AlexE

For those that have not dealt with John it is difficult to explain the HIGH level of ...............

IN YOUR FACE SERVICE.

This guy knows what you are thinking before you even do it................... He will email you, call you come over (if he is in your neighborhood) to help you out.

Some of us were so happy with him the first time...........we happily became return customers.

The comment by Chris White hit the nail on the head............ "You can get cheaper turbos – but none that were custom made for 944s. After the third ‘cheap’ turbo you will wonder why you didn’t get the right one to begin with!"

MichelleJD

DFASTEST951

OK, so now may be a good time to ask this again. I have a custom made K29. I also hit 1bar by 3500rpm. Maybe a bit before, I want to know how the Stage V will compare to mine. Right now, my turbo is comparible in performance to a GT series turbo. In fact, it was going into my car with even more custom work involved and then Powerhaus made my K29. Performed better testing back to back. THE QUESTION, HOW WILL THE STAGE V PERFORM NEXT TO MINE?

fast951

What is the hot-housing on your K29? What wheel? Asking to compare 2 products (one of which I know Stage 5) to something we know nothing about makes it hard to evaluate and to compare.

DFASTEST951

Good point, more importatntly, thanks for responding John. I'm already sold on your chips. #8 hotside. Inside machined larger to fit bigger blade also worked to spin faster.

David Floyd

I can say a stage 4 with #10 turbine housing hits 1 bar boost at 3300 rpm.

danny951

See, that is the exact feeling I have in trying to justify buying one of your turbos. None of us prospective customers have any specs on your turbos either. So it makes it hard for us to evaluate and compare what we would be spending our $1900 on. What are the compressor maps for your turbos, etc? What turbo are you starting with before you make your modifications? What hot housing and wheel?

I know we have the occasionaly dyno chart and lots of great reviews of your products, but we don't always know what else is done to those cars, and like the other person said, most of the time, there are extra pieces that are required to make the power you advertise (injectors, wg, exhaust, cams, etc...) that are not always disclosed. It would be foolish to assume I could get 600HP like special tool has (running race fuel) by just ordering your Stg. III.

I'm not trying to "start something" here because I am thrilled of the work you have done in the 944 world, but you must understand how many of us feel a bit in the dark when it comes to what we are purchasing.

Regards,
Danny

ibkevin

Danny, spend a few hours reading the archives!

David Floyd

In that same line of thinking, how can Vitesse say if you buy stage X you will have X amount of HP, without knowing the condition of the car it is being installed on ?

fast951

danny951, there is a damn good reason why I do not share the details on my turbos. Why on earth would I share this info, at the same time "most" of my customers were honest enough not to leak the information out. There are vendors that would rather copy VR products, not spend the time and $ on R&D and sell components at a lesser price...

As far as the dyno charts, I'm the ONLY vendor that relies on customers to send the dyno charts to be posted. Years ago when I advertised 400rwhp, people wouldn't believe it. Now customers making over 500rwhp.. All the charts describe the details...

Keep in mind, that a kit capable of supporting 500rwhp, does not mean you will make 500rwhp. That was never said, never claimed by VR.

fast951

If you are using a #8 and making 1bar boost at 3500rpm on a 3L car.. Something isn't correct!!! The Stage 5 will "spank you" LOL.

Bri Bro

If you want to purchase parts of an upgrade and test them, go for it. If you want a proven product, you have to understand there was a development effort that expected a profit during sales. If you can develop a better product at a lower cost, then you have to pay the price of admission.

Chris White

You want the inside info on his turbos - simple – offer to pay for the knowledge….my guess is that John has at least several hundred hours in R&D. If you want to know what he know then feel free to reimburse John for his time. At $100 an hour (this is specialized work here!) that would be + $20k.

I have a stage two of Johns (and a GT30R, GT35R, countless To4e variants) and I consider John’s a better application for the 951 – especially a street car. I took a good look at the stage two and there is some interesting work there – but it is more than the sum of its parts, it works as a whole system. You can read compressor charts until the cows come home – they tell you some info but the balance between compressor and exhaust sides is not well documented. Some engineering thought followed by a lot of trail and error is the only way to go.

The real answer is to try one out – see if you can get a ride in 951 with a Vitesse turbo in it. That will give you the rest of the story – its not the max HP, it’s the delivery. Sure, you can quote spool up RPMs – but Spool up RPMs in 4th or 5th dosen’t impress me – when does full boost come on low in 2nd gear – that will show how a well matched turbo works.

Chris White

Crazy Eddie

Guys
I am the last person that should speak up here, as I have a kit that I bought from John, so long ago that the Smithsonian called me yesterday to ask me if I would let them display it as one of their antiquities ... ( still not installed yet )
But really, if you just read the threads of satisfied customers and his support, that is second to none, it becomes quite apparent, what the deal is here.
He is not selling, off the shelf $hit, I mean kit .. There is a cost to this knowledge base. The reason I picked up John's kit, had nothing to do with his, good looks.
Hey, this is sounding like Broke Back Mountain :-) or bend me over mountain.
My reason was; if one were to look into who on this board knows their $hit and asks them, it is very likely they are customers of John or highly recommend dealing with him.. That is why I bought his kit ...
I called all the people that I knew that had bought his kit on this board, before I bought it and ALL had nothing but praise for him and his kit.
I can tell ya that, it sure wasn't because of his web site ....
Sorry John... but I always told you that it needs some work ...
It's not a cheap kit. Most of the better things in life have a tendency to cost a lot. There are really, no other parallels here.
Regards
Ed

ApexCars

Also, John has to make a decent amount of his R&D money and profit on each unit. There just aren't that many 951's around and of those only a fraction are going to go to the expense of upgrading a turbo. Of those that upgrade, only a fraction will go with Vitesse and of those, sales will be divided between the different stages. And of course those different stages all had R&D costs. And once he sells a customer a kit, it may be a very long time before they need another.

Also, the turbos cost more than $1900 all by themselves. You get a discount for buying everything as a package.