RB stage 2 turbos getting down!

[Rob@RBTurbo]

Great results!

These are actually one of our Beta RB Twos setups, 6 sets were produced starting 10/2017 and we are giving some more soak time with an expected 0% failure rate before going into full production. The good news is that with these results (@22psi) they seem have a bit more room and 10’s definitely are possible, not bad for a sub $2k turbo setup.

Thanks for sharing,
Rob

Just as a heads up that after a flawless nearly year long beta program the RB Twos are now in production (2 sets shipped out earlier this week). Pretty kick ass, non-china, Stage 2 setup for $1,999; good stuff for the platform.

Rob

 

[SlowE93]

Whats the h.p. rating for these to the wheels ? They shouldnt be pushed beyond what psi ? I already have hybrids but my buddy is in the market for some and I mentioned these to him.

 

[Rob@RBTurbo]

Whats the h.p. rating for these to the wheels ? They shouldnt be pushed beyond what psi ? I already have hybrids but my buddy is in the market for some and I mentioned these to him.

Unlike most other turbo manufacturers we do not recommend turbos to be ran in (or beyond) kill mode to get a HP rating to wow the masses. Instead we recommend the turbos to be utilized in power ranges that are actually fairly efficient for the turbochargers to operate, such that longevity of all components whether engine and/or turbos are retained. All said we rate these turbos for 475-525rwhp, which should be a walk in the park for them on a properly setup vehicle.

For reference the OP made ~550rwhp at around 22psi, and we feel they could make much more with more boost but once again that would certainly not make the lives of the hardware any easier. At the end of the day there is never any clear cut "what PSI is safe" as there are extreme amounts of variables, but we do feel these will be able to take a beating especially if someone were to ensure all other facets of their turbocharging system are optimized. Ideally our customers are responsible, tune properly, maintain well, have great supporting mods, and use the hardware as directed such that they have the best possible service life imaginable.

At the end of the day we realize these are going towards a performance sector and have built them as tough as can be done and to the tightest possible tolerances and balancing levels imaginable... no shortcuts here and all done in house with cutting edge turbo machinery equipment. To top it all off they were beta tested for nearly a year without any issues reported to date, this is something you will not find across this platforms entire history. Hope this helps.

Thanks,
Rob

 

[SlowE93]

Excellent, I will pass on the info to him. 550whp @22 psi is great for the price.

 

[Rob@RBTurbo]

Excellent, I will pass on the info to him. 550whp @22 psi is great for the price.

Indeed not too shabby and although not crazy high boost it is not too unreasonable either.

We are sure they will make upward of 600rwhp with the right mods, right dyno, right day, right operator, etc etc.... but that would be really leaning on them very hard and certainly a max effort zone.

As always there is a trade off for the amount of abuse you want to subject the hardware to, so accurately assessing the value in the risk vs. reward department is the prudent thing to do. If in doubt, go conservative, hence our recommended 475-525rwhp range.

Rob

 

[fmorelli]

Rob, is that a 93 oct recommendation (on the HP range) vs say E85. FWIW I prefer the more conservative range approach versus the it can do 750whp downhill on a Thursday.

Filippo

 

[Rob@RBTurbo]

Rob, is that a 93 oct recommendation (on the HP range) vs say E85. FWIW I prefer the more conservative range approach versus the it can do 750whp downhill on a Thursday.

Filippo

Filippo,

It is mostly an airflow recommendation. How you fuel it to get there is up to you and the tuner. But if it helps at all (based on tons of time and experience with this particular platform), yes indeed we suspect these will make around 475-525rwhp on 93 only. The lower side should be fairly easy for most casual enthusiasts with basic supporting mods. The upper end will require most ideal conditions, the best supporting mods, a nice friendly dyno, and perhaps some star alignment.

We can not control those who wish to go more aggressive, we can only advise to be smart about it- those examples are going to be the ones that will determine what these can do on max effort tuning/fueling but once again popping engines or wearing out turbos prematurely could be a trade off over time. Overall with the perfection of balancing in these units combined with the custom thrust hardware (same size we utilize in our biggest of offerings), we do suspect they will take a beating for those out there looking to push the envelope.

Rob

 

[langsbr]

Rob, if you don't have me on ignore and see this, I will say these are the BEST posts you have made. Great info about your product. The RB Twos look like a great value and make fantastic power too.

On the fueling side, I would think with hybrids, you'd ideally want to generally stay in the 475 - 500 whp max zone just for engine longevity. E85 is cheap insurance for cooling when running higher power. Why risk the motor to make another 25 - 50whp on pump gas? I would think that most tuners would also agree that meth or e85 is the way to go for >500 whp.

 

[Rob@RBTurbo]

FYI another 2 sets of these are now sold and going out next week. No worries as we will make more, but there are only 6 sets of machined housings in this batch left.

Rob

 

[N54NC]

Just wanted to drop in here. New N54 owner and found Rob through many of the very positive comments satisfied customers have made about him. (sifting though forum BS can be tough...but on this point it was not hard to see that many people felt Rob was a stand up guy).

I purchased a FBO E92 manual and looking to play a little more with it and have a reliable fun streetable toy. Not something tuned to make make the biggest dyno run or ever the best 1/4 mile. Just a fun car to drive with quick spooling turbos that will pull from low rpms all the way though. Hoping for a reliable 500hp target. I dont mind playing with a little E85 if I attempt for more, or even just as par for the course if the car is happy that way. It is not a daily driver....just something to take out and enjoy.

I have a good amount of background in lot of areas over the years....however, turbos are NOT one of them. I truly appreciated Rob's insight and immediately struck me as an honest guy. He was super straight-forward about NOT selling me a bunch of stuff I did not need. Whereas many vendors will try to sell you ever accessory, Rob on several items straight out told me...."no you dont need that and it really wont make much difference at the power levels you are looking for".

I need to make sure that my car has no hidden issues which I might be unaware of. Need to do a leak down test and really check it out. It is in need of intake valve walnut blasting, so when I get around to doing that, I will really look things over. In no uncertain terms, if I go with turbos, I will certainly be happy to do business with Rob.

I have been a business owner for 20+ years and dealt with MANY MANY people over the years. I have hired and fired countless people and contracted with many vendors for all kinds of goods and services. I feel my life experience has taught me a lot about people and I consider myself a decent judge of character. I usually can smell someones BS a mile away. I got none of that from Rob. He seemed like a good honest guy. My impression was enough that he will definitely be someone I do business with if I am going to buy a turbo from anyone.

 

[Rob@RBTurbo]

Just wanted to drop in here. New N54 owner and found Rob through many of the very positive comments satisfied customers have made about him. (sifting though forum BS can be tough...but on this point it was not hard to see that many people felt Rob was a stand up guy).

I purchased a FBO E92 manual and looking to play a little more with it and have a reliable fun streetable toy. Not something tuned to make make the biggest dyno run or ever the best 1/4 mile. Just a fun car to drive with quick spooling turbos that will pull from low rpms all the way though. Hoping for a reliable 500hp target. I dont mind playing with a little E85 if I attempt for more, or even just as par for the course if the car is happy that way. It is not a daily driver....just something to take out and enjoy.

I have a good amount of background in lot of areas over the years....however, turbos are NOT one of them. I truly appreciated Rob's insight and immediately struck me as an honest guy. He was super straight-forward about NOT selling me a bunch of stuff I did not need. Whereas many vendors will try to sell you ever accessory, Rob on several items straight out told me...."no you dont need that and it really wont make much difference at the power levels you are looking for".

I need to make sure that my car has no hidden issues which I might be unaware of. Need to do a leak down test and really check it out. It is in need of intake valve walnut blasting, so when I get around to doing that, I will really look things over. In no uncertain terms, if I go with turbos, I will certainly be happy to do business with Rob.

I have been a business owner for 20+ years and dealt with MANY MANY people over the years. I have hired and fired countless people and contracted with many vendors for all kinds of goods and services. I feel my life experience has taught me a lot about people and I consider myself a decent judge of character. I usually can smell someones BS a mile away. I got none of that from Rob. He seemed like a good honest guy. My impression was enough that he will definitely be someone I do business with if I am going to buy a turbo from anyone.

Appreciate these kind word sir. It is very refreshing in the days of the internet to have someone you have actually SPOKEN with to take the time to give their own impressions of someone- rather than being one of those ignorant entitled condescending know it all trolls on a web forum that are becoming all too prevalent these days. So once again, thumbs up, appreciate it.

As for the RB Twos- another couple sets went out this week. Now at one year and still all has been perfect with these units... and we still have a few sets of the initial production batch left.

Rob

 

[N54NC]

Appreciate these kind word sir. It is very refreshing in the days of the internet to have someone you have actually SPOKEN with to take the time to give their own impressions of someone- rather than being one of those ignorant entitled condescending know it all trolls on a web forum that are becoming all too prevalent these days. So once again, thumbs up, appreciate it.

As for the RB Twos- another couple sets went out this week. Now at one year and still all has been perfect with these units... and we still have a few sets of the initial production batch left.

Rob

Rob
No problem man! It is I that appreciated the time you spent helping me out.

I am looking for a free weekend between son's soccer and daughter's dance to tear into the car a little and make sure it would be a candidate to upgrade. It is a little overwhelming since I am new to the N54 scene, to try to wrap my head around every piece of the puzzle. I have been a member of various forums over the years and I know better than to just be 'that guy' who comes on and asks 1,000,000 questions rather than using the search button.

I am spending my evening learning and when I finally get my questions distilled down, it is then that I will reach out to others for advice rather than ask to be spoon fed.

Just got my JB4 in and BEF so I am taking myself to school learning how to use that and understand the logging...etc.

Thanks again for taking the time you did. If I know my engine is up to the task of being modded, I will surely be reaching out again!

Justin

 

[N54NC]

Rob,

I got a call from the OP of this thread and he was kind enough to share a lot of good info. He had nothing but GREAT things to say about his experience with your RB2's. The numbers they are putting down are really amazing. He is not new to the N54 platform and had run some other well know vendors turbos in the past.

He did share that (unlike a lot of other vendors), you have a tendency to understate performance expectations. He shared his 2's have GREATLY exceeded the expectations you laid out for him.

Just wanted to share some feedback with you. I am excited to move my project forward. I still have not had the free time to dig in to my car far enough to be sure it is ready for upgraded turbos. I am thinking it will be a winter project for me. (Running around every free weekend chasing my sons soccer right now).

Thank you again for taking the time to help me out. Figured the least I could do is share some experiences!

 

[Rob@RBTurbo]

Rob,

I got a call from the OP of this thread and he was kind enough to share a lot of good info. He had nothing but GREAT things to say about his experience with your RB2's. The numbers they are putting down are really amazing. He is not new to the N54 platform and had run some other well know vendors turbos in the past.

He did share that (unlike a lot of other vendors), you have a tendency to understate performance expectations. He shared his 2's have GREATLY exceeded the expectations you laid out for him.

Just wanted to share some feedback with you. I am excited to move my project forward. I still have not had the free time to dig in to my car far enough to be sure it is ready for upgraded turbos. I am thinking it will be a winter project for me. (Running around every free weekend chasing my sons soccer right now).

Thank you again for taking the time to help me out. Figured the least I could do is share some experiences!

Good you guys were able to connect and get some info share out there. OP was a beta set but his feedback has been the overall experience of the rest so far as well. We are now officially over 1 year since betas began installing and still not a peep of any issue from a single one. We have now sold and shipped another 5 or so sets and we expect the results to be the same. No worries on the hectic life either, we will be here whenever you become ready.

As or the under rating of turbos we just would rather rate them at levels we know nearly everyone could achieve while working them in very high efficiency ranges, than the alternative which seems to be rating them at levels no one will ever achieve and if they do something will surely die in short order. Likely not the best strategy for our overall sales because consumers are suckers for marketing and false promises, but quite frankly sales are not as important as doing what we feel is right along with not setting up customers (and thus ourselves) for failure later on. Just one of the things you learn after being in a particular platform and business long enough, it is more about the long game than the short one.

Rob

 

[Bavkingn54]

Hey guys I was one of the beta rb two guys. I'm comfortably running my car on 26psi meth injection (going pi over winter) 335i xdrive full weight and ran a 12.4 on a slipping 6at full weight. My trans is on its last leg no 5th gear and kicks out of 2nd on a hard shift. So after I pull the trans and do a propulsive dynamics build and weight reduction of the winter I'm shooting for that 10 sec xi for the record books! Either way these turbos spool hard enough to shred the stock 6at to pieces haha. Thanks @Rob@RBTurbo

 

[Rob@RBTurbo]

Glad to hear all is well with you sir, thanks for the feedback too!

Good news is still not one negative peep and thus quality has been perfection literally since beta intro.

Our batch one production housings are now sold out but we have another 15 sets going back through machining next week- so more will be coming. This has been an absolutely solid budget oriented performance product, with now well over a year in the wild to boot. Just can't beat it.

Rob

 

[Schurter]

Rob.

What would be your max effort turbo set up.

Do you have anything that would push 30-35psi over the 700whp mark.

If not do you have any plans for them.
Thanks Jeremy

 

[Rob@RBTurbo]

Rob.

What would be your max effort turbo set up.

Do you have anything that would push 30-35psi over the 700whp mark.

If not do you have any plans for them.
Thanks Jeremy

No sir we don't. Nor do we ever like to present the max effort figures we have ever seen on our products as that sets of a precedence of approval of doing things as such. We believe operating turbos responsibly will make for a happier customer over many many years to come as an overwhelming whole.

Also being around this platform for nearly a decade and using our best judgments though even today, including ourselves and every competitor outside of us; we'd honestly say there is nothing we'd recommend for those boost ranges that are a budget friendly bolt on. At least not one that will not lead to some grief in some shorter amount of time than one would typically prefer. Can you do it and get there with some? Sure. Just not recommended at all unless you are ok with incurring longevity issues with either your engine or turbos or both.

Perhaps something will pop up at some point that is budget and abuse friendly- but these two words seldom ever go hand in hand in motorsports. As of this moment we only have 10 complete N54 offerings (and 3 DIY N54 offerings) and we tend to rate them in the conservative zones to retain efficiency- all of which sub 600whp which is a very popular place to be.

IMHO to meet your 700+whp goals and while retaining some efficiency your only real options are going to be a custom true Stage 3 setup (ie. using authentic BB garretts such as the G25 lineup) or a nice Single Turbo setup. ST's have their fair share of hiccups, so not really smooth sailing there either unfortunately. And the nice twin setups are unfortunately extremely rare and very costly.

Rob

 

[Narcosis]

Rob,

I got a call from the OP of this thread and he was kind enough to share a lot of good info. He had nothing but GREAT things to say about his experience with your RB2's. The numbers they are putting down are really amazing. He is not new to the N54 platform and had run some other well know vendors turbos in the past.

He did share that (unlike a lot of other vendors), you have a tendency to understate performance expectations. He shared his 2's have GREATLY exceeded the expectations you laid out for him.

Just wanted to share some feedback with you. I am excited to move my project forward. I still have not had the free time to dig in to my car far enough to be sure it is ready for upgraded turbos. I am thinking it will be a winter project for me. (Running around every free weekend chasing my sons soccer right now).

Thank you again for taking the time to help me out. Figured the least I could do is share some experiences!

(I don't normally chime in like this, today I'm feeling it.)

On a somewhat related note, I've been running Rob's Next Gen Plus turbos since March 2017, and I'll echo N54NC's comment above. Rob's NGP turbos have quite exceeded the expectation set when I purchased the parts. Needless to say I've "well exceeded" RB's recommended boost pressure for the parts, I know it's pay to play and I am shortening the lifespan of the parts by pushing them as I do.

You know what? The smile on my face when running my E85 Wedge tune is pretty damn wide, which is why I modify cars - I really dig torque & velocity. I'd hoped to get to an AWD dyno this year, but it just hasn't worked out & the car is now hiberhating for our marvelous Wisconsin winters. When it comes time to replace the turbos, I will go back to Rob for whatever his latest setup which matches my goals. Why? Another thumbs up on working with RB - it was almost too easy. Sure, I've become jaded in my dealings with some vendors. I don't like getting dicked around. That was not the case working with Rob.

My $0.02 worth.

-John Salmi

 

[Torgus]

Rob.

What would be your max effort turbo set up.

Do you have anything that would push 30-35psi over the 700whp mark.

If not do you have any plans for them.
Thanks Jeremy

A single turbo is your best choice if you want power in that range. As Rob stated above a twin setup with real twins aka nothing based on the stock setup will get you there but its expensive. My vote would be go single.