I don't find a lot of info for people who have Automatic Transmissions. Is it possible for me to get a turbo for my 03 ex?

I'm not looking for a drag racer. But since this car seems to be lacking in torque and *****. Some more umph would be nice.

200 hp or a little less is my goal.

 

your trans will slip and slip while you're gaining power. it will work, your car will be faster, but you wont feel how a Turbo should be felt. if you were to swap your tranny, the car will be ALOT faster than it is now..and it will gain value

 

There are plenty of turbo'd auto cars that provide the "turbo experience". And no, your car will NOT gain value from throwing on a turbo or manual swap.

Anywho, 200whp is perfectly achievable. Get a stage I cam, a smaller sized turbo like a T3 Super 60, and a decent exhaust and you're there.

 

he wont get the Turbo experience from an automatic. a clutch grabbing the flywheel doesn't Compare to a slush box. he'll have to spend thousands on a racing torque converter and other parts.
anywho, the car will gain value

 

The real experience, I think I can deal with it. This is my first car, hopefully the first of many. So no biggy. Like I said. As long as the car can be noticeably faster. I'm happy.

Now where you got me curious at is the thousands I'd have to spend on..
I was thinking I'd have to spend around..1.5k to 2.5k?? for everything.

So ya. additional info on what I would need would be great. (converter etc)

Also I heard if I'm going to use less the 7psi I DON'T need an ECU.. Is this true?

 

You need an EMS system regardless of the amount of boost you choose to run, if your serious and want to do it properly, budget a minimum of $3.5k if your capable of doing the install yourself. You need to do a manual swap, there's no way around that, so that would be an additional $1k if you can do it yourself, but close to $3k if you need a shop to do it for you.

 

I wont even bother in convincing you that each persons experience is their own, be it through a slushbox or manual. I will however tell you that you wont GAIN value in modding your car.

 

If you turbo, the tranny can only handle 160 WHP and you will need a tranny cooler. Engine management will also be an issue.

 

let me correct myself..it wont gain value, but you can sell it for more, if the owner wants to sell. i can sell a CLEAN 2001 civic with low miles w/ auto trans for $3400.. i know i can sell that same exact car w/ swapped 5spd for $4500-$4900, it will have to be super clean

 

Ok well I'm not getting any solid answers lol. Some people say I can turbo my auto. Some say I can't. Some say I can but with a limit if 160 hp.. And some say I won't get the turbo experience..

Ok so my question is now.... Can I turbo my automatic???

 

You can do anything you want to your car; you can paint it pink, chop the top and make it into a barbie style convertible if that's your style.

It's just a very bad idea to turbo an automatic like people keep telling you; you won't be able to get use k-pro, the transmission will fail and you will not have any substantial increase in power.

 

Dezod tested their turbo kits with the auto and they found out it can only handle 160 WHP. Tranny cooler is required, and a good chance of the tranny going anyways. Our Civics do not have the most reliable ATs, especially for 01-03 model years.

160 WHP ~ 192 BHP Assuming 20% powertrain loss.

 

yes u can seen it done and since ur only looking for 200 ur tranny shouldnt slip or nothing all its going to do is hold the boost up there everytime the tranny shift

 

This answer I like lol. Has there been anyone here whose turbod an auto tranny? I'd feel more safe if I seen it done by someone else successfully.

But hey if it is possible with no consequences. I'm goin for it.

 

LOL. Are you kidding me? A swapped auto to manual car selling for MORE than a original auto? Hell, even a original manual is CHEAPER than an auto. You do know that less than 10% of all cars made now come in auto right? No one wants to drive a manual save for enthusiasts and people who cant afford an auto. Go to any car site and price out a car. An auto will ALWAYS cost more.

Please, you just sound like you're talking out of your *** in all your posts so just quietly leave the thread with the little shred of humility you still have.

 

Tranny coolers are not needed since autos already HAVE an auto cooler. No use in adding another one.


Just FYI, they didnt find out that it could only handle 160whp, thats just what they got by bolting on their kit at 5psi. They never raised the boost. Another FYI, they are currently out of the 7thgen game because they in fact SUCK donkey *****. I found out their manifolds were made by a 3rd party vendor and not in house. Their race manifolds also didn't fit unless you did some CUTTING.

 

There have been a few. I can only think of 2 or 3 people. I myself have an auto civic that I was going to boost but decided to give it away and use it as a DD due to me buying a E46 M3 as a weekend car and needing a reliable DD. Any of the older members here would know that I had a full custom setup (all the welding was done by a well known 7thgen member) that is being used by other members with no issues at all so it wouldve ran without an issue on my car. People that know me know that I've put TONS of stress on my auto tranny and at 80k miles on an 03, it still shifts as perfect as the day I bought the car with 7 miles on it.

You'll run into engine management tuning issues as you will not be able to run a stand alone setup like kpro or AEM EMS. You will have to use either AEM FIC or E-manage. That will restrict you to around 10psi without running into tons of issues. Not only that but the stock intake manifold is not meant for that much pressure.

 

Really? I didnt know about those other ecus

 

That's perfectly fine. Like I said. I'm not trying to compete against STI's. I just want to put some chest hair on my em2.

Ok now I have a few questions.

1. Do FIC and Emanage run about the same price as kpro and the others?

2. Should I change my timing belt b4 I plan to boost? It hasn't been changed yet. but My transmission got rebuilt less then half a year ago, so the tranny should hold up. I' worried about the timing belt tho seeing as it hasn't been changed.

3. Do you recommend me getting a stock intake manifold fabricated then at a shop?

Thanks for all the help and advice. and sorry for all the questions. I'm a noob to to this and my car is slow.

 

I know you know what your talking about, but there are a couple things you said that are a bit ambiguous and could be misinterpreted.

Although you have Gerry's manifold, that alone won't add a substantial amount of stress to the transmission and until someone does does do a serious engine build on an auto seventh gen civic then it's impossible to predict how the transmission will respond to 200+hp. As we all know, although some people with 01-03 auto civics haven't had any issues the majority have.

Not only that, but putting an turbo on a civic a car and relying on an EMS with capabilities as limited as AEM FIC and E-manage is hit and miss. They may be capable of running set-ups under 10psi, but how well is another story.

 

Paul?

Tnaff (I think that was his name on civicforums) was boosted for years near that power level with emanage that he tuned himself on his auto. AFAIK, he has had no issues at all with his car. I wonder if hes still on civicforums.

 

I probly won't even go as high as 10 lol. if that helps at all. Wouldn't having a strong build and good tuneup be enough?

 

No, they cost significantly less, in line with there significantly more limited capabilities.

If your transmission was rebuilt recently then your running an even greater risk hitting it with boost, rebuilt transmissions are significantly less reliable than a factory transmission and will not last as long.

You have two good options for intake what intake manifold to run; the d16y8 which requires some modification to make work; and a custom manifold fabricated by Gerry at JDM Fabtech. If the cost of K-pro was a deal breaker, wait till you hear what his manifolds cost

 

No, he's moved along to other projects I believe.

xRiceboyx was boosted on F/IC for awhile then he removed the entire turbo set-up and it sits on his desk now, he was having some issues with reliability and k-pro is out of his budget for now if memory serves. More recently on civicforums boosted01civic was running F/IC on his D17, but he removed it after 1 tuning session and upgraded to k-pro because he wasn't happy with it's performance either.

I'm not a auto transmission hater like some people on the boards, my Civic is an auto, I'm just very concious of the fact they were pretty delicate up until 04-05. Minor side note, the more we discuss this, the more I hate neptune for not supporting our cars.

 

Well, were they looking for a substantial amount of power, or a decent amount.. Like I said I don't want too much. 180-200hp is good.