I don't know if it is a joke or not, but when the guy that built them tells you to break them in for xxx miles or there will be problems you listen. I do not know enough about this whole process to speak intelligently about it. I don't want to hear "I told you so" while handing many thousands over in repair bills. Gotta say, the break in was one of the most trying times in my life it's like having a naked supermodel in your bed and you can't touch.

 

Still nobody has answered my question...What is the difference between an ordinary turbo(k24/18g) and ZC k24/18g...Why should someone buy ZC?

 

The Z/C is a proprietary coating inside the casing, it closes the gap between blades and casing making the turbo significantly more efficeint. Part of the break in is the blades 'carving" into the proprietary material.

Bottom line is it decreases spool time and increases power at lower rpms, giving you "power under the curve".

I have the Z/C 24/26's (with the GT2 style compressor), they dont spool nearly as fast as the 16's, but my max torque rpm is less than a normal K24 and the output considerably more.

Of course, all of this is said with all things being equal such as fuel, air etc...

Does this answer your question?

 

you can't get ZC on K24/18g's. ZC is a proprietary process UMW uses to fill in the gap between the compressor wheel and the compressor housing. This is done to create a more efficient compressor. But since UMW does not sell K24/18g's, it is only done on umw turbos, which are K16/24 and other K series models.

The UMW K16/24 ZC turbo is actually a K16 turbine with a K26 compressor housing fitted with K24 wheel and ZC filling the space. Again this is all from my small memory, so there may be some corrections.

 

Thank you guys for your answers...

 

I would love to see an unbiased (independent) test on the exact same turbos
from UMW: one with top secret Z/C and one without. It would be quite hard to distinguish the difference IMHO

MK

 

i think we have two guys in our town running K16/24 umw's, one with and one without ZC

 

I'm picking the turbo up tomorrow evening. My indie just called & said everything done--coil packs, plugs, new 5bar fpr, oil change, etc.

For those interested in more on the Z/C, I did a google search using zero clearance turbos. There is info out there that Kevin posted a few years back that describes in detail the process of converting a standard turbo over to Z/C. Interesting read.

I'm going to rack up those break in miles faster than ever !

 

nice turbos. did kevin change the actuator rods on the wg's? they look slightly beefier than stock versions.

anyone know if there are breaking issues with UMW wg's? anyone have theirs break?

 

not that I know of. No threads on the bends means less chance of breakage.

 

I think tom kerr had these umw rods break on him also. I think he mentioned he has tried both umw and evos and both had snapped. I think he switched to a manual set up. keep us posted on how these hold up.

 

I searched and Tom went from K24's to K24/18g's, neither is umw, unless there is a thread I missed.

 

yeah I think he may have had them orginally on his k24's. I could have been mistaken tho.

 

I had a evoms rod break on me, typical threads on the bend, good probability it blew the other turbo from overspeed. I haven't heard of a umw w/g rod breaking, not that it's impossible but it is pretty damn stout.

 

UMW might have repaired the turbos, but if they came from UMW they probably would have been K16/24's at the time, Toms K24's were his factory units. but maybe he can tell us what happened. He mentioned Todds turbos in a post and proto programming, and K24/18g, so I don't think UMW was anywhere in there