<br>I am planing on going for the Stage 4 set up of ABT which is i believe 265 hp? not sure but any one with a 240 that would like to share any info...??<p>JC M.

Well coming from a person who has blown 2 K-04's, do not take it on a race track, It will only last a few laps before bang!<br>The stock Exhaust Manifold cannot handle 220HP+, It is too small.<br>What does KKK say about HP rating of K-04?<br>The exhaust side of K-04 is almost identical to K-03, very small and restrictive.<br>If its only street use, It should be ok, as you would only have it floored for 20 seconds at time, 2-3 minutes of sustained high boost and it will go, especially if you are on a track and keep "pumping" the gas peddal, this "shocks" the drive shaft, its only 4mm diameter, very easy to snap when it is glowing red hot.

I know that Neuspeed offers and upgraded exhaust manifold (I think the price is $595, but I could be wrong). If the source of the problem is that the stock manifold is too small, did you consider upgrading to the (presumably larger) manifold? If not, why not?<br>I'm just trying to collect as much info. as possible before I consider this upgrade.<br>Thanks.<p>Greg

Lucas, not to disagree with you or anything, since I don't have a K04... There was a couple of articles in a late issue of european car w/ a couple of VW GTIs (stuffed w/ K04 and chipped, ...etc.) running at or over 240. Unfortunately, I can't recite the article rightnow, but it states that the K04 does quite well at 240 and a TEC tuned 268hp GTI.<br>Well, thought I throw this little comment into the equation.<p>Cris<br>

No K-04 kit that I know of is warrantied for track usage. If you use them on the track, it's at your own risk. How can you fault the turbos for not being able to do something they weren't supposed to do in the first place? There is just way too much heat under the hood to run sustained boost for long periods of time with that size turbo. Street use is fine, but track use would be considered abuse unless you make a ton of other upgrades to help the cooling, etc.<p>JohnS<p>(K-04 kit in the trunk of my A4 waiting to be installed)<br>

to spent all that money to make your car substantially faster, and then not be able to take it to the track-- which is probably the only place that all that extra power can really be put to use? <p>Greg W<p>

If your going to make that kind of statement you need to qualify it...<p>Why did you "blow" 2 turbos? <p>-- Wasn't the first "death" caused by a loose oil line? Hardly a fault of the turbo. <br>-- And, didn't you say earlier that you are running your car at 18-19 psi boost? The K-04 is designed for sustained 1.0 bar of boost... if you run yours at 1.3 bar I cannot see how you can complain. If you abuse hardware it breaks

I was running 15.5psi at the time.<br>The turbo flows air, not generate pressure, pressure is a by product.<br>The Audi does not have any pressure sensor what so ever.<br>Have you checked your air pressure on a hot day as yet? I bet it goes beyong 1 bar!<p>Yes the first blew from a loose oil line. The second was from excessive rpm of turbo and over heating.<br>Did I ever complain? Just warning.<br>There has now been a number of K-04 failures all on race tracks, i do not know of one with normal street use.

If you're planning on using the car on the track, you should make track preparations, not street preparations. Racing is so hard on cars, I wouldn't expect a street car to hold up long under hard track use.<br>There just isn't enough cold air under hood to keep the turbo cool when running for long periods of sustained boost.<br>I'm not trying to sound like I'm getting after anyone, my point is to just make sure you're not expecting too much from something clearly not designed for racing.<p>JohnS<br>

I did have a ported/polished manifold.<p>The entry into the exhaust side of turbo is about as thick as your thumb.<br>The exhaust manifold runners are smaller than you exhaust ports of the head.<p>If a K-04 is rated at 240HP, well my new Garret GT25 is rated at about 320HP, the exhaust entry and path of the GT25 is more than 100% larger.<br>Putting the GT25 next to a K-04, makes the K-04 look like a joke.<br>I was told by a turbo service center that the K-04 is used mainly on small deisel engines.<br>Like I have said previously, the K-04 will be fine for street use, but extended Full 1 bar boost for extended times it will fail.<p>If there are any doubts, ring the tuners offering K-04 kits and say you are going to race track your car and see what they say about the K-04, all will say to get something bigger including manifold.<p>That K-04 is just like your stock brakes on a track, Go on a tight race track and do repeated 120 mph hard braking, and tell me what happens to your brakes?<br>So whats the solution here? Bigger Rotors for less heat generated and better cooling.<br>But with street use how many times do you do this type of braking? Stock Brakes are fine.<p>The other thing to consider is how easy and who can rebuilt KKK turbos?<br>I was told by 2 different Turbo specialists to throw mine away and buy new ones.<p>I am just sharing my experience and research, for street use the K-04 is a great upgrade, for track use, get something else.<br>

Well, my K04 fried itself, with no oil line offings, no hose failures, and no track/autox use. I found all my impeller blades destroyed with no evidence of why or how to prevent it in the future. I think that the wheel/shaft/impeller of the K04 is way over taxed. This is a pie in the sky upgrade, certainly the best when ALL else is perfect. I lay awake at night, dreaming of having 240 hp again. However, since the real world has more variables out of our control, the knife edge tolerance requirements of the over-taxed K04 impeller/shaft do not allow the dream to live on.

Was your shaft broken?<br>My Exhaust impellor was mangled in both cases, but this was due to it braking of that skinny 4mm shaft.<br>Small shafts in quick spoolup turbos are a recipie for disaster.<br>Did you turbo fry with full throttle or when you released throttle?

I have a boost gauge in the car. My maxinum boost has not changed with ambient temprature. When it was 40 deg F max boost was right around 14. Now ambient temp almost 90 deg F and my max boost is still around 14.<p>Don't get wrong Lucas, I'm not trying to beat up on you. I only spoke up because I can just imagine the reaction from JC M. when he read your post about blowing up turbos.

Lucas,<p>How do you like the Garret turbo? Any problems with excessive lag? Finally, how much did it run you price wise, and what chip are you using with it?<p>Soul

<br>.

I have been dreaming of a K04 since the first day it came out (Wett then Neuspeed and others). Since then I have read so many negative comments about the K04 package. Some say overheat, some say too much boost, some say the polished exhuast manifold is not good enough (30% more restrictive than stock). Personally, I would wait till the manufacturers to cure these problems before getting one. Remember Wett already admitted that their package has a problem, and I'm sure Neuspeed knows about the track blowups of the K04. <p>Bottomline, a good turbo kit specifically designed for an engine SHOULD NOT have any problems on and off the track. Save your money now and be happy later when Neuspeed annouces a revised package of the K04, or wait and see what the Garret T25 and the PES supercharger can do.<p>Good luck JC<p>Kev<p>