turbo maintenance
 

hey guys

tonight i was so into turbos and stuff, so i search around and read whatever i found about turbo... anyways, i've notice and i also agreed that turbo can be reliable with money just like going N/A on a motor. I've been thinking of turbo-ing my D for quite a bit like most people do. But again, I know I won't have too much money to play around due to school. So I'm just having fun with my stock y8 motor! haha =)

Anyways, to my main point is, I've seen you guys all say that a turbo requires more maintenance, and that's the one thing that cost our money and time (patience to maintain). However, I couldn't find a post that lists all the required maintenance. So can those who have valuable knowledge/experience with turbos, please post here all the key maintenance stuff. Like I know the general requirement for engines is to oil change regularly, flush and clean certain amount of KMs, etc etc. So, if you can, please post up a list if possible...

Lastly, I have found a kit for sale that has everything (on TCC), it doesn't come with a FMU, but that guy said it comes with an ECU that is already tuned with uberdata (or something like that, please correct me as i have very little knowledge with those uberdata, vafc, etc stuff) Anyways, the ECU is obd1 and its tuned for a stock d16z6 motor. I'm driving a 96 Si (obd2 and running d16y8). My few questions are:
1) If the ecu is tuned properly to run for a d16z6, will it run properly on my d16y8 or does it require tuning again? (Considering I will probably pick up a obd1-obd2 hareness converter.)

2) The seller indicates that he had the turbo installed in his EG without needing to remove the a/c, so it means the turbo kit (lines and manifold or whatever that is) clears enough room to keep the A/C Condenser in the car to allow the a/c working. However, the turbo clears room for the a/c on an EG engine bay, from your judgement/knowledge/or experience, will it also clear room in my coupe's engine bay to keep the a/c in the car? Or the engine bay size between EG hatch and EK coupe are completely different?

THanks for reading this long post! Thanks for the help and responses.. I try to post what's not been posted before as I always search before I post. Hope you guys find these questions new! haha :cheers:

well.. you will always run into problems trust me.. my cars been in the shop for 3 weeks because my manifold broke.. other than that if you dont rag on teh car to much you should be fine.. the computer might have to be tuned.. its a diff car. im not to sure how that works.. but its like 200 dls.. depends where u go.. u might have to upgrade some things. also.

u want to take ur car to the dyno to get the cpu mapped and tuned. so it can run perfect.

this might give u a little idea. not sure if it will help.. or how the d series go. and the list dosent mean u have to get the same stuff..

i have a b18c. GSR turbo

i had to u upgrade my clutch i have a stage 4 dosent mean u have to get a stage 4 but it lasts longer.. stock clutch will go fast.
fuel system 440cc fuel injectors. u can get 440cc 450cc. 550cc etc depends what u want right.
cam gears.
gas regulator
fuel pump
pistons
turbonetics wastegate.
and some other things.. lol i forget.

and the turbo manifold is what comes out of ur motor and goes to the downpipe to ur muffler.

if your gonna buy a turbo. a used one make sure all the parts are good before you buy it.. make sure the turbofan is in good condition and the rest of the kit. no crackes etc.

just be aware some people sell them because somthing is wrong etc. just letting you know.. so have it checked out by somone who knows before you spend your money..

any questions pm me. laters

I drive my hatch alot. It makes over 500 on race and over 400 on pump. I havent had a single issue in 2 years of driving. maintence = changing oil reg as you would, and cleaning the filter on the turbo. I admit I dont beat on it hard all the time but thats what its built for. You wont have a issue if you go with a good set up. A **** manifold will crap, a badly built downpipe will break or crack. A bad old turbo will leak chances are due to old worn seals.

Tuning is key, get a good tune and keep it on the rich side to be safe.

My other hatch has a built ctr motor in it. I BEAT on it everyday and loves it and comes back for more.

Just be careful if buying second hand if you dont know alot as its very easy to get screwed. Buy quality even though your on a tight budjet. Save up as in the long run, it will cost you much less!

:dito:

thanks for the advice... i really like your last line... "save up for the long run, it'll cost me much less later"

Another thing to check regularly is your spark plugs.
Spark plugs tell all.

Crap, yeah its always good to check your plugs. I admitt I dont check mine but I know my tune is a+ and another thing is to always use good gas and listen more then anything for weird sounds and look into them right away. Dont just say. " Well, Ill check in a week or so".

Many times Ive had my turbo start to come loose from the dp or the actuall turbo mani. But best way is to save and do it right :)

IMO a boosted D for a daily driver is unrealistic. A lot of little things can go wrong, such as an oil leak or if the tune is garbage or you beat on it too much you may crack your block or something of that nature. If you have a beater you can drive if there is a problem such as an oil leak.. then I say go for it.

If you're dedicated to boosted your D, get a compression test done first.. depending on the results then you should decide weither or not your d16 is a good candidate for boost. Just make sure you get a good tune. Tuning is the key for turbocharged engines.

To answer your a/c question... I'm pretty sure if the downpipe clears the EG a/c then it should clear the EK a/c. But don't quote me on this. I would just take out the a/c anyways for more room

To answer youe ecu question.. you will need a obd2 to obd1 conversion harness which is around.. $100, I believe. Also, since the ecu is obd1 i "believe" (i'm not too sure, so once again dont quote me on this) you will have to change your injectors and distrubator to convert the head to obd1.

I hope I answered some of your questions. Please if I made a mistake or misquoted him.. somebody help me out.

thanks

just listen to Kenny!

Crazy civik, what kind of manifold do you have????
sounds to me like its CRAP!

I will warn you on this though with a boosted d series motor.

They more then any other honda motor ive ever seen like to blow head gaskets. Its a bitch to change and costly everytime unless you do all the work yourself.

We here in Ottawa have a few REALLY well build turbo d's. Sam with his el and chris with his ek coupe are examples and they have both had gasket issues. Both run VERY STRONG though and both guys are very happy.

Chris is now sending his block to benson to be fully built and assembled, about 4g's and I belive sam is going k series baller :)

good luck and just make sure you know what your doing. Your best friend could be to sit back and read threads on honda tech for the next few months :P

HONDA TECH OWNS U

especially for useful info!

thanks guys.... i guess if its a daily driver, i gotta be prepare to have money around to fix it and deal with maintenance, otherwise, its not as fun and realistic for my wallet......

after all these advice, i know i should save up more and wait till the winter is over before i'm looking for a turbo or a motor swap.... i'm just researching right now first, so that if a deal do pop up (such as one i found around lately), i can buy it first and install it later... but again, i really like the advice that if i don't know my turbo stuff too well, its never too smart go check it out alone and to get a used turbo kit...

thanks for the advice...
i also found a 94 gsr motor that includes everything and it has about 130K on it with new head gaskets, dizzy parts, etc etc done like 15000km ago... its about 2500$ and 600$ to install by a mech that guy knows too... it also has the obd1-obd2 converter hareness included.... what's your advice on that? that guy is also willing to do a compression test for me... what kinda compression should it be on the cyclinders? i know it should all be relatively the same... if one is lower than the others, there might be a bad cyclinder... but how much psi is good?

well here, lets go back to me 8 years ago.

I buy a 92 si with no km/s on it, mod it to stereo heaven. relaize its stupid slow so i rip it all out. Body kit and so on. Now i want speed. I was REALLY wanting asupercharger for the daily drivevability but its only got so much potential so i went 00 j spec gsr swap. Put that in a and a 80 shot nos., Was great fun, ran great. best time with just gsr and ra1's was 13.9 and with now I got it down to a 12.9. Good stuff.

1 year later racing a camaro i tried to launch hard with it as i had many times and BOOM. first engine blown. BYE BYE. piston threw head pretty much ordeal.

Complete another gsr swap. this time with a turbo set up. Ran it at 12 psi intercooled daily and hondata. made 330whp and ran great till i blew the oil gears. No oil pressure will own you. I runied a complete mtotr :( (even the turbo ran w/o oil too long and it had to be rebuilt.

Next motor was itr (good deal), Got it sleeved by litner at time. Ran it good for one year, at 16 daily it made 360 and i went a best of 12.2 @118mph. Thenm one dayon hwy, (probably last day b4 it was gonna go away). The 3rd cylinder cracked due to exessive heat. ANother garbage block.

I was really pissed now after spending probably 10-15,000 on motors and building them i REALLY decide to try and do it right.

I mean i already went and got pro drive oil gears to be safe. all my fuel was taken care of. engine managment, everything. Head was fully built and ported and polished but blocks or maybe a **** sleeve job by litner.

Went and talked to concept wheels. Got myself one of the first dart race blocks in canada ( 2 years ago). Built it from scratch as you have to. Ive beaten on it for 2 years. havent had a problem at all. God myself a good big fmic. a new tune, paul from splutfire built me a good turbo mani, I wish I could have only done it so well the first time but live and learn. This motor makes huge power with alot more potential but i dont want to spend more on fuel as it has to many issues hookin up now.

Ill post a video of it this week in action from stop to 270km /h

It was good enough to go 11.4@20psi

ive tried so many thing but if you want cheap and reliable, compression test your stock d, if go, look at a jackson super charger :) if not, go balls out and have fun raping bikes :P or do it right, conservative tune and enjoy a good streetable 300whp :)

YES! SHOW us a video!!!

post that video of you ripping it on the streets. i have that video and DAMN your car is quick.

Kenny, when u went through motors, thats what makes me think twice!!!

but i guess u pay to play!!!!
and now you have done it right!

ya, my car goes away in a few days and UI have pals that are still asking for rides so tonight i took er out. Funnt thing is i did a 1/4 pass on my streets and i went 12.24 and it was kinda uphill. I was satisfied. But on way home, i was wondering if the vtec was workin. When your in boost you dont ever hear it. So i slowly wenty threw frist till 6500 and no vtec. Get home, low oil so i add some. Stupid vtec but that means i went mid-low 12's on streets at 15-17 psi, haha funny :P

Video, I will be getting it up this week and i will make a link as usuall from ht to here :)

CRAZYINESS!!!

sorry about my grammer there. crap :S

So Ill put up a vid this week forsure. Right now I have a run from 0-268 but she wasnt very steady at holding the cam on the dig speedo so :S But its hard when your spinnign threw most of the gears but i still blame her. Ill redo it with my video guy (hes more steady) and ill throw a bit in the footage and get er done!

night guys.


See when you build it up right, you can beat on it more and not worrie. But still anything can happen anytime.

Although i will say this, the dart block, and the beautiful yonaka aluminum rad allows my car to run MUCH cooler. My ctr powered white hatch runs almost at half all the time, dyno na at 180whp while my 400+ yellow never even getr near half at all. (Y)

man how does the car feel at those speeds, it must be scary to even move the steering wheel.