You'll love it mate, the combination of forge actuator, and the additional injectors and larger MAF will make for an absolutely epic ko3S car.
Niki CAN push them to mental limits if you ask him to, you just need to know the risks when asking him to do so.
250bhp from a ko3S requires a huge spike, around 25psi at 3500rpm, from the back of this it makes monster torque, almost 300lbft, and as power is a product of torque and RPM, the horse power is made very low down, peaking at 250bhp around 4500rpm. What you end up with is a car that's very fast, but not actually that amazing to drive. Something that's a little more reigned in to around 22psi won't have that spike, and it won't generate nearly so much heat and will be able to pull on hard right to 7000rpm.
Agree to a extent. The high boost spikes make the torque, coupled with a bit of fuelling from the larger injectors. I was getting 298lbft on a 25psi spike (due to dodgy boost gauge under-reading).
I was making 248bhp and 278lbft from a 21psi spike and holding 18psi tailoring off to 12-13psi at redline. However that made its power, 248bhp at 4506rpm (i think) and had only the smallest of angled tapers from peak power to 200bhp at redline. It was an amazing car to drive. Such a smooth map, even though turbo is making its peak power very shortly after spooling up. but when you change gear at 7250rpm and drop back onto 248bhp at 4500rpm, you away again holding your power curve.
I have seen stage 1 and 2 maps being pushed harder than those running 240bhp+ setups. Its mainly timing that makes the power on these engines.
Then of course there is the reliability factor....Mine got pushed pretty damn hard from day 1 when it was mapped back in January 2010 (i think) when the k03s first went on and made 225bhp and 225lbft with few mods. When I took it off my 248bhp engine/map, there were cracks in the collector housing and a small crack in the wastegate housing...but you have to ask yourself.....what k03s turbos dont have small cracks in them? Ive yet to see a one which isnt cracked tbh. Not one bit of smoke or dodgy rattles at all from mine and minimal shaft play....of what is perfectly normal for a wet float bearing turbo.
Heres the crack in question:
One of those that when its warmed up, will be sealed.
My setup has been replicated onto my mates bora 1.8T (using the block I was running aswell), my turbo and ecu. Exact same setup just a scorpion exhaust but with a toyosports intercooler. So we will be able to see how it lasts.
That shows less boost on the gauge than mine.....this might be down to a more restrictive core or a N75 valve on its way out....ill have to do some logging when its out bodyshop to ensure its running 100%.
