Vargas Turbo (VTT) Stage 1 N54 Review

[10091989]

Hey Guys,

Now that I have had my VTT Stage 1 Turbos w/billet wheel option for roughly 8,000 miles I thought now would be a good time for review. I have had these for about 4 months now and wanted to share my experience from beginning to end.

Backstory:

Located in Denver CO (5280ft above sea level) I have been modding the N54 platform for about 3 years now (mods in signature), every year I buy a load of new parts to test and try. My first set of OEM turbo lasted until 55K, my rear turbo had a oil leak which caused smoking and WG rattle. Warranty replaced both turbos for free. That set lasted me about 3 months of FBO E30 mix fuel until the rear turbo blew out. The turbine was scraping the housing. Warranty replaced the rear turbo again for free. Another 2 months later the rear blows again! This time the rear turbo oil inlet tube was clogged which starved the rear until it ultimately went out.

I spoke with Hexon and VTT regarding their entry level turbo upgrades. The Hexon folks were willing to give me a huge discount and their product came with more "upgrades" (billet wheel, larger thrust) with the Stage 1 compared to VTT's Stage 1. I spoke with Tony Vargas as we all know is somewhat infamous around these parts. Truthfully i enjoy his "F** you i know what im talking about" way of going about things. Tony was great to talk to and was very quick to reply AND answer questions both simple and technically.

Overall Experience: 9/10


Communication: 10/10

Tony and Chris both had GREAT communication and support. I emailed them for awhile before finally placing my order with VTT. I went with the OEM turbos simply for the sake of my wallet. I always got a reply when I reached out. Nothing rubbed me to wrong way at all. I even ordered the wrong turbos (335i/535i) whihch wont fit into the 135i due to the rear inlet snout being different that the 335i's. They fixed my order without any issue or worry.

Speed/Delivery: 5/10

Tony initially told me a 2 week wait time was in order for the OEM turbos i ordered, which truthfully was my main reason to order with VTT over Hexon. Hexon told me 6 weeks and some orders placed back then never got delivered due to Hexon folding! - dodged a bullet!

I am knocking on VTT for taking 8 weeks to deliver. It was a series of them being out of town and having too many orders to keep up with demand. Due to this I was frustrated since my rental car bill was hitting near $1800 at that point (this is my only vehicle). Tony made it right by upgrading my order for FREE to the Stage 1's and their billet wheel! So i saved some $$ there and i'm THRILLED he did that for me at no cost or hassle! Keep in mind i scored them a "5/10" because yes they took a lot longer than expected but i have some friends on here and in CO that placed orders with RB and Hexon, it took them about all 5-8 weeks for those other vendors to finally deliver the turbos too. So in truth everybody was behind apparently. Tony did also send my order overnight shipped which im sure cost $$$.

Product Quality: 10/10

Having seen my share of turbos in both BMW's Mitsubishi, and VW's i can say these looked great! Everything came well packaged and nothing was damaged or missing. My package contained the install kit, upgraded PCV and their silicone inlets. I also purchased a new water pump, tstat, all oil lines to both turbos, and various oils and coolants. Also in the box are the instructions and warranty card, some info about oils and the balancing paperwork.

Turbos were clean and looked brand new. WG arms looked solid and everything was well, perfect. I can say this was nice to look at.

Performance: 10/10

Attached are logs from my n54 FBO E30 fuel on OEM turbos and inlets and the one below are the VTT turbos, FBO E55 fuel on VTT Inlets. Spooling is about the same as the OEM turbos but 4krpm is the sweet spot. It hits HARD and carries the whole way to redline. Its aggressive to say the least.

As you can see i was barely able to hold 14psi near redline. While i am sure some of the NOOBS will say thats wrong, well you dont live in the altitude some of us do. Hitting BT in these regions is massively hard due to the air being much less dense. Some days the elevation can hit a whopping 8000ft! This isnt just my log but many many of my friends who run the N54 FBO + Inlets can maybe see 14.5psi with PWM in the 89's. Sea level guys can hit 17+ psi near redline with inlets. We arent so lucky!

Now you can see my log with the VTT turbos. Night and day as far as boost target is concerned. PWM is in the low 70's most times which tells me i can run a few more PSI before hitting the limit. I would need some better fueling first though (TBI, PI, METH).

Having raced a dozen FBO N54/n55's all running inlets and E50 fuel mixes with Cobb, MHD E40 v7, and JB4 stacked tunes i always pull away. Not by a small amount either by a sh!t load every time. After 5krpm my car just sails away from OEM turbo N54's. Its crazy!

I haven't had time to dyno yet, but i would hope to soon. Attached are some pictures for you all to take a gander at!

If you have questions i would be happy to answer them for you!

[mike@x-ph.com]

Thank you for the review, glad you are happy with the results

[Fakemike]

Nice review, thank you.

Can't wait to see some dyno numbers!

[10091989]

Tomorrow i am hopping on the Dynojet at our local Dyno-Pro facility.

2:30PM MST.

I will do 3 pulls on map 7 and map 2.

After i will update it here too.

[10091989]

Alright here are my Dyno #'s!

Actually got better then I expected! FBO + Inlets + E50 fuel + VTT Stage 1's

[jymmijamez]

How was the install? or did you have a shop do the work, if so what one as I'm still researching shops in Denver?

[10091989]

YanZito Imports in Parker CO.

Nick is super cheap and very very very smart. Tell him Steven with the 135i sent you.

[Eilbron1986]

Those are great numbers.
I ordered pure stage 1 for my n54. Pure makes stage 1 now. I cant wait to intall the new turbos. I hope ill be close to ur numbers. I currently have GIAC STAGE 2 but i think ill hv to switch to MHD custom map.

[deesea]

What mods are you running? Especially the intake - looks like the one from ECS tuning.

[goodboy1451]

What's the difference between stock and stage 1?

[Eilbron1986]

Originally Posted by goodboy1451

What's the difference between stock and stage 1?

upogradedcompressor and wheels
Depending on ur tune 50-100 or maybe more whp gain
Holding boost at all the way to redline in his case 18psi my stock turbos boost at 9psi at redline

[10091989]

The turbine is clipped 7 degrees and the compressor is a 14T size larger which helps.

I am looking into a 9 blade turbine as opposed to the 12 blade design which should allow for a bit more boost in trade for a little more lag in the lower RPM.

And yes this is the ECS intake setup

[jymmijamez]

10091989,

Thanks for the information. Will look them up.