Im looking to begin building my first engine. Im debating weather or not to go with a B series and build a N/A engine or a D series with a turbo. The car this engine will go into will be my daily driver after this project is finished.... that being said, im wondering how much turbocharging an engine will affect reliability. Is it just a question of people over boosting and thats why engines fail sooner and running at a modest pressure will allow me to go 150k on the engine after i finish it? I see VW, Subaru's yada yada running around with factory turbos for miles and miles with no issues. Whats the shibby?

 

tuning is key.

how you drive the car, what parts you use, and how well you maintain the engine.

 

True dat.
we all know how Honda's in general are reliable, right?
Just keep the quality of parts high, change oils more frequently, etc.
Put it this way, the reliability of your engine is only as good as your lowest quality part.
I am in the middle of a d-series vitara build, and i know guys who have put many many thousand miles on their boosted rigs. QUALITY QUALITY QUALITY
And don't cheap out on the tune!!
Good luck!!

 

Whats your HP goal?

Whats your Budget?

You could get a SOHC cheap, throw a turbo kit on it, buy the Fuel management and get a good tune for $1500. You will save gas and it will be very reliable if tuned right and taken care of. And if you want to build, for under $1000 you could get the Vitara/Eagle package from FJDISTRIBUTOS.com and can hold up to 350whp.

but....

If you have the money or the connect, u can always go B/h/k. They are more expensive to buy and build. But if you want power, this is probably the easiest way to get it. My friends stock B16A2 Turbo get 283whp with 225trq. Thats probably what a built DD sohc turbo gets. He has had his car like this for like four years now, and hasn't ran into no problems because he takes car of his car.


I got a SOHC Turbo setup that cost me under $900 for the Turbo kit, Tune, and Fuel Management as a DD and its been all good so far,

 

the quality of the parts you use, state of the motor before boosting
the tune is the most important part..
and maintenance..
if you drive it like a tool and treat it like one
its going to break