actually, Andrew Brownsword, Mike P, and Allan Wong have been boosting longer...there are a few others as well, who have been under positive pressure for years. I have only been doing it aboot 6 months, so am not sure what you mean buy "successful". As far as HP, I am competitive w/ 235whp, most boosted (internally stock) kl03s are between 210-240whp. But Mike P has had something like 270ft/lbs compared to my 251, and I am unsure of Andrew's tq #s. Once again, Allan (with forged pistons/rods) is way off the scale w/ nearly 300whp and 300ft lbs. As far as being successful at the track, I am unsure how I compare, as I am unaware of the other turbo guys ever running. I am sure Allan ran his 626 to 13.7 however, so that puts me in the hunt. Its just hard to compare #s as we all use dif turbos, etc. I WILL put the design and quality of the kit on my car up against ANYONE however, as I am sure its right near the top in that aspect. (welds, layout, easy to maintain).
To answer your price question, I paid Turbonetics $667.20 for the TURBO.

and a bunch more for the complete install. The shop tells me to tell people to budget close to $5,000 for the finished job. (hardware, labor - NO guages, NO msd, NO electronics). But that DOES include dyno-tuning on a wide band AF guage, temp guages, FP guage, etc. AND great costomer support (which really wounldnt do any good to someone outside the greater Tacoma area).
Hope that clears things up...
Darin