Turbo is a T3 with .46 A/R, .48 A/R housing. Going on a 2.2L Prelude vtec. Bad choice ? Turbo too small ? Got this turbo for a good deal, .. I want spool at 3000 rpm and hoping to take it all the way to 7200 rpm. Would it be possible with a good tune or should I go bigger ?

 

a bigger turbo will definately make more power, but that one will spool very fast. People will tell you various things, but the turbo will work. Look at the micro sized turbo that comes on the SRT4...

If you can go bigger, do it, but if you can't get a bigger turbo for your budget, that one will be better than no turbo at all

 

whats your goals that turbo will work, and you wont have a prob. spooling it. im guessing you have stock cams. so power drops off bout alitte after 8g pending on head work etc. and yo also have to remember with that small turbo you will hardly any traction pending how you drive your car. and dont expect to make alot of power turbo, and spooling in the 3000 range you will almost always driven under boost. but good luck. oh make sure you get a hondata or aem.

 

way to small, you should atl east get a hybrid t3/t4 turbo. i'm assuming you have a stock engine so 8lbs of boost is where you want to be at so you should spool up by 3000-3250ish.

there is no way that turbo on only 8lbs will still make power up top end.

regarding the traction issue. basically if you go with that turbo it will spool so fast that you will get no traction probably in first and into second in the low rpms, then when you are in the high rpms in second, third, and 4th gear you will be maxing out the turbo already.

do some research on what others have used and the power they made to get an idea of where you want to be at. If you just want it to spool up fast to make a loud BOV sound in first gear to impress girls then a small turbo would be perfect

 

you need to go bigger. period.

 

Yup, stock cams and internally stock h22 motor. I know that tuning is were i want to spend most of my time on, was planning on using Crome. I want to stay at or below 8-psi. This is a budget build and the car will not see much drag strips or auto courses in its current build-up, just occasional heavy foot driving for the fun factor. So you think this turbo is too small for my application ? I thought that this would be at least a little better than those dsm swapped turbos that most are running. Anyone know any links so that I could take a look at what power others with similar displacement motors are putting out with a similar turbo ? Thanks for the help so far, and keep the opinions flowing.

 

hmm, i think the hot side may be fine size wise, but definityl a hybrid style would be much nicer on the cold side, best of both worlds!

 

Similar turbos came on volvo/saabs with roughly that displacement, but they used it for boost off idle and low/mid range power. Topend sucks completely on that size motor.