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I'm looking at getting a 2nd hand Greddy Turbo kit for my 1.6.

How good are they?
Are there any problems?
What should I look out for or ask about before I buy it?

well with any turbo, check for shaft play

make sure you have a good look at the manifold, greddy ones are prone to cracking over time...
If possible try to start the car cold to make sure there aren't any leaks in the exhaust flanges/joints to dowpipe, etc...
Look at how complete the system is as well...

Greddy kits usually run no timing control, straight out of the box and the fuel control is handled by a RRFPR (Rising Rate Fuel Pressure Regulator), it ups the fuel pressure when it senses boost and squirts more fuel per single injector cycle under load...

A Greddy kit in standard form is not intercooled either, so mods may have been done if it is being sold with one. Not necessarily a bad thing in itself, but if the IC pipes are not supported properly, they may have contributed to a cracked manifold due to excess weight/stress from engine flex under load.

I may be incorrect, but the Greddy standard turbo is also only oil cooled (i think)... so check closely if oil feed/drain lines are supplied as well as water lines if the turbo has them.

Then as Fuzz mentioned... grab the turbine spindle (if it's off the car, or ask the guy if you can pull the intake coupling off) shake the lights out of it... if it moves more than a mm or 2 you may have a little rebuild to do on that turbo...

After all that... go to miataturbo.net and one of their sub forums is dedicated to Gredy so read up there (and their FAQ) you should find more useful info on the (in)famous kit

Ebola, not sure if you're aware or not but there are actually 2 different greddy kits. Greddy kit a) with the TD04 turbo and kit b) with the TD05 turbo.

I bought a 2nd hand TD05 kit and it has been fantastic thus far. I have had no technical issues with it and it all appears to be working as it should. With my kit I got the manifold, turbo, dump pipe, ext wastegate and bov.

Hope this helps!

bark wrote:Ebola, not sure if you're aware or not but there are actually 2 different greddy kits. Greddy kit a) with the TD04 turbo and kit b) with the TD05 turbo.
I bought a 2nd hand TD05 kit and it has been fantastic thus far. I have had no technical issues with it and it all appears to be working as it should. With my kit I got the manifold, turbo, dump pipe, ext wastegate and bov.
Hope this helps!

Correct! There were two GReddy kits available in the past:
1) Non-intercooled, cast iron exhaust manifold, TD-04 internally gated turbo.

2) the Big Daddy which was intercooled, GReddy stainless steel tuned length exhaust manifold, GReddy Type S externally gated, Trust TD-05 turbo, Rebic Fuel Controlled with extra injectors.

Not really a fan of anything not intercooled but the Americans have been playing with the first kit for a long while and have many different upgrades for it.

The second kit I have had both previous personal and work experience with it. If you can pick this up in fairly good nick from Japan then it has definitely got my vote. The exhaust manifold was long considered the best aftermarket off the shelf turbo manifold you could buy outside of America. This will do approximately 175rwkw or 235rwhp at 1bar/15psi on a B6 motor with a decent ECU. More can be had if the bottom end is forged.

Terry's (aka spikey) Engine bay pic


I'll try and take some pics of the GReddy Turbo Manifold, as I still have one safely tucked away to suit the B6 if I ever have a change of heart and want to build a B6 instead of the BP.