As far as I can tell, the external housings are the same, but the center cartridge was a ZZP built unit with journal bearings and steel wheels. I gotta find time to get it out of the car, and I'll look at it more.

 

I'm sitting at 8300 miles on my Z57. I'll have my downpipe off later this summer and I'll put a scope up to look at the exhaust turbine to see if there is any damage. If I'm feeling extra squirrelly I'll pull the o2 elbow and check for turbine play. The intake is a bitch to get on (running zzps intake)

 

it does burn allot cooler, my buddy is on e47 and runs an egt gauge. He’s almost 200deg cooler at wot. I imagine that would scale with full e85. He’s also making 120more hp than the 252. So it’s all pluses hah

 

I've been contemplating dropping back to the OE BKR6E from the BKR7E. Hotter spark should be beneficial now that I'm on E85.

 

lucky theres no real access to E85 in canada gotta buy it by the drum from some race shops.


Now I am back to considering the Z57 just cause the price is so attractive compared to almost 2k or over for the EFRs. Hoping to run a compression test next week which will determine if I am gonna order it or wait

 

Yeah we always go down to the us and fill a 55gallon every year. Covid screwed that up two summers running. He caved and bought vp x85 like 700$ a barrel. Vs the 200$ it usually costs including gas for my truck haha.

z57 does seem like the sweet spot cost wise.

 

everything is finally here! Z54 owners how you liking it and how is it holding up? Any numbers?

 

Nice! is it on yet??

 

Just wanted to add this since it might be good info.

I messaged ZZP and Ryan got back to me, he's looking into seeing if they can't just match and send me a new CHRA for the Z54.

Also wanted to note, probably just paranoia, but I went through all my receipts and dates. I usually run the K&N oil filter, since I change my oil often anyway, but both times the turbo blew was shortly after having to use a different filter due to out of stock for the K&N.

EDIT: They got back to me, not going to disclose pricing but it was beyond reasonable, and they can hook you up with a replacement CHRA if needed. Now I'm waiting for an answer if there is any way to get the aluminum BB Z57 housing but with the Z54 wheels on it One can dream...

 

not yet...my daily driver decided to need all new calipers, pads, rotors, end links, etc..all before inspection lol. Hopefully a week or 2...

 

wow thats good ! Z57 I think is the one then

 

Yeah, Scythe(Ryan) said there is a difference in the CHRA and they can't hook me up with the Z57 one, damn lol.

Still, the price for the Z54 cart is WAY better than a complete turbo, I'll just have to verify the housings first.

 

Nice! I know when I asked they said you could do a 6758 center in the z54 housing but makes sense due to the size! Still good to hear you got that sorted

 

After browsing around after you said this, I have an interesting idea I've been tossing around.

​​​​​​BW sells just the center cartridge with wheels, and while more expensive obviously compared to what ZZP told me, I can grab a BB aluminum cartridge with the Gamma-Ti wheels for only $600 more. Either option is cheaper than a new Z54, and way cheaper than a ZFR outright, but decisions decisions...lol

 

That would be really awesome! Keep us updated on what you do. I am still undecided lol and after forking out quite a bit for tires when I didn't need to just yet, I am gonna have to hold off until most likely black friday.

 

Will do.

And I know all about shelling out cash, bought tires then blew them and the rims, bought new rims and tires, then turbo drops. Car was great past 2 years, needed to do something to me I guess lol

 

Old turbo is out and Z54 is mounted. Took a break but hopefully will be finished this weekend.

 

looks good man. How much extra hp do you expect once the car is tuned?

 

It'll probably end up high 300's to low 400's depending on total mods and tune.

My setup is tuned by Dave at PWerks, and while I never had it dyno'd (various reasons outside my control), based off what he saw logging it he guesstimated I was around the 415whp range. That idea was based on running 25psi (ZZP no warranty past 23) on E32, forget what the timing was setup at.

Edit: I should add that before mine blew again, with 235 wide RE-71R's the Z54 has no problem building boost and lighting up 2nd.

It really is a good turbo for the price, and while failures happened in the beginning, my post should be taken as info since I do run it at a higher boost than ZZP suggest it runs at.

 

What are your plans for the old turbo?

 

sorry been busy with life/cars lol. High 300s with FBO, and 93 pump. Idk if I wanna go E47 this year but I'll be getting cams, springs and retainers when I do so I can break 400 and be done until the warranty is over on the turbo then I'll hopefully have my new set up figured out...S257 or 7163. Still in the air what I wanna do..🤔🤷🏻‍♂️

 

decided to keep the K04R for now just in case something happens *knock on wood* to the Z54, but I do have a stock turbo off my LDK with like 7k on it that I am interested in selling possibly if that is what you are interested in..?

 

So install has been done a couple days ago but it has been raining for legit 2 weeks straight so I just finally got a chance to hit the road.

So far so good with the Z54! Coolant plugs did have a small leak while running but a little sealant and all was well...other than that it is deff a great little turbo! It obviously does have a little lag but when it does hit it comes in very smooth and linear, it spikes at 26 and bleeds off to 22.6 per the maps reading on my interceptor scan gauge.

It's still super early to be able to type a full review in regards to the turbo but I'll update you guys in a couple more weeks.

 

Should be able to hold 26psi right to redline. Depending on your head work of course. If your revving high and flowing maybe not.

 

yeah it has been a complete wash out here in NY so I would like to get a couple more hours on this turbo when the weather is decent and I can type up a honest review.

I love this thing so far tho tbh, deff a turbo for someone who can change it themselves #1 [Just incase they get one that fails], needs a replacement turbo and wants something beefier that won't break the bank and will give you some left over money for more bolt ons and will still let you scoot on *****.