[SolLesHonda]

Ok guys, along with VR17, I think that this will eliminate the need for the same old questions over and over, and is a great reference to have on the Forums.


Necessities For A Good Turbo Build, + Explanations

Turbo - Pretty Obvious. For most Honda motors, a T3, T3/T04, and T04 are great choices. If you need more info on what exactly a turbo does or how it works, click here. It is essential that you know the basics about a tubro before you own one. It is stupid to buy something you know nothing about, so read up on it.

Turbo Manifold - How else is the turbo going to get hooked up to the car? There are many variations of turbo manifolds, from Honda factory ones cut and modded to hold a turbo, to ram-horn, tubular, log, and mini ram, equal length. It is important that your manifold is of equal length, and is crafted well. SSautochrome ebay seller manifolds are not very good, and will crack. Some manifolds can be used with A/C and power steering, but will be made special. Also, you must see if the manifold has a spo for an external wastegate. Some manifolds are made for itnernally wastegated turbo's, so you'll want to make sure of that too.

Intercooler - It's the main thing people see when they look at the front exterior of your car. They look amazing, but what exactly do they do ? Well, most people will say that intercoolers resemble radiators, which they do, but they work a little differently. Intercoolers have air pass through inside, as well as outside of it. The intake air passes through sealed little passages, while cooler air is pushed against the intercooler. The intercooler cools down the air which results in mroe power. Cooler air is denser, which ultimately leads to more power.

Blow Off Valve - These are the things that everyone loves the sound of. If you don't like the sound of it, you're just plain stupid. A BOV is mounted on the Intake plumbing or charge piping, and releases excess air from the turbo. When the air is generated from the turbo and the throttle is suddenly closed (shifting), that excess air will need to go somewhere. The BOV will release it, thus saving your turbo.

Wastegate - The wastegate limits the turbo's shaft speed, and keeps the turbo from over-speeding. The wastegate simply stabilizes boost pressure. There are different springs you can use for the wastegate to regulate the pressure (psi). Often times they are measured in BAR. 1 BAR = 14.5 psi.

Charge Piping - This is the piping that connects the intake manifold to the turbo. It runs down like a normal CAI, leads to the to the intercooler, to the compressor side of the turbo. The turbo sends air through the charge piping, get's cooled by the intercooler, and enters into the engine. Simple enough.

Downpipe - Ok, now that the turbo has gotten the power into the engine, how does the air get transferred out through the exhaust ? Well, being that you don't have a header with a turbo, you have to have a downpipe from the turbo to lead to the exhaust system. For a turbo'd Honda 2.5"-3" is a sufficient size to provide good airflow and power. Whatever you do, it wold be my personal recommendation to use the same size diameter downpipe as exhaust system. For example, do not use a 2.5 inch downpipe with 3inch exhaust.

Oil Feed and Return Lines - The turbo does need to be lubricated. Oil Feed lines will accomplish this. This is probably the cheapest part of the project. You can get stainless braided lines for cheap, or even get them from Home Depot if you want to save money. The oil feed runs from the back of the block to the turbo, and back to the oil pan. Simple enough. Bearings need lubrication. Don't seize your turbo by not spending $40 to buy oil feed/return lines.

EMS - It is essential to have some type of Engine Management System. Do not go cheap and buy some "hack", buy Hondata or other products like Neptune. Have your set up tuned, dybno tuned for best results. Hondata offers many other options such as Wide-Open Throttle shifting, removable rev limiter, and launch control.

Fuel System - You will want to upgrade your fuel system when you turbo your car. Get a set of RC Engineering Injectors, they are great for the price. There are many other brands, but for the money, they can't be beat. A new fuel rail and fuel pressure regulator are not necessarily needed, but a good upgrade to get. What's an extra $200 ? A Walbro in-tank fuel pump wouldn't be a bad idea either. You have to get the fuel there somehow. They are $100 dollars and are capable of 255lph. Good stuff.

Engine Modifications - What fun is a turbo on stock internals ? Talking about upgrading your internals can go on for pages, but for running high boost safely, you will want to purchase new pistons, rods, and rod bolts. While you have the engine apart and you are looking to run some serious numbers, or just want a bullet-proof block, go ahead and have the block honed and re-sleeved. Get some new bearings to top it off. For the head, it wouldn't be smart to put all that money into the block and leave the head completely stock. That's just not fair to your engine. A new line of valves/springs/retainers are a ncie addition, and make your turbo set-up last. A new cam and cam gear will add a little more power to the car, and make VTEC a little more fun if you have it. For cams, a great choice would be Crower or Rocket Motorsports. PM member ..SSR.. for Rocket Motorsports info if you have questions.

Drivetrain - What fun is all of this turbo and power stuff if you can't keep the power on the ground ? Get a new clutch, and by new I mean aftermarket. A OEM Honda clutch isn't going to cut it for this one. While you're at it, pick up a new flywheel. Fidanza is a great maker in flywheels, but there are many other options, like ACT, etc.

Tires - A good set of tires is a must when running power like this. You can have the best set-up in the world, but if you can't grab a bit of traction, you're not going to get anywhere. Falken Azenis are great tires, and there are many others to choose from. Tires will be more expensive now, you can't buy the cheapest set from Pep Boys anymore.

Suspension - You want to be handle right ? There is so much with suspension, but your OEM stuff just isn't going to cut it. Get some new stuff. Refer to other threads for suspension mods/info.

Well, your turbo set-up is all complete. You still have tons of things you can do to get better results, like new throttle body, intake manifold, etc. Good luck, and happy boosting.

This post has been edited by SolLesHonda: 28 February 2006 - 09:38 PM

[VR17]

wow nice job.. stickied :ph34r:

[xxscaxx]

nice, solLess. you should point out though that even though its recommended, internals are not needed for a turbo setup. it was nice you added everything in there though.

[SolLesHonda]

Well, since you just said it, they can scroll down and see it there. Plus, this way, if they think they need it, they will spend the extra money and do it, and not blow up their engines. They can thank me later.:-"

[xxscaxx]

hahha, well put. btw, your new avatar is awesome.

[SolLesHonda]

Haha, yeah I know. I'm the man.


VR - Just to let you know, that took me forever. You asked me to do it at like 9:30, I finished at like 10:30 .. I wanted to make sure it was decent. I thought it was pretty good. I was going to post links, but then was like, nah, too much damn work. I'd do it for a reg in a PM, but not for a damn noob :laugh:

[90IntegraC1]

damn that's good, i copied and pasted it into word and printed it out. i hope that's okay.

[VR17]

haha thats good info!

[SolLesHonda]

90IntegraC1, on Feb 28 2006, 11:13 PM, said:

damn that's good, i copied and pasted it into word and printed it out. i hope that's okay.

Good man, I'm glad it was decent. I could write way more about each thing, but figured I'd keep the post smaller, this way people would actually read it.

[CleanGSR]

Slightly off topic, but since you mentioned it in your post (good post btw) I'll ask it here. Could you explain the whole hondata wide open throttle shifting. I know it sounds self explanatory but I'm having a hard time grasping how it actually works, what hondata actually does when you keep it floored between shifts. Explanation would be great.

[SexyH22]

you should explain that some wategates are internal and come w/ the turbo too..



and b16. do you know what a shutterbox is? basically its just another rev limiter that you set below redline for full throttle shift. it just knows while your to the floor, and the clutch is in, to drop down to that rpm and bounce off the limiter until you take the clutch out. i hope that helps a bit.

[CleanGSR]

So basically the same thing as a rev limiter for launching but does it while the car's shifting too? Does a normal rev limiter for launching do that too (while you're shifting) or is it setup different?

[SolLesHonda]

B16Vtec, on Mar 1 2006, 12:19 PM, said:

So basically the same thing as a rev limiter for launching but does it while the car's shifting too? Does a normal rev limiter for launching do that too (while you're shifting) or is it setup different?

Well, they are different. I don't necessarily know all of the technical info about it, but I know a little. BBS knows a little about it too. Let's see. I know it uses the same input that your launch control uses, as far as cables go. Basically, when you're moving and your foot is on the clutch, the rev will drop. You can preset this. Mine drops to about 5800 rpm, to match when shifting gears. It not only sounds cool, but it definately changes 1/4 times.

Sexyh22 - I didn't bother talking about itnernally w/g or external in the wastegate section, mainly becuase most aftermarket turbo's are external. I mentioned it in the manifold section though. I knew I left out things, but I wrote it off the top of my head in a few minutes .. Sorry guys.

[CleanGSR]

That's pretty cool. So you can shift a lot faster with it? Does the actual rev matching have on your qm times?

[SolLesHonda]

Are you asking does it make a difference ? Or how much of a difference ? Yes, you shift much faster and smoother IMHO.

[CleanGSR]

I was also asking if the fact that the car is rev matching makes a difference in the qm times. Not counting the fact that you can shift faster, does the rev matching part make a difference?

[SolLesHonda]

I would say so, keeps your engine rotating a similar speed, instead of falling back down.

[SexyH22]

and no turbo lag. the pressure stays in the charge pipes i think.

basically w/ hondata you get a 3 stage rev limiter. when the clutch is out, its your normal rev limiter at redline. when the clutch is in, nad your below your launch control (2,000rpm or whatever) it will stop at the rev. once your past that ,and the clutch is in, it will be your no lift shift limiter (6,000 or whatever). so you have 3 rev limits.

[SolLesHonda]

Yeah that sounds right. You can definately hear a difference too. People are always like "WTF?"

[SexyH22]

yeah, its hella cool. its called a shutterbox.