I'm interested in installing a greddy turbo or JRSC onto my daily driver civic LX. I'm not looking for max performance but rather some additional pep when I want it, while maintaining close to stock mpg on the highway (90% of my driving).

I'm wondering if it's possible to tune a 5-6psi greddy or jrsc setup to run without detonation on 87 octane. I'd use a chipped p28 and crome or neptune. I like the idea of having a bit more power, running 87oct (saving 30+ cents per gallon), and still pulling 40 mpg. Is this possible or just a fairy tale?

 

If you pull enough timing, maybe. But honestly, on a civic with a 10 gallon tank, you're only saving $3 each fill-up. Not too significant.

 

If tuned properly 87 octane would be fine, but like he said for $3 a tank its not worth it in my opinion

 

I guess you're right. I drive 26k miles per year. At 40 mpg average, it's less than a $200 difference in fuel cost between 87 and 93 octane.

What is the typical decrease in fuel economy under "normal" driving that folks are seeing with small, low boost turbos or JRSC? I had another civic with a greddy kit but I bought it with the turbo already installed, so I didn't have before and after. My understanding is that MPG shouldnt be significantly reduced with the JRSC kit.

 

I get the same mileage as I did n/a with turbo. If you stay out of boost in city driving which is really easy, it still feels more torquey but theres no actual boost going on.

 

In my teg I got 7mpg's more when I added my turbo kit to my car. And I used to drive nothing but the highway 80 miles one way. close to 400 to a tank but that was on 91 back in cali.

 

Is the increase in MPG due to tuning?

 

You can manipulate the tune if you know your gonna be the highway; you can lean out the afrs out of boost for more gas mileage.

 

If you can only afford 87 oct then the turbo world is not for you. Regardless if MPG is affected or not which is unsafe to run anything lower than 91 on a turbo anyways, but come one, let me guess your getting your kit from ebay? greddy kit or not.. 87 and any turbo =Unsafe...

 

I know of people getting better gas mileage after a small turbo myself.

 

If you got 7mpg increase with a turbo kit then you arn't driving your car hard enough. whats the fun of a turbo kit if you don't drive the **** out of it

 

To pwn V8's on demand?

 

It's not that I can only afford 87 octane. I'm not a kid, working at a fast food restaurant, living at home with mom and dad. I'm exploring an option. I want some additional pep every now and again, and want to maintain reasonable fuel economy. If I can save a few bucks in the process, great. If I can't, I can't. If people don't ask questions about what's possible, then answers are never found. Criticism only lends to people being unwilling to ask questions or offer help.

I have another car with an intercooled greddy kit tuned and dyno'd with hondata. I'm upgrading to a larger setup and thought I'd make use of the kit rather than giving it away.

On a side note, I'm not really sure why you have an issue with ebay. You can find bargains there.

 

For the difference in price, the sacrifice in power and the potential for problems just doesn't seem worth it. Tune on the best pump gas you can find and pay the extra few bucks at the end of the year...

 

based on feedback here and other boards, I would agree.

 

IMO go turbo if your looking for fuel economy and extra pep, a small turbo will have great spool and give you what your looking for, a s/c will get worse gas milage then you have now, takes power via belt drive to turn the s/c over vs turbo using wasted energy to make power. and liek stated above 3 bucks per tank is a small price to pay for longevity and power production

 

Yes, I was thinking this morning about the parasitic drag on the engine when using the jrsc. Turbo would be the better option for retaining good mpg, though I love the crisp throttle response of the jrsc compared to the greddy turbo.

 

if you put a smaller turbo on it there will be the just about the same throttle responce as you like form the jrsc

on a singleslam i would say put a 16g or a t3 super 60 both wil give good spool and that little boost in power your looking for, anything larger IMO would be overkill since your not trying to make a rice rocket out of the car

 

I'm not saying that throttle response with the Greddy is bad, but it's not as crisp as a jrsc or a good N/A setup. I think I'll swap the greddy setup over to my commuter car. Thanks for the feedback everyone.

 

goodluck