Hi guys and good evening. I got a 91' lx auto with a low mileage jdm transmission and an installed transmission cooler. I just rebuilt the engine so its got great compression.

That being said, I would like to know what I would need to get and do to turbo my accord.

My main questions are these,

-How much boost could I run?
-What ECU would I use?
-Is there a write up on how to do this?
-Do I have to dyno it to tune it?
-What size turbo should I run?
-Would I need new injectors?


Just answer them in order. There are probably many other questions but those are the ones that stay in my mind.


Thanks a lot, and thank God for HT.

 

Just because its a "JDM Unit" and you have a transmission cooler doesn't mean it will handle boost. We already went over this and you've obviously failed to listen. You can't use any tunable ECU because the car needs the automatic one in conjunction with the TCU to handle the automatic transmission. Yes you HAVE to dyno a boosted car to get a proper map uploaded to run your vehicle properly (Which you can't do because you have an automatic). You keep saying you don't have enough money to do a manual conversion. I did mine for under $400 (Minus my $300 Exedy clutch but you can easily do it with a stock one), that's about a third of what you will be paying for a proper turbo setup. People commonly run DSM injectors because they can be purchased for cheap and are sufficient for our boosting needs. Our cars can handle up to about 9 psi safely on stock rods/pistons/head gasket/studs but once again your stock "JDM" drive train will not be able to handle it, once again. We went over this already.

 

1. With an automatic transmission... Even 5psi is too much for a GOOD & RELIABLE daily driver.
2. A chipped po6 will be easiest to find.
3. There's tons of threads on cb7tuner with parts lists and instructions.
4. A dyno tune is your best route for power and reliability. Some members of cb7tuner can provide you with a quality basemap and even the chipped ecu but if you don't dyno tune and end up blowing your **** up... That's your problem.
5. A dsm 14b will suffice but a dsm 16g would be slot better. A standard t3/t4 would also work well.
6. Yes. Dsm 450cc injectors are a direct fit plug and play injector. NEVER PUT BIGGER INJECTORS IN A STOCK ENGINE UNLESS YOU HAVE THE MEANS TO TUNE FOR THEM.

 

if you have an electrical engineering buddy with experience in automotive powertrain control you could ask him to whip up a custom ECU and TCU for you then proceed as if it were a manual... easy!

 

Read up:

http://www.cb7tuner.com/vbb/showthread.php?t=80996

https://honda-tech.com/forums/engine-management-tuning-124/automatic-tuning-solution-2924942/

It's possible, but you're not going to get the best results.

 

It will not be worth it. But if you try it, buy 1 or 2 extra transmissions and torque converters. Autos are not capable of handling much over stock power. And you will be rebuilding them frequently. Manual swap, and learn to drive it well. Then go for turbo.

 

For dynoing the auto you have to put it in drive 2 after it's warmed up. That'll keep the torque converter locked until you slip below 2-2.5krpm.
for tuning you can use a piggyback fuel/ignition controller, not the best as they have their limits but it should keep you at bay till you swap the manual trans.
my auto survived my uncles 12 years and my 3-4 of ******* the **** out it, now I don't know about the 4th Gen which in this case it may not apply.
there was this pretty nice accord auto wagon I've seen not to long ago with 7lbs worth of boost with headwork in it. 17k on the setup at the time.

 

Piggyback's are so old and outdated. There's much more safer and reliable options but unless you 5 speed swap... Your just wasting your own time and money.

 

I saw they had on ebay a high stall street torque converter for a decent price. The tranny cooler I have on it now is mid sized, when and if I turbo it i'll be sure to get the biggest one B&M makes. These are essential preventative maintenance items for sure. Is it the TQ's that fail or is it the heat that causes it?


The transmission I have in it now is from a 96' accord. I have a 91' LX wagon auto. In terms of ECU and tuning that is my biggest concern, that and boost control (VERY IMPORTANT), don't wanna blow up my engine. A good wastegate for the boost is important, I however have no idea how to control it.

If it is possible, I would like to just throw pre tuned ECU in it and not dyno tune it. I think dyno tuning would be expen$ive as shyte. And about the transmission control unit, how would that work out, would I need to tune that as well? I wonder where I could find a pretuned ECU though. Ebay sells them but I don't know which ones to get.

 

You have the listening skills of a child. There are no real tunable ECUs that will work in conjunction with a TCU. If you "JDM Transmission" is so amazing, sell it for a profit, be a man, do a manual conversion, and make things 100% more simple for yourself.

 

I don't wanna hear your bias, there are far too many people like you who discriminate on people who want to turbo autos. I've seen the fights on here between manual and auto owners, i'm not here for that.

You can turbo auto's, I wanna hear more about how to do that. Later on, I will definitely swap to a 5 speed... when and if the auto transmission blows up.

 

If you have the money, save up a grand and buy the AEM EMS (full standalone setup). I've tuned 2 auto preludes (one of em was a 4WS, that was pretty cool) and an accord using their system.
You can also go piggyback instead and use the Greddy Emanage (get the Ultimate version and someone who knows how to set it up), it won't be able to do anything with the transmission though so you'll be limited there. Don't touch the chipped ecu's on ebay, they're for manuals.

Dynoing is a must do don't skimp on it. You need a reference, once you dyno it at one shop stay there, going to another shop with a dyno run from another will skew everything.

Don't bother with the high stall unless your making your power band much higher than we got. The 3100 stall is more than enough, especially with boost.

Good that you bought a Trans Cooler, what size is it? I run dual 4-Pass 6"x10"s.
Watch your tranny temps and decide from there, too big a cooler and it will not reach it's operating temp. This in turn can make it shift later and not lock the TC resulting shitty mileage and sluggish runs.
If you get enough power coming out of it those long gears can actually be useful. I'd suggest swapping the differential to something higher though, the 4.0 that is in the 96 trans is killing the wagons speed.

 

There's tons of threads on cb7tuner with parts lists and instructions.

 

What do you mean by the "4.0 that is in the 96' trans"?
is the trans cooler that i have, I could have gotten a way bigger one though like .
Mine is rated for 13,000 BTU the bigger one is for 20,500 BTU.
Should I get the bigger one?

BTW I didn't hook up a temprature guage, also I have not idea how to do so lol.

I can't afford the AEM EMS right now (is that a "piggy back"?) I also have no idea how to use one. I would like to take the traditional, cost effective route.

 

By the 4.026 im reffering to the differential, with a higher one like the 4.2 the wagons normally have, they have some more getup. I was saying look for something like a 4.5 diff that MFactory offers.

That trans cooler is more than sufficient, do you have a transmission temp gauge? If you don't cut into the trans line and install one and keep and eye on your temps. Drive the car normally for about 15min, check the temp, then drive it hard for a bit and check the temp while running it hard. (Between 180 and 220)
Mine is setup with 2 diverter valves (use it to go from 1 cooler to 2 and back again) . Set for the 1 cooler for daily driving/spirited driving, and I open up the second when racing/extended spirited driving.


EDIT: if you check my pictures (front shots) you can see the Upper cooler and the lines that travel down and to the left for the secondary cooler.

EDIT2: nevermind, you can only see the cooler. the black lines blend in with the radiator.

 

I edited my last post about the ecu.
People keep saying you need to modify the tcu to go along with the ecu, so you mean you don't have to do that right?

What's so important about having a guage anyways, to see if it overheats? what is overheating? Speaking of overcooling, those B&M transmission coolers are supposed to keep it from overcooling I heard, they say it does anyways.

 

I edited my previous post as well so please re-read.

If you piggyback or go standalone (complete ecu swap using the new unit) you wouldn't have to. The TCU modification is for a chipped ECU.

Overheating is reaching a temperature when the components in the transmission wear excessively/fail and the fluid loses it's ability to lubricate and remove heat.

The transmission cooler is a bloody hunk of metal that cools if it has air. That thing will cool till the cows go home if it has enough airflow over it. If it's too big, it WILL overcool. If it does overcool, look into adding an electric diverter. What'll youll want to do with that is set it up to bypass the cooler when it goes below a certain temperature so it doesn't overcool. It involves a bit of wiring work to setup and some more parts but it's quite do able.

EDIT: the AEM EMS is a standalone unit, it completely replaces your stock ECU/TCU setup.

The cheapest route would be the ECU/TCU mods on CB7 tuner.

The piggyback would be around 800 after you get the piggyback system and it's harness to plug it in, the AEM EMS would be 1500 (no need for a new harness).

Final EDIT: