Good post^^^ and coming from a guy who HAS the kit!



I also agree that the manifold is CAST because it is meant to be durable. Some people bash the entire kit cause they think the manifold is not as "pretty" as they would like. caughredzcaugh But, Alpine makes their kits to last longer than the car. That's why its built the way it is. It's not gonna crack on you like all the other ones on the market.
Ask the DSM crowd. They know that the best manifold is the cast and ported EVO manifold for its durability.

 

The only PEOPLE that have done that were CNK and Speedfactor. That's it. CNK was what, 4 years ago?

AIRBORNE (No u), is in S. Korea, and if you didn't know, all of the US Forces in S. Korea are reorganizing and he was just forced to move. He hasn't been on the site much because of training and moving for the past few months. Viper is still here, still making kits, but no one is really buying anything. Same old Hyundai Crowd, wait to get results, then never support it.



You know, it's not hard to get people to make parts for us. You just have to contact companies that work on niche` markets and do smaller runs. Outlaw Engineering, APE, PRD, Technafit, you can get stuff made, you just have to contact them. I've gotten a bunch of stuff made for these cars, it all starts with an email.



Yup.



I don't think anyone said it would.



I've been in about a dozen of them. You?



And this has been the problem stated all along. The BIGGEST complaint that I, and others, have made are...

1. Unichip and lack of folks to tune it. (More tuners? Where? There's not ONE shop in NM listed on their site.)
2. 5th Injector setup instead of bigger injectors (being fixed now with the help of kspec)
3. The lack of upgrades (stage upgrades) for higher boost. Being fixed at pretty much one set power, for considerable cost.



How so? They just changed their kits a bit what, last year? You YOURSELF said your kit is 4 years old. That is 2002. That's the old kit. Same same.



We all have gauges to monitor what is going on with the engine. Speedometer, tachometer, temperature, idiot lights, CEL. If more gauges are needed then, shouldn't they be included in a bolt on kit? Hell no they shouldn't. For a simple boost setup, that is designed to run at certain #'s, you don't NEED all of it. Like JonGTR has said, you don't NEED a BOV, or a Wastegate, and you definately don't NEED gauges.



Hobgoblin's problem was getting the kit installed 'professionally'. The guys ended up with a big box of SPARE PARTS. This has all been posted about before. The fact that no one here in NM could tune his unichip was a big deal too. His car would get up and MOVE, that's for sure, and I'm sure it had a good future ahead of it, but no way to tune it lead to his car's demise. Something that can be tuned anywhere, like maybe a SMT or whatever it is that JonGTR is using now, would be better suited.



Blow me. I'm here to help out the site and the members here, not make friends or suck any manufacturers off. I've been working with DMDicks, volunteered to make this subforum for Alpine, and offered any help I can to them. I'm working with them with Kspec to get them some new parts so they can offer higher numbers to the folks wanting kits, easier installs, and easier tuning. Any 'bad rep' that I've brought up or talked about, has been over their old kits, or difficulty to tune, and has been supported by evidence from friends (Hobgoblin), and other folks on these and other forums, and is, in no way, UNFAIR.

You might have noticed I don't like or get along with Evofusion/Sharkracing/Spiido, but I've still supported their efforts to get a new exhaust made for us also lately.

It's about the community. Alpine is working hard to put out better products, and I fully support that. If the issues I listed are fixed or mediated, I'd be happy to try out one of their new kits (even the supercharger manifold is being redesigned) and I've told them so. I also want a reliable kit with a name behind it to support it. They are moving in that direction, and that is GOOD.

I haven't said much about alpine in some time as they have 'new' kits out and I don't know anyone with them. I've talked about the superchargers a bit, because we all know about Xorro's tib and the realatively weak results with quite a bit of extra money going into it. Alpine is working on some new pulleys though, and from what DMDicks said, their first test car with the new pulley is pretty impressive. I'd love to see it.



I've never bashed their kit because it's not "pretty". Not once. The only thing I ever said about the manifold is that the ones I've seen have their coating come off quickly and it ends up all over the engine bay. Ask Hobgoblin. The Champion and other Cast manifolds in Korea, I've supported, and I know they are nice. Joonie78 had one on his tib, when I first rode in it, and it worked great, and NEVER cracked or anything. Go do some research and stop assuming I bashed anything for pretty reasons, they were 'bashed' on the 5th injector setup, and the Unichip.

Yes, I myself would prefer to have a nice tubular equal length manifold (Note I didn't say pretty here, but often the equal length tubular ones do look pretty), for performance reasons. Viper966's turbo manifold, when I saw it in person, was not shiny, not too pretty at all, but I loved it because of the setup. I believe he has it ceramic coated now though.


This is enough. This thread was to ask current owners of their opinions on the kit. One current owner has replied, and didn't really post any opinion on the kit at all, but rather posted about the community.

Keep this shit on topic, and answer the friggin question.

Moving to Alpine's subforum.

 

i have the kit and have had it for quite some time, i bought the kit back in 2000 i think and installed it about a year after that if i remember correctly. the quality of the kit seems real good but getting it to run properly is a nightmare, i gave up on using the unichip, when it is installed it wont start, checked the wiring a dozen times and its all right, sent the chip back to alpine and the reprogrammed it and still the same probelm, also gave up on the 5th injector couldn't get that going properly either so i went with bigger injectors.

install of the kit was decently easy, directions sucked, poor pictures/instructions, could have been alot better.
i am extremely mechanically inclined and stil had trouble with the install/wiring.

i have the old kit not the one with the new turbo, but i am looking into replaceing it anyway cause when i let off the gas after boosting smoke pours out the exhaust.

overall there was ALOT of issues that i had with this kit, but once again i do have the old kit and not sure how the new setup is, instructions etc....

i hope that atleast answered some of your questions, if you want more details please feel free to pm me


Jason

 

Wow! That's a LONG time ago. It doesn't excuse the poor service back then, but since I've started working with Alpine we've made HUGE improvements to Quaity and customer service. On the older models Hyundai liked to use different types of crank sensors so that may have been where your wiring problems were. I'm sorry I wasn't on board with the company back when you bought your kit as I would have done everything in my power to get it working right.
Some other people had issues with the older kits and Unichips. One in particular bought one of the first kits to come to the US. He was the person that started a lot of the bad quality, poor performance rumors. As it turned out his problems were traced back to a faulty TPS sensor on an aftermarket throttle body. Once that was replaced the kit ran and performed as expected.

 

yeah its been a while, i heard those same things about the crank and tps, i replaced the crank sensor and replaced the tps sensor 3 times thinking i was getting a bad one.
i am currently not using the unichip, not sure if there is a way to get it fixed right and actually install it.
have the directions improved at all?

hey quick question, did that guy have to replace the tps or put the stock tb back on, cause i do have a bbtb and maybe thats my running issue?

if thats the case and i need to put back on the stock tb, and directions have improved and that unichip issue can be solved i will retract what i have said about alpine and make a full public appology.

 

We've developed a new program for the Unichip that greatly improves performance. If you want to ship yours to me I'll reflash it for free, just pay for shipping. What instructions did you get way back in 2000? Did they indicate cutting 1 or 2 crank wires? I'm sure we can get your car running properly.

 

i am going to go thru pms with you so this doesn't get too far off topic