed about FrankenTurbos..........but then again the defense against such accusations is truth. With truth, you can say whatever youd like and he cant say a word otherwise. I guess thats why he hasnt responded to the rest of these threads. Good scam if you could run it, looks like his days are numbered though.

[mec]

I'm surprised he hasn't sued you for libel/slander about what you've claimed about FrankenTurbos..........but then again the defense against such accusations is truth. With truth, you can say whatever youd like and he cant say a word otherwise. I guess thats why he hasnt responded to the rest of these threads. Good scam if you could run it, looks like his days are numbered though.

That's exactly the thing. You can't sell garbage to people for $1500, then be butthurt and get a lawyer when someone calls you out saying that you are selling garbage.

Doug's days are numbered for sure, but he will exist for a long time to come, the b5 guys are absolutely in love with him. Luckily the b8 and b7 guys know better, and it seems like the b6 platform has avoided him pretty well also.

All Scams must come to an end. I'm sure he has enjoyed the perks of 5x profit margin for long enough.

[PreciseD]

I just wish he would answer the questions. I don't care so much that he capitalized on Chinese turbos, after all it's the American way. What I do care about is coming clean on the fact that he did so.

The facts remain that the CX and Godspeed K04s have been around since 2005-6 and well when did Frankenturbo start? 8-23-2009?

So tell me how they copied you?

[UofU_USP]

greasy! well I guess I won't be installing one of those turbos.....ever.

[mec]

I just wish he would answer the questions. I don't care so much that he capitalized on Chinese turbos, after all it's the American way. What I do care about is coming clean on the fact that he did so.

The facts remain that the CX and Godspeed K04s have been around since 2005-6 and well when did Frankenturbo start? 8-23-2009?

So tell me how they copied you?

They are absolutely Chinese. Doug isn't the first person to use this shop.

And I'll agree with you, there is a place for shitty Chinese turbos and it is far lower on the price ladder than Doug believes. eBay k04's are under $200, so I'm not sure how he thinks his product is worth 5x the cost.


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[BlazinB5]

1. How has reliability been so far? With how many miles put on the new turbo? - Installed for over a year, roughly 12k miles, zero mechanical issues with the turbo, no cracks in the manifold, both are ceramic coated.
2. Is this setup really worth the extra money over a K04? - Yes
3. Do you regret getting this turbo instead of a K04? - No, The Eliminator setup is another option if you have 2-3x the amount funds and install everything yourself.

You have Motoza already so you wont need a MBC.

I use a 3in MAF but I am also not using the stock airbox, I cant recall if the gains from upgrading were noticeable.

I would recommend using a piston style diverter valve, not the one sold with the FT kit, it does not come with any documentation regarding spring rates and their corresponding psi, this is not something you want to take a guess at. I ran a 710n for about 8 months until it gave out. (this may have been due to running it in "reverse orientation")

You will need a decent FMIC, In my opinion Evolution Racewerks sells the best one available, do not try and piece one together, the amount of fabrication and modification is NOT worth the extra few hundred dollars, take my word on this.

Sweet, thanks for all the good info. Based on all of this "new" information about the frankenturbo, I think I'm going to wait around for a used GT2871r to come by instead. I've always been cautious towards the idea of a frankenturbo, but now it seems like I know what I needed to know. It probably doesn't cost that much to rebuild a GT2871R anyhow.

[mec]

Sweet, thanks for all the good info. Based on all of this "new" information about the frankenturbo, I think I'm going to wait around for a used GT2871r to come by instead. I've always been cautious towards the idea of a frankenturbo, but now it seems like I know what I needed to know. It probably doesn't cost that much to rebuild a GT2871R anyhow.

Best part is you won't have to rebuild it! Lol Garret's are way more reliable.

Have you looked at efr's? They are also a sweet turbo, the 6758 is slightly bigger than what you are looking at but it would make for a beastly dd. or a 6258 would be an incredible fast to spoil and still get you around 300whp.


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[PreciseD]

Sweet, thanks for all the good info. Based on all of this "new" information about the frankenturbo, I think I'm going to wait around for a used GT2871r to come by instead. I've always been cautious towards the idea of a frankenturbo, but now it seems like I know what I needed to know. It probably doesn't cost that much to rebuild a GT2871R anyhow.

If you are interested. I have a GT28R with AWE HFC with only 20K on them. It's from the AWE GT28R turbo kit. I have everything that came with it minus the Tune. It was good for 290 HP and 280 TQ at the crank.

[Broncos10499]

Dang this is crazy, I had no idea. Well this saved me from going Franken.. I guess I have to re-think my turbo options

Thanks for all the info lol

[BlazinB5]

Best part is you won't have to rebuild it! Lol Garret's are way more reliable.

Have you looked at efr's? They are also a sweet turbo, the 6758 is slightly bigger than what you are looking at but it would make for a beastly dd. or a 6258 would be an incredible fast to spoil and still get you around 300whp.


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i lost my job recently, so i really shouldn't be spending money on turbos, but i've currently got $1000 i'm willing to spend on one (which was part of why i was eyeballing the frankenturbo). if i had the money for going big, i probably would sell my B6 and get a B7, lol. but yea, it looks like my only two options now are either a used eliminator kit (GTRS/GT2871R), or a K04. going to college right now too, so i need to make sure whatever i get is reliable.

If you are interested. I have a GT28R with AWE HFC with only 20K on them. It's from the AWE GT28R turbo kit. I have everything that came with it minus the Tune. It was good for 290 HP and 280 TQ at the crank.

i appreciate the offer, but i'm more interested in the elim kits. if i don't come accross one, i'll just end up ordering a new BW K04-015 for $975 shipped. a guy in my Facebook group (Audi B6 Owners Group) is able to get pretty good deals on OEM parts.

[mec]

i lost my job recently, so i really shouldn't be spending money on turbos, but i've currently got $1000 i'm willing to spend on one (which was part of why i was eyeballing the frankenturbo). if i had the money for going big, i probably would sell my B6 and get a B7, lol. but yea, it looks like my only two options now are either a used eliminator kit (GTRS/GT2871R), or a K04. going to college right now too, so i need to make sure whatever i get is reliable.

i appreciate the offer, but i'm more interested in the elim kits. if i don't come accross one, i'll just end up ordering a new BW K04-015 for $975 shipped. a guy in my Facebook group (Audi B6 Owners Group) is able to get pretty good deals on OEM parts.

College + no job you should definitely be saving.

I'm in the same spot! I'm working now but had to drop my masters for a year to go back to work, I would just save up, get school done, then mod the right way, don't settle.


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[dwilson1251]

Well this was unfortunate news; just finally got everything installed/ tuned a few weeks ago. So far the car is great, however now it seems I'll have this to worry about. If they are just reselling someone else's stuff, and not clearly stating it; then they are likely in violation of the laws around false advertising. I think all of us would appreciate it if Doug would simply respond, and offer additional insights into his production/ manufacturing process to instill more confidence in "his" products for "his" customers. My turbo kit did take almost 2 months to ship from the time I ordered it; I'd like to think it was because of the high Christmas volume he noted, and not the long boat ride over from China.

[Broncos10499]

College + no job you should definitely be saving.

I'm in the same spot! I'm working now but had to drop my masters for a year to go back to work, I would just save up, get school done, then mod the right way, don't settle.


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Mec, did you make those youtube videos?