Alright everyone, first of all I appreciate any and all help I get. I have been reading a lot of these threads and things on this website and others. I have a 1993 Honda civic ex with a D16y8 and I want to know if I should rebuild the motor or buy a new motor. I want to turbo it and get a much hp as possible. It's a project so there is no time limit, there is a budget because it's not cash up front that I have. Ever paycheck I buy something for my car. I just need some advice on parts, motor work, what I should do pretty much. Thanks for all the help everyone.


I'd like to stick to the motor I have so I can know my car from bumper to bumper, and not just slap a pre-built motor in it. Also i dont know if I already said this but I'd like to turbo it.

 

First off, start with full maintenance. Cap, rotor, plugs, wires, balance, rotation, alignment, air filter, fuel filter. Once you're done with that, read this thread. Assuming your motor is in good health, you can easily make 200 to the wheels on a stock engine with a properly sized turbo. I've said it a hundred times before, I'm a huge fan of the 19T. Quick spool, and good top end for a turbo it's size.

If you insist on rebuilding the engine (and you have half of a clue what you're doing) you can do a basic Vitara build, or a forged rotating assembly before you set up boost to increase power.

There are only about a hundred different directions you can go with your car, and all you're going to get out of a thread like this is opinions and supposition. Start with the maintenance I mentioned above. Then read the link I gave you and decide what you want to do.

 

It's been said multiple times that turbo kits shouldn't be cheaped out, and a good kit may run you up to $1,000, not including the price to get it installed and tuned by a shop etc; etc;. another few hundreds of dollars on top of that.

Also, it's been said that stock D-series motors can't run more than ~200HP turbo. Beyond that, you'll risk damaging the internals. I could be wrong.

However, what you can do is possibly start saving, just SAVE and buy NOTHING for your Civic other than maintenance parts and gas until you have a good $1,000 to play with. Rebuild your motor, or look for a junk Prelude or Integra or just a B or H-series motor locally, possibly slap that motor into your Civic and you'll have a much wider range of horsepower to play with with stock internals.

 

Both these guys are right (I think) I mean bizi did make 700 hp on a D but that's thousands of dollars. Co671 is right, you need to just save up lots of cash. Just put gas in it and drive it. And if you can tear that motor down and put it back together (properly) then do so (when you got the cash) and don't buy cheap parts when it comes to turboing a already n/a motor. Oil feeds and cooling should be at the top of your list. Make sure the engine and turbo get plenty of oil and stays cool otherwise you getta broke motor and empty pockets. Good luck guy!

 

Thanks guys for the help but yes I do have experience taking apart motors and putting them back together. I didn't know if upgrading the internals and having the motor machined what pub any more horse power. Also it has a cold air intake full not short ram (injen) on it so it gets air. Also car has NEVER seen a winter and hope it never has to. This is my first Honda so I don't know what motor/ Trany setup would be good for the car. I do regular maintenance changing my oil every 1500-2000 miles and plugs/wires every 6 months. It's time for more power though haha. I want to feel the g force push me back when I take off.

 

chipped ecu, dsm 450s, log manifold, 38mm ewg, 50 trim t3/t4, cheap fmic. Don't worry about building a motor or trans or swapping the fuel pump, just drop the kit on, get it tuned and then if any issues come up, fix them. It doesn't take really that much.

 

Why not just swap the pump out before hand? Takes 5 minutes to swap it out on a EG chassis and it's cheap $100 insurance that your car will supply enough fuel.

 

Give us a horsepower goal, vehicle purpose, and budget then the gurus will chime in. If not, you will continue to get random bad advice like most of this thread so far.

 

2000 right now at least 200 hp

 

Oh and start of a track car but I do still drive on the regular road for a nice cruse to a car show or something like that

 

Also what shocks/struts should I use with eibach coilovers?

 

There is a guy on here with a greddy 15g turbo for sale. Start with that, i was going to buy it but now I'm going to swap in a b series. From what i read the key thing is a good fmu. The aem is stand alone but the hondata s200 was the one i liked. However its no longer available so you'd need to find a used one or get the s300.

 

FMU?!!! I think you mean EMS.

 

Yes ems.

 

Alright guys I decided to pull my motor and start tipping it apart. What internal upgrades shoul I do to it to get it ready for a turbo. A list would be nice and were I can find the parts. Also kinda a budget build wanna keep it fairly cheap not tO much because I only want like 250 300 hp in the final stages. I have decided to go with hondata s300 but don't know what internals to upgrade.

 

I thought you were researching? Shouldn't have had to ask this question. Look at the SOHC thread. Plenty of builds in there to model off of.

 

Dude... it doesn't hurt to be searching. Internal wise, new rods, pistons, bearings while you're at it. new bolts. *you'll need to notch the block most likely* Head can be stock, if the parts are adjusted to spec and are safe to use.
You'll need to convert 3 wire to 2 wire iacv if not already.
necessary jumper harness for obd1 ecu you're going to use. You can get a P28 chipped with a basemap for ~175-210. or buy one yourself, solder in the kit which may cost ~$20
then get it tuned later, or tune it yourself with whichever program, there are tutorials for tuning with Crome free (copying over a basemap isn't hard)
then upgraded fuel pump, injectors of course. etc; etc; etc;

Here's what I had planned which may be wrong.

 

Co-sign

If you researched then you should know the answer

Im starting to think a lot of new people just say they researched just to say it.

 

What's a P26?

 

Having a hard time finding information that's why I came here... What am I doing by askin questions... Researching is the answer.

 

No. It's not. FAQs. Build threads. READING is research. Go to a library and ask the librarian to read you a book off the shelf because you want to know what it's about. See if she doesn't look at you like you're crazy.

Are people allergic to reading noawadays?

Hard time finding information? I would have believed you if you said you had a hard time understanding what you were reading but finding info? BS.

 

i tuned a stock y8 to 240whp

a friend of mines stock y8 lasted until 270whp with cracking ringlands in 1 piston

i dont advise the 270whp but i think 240whp is very possible just with conservative timing

 

^ this
You know, for the past 3 weeks from knowing nothing about turbocharging, I've gained a lot of knowledge.

Just read, the good thing about Honda's is that there's so much info dumped online of trial+error and builds and DIY's for the past decade. I was surprised to be reading a thread that was made back in 2002, I was only 7 years old...

 

FWIW I bought a used 2K Civic with 130K miles. As soon as I picked it up did an oil change, spark plugs, wires, and put some new gas in it. I drove it for a few months to ensure the motor was solid. Soon after I through on a Greddy turbo kit, somewhat, but the main important part was the 15G. Now I did not run any type of tests prior to ensure the motor was ok. Was that dumb, I am sure some people will say yes, and others no. I think if you read the threads on here a motor can blow at any point regardless if its blue printed or not. The other factor is a D16 motor is cheap, so if it was to go, you can pick another one up for fairly cheap. In any case yes you can slap a turbo on it, but you need to buy good parts. I would suggest that if you do the install yourself and know motors you can do ebay parts but its really not worth the aggravation as some of those on here show when those parts fail. As others mentioned to you in this thread, it will cost you $1500 to $2,000 to turbo the motor correctly. On a D16Y8 you can hit 210WHP as a daily driver. I am not the only one that has a stock motor that does this on this board and others. Anything above that and you are looking at the rods bending. While I am itching for body work and a repaint, I really would like more power, but I do need new rods, and that can be even more expensive. Trust me 210WHP though on that light of a car is very quick, and very drivable. I have been in Civics with 300whp and up and it can be a pain. Remember its FWD and you have a light body.