I am really thinking of boosting my 91 civic ef with a b16a ebay turbo kit. i have a question on how do you guys think the b16 will do its got skunk2 cams. skunk 2 cam gears. upgraded valve springs. obd1. this is my daily driver i just want it to be safe with about 8 to 10 psi. how do you guys think this motor will hold up. like the bottem end and what not. thank you for your help.

 

the motor will be fine, but the ebay turbo kit will blow up

 

I agree, don't waste your money on an ebay turbo.

Unlike most people who say that, i have actually had an ebay turbo.

Don't even turbo it unless your going to go all the way. You will end up replacing all the parts from your ebay kit slowly. If your going to go ebay kit, your better off just doing a 75 shot, so much cheaper and you car will run like stock most times, if you turbo it your car will never run the same.


It lasted 70kms btw.

 

i agreed with that for along time too. but then my buddy has a ls civic ef with the ebay kit and its been doing him good for a year and a half no probablems and he is on it constantly. so im just getting confused. what a good kit for me around the 600 to 1000 dollar range. thanks for the quick reply by the way.

 

or what if i buy that kit and run it for how ever long and then replace with a nice one.

 

Haha man I felt just like you, i wanted just a nice little kit to strap onto my car. I'm not trying to discourage you.

But then it happened. The prices started to add up.

Used Turbo Kit - $1080 - t3/t4 .57 trim .63 a/r / Drag manifold / 2.5 in i/c piping/ drag intercooler / rc 550 cc injectors / 2.5 in downpipe / fake ebay WG / greddy BOV. Nothing to special and all used.

Hondata s300 - $650
CM Stage 3 - $450
Walbro 255 - $90
4 bar map sensor - $125
obd2b to obd1 harness - $100
Mfactory LSD - $600
Good Tune - $200-$500
Gauges - $50 +

Sure I'm just hitting the main things and I'M SURE I left quite a few out. But you can't go cheap on these things man.

I haven't even got this setup on my car yet. Every morning and night I'm dropping $50 for a little piece that I forgot and so on.

 

That's why I'd suggest you sell the cams & put in stock GSR cams, then use the extra money to get a "real" turbo & good tune. Given a stock b16 head is good for ~560whp (but not the block), there's no need to have big cams ON A DAILY DRIVER if you go with the turbo.

For a daily driver I'd suggest something more like a 60trim T3. You can still make >300whp with it, but it will spool up ~1000 rpm faster than a 57trim t3/t4. I wouldn't subject a stock b16 bottom end to more than 300whp on a daily driver anyways, and most tires won't handle much more.



If you do a turbo setup half-***, it will simply cost you a LOT more money in the long run. $500 doesn't seem like a lot, but that's the cost of a proper tune, a turbo, or a good manifold. It also buys a LOT of beer. Read up on people with cheap turbos, most a have problems before the first 1000 miles. The 3 friends I know that cheaped out ALL had to get a new turbo. One is on his 4th, which adds up to the cost of 1 real Garrett.

 

Typically, if you cant afford the price of a real turbo kit, you can't afford to own and maintain a turbocharged vehicle. Been there, done that.