i'm looking to turbo my 03 civic ex. any recomendations on which kit to use? what about the computer and fuel upgrades? suggestions on parts i shoudl use? im trying to do as much research as i can before i buy so your help would be great
Daniel

 

If you want to buy all your stuff from one place, then i would say go to dezod.com. They have everything you need. If you know what you are doing, go custom.

 

i took a look at dezod.com and on there i can chose which EMS to use. i was thinking of going with the Greddy e-manage. does anyone have experience with it? if i go with the RSX type S injectors am i going to need a bigger fuel rail and high flow fuel pump?

 

yes, no and no.
Everyone uses emanage, personally I hate the damn thing, but it gets the job done.
Injectors are plug and play. Consensus is that anything larger will need a new pump.

 

i used to have a 95 civic ex and i was about to turbo it before i hit a deer. i know the best management system was hondata, if i were you i would see if hondata makes a mangement system for our cars. that is what i will do when i go turbo. it might be more expensive, but it will def make you ride more reliable than emanage.

 

turbokits.com has a lot of the stuff that u will need. from expericance i would go with a k20 over a turbo kit.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by shitvic01 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">turbokits.com has a lot of the stuff that u will need. from expericance i would go with a k20 over a turbo kit. </TD></TR></TABLE>

hmmm.....this brings up a good point. However, to decide between these two options, you first need to determine what your long term goals are. For example, if you only want 200 whp, you'd be much better off just turboing the D17 for about 2-3k. If you want more power than that, there is no doubt the the K series is a much more capable motor; so you might be better off dropping the 9-10k to swap the motor, then you can always further upgrade the K series from there.

Good luck, and I hope you have some deep pockets

 

even though i'll get more horsepower for my money by going with a k swap id like to stick with the d series for the challenge of it. i dont really care how much more money it costs i'll jsut work harder to save up the money for it. my main reason for workign on my cars is for the fun. if it costs alot of money oh well. thats why i have a job. i'll have to check out that website. i noticed that on dezod.com one fo the kits includes pistons and everything but im a little leary of changing them out right now cuz ive never done it and i dont exactly have the greatest garage to work in. are pistons really as much work to change out as i think they are? the dezod kits claim between like 175 and 250 whp with an automatic tranny or about 10 to 15% more with a 5speed. can anyone back these numbers up? basically im just trying to get as much info about everythign turbo as i can before i buy anythign. trying to learn from others experiences and mistakes. so any input is great.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by GJHondaMan &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">even though i'll get more horsepower for my money by going with a k swap id like to stick with the d series for the challenge of it. i dont really care how much more money it costs i'll jsut work harder to save up the money for it. my main reason for workign on my cars is for the fun. if it costs alot of money oh well. thats why i have a job. i'll have to check out that website. i noticed that on dezod.com one fo the kits includes pistons and everything but im a little leary of changing them out right now cuz ive never done it and i dont exactly have the greatest garage to work in. are pistons really as much work to change out as i think they are? the dezod kits claim between like 175 and 250 whp with an automatic tranny or about 10 to 15% more with a 5speed. can anyone back these numbers up? basically im just trying to get as much info about everythign turbo as i can before i buy anythign. trying to learn from others experiences and mistakes. so any input is great.

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good for you . I personally think that you will gain more power from turboing you motor than swapping it. What i mean is you can turbo and easily get 200 whp for under $3K; however, you only swap option is the K series, and that is going to cost you a lot more.

As for changing out the pistons, you basically have to take the motor out of the car (really does not take that long if you know what you are doing). Once you have the motor out, you have to seperate the tranny from the engine, then seperate the head from the block, and lastly take off the oil pan. Once all that is finished the pistons will be revealed, and all you do then is unbolt the pistons from the crankshaft. There is a lot of misc. stuff that i left out, but this is basically how you change the pistons.

Just a ???? Do you have an auto or a 5 speed?

also i would def suggest upgrading the clutch to hold more power. i believe the OEM clutch is only good for up to 120-125 whp, if you want 200+ you gonna want a new clutch or you will not be able to use the extra hp because you clutch will be slipping. don't forget to get the flywheel resurfaced or just get a new one

 

i have a 5speed. i hadnt thought about needing to upgrade the clutch so thanks for thinking of that.
doing the pistons doesnt sound bad unfortunately i have a pretty small garage (10'x20') and its hard to move around in. so i might just start out runnign 5lbs of boost and upgrade the pistons and add more boost later as the next step.

 

first off, you CANNOT turbo a civic for 2-3k. period. even with self install and all used parts, youd still need to get it tuned.

and who said the OEM clutch can only hold up to 120-125whp? are u kidding me? stock EMII EX's dyno at like 115whp. so your saying it wont take 5-10whp more than stock? funny.

 

oh i forgot to add, hondata isnt out for our D17's. its either greddy emanage or AEM EMS.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Curiouz_G &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">first off, you CANNOT turbo a civic for 2-3k. period. even with self install and all used parts, youd still need to get it tuned.

and who said the OEM clutch can only hold up to 120-125whp? are u kidding me? stock EMII EX's dyno at like 115whp. so your saying it wont take 5-10whp more than stock? funny.</TD></TR></TABLE>

stock clutches in d series usually hold to about 225whp.. or around there.

u can turbo a civic for 2-3k, but not an 01+

 

The clutch won't hold 225, but it will hold more than 120.
Generally most people start losing them about the 180 mark... or the life of them becomes short enough that its no longer worth using a stock clutch. The torque dictates it, not the HP. Depending on the turbo, some people will lose holding power with much less horsepower than others.
Sub$3K boost is theoretically possible, although I dont know that the outcome is something that will last.
Used parts and a hook up or DIY fabwork and it definitely could be done. The most expensive thing to pick up is probably an e-manage and injectors. Rebuilt T25s/DSM are in the 200-400 range, if that, johnny racecar IC and a used or HKS manifold.... the rest of it is nickel and dime (and a few quarter) parts if you can weld.
Forget $2000, but $3000 I think is doable.
I personally am a big fan of the custom gig... it gets you everything you want, if fits, the options are unlimited and when something goes wrong, you know what to do with it, because you set it all up in the first place. Its easier to deal with your own work than it is to figure out why someone else did something and then try to fix that.
I just don't really like any of those stupid kits. I mean all of them, with no direct shots taken at any of them in particular, because NONE of them are entirely complete to do it right, and they leave out lots of little, but important things, like a PCV valve eliminator so you dont pressurize the crank case and crap like that and for as much as they are, none of them actually seem to fit without cutting and trimming, prying, moving and tweaking.
If you take out all the screwups and redos I did along the way, I probably dropped about $3800-4200 to do it (had I not guessed wrong on a couple things and not needed to go back and order more **** that I didnt originally think I'd need, and also not counting the current round of upgrades and semi-secret add-ons), with a ~$1000 turbo and all new parts... BUT, I paid peanuts for the fab work. Back that out to used stuff, maybe not using mild steel instead of stainless, and so on....
I'm not counting tuning in the $3K
The result of doing it right though, rather than cutting corners, is that the damn thing works, and doesnt self destruct.

 

when its all said and done i will spend around 3k installed & tuned...

and im not on a shitty kit either...+ i bought an exedy clutch and ingalls stiffy to go with it in the budget...

 

at first i was leaning toward buying a kit but the more research i do and the more ppl i talk to im starting to lean toward slowly gathering up all the parts i need and storing them till i have everything and can install it all. i think i'll be able to pick my parts better and get the pleasure of having built it myself.
as far as tunign is concerned i dont believe there is anywhere in grand junction, colorado where i can get it tuned. is it possible to tune it myself with a greddy emanage? or AEM EMS? it prolly wont be as good as if i got it tuned but im kinda in a tough spot with no tuner available.

 

You may find yourself driving somewhere to get it tuned. You can street tune it yourself, but if you dont know what you're doing, you may end up causing more problems than you solve.
Look in Denver or whatever the closest big city is... someone's gotta have a dyno.

 

i think we have a dyno but the company that ones it only does mazda miatas. so i dunno if they'd be willing to do my em2 or not. i'll have to look into it.

 

i was wondering if you don't mind can you tell me what should i do to my car to add more horsepower to it. Howd you get yours that high?

 

well my car is being towed after the install to a local shop to be tuned