my experience with a alpine turbo by powderlites

[Need for Speed 2]

well here goes its a legnthy read but worth noting. uponrecieving my new kit assesing the parts several things were not upto specs. one being the header the flange that bolts to the head waswarped terribly. after a phone call to the opposite end of the country it was determined that my header had been shipped befor it was refaced warpage from the welding process.so off it goes in the air to its place of birth. next was the fuel controll box wich to me looked like a season of riding had been put on it,had one wire cut completely off. that issue i resolved with some solder and heat shrink. on to installation and wow what an install very tediuos and at times heart breaking thinking that i was making a mistake chopping and cutting at ride wich i cherished to this point. after completion of the install the moment of truth had come with my wife present to experience the joy of hearing the beast come to life ,also she could see where the hours of time had been so preciously spent. a twist of the key it fires up , up in a cloud of smoke. as i scramble to reach for the 3 exhaust fans in our shop switching them on. complete silence from my not so impressed wife. as i work through this little glitch wondering why so much smoke.after several restarts and the smoke becoming increasingly harmful to our health i determined that the seal in the center section was either missing or falty. more calls and presto we have another turbo center section so we dismantle to repair, i tell my wife this is going to be a good thing we found this problem before the snow fell. ha that was funny shes still laughing at me.time ticks by as my precious ride sits arest at home waiting for the white gold from abovebut work is not complete yet for this front mount does not like being idled for any lenght at wich time i realize 4 spark plugs and 4 more hrs to replace them. finally winter arrives we ride together learning as we go fuel settings being searched boost level being unstopable.tweaks and tuning never ending. but the whole t6ime never being able to stetch her out the boost just climbs. after at least 10 calls to builder its discovered that the waste gate port and the exhaust plte were never machined properly to allow the exhaust to escape on the dump side. so one more teardown and 700 clams later we have achieved controlling boost finally. the following ride perfection has eluded us with yet another punch in the eye with the dreaded hope its not gonna happen to me you guessed it CRACKED HEADER holy poope i cant take this much longer. phone calls shipping and10 days later a new header. oh almost forgot more hard earned clams. back to dismantling and presto header is on we joke in the shop a blindfold coulnt stop us now we have tore it down so often. well perfection has never been achieved with this kit 3 lost trips 2 of wich the fuel controller caused by some how sucking in water and shorting. and another was a blocked down pipe where ice had shifted in the bulkhead ater a 1hour rest stop. choking up the exhaust over heating the secondary and destroying itself to the point a new clutch had to be installed. that was the worst trip in history for me. the cab ride back to my truck and trailer cost240 clams. at present the season is over my sled sits needing another fuel controller wich is supposed to come to me when they recieve them .my summary is an account of my experience with this alpine turbo by powder lites. would i buy another, well lets just say not in this lifetime. the sadest part is this same machine had a perfect mc express turbo on it the previouse year that was flawless. what the heck did you do that for i ask myself everday. ther is still several pages of info i could print but my one finger typing is getting tiering. so to all those in the market for turbos read listen and learn your money is what they want first not all perfect in this world.

 

[dirkdiggler]

That sucks dude.

 

[TurboJamie]

I haven't had it quite as bad as Kevin here but I have had my share of issues as well. Collapsed flex,bad fuel box, leaking anti freeze, leaking oil etc. Its been a fun winter took a kick #*$&@ supercharger setup off that I rode trouble free for a turbo that needed alot of work to get it to work in the flat lands. Mine works good now but still not as well as expected or was lead to beleive.

Extra's
Turbo kit
Turbo Hood plastic hood melted steady
Excell exhaust
Relocate air filter behind the windsheild wasn't working for me
Collapsing flex in the downpipe (fixed myself never offered replacment) should have been looked after it was a design flaw.

Mine works well now but still had alot of troubles partly this is our own fault for buying mountain stuff that is untested at sea level as well. We were trying to do something the kit wasn't desinged to do and got bit on a few things.

 

[Remmy]

That's a real bummer, I just recently installed the Alpine 28rs kit on an Apex Mountain but it has been great so far. Just plain rips. Regardless, I would be pissed if Powderlites treated me the way it sounds like you've been handled. They should have been refunding you a percentage of the turbo kit, not charging you more $$ because of their screwups. I even tried to price out another header for a spare but they sure aren't giving a break on that either. $900.......ouch.

 

[4strokes are better than2]

just so everybody knows who were you guys dealing with alpine or powderlights.i have delt with alpine & had nothing but great service.sorry to here your probs that would suck.i know they have had alot of probs with them control boxs.

 

[chrisinparts]

got a simon cpr turbo back in 05 installed by jeff. had a few bugs the first year but this year this thing runs awesome. 11 pounds boost and this things pulls. VERY HAPPY GREAT KIT.

 

[Need for Speed 2]

my issue is more of a alpine issue. dean stated yesterday to me he didnt care what i printed. he sent me the one piece fiberglass hood when opened up it was in 2 pieces his reply oh well its glass it can be fixed there are lots more i could print guys the bottom line here alpines kit is untesred for flatlanders. the end user is the r+d department. this has sickened me to the point im even looking at other brands. dean bashes mcx kits to the groundduring his sales pitch dont listen to it he is full of sh!@#. mountain guys ride on in the flats its not a alpine turbo by powderlites thats setting the bar.

 

[Custom Sled Shop]

turbo kits!!

WOW!! as you all know I sell the alpine kit! I am NOT saying I have not had a few small problems
I 100% agree on help from the guys who make the kit ALPINE/POWDERLITES! when a client has a issue at our shop, all they have to do is bring the sled back and we will repair it at N/C,
if and when there is a problem I inform dean and he replaces the parts!

Now I did have flex pipe problems! THERE JUNK! we have new ones now and I expect to get a credit for all the ones we bought this year!
as for the control boxes... so far not one has went down, these boxs have to be dry and sealed!

NEED 4 SPEED! I feal for you, and I would hate to be in your shoes,
I believe if you buy somthing and there is a defect in the product it should be replaced free of charge and be shiped free of chrage!
I will talk to dean about this today,

BTW I sell boondoker turbos and MC, and MPI kits too,

But I LOVE my ALPINE! another client of ours who is on this site has a 28rs and a long track and was whipping 121 mod machs this winter with ease,
It took me a few weeks to dial it in but now she flys, and I know with a little more time it will go even more,

one last thing!! I have had a few turbos sleds, and I still love this thing,
I will also say YES it is an out west turbo sys, but with the testing time,
we have had and dean and dave flying down here to train us on the sys
I think we almost have it 100%

we will have a drag sled on pavment this year and that will help us with on going testing!

Once again I am so sorry to here about your kits, as I said I will talk to dean and dave about this,
DAVE from powderlites might say a few words about this, But By the sounds of this.. I think its an ALPINE issue as the kit came from there!

john

 

[Freak]

Wow to this thread. Thanks for sharing your experience. Hopefully they will make this all right with you someday.

 

[Need for Speed 2]

no freak they wont dean basically said to bad so sad in house fighting between dave and dean gives them the oppotunity to blame the other for mechanical failures or design flaws. i was always puzzled as to why darko removed his front mount alpine imediatly after install and went to an mcx. wow now i know he is a smart cookie. wish i would have followed my gut instead of empty promises.thi was posted so the guys on the fence had some feeedback to these kits to make a wiser purchase.by the way hows your rear mount working freak. i envy you guys with that tiny bit of lag.

 

[Need for Speed 2]

hey guys if anyone wants a turbo kit make an offer or ill sell the whole sled. john this kit would look great at your shop

 

[vcrash]

Being one of the first turbo owners in the east i have heard lots of stories about turbo kit suppliers, none good about alpine, seems he helps mountain guys out alright but when it comes to flatlanders your on your own, my (alpine fuel tank started leaking at fittings after first year).plastic went funny (cracked) on all fittings, spent 200 locally tring to repair at no avail. added sealall every ride to make sure it didnt leak, then it started leaking at bottom were it is crimped rendering it unusable, called and spoke to Julian and was told that i would have to buy a new tank even though he had replaced the tanks for guys out west. He said that if i could ship it back to him he would repair it knowing full well that it is illegal to ship a used fuel tank and shippers wouldnt touch it, this isnt a performance issue but a huge safty issue being next to the turbo.
Getting no were with him i decided to remove and call transport canada regarding the safty issue, They said they would gladly look at the tank as long as i didnt ship it to them, so this summer i will personaly drop it off for them to see!!

 

[Need for Speed 2]

im glad the facts are coming out. lets hope it will atleast inform the guys that are ready to purchase. thanks for the info vcrash. also for me not all is lost yet due to the unending problems my lawyer thinks there a good possibility that i am protected under some act regulation thing might even get lawyer bill paid if we hit a generous judge. legal judgements can reach along way across this great country.

 

[vcrash]

There are many that will never chime in on this because they know they will loose any further support they may need from these companies,i was one of them for along time, im glad you brought this to the table as some people will make the right decision concerning there purchases and not go through what many others have. there are many great performance companies out there and they should all not be painted with the same brush.

 

[Need for Speed 2]

couldnt have said it better myself. come on guys lets hear the truth speak up for the innocent prey thats about to be eaten.