In the past year my girlfriend has gone from 'durr my car has a gas pedal' to taking an actual interest in vehicles and power. I chalk it up to the countless hours I've spent in my Miata building it up for autox and her having to hold parts while I bolt them in . A few weeks ago she mentioned to me that she wishes her 98 Civic LX automatic had a little more power for when she needs to pass someone or pull out into traffic.

Looking at countless threads I've come to the conclusion that N/A power, even a Y8 head swap is utterly pointless as it's not going to provide the power she's looking for until it's near redline. My thinking is going with a small turbo or supercharger that spools quick and makes most of it's power around mid range RPM(where most of the driving will be done, bloody slushboxes). My realistic power goals are in the 140-150hp range, enough to give the car a bump without reducing reliability or requiring hundreds/thousands in internal engine modification.

The car already has a Y8 intake and throttle body, AEM CAI, and 2.5" Magnaflow SS exhaust(last one rotted at every weld from the header back, decides FTS and spent the extra on SS). I don't plan on running an IC unless it's absolutely required, and have absolutely no plans for big power gains. Essentially I'm looking for recommendations for a mani and turbo, and a good piggy back as retention of OBDII is an absolute requirement for NYS emissions. Is this adventure doable for around $1k USD or am I just wasting time and money and should tell her to go buy a used Speed3 or WRX?

 

With a small t3 or dsm turbo you would have the spool you are looking for if you go the t3 route an ebay cast manifold should do the trick(find one with good wastegate placement). If your gf doesnt want the bling bling of a fmic you could use a dsm intercooler. A set of 440cc injectors and a restistor box will get you to the power goal you are looking for. I dont think an aftermarket fuel pump will be needed. I hope that helps

 

A walbro 255 would be needed regardless.... and its cheap insurance against **** happening.

But just a warning, Honda automatics can't hold power for ****

 

the auto will fail and not much in the cheap ecu range for tuning with an auto.

 

Oh I'm fully aware of the $***-tier Honda automatics(I mean who puts a non-replaceable filter in a transmission, really?). That's the other reason the power goal is so low, now if it were a 5-spd then I'd probably put some more work into it and try to get around 180-190hp.

And yes, she doesn't care what it looks like under the hood as long as it works and doesn't crap out for no reason. I personally like the quality of Garrett products(Miata gets a GT2560R in the Spring), so I was looking at the GT2052 being a small, internally gated turbo, however I'm partially shamed to admit that although I understand I'd want a lower A/R due to exhaust volume/power goals I can't seem to wrap my head around proper Trim size and relation to the project. Tips/links would be greatly appreciated. I'm also happy to see I'm not just being flamed into a corner as what usually happens in these threads.

 

your not gonna get hardly any power out of that motor without building the internals, not for long at least.

 

Are you serious? I made 307 on a stock mini me and e85.

 

Its possible to build the setup for $1,000 give or take, but tuning is going to be the biggest hurdle. If you put down 180-200whp, i can't imagine anything breaking too quickly as long as youre nice to it. A tranny cooler wouldnt be a bad idea at some point too...

 

what auto ecu can you tune besides aem or motec lol.

 

She doesnt even need 200whp. 150whp and bunch of butt torque in a civic that came with probably 100/80 ft-lbs will be a big leap lol

 

AFC hack For tuning? Idk much about it but in the faq there is a pretty good writeup it might work for this situation
?

 

This is EXACTLY what I'm talking about. She's not trying to race, just not get creamed by an SUV doing 80mph when trying to get on the Interstate.

The hardest part of all this looks to be the electronics. I have a listing of all the hardware and I'm looking good as far as my preferred budget, but trying to find a guide for making or retrofitting a resistor box for OBDIIa has left me on path for the nut house. Either I'm really over-thinking all this, or trying to get a turbo into a Honda using the stock ECU is exponentially harder than doing the same with a Mazda ECU.

 

You can use an aem fic, it piggybacks the stock ecu and just controls fuel and ignition

 

i would like to know how many of you offering advice actually have a boosted d series or real world experience with what your talking about.

stock fuel pump will flow up to around 220whp. experience.
stock block will handle 200-220 no problem. Except the d15 which would be a bit less. experience.
if you can keep your IAT's in control you technically dont need an intercooler. but i would suggest one. They can be very cheap.
i am selling my set up in the next month or two. t25 turbo/hf manifold/fmic+piping/injectors

fun/quick spooling set up!

now what i can’t tell you is how long that auto trans will last. 5spd swap!

 

for the tuning side you could get an obd2a-obd1 conversion harness and a chipped obd1 ecu and tune it on crome

 

From the hours of reading I've done it's pretty much come down to knowing that the stock motor can handle the amount of power I'm trying to milk out of it. The transmission is another story, but I'm less concerned about that as Honda automatics are a dime a dozen at any junkyard, and not terribly difficult to swap.

I got your PM and will look into the D-Series forums for more specifics on piggybacks and tuning, but I'm pretty sure I have the equipment I'm going to use sorted out.

As I've stated multiple times, the stock ECU must be retained for emissions reasons. If I could drop to OBDI and keep the car legal for road use I would not even be here.

 

1. I know the stock pump could probably handle that power but think of how old it is and the amount of time on the pump, a walbro is a cheap insurance policy vs. having a pump fail, killing a ,motor
2. Correct, the weal link being the stock connecting rods.
3. Correct again, a small turbo like a 2052 at that low of a boost level probably wouldn't need an intercooler... especially if he uses aluminum charge piping, as that will cause lower temps as well (aluminum sheds heat quickly)

 

it's a honda pump man it will last forever!

but ya i get where you are going. i was just saying that it is possible. im running a stock pump myself. i bought a brand new walbro 255 but havent installed it solely for the reason that at my boost levels my stock pump works fine. if it ever fails, i hope my lean protection kicks in.

 

keeping the stock eu and pulling the kit off at inspection time is a possibility. have seen several people do that that around here in order to pass inspection/emissions. kind of a hassle but much better than a piggyback system as far as the tuning goes

 

You can keep the turbo kit on and remove the wastegate arm off the flapper, or disconnect the hot pipe off of the turbo and slap an air filter on it. Stock ecu will still do its readiness test

 

In to see how this works out. It was a route I was considering when I first started my project.

 

complete waste of time and effort scrap it and get a vti with stick shift

 

Small t25 with an aem fic to tune. some dsm injectors and she will be all set for that power goal.
Just dont know if it will stay under the $1k budget.
Other then that find a super charger.

 

i had a little Scooby Tdo4 turbo on my d series as my first kit ,... with an HF manifold , dsm injectors, 255 fuel pump, and at 10lbs it made 183 hp , 160 tq ,.... The spool was preety much instant, and this with tuning cost me less that 1000$, with tuning being the most expensive part

 

Its easy to stay under 1000 for that power level. Patience is all you need.