What do you think of this O2 housing?

[cheekychimp]

I don't really want to say too much at this stage. This was to replace an O2 with atmospheric dump and the idea was the tubular O2 should flow better than a ported cast housing. I'd be interested to hear your honest opinions as to quality and whether you think it will flow any better than a well ported cast housing.

Alpha Male, turbowop type "tell it as it is" opinions would be most welcomed.

 

[EgonOlsen]

Id only get it if it comes in blue, too shiny for my curtains.

 

[spooling92vr4]

It's gonna kill your alternator

 

[IncorpoRatedX]

you live in fracking hong kong Paul, buy an ebay, chinese built stainless steel one. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rofl.gif

I ran a 'megan racing' one, build quality was top notch for an o2 housing, but i only had it because it came off a car I bought and it was blingy /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

that one looks... meh, i mean, it'll work, and do the job, but if you're paying more than $20 for it, just dont, port your stock housing instead..

 

[IncorpoRatedX]

also;

I hate atmospheric dumps on internally gated flapper style turbine housings, have you ever run one? they often sound like an exhaust leak at idle (because they can be if there's any carbon build up) they turn an otherwise quiet and comfortable car into an annoying BRAAAAAAAAAAP and they certainly do not fall in line with the sleeper aspect of a vr4.

just my $.02, I think Im getting old...

 

[RayH]

I have what looks like a similar O2 housing but haven't used it yet. Other than the welds holding my other concern was that the main exhaust port on the stock turbo housing is not round and does not match any of the tubular O2 housings I've seen. You could do some additional porting on the turbo side of the flange to try to blend it in but there's not a whole lot material to work with. I would definitely make sure the downpipe has the bracket to the engine to relieve stress.

The only other interesting option I've seen is the Lipp cast O2 housing which is undivided but I haven't seen to many comments on well it works.

 

Quoting spooling92vr4:
It's gonna kill your alternator



Not if he wraps the sh*t out of it with thermotec heat wrap.

 

[cheekychimp]

I just think it looks f***ing rough, like it's half finished. If you look at the 2nd photo down, I just don't understand why they didn't weld all of the ends of the stainless tube sections into the flange like that. It would have cleaned it up so much better and a bit of time with a file, dremel, even some emery paper could have made it all quite smooth. as it stands there are so many lips, ridges and really roughs sections, it just looks like it will inhibit flow rather than improve it.

Josh, I bought this piece which is recirculated to use in place of an atmospheric dump housing that is already on the car. Big mistake, my own fault, and I was warned so only myself to blame. It sounds like the end of the world and I really don't think I could stand it on the race track never mind for a street car. That said the finish quality on the other piece puts this to shame and I am now unsure as to whether I should just get some flex section and get my existing housing welded back into the exhaust further down or if I should persevere with this and try to clean it up.

None of you have actually said, "God that's a f***ing mess!" so am I to assume that it isn't that bad and most tubular housings look like this? I was told this companies workmanship was excellent but frankly I am disappointed with this. I just don't know if I expected too much and need to be realistic about getting this cleaned up, or if this really is sub standard and I need to address the vendor.

 

[JNR]

No, they do not all look like that! And they shouldn't paying so much $$ for them...

Yeah, I was going to say it looks pretty rough (to put it mildly) /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif Nothing some cleaning up can't fix though...I had one similar that was a "big name" housing and that thing looked like a POS when I got it and had the "hanging" pipe like yours, but worse...Luckily I was able to trim that off and clean it up real good...ended up selling it though, as I went a different route (took a turbotrix unit and added a custom pipe and flange for my Tial 40)...The TT unit was really nice and extra beefy (like 1/2" flange)...

As for killing your alternator, just ceramic coat your O2 housing and/or ceramic (tape) wrap it and use a heat shield near the alternator and you should be fine. Personally, I believe the tubular style O2 housings are much better than a ported oem unit unless you want to keep a sleeper look. I wouldn't bother with a chinese special junk and just clean up what you have.

edit - wish I could get the orig. pics of the "big name" POS unit I bought (I bet it's the same company? thankfully they went under), but want to show you what they should look like (this is a Turbotrix unit that was blank at the internal WG passage, but I added that pipe and flange; the rest of it was as-is from TT just cleaned up a little...It was/is a beautiful piece and what they should look like:




Also, as nice as th TT unit was, you czn see how far off it was to the turbo (see markings):





It's hard to tell in this pic, but I blended it and later polished it (not shown):






Point is, not matter how nice they look when you get them, it's the little details that count and make things that much better...I did the same sort of things to my turbo housing and even the FP Race manifold needed some work (although was a nice piece to start with, still didn't match up perfectly)...

 

[IncorpoRatedX]

i ran this one from ebay

click


$75 shipped, can't expect much, but it worked great.

 

[cheekychimp]

JNR,

Thanks, I was beginning to think I was paranoid. I think like you said I'll just get it cleaned up, seeing as I can port/gasket match it to the turbo at the same time. The flange pieces look real easy to do but the actual recirculation pipe looks far more difficult to get to. If I could weld, I seriously think I could have made this better myself! Oh and it came from Punishment Racing if anyone is interested.

Paul