Ultimate Subaru BRZ Turbo Kit Guide

Are you the proud owner of a Subaru BRZ, and looking for a healthy boost of power? In this ultimate BRZ turbo kit guide, we review the most popular Subaru BRZ turbo kits available on the market today.

• GReddy T518Z Turbo Kit
• WORKS Stage 1 Turbo Kit
• WORKS Stage 2 Turbo Kit
• Full Blown Stage 1 Turbo Kit
• HKS GTIII-RS BRZ Turbo Kit
• Jump to winner

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In a hurry? Here is our BRZ Turbo Kit summary

The Subaru BRZ is undoubtedly one of the best-looking cars on the market right now and the popular sports compact has been getting more attention than ever from the tuning manufacturers.

Along with its stunning modern design, there’s no doubt that it has also been gifted with great weight distribution, chassis balance, and handling.

Based on this, you may well think the BRZ is the perfect package straight from the dealer. Almost!

Being available in both LHD and RHD, all that is missing from the BRZ is some additional power to push the 2-liter boxer engine to its maximum potential. Most enthusiasts agree that the low stock output of 228 horsepower and 184 lbs of torque are the major defects of this car; this is where forced induction comes into play.

In our ultimate Subaru BRZ turbo guide, we will be showing you the best options for converting your 4U-GSE engine into a turbo-powered street weapon!

Forced induction

Over time, the BRZ tuning scene has flourished with more options available than ever. This means that our options have now been tried and tested long term for reliability.

Since you are looking into forced induction, be sure to check out our comprehensive turbocharger vs supercharger guide to see what is the best solution for your BRZ.

We’ve written this guide to help you narrow down the difficult decisions when it comes to turbocharging your BRZ and find the perfect kit for your needs.

Let’s take a look at our BRZ turbo kits

To read more about any of these products simply click on the turbocharger kit name or photo.

GReddy T518Z Tuner BRZ Turbo Kit

• Manufacturer: GReddy
• Fitment: Subaru BRZ, Scion FR-S
• Turbo configuration: Single turbo
• Value for money: 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
• Purchase link: Discontinued

Our comment: There’s no question that the Japanese tuning legends know this market well and it definitely shows with their turbo kit. The setup combines perfect fitment alongside with the stunning quality that we’ve come to expect from GReddy over the years.

This intercooled racing turbo system has been quoted as delivering around 90hp by GReddy themselves, but even when ran at the stock 7psi by owners it has often dyno’d well above this.

Manufacturer description: “GReddy Performance Products is excited to announce the release of the highly anticipated T518Z Tuner Turbo Kit for the 2013- Scion FR-S and Subaru BRZ. With extensive testing both in Japan and the USA, this turbo kit was designed to enhance the overall performance for daily drivers and weekend racers. An ideal turbo sizing maintains the vehicles balanced driver feel, by maintaining good low-end response with the factory engine components. But the most noticeable improvements can be noticed on the factory power-band’s dip in mid-range torque and at high RPM top-end power.”

“GReddy dyno test showed a +93.5whp / +68.7 ft-lbs crank increase at 7psi on a stock 2013 Scion FR-S with factory fuel system (injectors and fuel pump) just adding a *GReddy-tuned EcuTek ecu, and a *GReddy Evo3 70mm exhaust, – (* Not Included) But even more importantly, the mid-range torque from 3150-4750 RPMs are significantly improved over the stock torque curve.”

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WORKS Stage 1 CARB Compliant BRZ Turbo Kit

• Manufacturer: WORKS
• Fitment: Subaru BRZ, Scion FR-S
• Turbo configuration: Single turbo
• Value for money: 🔥🔥🔥
• Purchase link: WORKS Stage 1 Turbo Kit

Our comment: WORKS have spent two years engineering this unique kit with a rearward mounted water-cooled turbocharger for the market and it’s undoubtedly going to leave some owners extremely pleased. With a 50-state smog legal cert, you won’t need to worry about getting pulled if you’re planning to drive this kit on the street in the US.

Owners have had their WORKS Stage 1 kit dyno tested with gains of around 70 horsepower at stock 7 psi when running on 91 octane gasoline.

Some other unique features of this turbocharger kit include the ceramic coated downpipe, an efficient intercooler core, and its short length intake piping. Unlike some other kits on the market, this does not require front bumper or oil pan removal for installation And the 12 month warranty is just the cherry on top!

Whilst this kit features fantastic quality, results and ease of fitting, it lacks an intercooler which may put some users off. Furthermore, WORKS recommends the use of an oil cooler kit for enhanced performance. If this is the case, but the CARB compliance is appealing, their Stage 2 kit below may well be for you.

Manufacturer description: “After almost two years of engineering development and testing, WORKS is proud to introduce their Stage 1 “Simple” Turbo Kit for the FR-S/BRZ.”

“The sophistication and elegance of our kit is found in its simplicity. Through the use of custom thermal coated up and downpipe, custom intake pipes including a finned aluminum air-to-air heat exchanger to handle the added heat, OEM style diverter valve, centered around a genuine Garrett GT28 journal bearing turbo, you will reap the benefits of efficient turbo-charged power while still retaining your OEM air box, OEM exhaust manifold headers and OEM secondary catalytic converter (front pipe). Containing all necessary hoses and equipment for added oil and coolant routing, as well as heat shielding and specialty hardware, it is truly a bolt-on and OE quality upgrade, requiring no cutting, fabrication, wire harness extensions or internal engine modification.”

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WORKS Stage 2 CARB Compliant BRZ Turbo Kit

• Manufacturer: WORKS
• Fitment: Subaru BRZ, Scion FR-S
• Turbo configuration: Single turbo
• Value for money: 🔥🔥🔥🔥
• Purchase link: WORKS Stage 2 Turbo Kit

Our comment: With WORK offering the CARB compliant Stage 1 kit above, we couldn’t ignore the lack of intercooler which their Stage 2 kit offers. This setup is a further improved option with an air-to-liquid intercooler and higher boost threshold.

Now running 12 psi of boost, this kit can provide a power increase of over 90hp, which is a 55% increase over stock. These gains combined with the CARB compliance may be the perfect package for your needs!

Manufacturer description: “The WORKS Stage 2 Turbo Kit for the FR-S/BRZ takes the performance of our Stage 1 Turbo Kit to the next level with the addition of an air-to-liquid intercooler and a higher boost threshold. Stage 2 is for those who want more power than what our Stage 1 Kit provides, but still wish to retain its simple and minimally-invasive configuration.”

“This kit utilizes a genuine Garrett GT28 journal bearing turbocharger to provide efficient, turbocharged power while retaining the OEM airbox, factory exhaust manifold, and secondary catalytic converter. Our team of engineers spent hundreds of hours in design, development, tuning, and testing to produce a simple and reliable turbo setup to enhance the drivability of your vehicle. This is the easiest-to-install, most cost-effective, and least-intrusive air-to-liquid intercooled turbo system available for the FR-S/BRZ.”

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Full Blown BRZ Turbo Kit

• Manufacturer: Full Blown
• Fitment: Subaru BRZ, Scion FR-S
• Turbo configuration: Single turbo
• Value for money: 🔥🔥🔥🔥
• Purchase link: Full Blown BRZ Turbo Kit

Our comment: Full Blown have come up with this well-priced offering of their Stage 1 premium turbo kit. Despite being the cheapest on our list, it is rated up to an impressive 440hp provided you have the required supporting mods.

This is an extremely popular offering among BRZ and FR-S owners and with lots of great kit options available from quick spooling to big power, it’s easy to see why it’s the perfect choice for many owners.

Manufacturer description: “We realized that our Stage 1 premium turbo kit did not meet everyone’s budget so we decided to put together a more affordable kit for the guys who are looking at turboing their BRZ. The main difference from this kit compared to our Premium kit is that we were able to CNC bend most of the piping, and casted the intercooler tanks to reduce cost. ”

“We also ditched the the Tial housings for the standard T3 flange (this will make the kit work with Precision turbo or other makes in the future). We switched to a 39mm wastegate and went with a standard T3 50 Trim, T3 57 Trim, or you can upgrade to the GTX (Please see options and important notes).”

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HKS GTIII-RS BRZ Turbo Kit

• Manufacturer: HKS
• Fitment: Subaru BRZ, Scion FR-S
• Turbo configuration: Single turbo
• Value for money: 🔥🔥🔥🔥
• Purchase link: HKS GTIII-RS BRZ Turbo Kit

Our comment: The most recent kit to hit the market comes from JDM legends, HKS.

Refining what tuning houses have learned over the years from their mistakes with the various turbo kits, many owners believe this to be the best option available.

While some kits are focused on big-power numbers, HKS is keen to maintain its impressive reputation for reliability, with respectable power figures.

We’ve seen owners run anything from 250 hp through to more than 400 hp with this kit, but uprated internals will need to become a consideration if you’re looking for significant power.

HKS believes that 450 ps (440 hp) is reliably achievable with the correct tuning and ECU calibration. Several enthusiasts are keen to prove it has further untapped potential.

Thanks to the engine providing sufficient torque, the boost response and turbo lag from this kit are subtle rather than uncontrollable, making for a great street setup that’s still more than capable at the track.

Overall, this kit is an excellent all-arounder, bringing the typical quality that you’d expect from HKS.

Manufacturer description: “The HKS Turbo Kit for the 2017+ Toyota 86, 2013+ Subaru BRZ, & 2013-2016 Scion FR-S was designed and engineered to add a significant power bump to the ZN6/ZC6 chassis. It is a 100% bolt-on kit shown to provide ~350 hp with a stock FA20. The kit can be used on it’s own, or paired with other upgrades for more power (built motor tested to ~450 hp).”

“The kit includes all the necessary hard parts for installation. You will need to purchase engine management separately (piggy back or stand-alone), larger injectors are necessary (440cc or higher recommended), and upgrade the (for 3 BAR boost) pressure sensor.”

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Our winner

Our winner is the WORKS Stage 2 BRZ Turbo Kit

To pick our winner from this choice of BRZ turbo kits we looked at a number of criteria; ease of installation, power levels, upgrade potential and price point.

Based on these criteria we have chosen the WORKS Stage 2 BRZ Turbo Kit to be our winner.

Updated 19th November, 2020: The GReddy T518Z was our deserved winner, however, recently GReddy has unfortunately decided to discontinue this turbo kit. Since this kit is no longer on the market, we have decided to award the win to the very solid WORKS Stage 2 turbo kit.

WORKS Stage 2 BRZ Turbo Kit

With the high quality of components, popularity and CARB compliance, it’s the WORKS Stage 2 turbo kit that takes the win in our review. This kit also gives you the benefit of not having to worry about having undeclared mods under the hood.

All four options undoubtedly have their positives, the Full Blown kit is immensely popular, the GReddy kit is an excellent choice but is sadly no longer available, although if you can find a used kit that might be worth considering.

We highly recommend that further research is done based on our guide. There are often additional parts, tunes or upgrades for base-level turbo that may be either vital or purely suit your preferences.

Wondering what a turbocharged BRZ can do? Here is a 600-horsepower monster that eats muscle cars for lunch.

Thank you for reading our BRZ turbo kit guide

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