Article: How to turbo charge a Honda

[dohcdelsol93]

There are several ways to turbo charge your vehicle. I'm going to show you the most popular way for you to turbo a Honda and the basics of how a turbo works.

This will be a work in progress. I will add more as I get time and try to get plenty of pics. If any of you wanna chip in feel free to add.

First off: How A Turbo Works

here is a great link to read

http://rds.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0geu9aGtN.../turbowork.htm


this is my crude drawing:



What a turbo does is spins a fan using exhaust gases. This spins a shaft to the other side of the turbo that spins another fan that forces air into the charge pipe. The air is then cooled by the intercooler (optional but we will disguss that later)

Then that air is forced into your engine. The more air you can put into an engine the more fuel you can put into the engine. This makes it run both more efficiently and gives you more horse power.


Parts of the turbo system:

Turbo: this is the heart of the system. there are many different sizes of and types turbos out there so be sure to find which one suites your application. Factor in you hose power goals, how you drive your car (race or street or both) and what size engine you have. Avoid cheap turbos like Ebay turbos. Borg Warner/Greddy/Turbotechnics and Precision all make quality turbos. Some turbos have a water cooled feature. All of them have oil lubrication feeds and returns. Some are ball bearing and some are thrust bearing. Both have advantages and disadvantages.

Turbo manifold: There are many variations of this. It's sole purpose is to feed all the exhaust gases to the exhaust side of the turbo. There are small cast log manifolds to huge top mount and side winder manifolds. Some manifolds allow you to keep AC and PS. Others do not...shop around to figure you what kind suites you best. The smaller the manifold the quicker it usually spools. The bigger/longer the manifold usally means more possible horse power. You can buy them from as little as 75 bucks up to over a grand. Beware of cheap ebay manifolds that crack and break. There are hundreds of quality manifolds on the market, just becuase it's 100-200 bucks doens't mean it's not a good manifold. There are quick cars using a cheap cast drag manifold and realitively slow cars using a $900 Peak boost manifold. They are most commonly made out of stainless steel and cast iron. They are made out of different thicknesses, usually the thicker the better. Sch 10 is the as thin of material you would want to use. Ceramic coating is also a nice feature that helps flow and increases the life span of the manifold. When applied properly a ceramic coated manifold will kieeps it's nice look for years compared to paint that fades and burns.

Log manifold (cast)


tubular ram horn


Wastegate: This bolts onto either your turbo manifold or on your turbo. It has a spring inside it to regulate the amount of air pressure that is fed into your engine.

Tial wastegate: IMO the best choice on the market

this is a 35/38 mm but there are larger. This is the most common one



here is a tial 44mm wastegate. It is better for higher boost applications. Some turbo manifolds come flanged for this wastegate and it will not hurt to use them for lower boosting applications


Dump tube: This bolts to your waste gate to take extra exhaust gases that are released out to the atmosphere and out of your engine bay or into your exhaust system after the turbo.



Intercooler: There are many variations of the intercooler. There is water to air and air to air. It's self explanitory. One uses atmospheric air to cool your charged air, the other uses your coolent system. For most applications the air to air is plenty and it's the cheapest and easiest to use. An intercooler is not neccessary but helps make your turbo more efficient. There are many variations of shapes and sizes and ways for a turbo to mount. The most popular aftermarket intercoolers are front mount. Some sleepers like side mount intercoolers. Base the size and type of intercooler on your horse power goals.

some random intercoolers



blow off valve: There are many different makes and brands of this product but all of them work about the same. When you let off your gas when boosting it releases the extra pressure the turbo is putting off. This takes alot of stress off of your turbo.






In order to turbo an engine that does not already have a turbo you must add each one of these componets but it doesn't stop there. These are items you must have to complete the install.

fittings and oil line. You need to tap the engine to supply oil to your turbo then return the oil back to your engine at the oil pan. Most people supply the oil to the engine by putting a brass T in at the oil sending unit at the back of the block. I urge against this since brass is not a strong metal and can easily break off. I recomend a oil fitler pancake. This puts a source to tap into the pressureised oil supply between the oil fitler and block without using brass fittings that break so easily. I recomend -3 an stainless braided line for your oil feed and depending on what brand/model turbo you buy you will probably be required to put a reducer in the feed line so the turbo doesn't see more than 35-40 psi. For the oil return line you want to use -10an line or bigger. You will need a flange to attach a fitting to the bottom of your turbo along with a gasket to provide a seal for the flange. Use teflon on all pipe fittings but do not use teflon tape on compression fittings. Tap into the oil pan in the best location for your turbo, one that provides the least amount of turns to prevent restrictive oil flow. Make sure you put the hole for the return flange above the oil fill level, usually an inch from the top of the pan. Have the fitting on the oil pan welded in to prevent leaks.

here is what you want your oil return line to look like



Vaccume fittings and plenty of vaccume hose. The waste gate and blow off valve all run off of vaccume and you must tap into the OEM system.

Boost gauge. You don't need anything fancy but you definatly want a quality gauge that will give you accurate readings. This will help you and the tuner to know exactly what boost levels your reaching. Also very helpful in watching for boost spikes.

Oil catch can. Your oem car PCV system is not made to see positive pressure in the crank case (boost from the turbo). This can cause premature engine wear and blown seals. You must ventilate your pcv gases somewhere other than the intake. This is where the oil catch can comes in. Run all PCV hoses to the catch can and your done. There are other ways to do this but this is the easiest.

better fuel system. I recomend a fuel managment system. Bigger injectors, bigger fuel pump and a system like Hondata/nepTune and crome pro. This allows you to get the most out of your tubo in both horse power and reliability. Without it you will blow up your engine. I hate FMU's and missing links so I will not even tell you how they work. Get a reputable tuner and ask him/her what kind of system they tune. Base your injector size on what your horse power goals. In most applications bigger injectors and a fuel pump is manditory

access to a welder and or a muffler shop. Fabricating your intercooler, charge, down and exhaust pipes can be complicated and time consuming withouth the proper equipment. You need a welder, a ban saw of some sort, tape measure, couplers, a flex pipe and T bolt clamps to assemble all your piping. Depending on you set up you may also need some special adapters/reducers or couplers.

Tuning. Using some sort of engine managment system you will need to make your new set up reliable. Whether you have a used 500 dollar kit or a 10,000 dollar custom Fullrace system you will need a good tune to make your car run both efficiently and reliably. Talk to your tuner about what system they recomend. Having an expensive AEM stand alone will not do any good if they only tune (insert system here)

spark plugs. You will need cooler spark plugs. Your goals will affect the heat range you will want, this also affects how much smaller than stock you want the gap.

fuel. High octane fuel works the best as it prevents detonation. I recomend 93. Some applications will require race fuel. I do not recomend these levels of boost demanding race fuel for for a street car.


Map sensor. Most stock map sensors will not read boost or much boost. Chances are you will need an aftermarket map sensor so your engine will be able to read boost and transfer these readigns back to the ECU.

Clutch. You cant expect to run twice the stock horse power of the OEM engine and have the oem clutch grip for you. There are many different clutches out there. Pick a reputable one depending on your application. Avoid unsprung or dual clutches for street applications these clutchs have no give, they are either engaged or not engaged. They will be a real pain in city/traffic/traffic light driving. They will cause abnormal wear on engine mounts and cv axles. A good street disk with a tight gripping pressure plate is great for most any application for upto 350 WHP

suspension upgrades. Replace any worn or torn engine mounts or suspension bushings. These can cause problems shifting under load and/or wheel hop. This can cause damage to your cv axles or differential. Traction bar may need to be added to further reduce wheel hop and increase traction

struts and springs. doubling horse power may require you to replace stock economy soft struts and springs with some stiffer aftermarket ones to help keep the wheels to the ground.

exhaust. With a turbo kit installed on your car you may want to invest in a new exhaust system. Replacing the restricitve factory exhaust system can help unlock alot of horse power. You want to replace it before tuning because any modification to change the flow of the system will cause you to need a new tune

One thing to consider before turboing your engine is what kind of condition it is in. You don't want to throw a turbo kit on an engine that is worn out and about to blow up. I have seen newer engines that are worn out and old engines that are in perfect condition. The better the engine has been taken care of the better your chances are that it will be ok to turbo. I strongly suggest a compression test and leak down test to tell the condition of your engine.

I recomend changing the internals of the engine. The stock rotating assembly of most N/A engines (non turbo, naturally asperated) have cast internals. There are exceptions but do your research to see if you are are one of the fortuneate few to own an S2K or other factory forged internal engine.

If you are not you might want to consider stronger connecting rods and pistons. Forged are your best bet but there are exceptions like Vitara pistons for honda D series engines. Again...do your research. There are many people out there making alot of good horse power on stock engine internals. However, stock internals are all cast...cast parts of OEM hondas were not made to see the cylinder pressure nor the heat given by a turbo.

You also want to make sure you do not have any check engine lights. Any check engine lights can give you problems once you get it running and ready to be tuned.

You may also want to install ARP head studs in your engine. OEM head studs like to stretch and walk under all the added cylinder pressure a turbo can cause(ver common in Honda D and B series engines). This can result in blown head gaskets.


Some people buy turbo kits. Some of these kits provide lots of power, others are only intermediate in power gains. There are many brands out there like Drag, revhard, Greddy, Fullrace and so on. I suggest you avoid all ebay turbo kits. If you do your research you can piece together your own custom turbo kit and have a system that will out perform most turbo kits and look unique at the same time. Turboing your car can be very fun but avoid short cuts, do your research and know that it is expensive to turn a N/A car into a turbo car. Take your time and do it right the first time. If you dont' I'll buy your turbo parts for a very cheap price. Good luck and have fun with boost.



It time to check out your engine, get rid of all oil/coolant leaks do the compression and leak down test. Make sure shes in good condition. If the timing belt and water pump have not been replaced in 60,000 miles it's time to do that. Do some research on your engine and see if your OEM oil pump will hold up to the strain an oil pump puts on your system. Alot of D series engines do not like turbos and can easily cause a spun bearing. Replace if needed.

Also check for any worn out cv axles

If all your engine mounts are in good shape and you have a good clutch to hold the torque a turbo motor will put out it's time to start the install


Start off by removing the stock a/f and intake system from the box at the fender/front bumper all the way to the intake manfold. Next you want to remove your stock manifold. Take note at whwhere the stock manifold is supported at the back of the block by a small bracket. You will want to re-use this bracket to support your down pipe. Chances are you will need a ban saw, marker, measuring tape and some trial and error time to start installing the turbo manifold, turbo, wastegate, intercooler and then connecting them all with your charge/intercooler pipes. This is also a good time to start measuring and cutting for your down pipe and mount your blow off valve where you want it (some like the bov about a ft away from the throttle body, others like it after the turbo and before the intercooler). once your down pipe is in place you will want to bolt up your down pipe. I like mine to be a minimum of 14 inches and to lead out of the engine bay. Some states require inspection and you will need to run your duptube into the exhaust pipe

intercooler piping/couplers and T bolt clampts



here is a dump tube integrated into the down pipe:



you will also need to weld your flex pipe and o2 sensor bung into your down pipe which will look similar to this

make sure your 02 sensor is atleast 2 ft from the turbo to prevent it from overheating and burning up. Just make sure that the 02 sensor bung is before the cat if your running one





If you are welding it up your self remember to tack everything in place to start, you can always go back and weld later. Make sure everything is in place and has plenty of ground clearance before you start welding. One the intercooler/charge pipes you will not need to make as many welds becuase you can use couplers to hold the pipes together. Make sure you use T bolt clamps instead of worm gear clamps, worm gear clamps can blow off very easily under boost.

With the turbo in place you can go ahead and make the mark on the oil pan where the oil return line fitting needs to be welded. Remove pan and weld away. Re-install with a new oil pan gasket and go ahead with runing your feed line from the oil feed adapter on the back of the block and fit up your return line

here is what an oil sandwich plate (pancake) looks like. It's much more reliable than an T fitting and it also leaves a space for extra oil feed like an oil pressure gauge (i highly recomend)




once you have installed your kit it is now time to install your new injectors (and resistor box if needed) Some honda wiring harnesses require new injectr clips or modification of injector clips before the new injectors can be installed. Usually these are OBDO or OBDII wiring harnesses.

now it is time to remove your old fuel pump and install the new one.

Then you get to your oil catch can installed. Take the catch can and mount it anywhere lower than the head of the engine. Run the pcv fitting from your valve cover to the catch can. Then re-route the pcv tube on the intake manifold to your catch can aswell (the check valve will either need to be replaced with a free flowing one or the check ball drilled out so it will breath under pressure)

Make sure your oil catch can is vented! There are other ways to vent your system but they are much more complicated and expensive. Do I think they are better....NO!


now it's time to put a vaccume manifold in your bay and attach it to the vaccume source. I like to use the pcv return that you just opend up by removing the the tube off of the manifold. You will use the vaccume manifold to feed pressure to your bov, waste gate, boostcontroller (if you have one) and boost gauge

here is what a vaccume block/manifold looks like this:


Mount your boost gauge somewhere on the dash or in a gage pod where it is easily visible.

Go ahead and add oil to be sure you don't have any leaks.

If you have an aftermarket exhaust system to bolt up now is the time to do it.

Go ahead and install your new map sensor if you are using one.

It's also time to do any remaining wiring details (optional egt gauge, turbo timer, lighting for gauges, boost controller ect)

Its now time to install a socketed ECU and I hope that your tuner has gotten you a base map so you can fire up your engine to check for any leaks and to run to be sure everything is running ok. Some applications (like obdII or obd0 applications will need an adapter harness to run the obdI socketed ecu) It's also good to double and tripple check the oil pressure, all fluids (coolant, oil, and tranny fluid). 99% of base maps will not run the car at all so I recomend only running through a few heat cycles and maybe driving around the drive way or neigbor hood to be sure everything is installed well and will be OK for hours of tuning.


Now it's time to trailor the car to the tuner and get to work on tuning. Good luck. Make sure to bring extra water, oil and a few basic tools including a jack just incase you run into any problems while tuning. Usually you have to drive a good distance to a tuner and nothing is worse for a tuner than getting there and not having everything ready for him. I'd go as far as telling you to bring an extra set of spark plugs. (ask the tuner for what heat range he recomends for your boost level)

Good tuners usually spend time tuning on the street first since it's hard to duplicate the same situations on the dyno as what you see on the street. Thehy usually tune everything but WOT boost on the street. IF you find one that tunes everything on the street God bless him, he is brave and a great person. Then they put the car on a dyno to dial in the boost WOT part of the tune and anything else he sees. Then it's back to the street to double check all the numbers.

Now your ready to go to the strip, street or local sonic to show off your V8 killing 4 cylinder.

[dohcdelsol93]

could a mod please change the title to "how to turbo your honda"

[TehMan]

very nice post :)

[Chubz]

good work, repped

[Chubz]

Good Job on the ranking fella..
http://www.google.com/search?sourcei...charge+a+Honda+

[TehMan]

three cheers for josh