I have been tinkering and autocrossing my Hondas for a few years now, and I'm looking for info (way in advance) about putting a modest DIY turbo setup on my CRX down the road.

I'd like to hear any input or stories people have about turbo cars catching fire or self-destructing when Home-made Turbos are installed.

Please, dont bother endorsing an off-the-shelf kit... that's not the point of this thread's entertainment/informative value.

 

Why not ask this on homemadeturbo.com? All you'll get here are ballers that deny every having anything to do with a kit on which they actually made a part themselves.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by rota92 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">If you catch a car on fire because of idiocy when building something, you should give into natural selection and sit within the vehicle.</TD></TR></TABLE>

LOL

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by rota92 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">If you catch a car on fire because of idiocy when building something, you should give into natural selection and sit within the vehicle.</TD></TR></TABLE>

You just owned everyone who ever had a car catch on fire, i love it!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by fireant &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
I'd like to hear any input or stories people have about turbo cars catching fire or self-destructing when Home-made Turbos are installed.
</TD></TR></TABLE>



Too much boost yo!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SovXietday &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">



Too much boost yo!</TD></TR></TABLE>

please get your story straight if your going to post a picture, what really happend in that picture is vtec kicked in waaay too hard

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by rota92 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">If you catch a car on fire because of idiocy when building something, you should give into natural selection and sit within the vehicle.</TD></TR></TABLE>
Your karma could be a bitch on that comment..

 

I'll give him 2 of my karma points for being honest.

 

My engine bay briefly caught on fire once because of my stupidity. I'm a little sensitive on that issue now..

 

I had a buddy whos civic burned down because one of his ss braided oil lines touched a shorted wire and that was all she wrote. lol

 

Engine compartments can catch on fire for a variety of reasons, most of which aren't directly avoidable by choosing a "name brand" kit vs a homemade setup.
The honda crv had service bulletin/recall/whatever where for some reason techs at the dealerships were pulling the old oil filters off and replacing the new ones with the old o ring still stuck to the housing..as you can imagine, that wouldn't seal very well, and the oil would drip down onto the exhaust, smoking and catching on fire in a few instances.
Fords have had numerous recalls that involved engine fires, (mostly electrical, I believe). At my old work, my boss' grand am spontaneously combusted one day, it's been sitting there for years. From looking at it, I suspect a wire shorted out, became very hot, and fell across the plastic fuel line right by the fuel rail. I have seen many, many cars with burned out engine bays at junkyards, everything from domestics to a few expensive newer audis. Actually never seen a toasty honda at a junkyard though.
But as far as the toasty turbo honda syndrome, I'd say fuel press regulators, (supposedly avoid the aem) oil lines/leaks and of course all things in close proximity to the turbo/turbo manifold are the things to be especially aware of. Also, if your crankcase ventilation allows crankcase pressure to build up, your dipstick can be pushed out, and oil can be sprayed out onto the manifold, that will obviously ignite instantly.
My story was about 5-6 years ago, my car's radiator developed a crack, and I was about a hour from home. I was at a mall and had a hard time finding water, so I put antifreeze in first, and then added the water a few minutes later, once I found where to buy it down the street. Little did I know I didn't have enough water mixed in to prevent the mixture fom being flammable and igniting when a little sprayed out onto my manifold. Fortunately I was only about a block from home when this happened, (and I drove home with the a/c on the whole way, the motor temp didn't get above normal either, and it was a 100 degree day..) I put the fire out within a few seconds by dunking it with the extra gallons of water I bought, (in front of my astounded neighbors) but it still damaged a lot of little things, like my plug wires, hood, some little hoses and the wiring going to the distributor.
It mostly damaged my ego though.
I looked the coolant flammability thing up later online and found that GM's favorite little self destructing car, the pontiac fiero, had issues with this exact problem too. Coolant leaks could burn that whole car down, as it's body is fiberglass on a metal skeleton, like the corvette.