I'm about to do my engine and turbo swap so I figured I'd start a thread to document it. I bought this 94 dx hatch for $700 about a year ago. It is by no means pretty. Painted hot rod black, blue interior, dx sedan from bumper, crappy rims with snow tires.

The plan is to do the swap, install the turbo and have it running in 2.5 days. Oh and it's my daily.


First thing to go was the stock suspension. Swapped in Some KYB shocks and Ground Control Coilovers that I got from a member here. Then came swapping the from fenders, hood, bumper and interior from an ex so no more blue interior. I painted all the plastics black with vinyl paint. Also picked up so Buddy Club rims

I picked up a Z6 long block and did an OEM rebuild. And just in time because I cracked a cylinder in the D15.
Picked up a Moates Ostrich, Hulog and Innovative Wideband and chipped my P28 ECU

Taught myself some basic tuning before I got my turbo setup. Then I switched from the Moates setup to Hondata ver 2.

So on to the turbo stuff. The parts so far

Z6 block with 8.8:1 Wiseco pistons and eagle rods bored .20 over. Thanks to a fellow member.


Greddy 18G Turbo

Turbosmart adjustable internal wastegate

Z6 head being torn down for the machine shop. Getting it cleaned and resurfaced



Greddy IC and piping and 3in downpipe with Vband



Z6 intake manifold cleaned and painted with AEM fuel rail, AEM FPR, Marshall fuel pressure gauge and RC 750's

Mocking things up. Gonna be a tight fit for the intake tube. Still need to shave some of the webbing on the block that's hitting the turbo.


Other stuff I've gathered.
Energy Suspension mount inserts and shifter bushings
Go-Autoworks vacuum manifold
ARP head studs
GM 3 Bar MAP sensor
Catch can I got for free
Bosch boost gauge
Fast-Turbo oil T and feed line
Megan Racing short shifter
6-puck XTD clutch. Yes I know it's junk. It was free and brand new so there's really nothing to lose. Aside from the time to swap it out later,

I'm also waiting on parts from Jaycar Electronics to build a DET can which I will be doing a write up on,

That's about it for now until I get a head gasket and the head back from the machine shop.

 

Interesting. Looking forward to the det can write up.

 

the det can should be a fun little build. The parts are taking forever to get here

 

Good to see another budget D being built now days.

I just did one last season for fun. Y8 200k block, z6 head I ported, ARP head studs, y8 ported IM matched to a B16 tb, 1000cc injectors, 255, garett t3/t4 .60, turbo smart bov/45mm wg, ebay 55$ cast log, ACT clutch. The car ran a 12.50@107 on 7psi. Never got a good pass on 14psi but it had a 11 in it if I could ever get it to stick (used old cracked 22" slicks).

I said all that just to let you know with a small turbo kit even on pretty much a stock motor you can have a hell of a lot of fun. Good luck with the build, I look forward to the time slip!

 

thanks. I finished the electronic det cam this weekend so I'll do that write up in a day or two.

head gasket and timing belt will be here tomorrow so everything should be ready to go for this weekend. I'm getting excited

 

And the fun begins. Started pulling the engine at 5:00 on Friday and finished up the night around 1:30 am. I didn't take a lot a pictures because well everyone has seen a d-series being pulled and put back in.


In with the new.




Nothing too interesting. Had to cut some webbing out of the block. Plumbed the oil feed and put in the torque mount inserts. It's amazing how much of a difference the ES mount inserts make over the shot out old ones.

 

Day 2:
Snapped the ECT sending unit off in the head. Had to drill it out and retap it.
Down Pipe wouldn't clear the drivers side torque mount bracket so that had to come off and be cut up.
Half assed several other things due to being exhausted and decided to quit for the night.
Everything was in and ready to go though.


Intercooler mounted with zip ties until brackets are made.

Test fitting the bumper. Hopefully I can make it fit with the grill.


Day 3:
Went over everything we did the night before and fixed the half assed stuff.
Did the first start up and poof nothing. It would turn over and fire but wouldn't catch.
Found the starter wires were tightened down and I had the spark plug wires on the dizzy wrong.
Fixed all of that and it fired right up........ and then spewed oil everywhere from the feed line on the back of the block.
Took the T fitting off and decided to use the sandwich adapter and quickly found that the threads for the oil filter didn't stick out far enough to put the oil filter on.
Took the oil T apart and re wrapped everything with pipe dope and RTV.
Put that back on and it still spewed oil. Turns out the oil feed line is leaking at the connector so pretty much at a stand still until I can get a new oil feed line.

I now completely understand why people set aside a week to do this kind of project.

 

turbocharging a DD on a tight schedule....been there, done that. Hopefully, I can start on the build with mine. Post up timeslips and dyno sheets when you're done

 

yeah I will not be doing that again anytime soon. Way too much stress.

went and bought another oil line. Had to get -4an because that's all they had and the adapters. So I've now spent $184 on oil feed and drain.

fires it up and it's alive!! Drove it around a little bit to get a decent basemap for the breaking in.

I'm still running the stock MAP sensor and open down pipe so things are a little wonkey but it's running decent and makes cool sounds.

I'm gonna finish the exhaust today and put the bumper on. Can't wait to hook up the det can and get the ignition right and see what it actually feels like

 

small update. Filled the gap from the down pipe to the exhaust with some flex pipe for the time being. It's so quiet. Put the bumper on. Unfortunately I couldn't save the webbing so that had to go.

also cleaned up some of the engine bay

I still need to get a fitting for the fuel rail so I can attach the stock fuel line. Also still need to figure out how to attach a filter. I'm just running a screen right now which makes me a little nervous.
Did some tuning on the fuel map. I've got it decently close. Still running the stock MAP sensor for right now so I'm not going above 10lbs for now.

datalog

percentages

Megalog scatter plot

Not perfect but not super far off. This weekend I plan to test out the det can I made and play with the ignition.
So far the car is really fun even not getting on it much. This is my first turbo car so I get all giddy over the sounds.

 

Link to the Det can write up

https://honda-tech.com/forums/engine.../#post51261897

 

Small updates and some new parts.

I swapped out the Mega Racing short shifter for a Skunk2 Dual Bend I got for $40. Sooooo much nicer.

I bought up a MAC solenoid for $35. Pretty excited to put that in.



Also picked up some seats for $100


The engine is about to hit 500 miles. Next step is to hit the dyno. Kinda gave up on trying to tune the ignition on my own.

 

So I finally made it to the dyno. I went to TRC Performance in Ruffs Dale PA. The guys there were awesome.
The first pull made 158 HP. We pulled the silencer out of the muffle and gained 13 Hp which blew my mind.

Final numbers were 226 HP and 211 Ft LB. at 12 psi
The turbo maxed out at 15 psi and fell off to 12 psi. So we decided to leave it at 12 psi.

Overall even though I was expecting higher numbers I'm more than happy. It feels like a completely different car and its defiantly quick.



Most valuable things I've learned from my first build are. Buy the right parts the first time. Being cheap makes things so much harder. Don't try to engine swap and turbo your daily in 3 days.

 

Great job on the build. Those numbers are nothing to be upset over. Getting over 200+whp in that light of a chassis, makes it feel like a rocket ship. I'm sure its pretty fun to drive.