Hey guys, I'm in the process of building a d series for some turbo power (approx 300). I'm taking it slowly and collecting parts on the cheap over time. So far I just have a y8 head ported, y8 block and z6 block, skunk2 intake manifold and throttle body, as well as other bits. Today I picked up a hx35 turbo for incredibly cheap, I know it is definitely too big for my d series but I jumped on it for the price. Since I am so early in the building process, I thought i'd turn to you guys on some tips.

What would you guys recommend I do to try and cut down on lag time. I got lots of room to choose internals and cams etc. idk if a high CR would be a good idea or not to try and compensate for the time it takes to boost, especially since i only have 91 octane where I live.
whatever input is appreciated. and yea, probably going to receive a lot of flak for making a post like this haha. kinda a big noob to performance engine building.

 

A buddy of mine is running a decent Y8 setup pushing 410 to the wheels, so, it can be a fun build, but won't be particularly "cheap". I recommend you fully build the head for some higher RPM range. The Y8 head flows better down low, but, you said yours was ported so this can help some, especially if done right. He is running a Delta 272-2 cam and has a nice, smooth powerband all the way to 8k. I don’t recall at this moment what turbo, I'll get back with you later on that. Lol! The Y8 is pretty knock sensitive though, he said that he had to stay pretty conservatively tuned on an E60 blend. This is also in hopes you have E85 available to you. You'll want some rods and pistons for sure. Do not skimp this. It can be a fun build, or a wallet-draining nightmare. Lol!

Edit: The buddy is running a GTX2867r

 

The HX35 is BIG for your goals and it will in all honesty give you a very poor powerband. For your build a HX30W is the right fit. I've supplied HX35 and HX40 to Toyota 4AGE (also 1.6 litre) customers but then they running Ethanol, high boost, twin cam head and upgraded cams, shooting for a lot more than 300whp. With the HX35 the smallest housing you'll find is a divided 12cm2 and that turbo will support 550whp (see why I say its overkill ;-))

For a B series the HX35 can be made to work very well. You HAVE to build a split-pulse manifold, firing order paired, with small diameter runners. If done right it can outspool a GT30 buit only if using the divided manifold setup as I explained. If you want to stick to the Holset route go in search of a HX30W or HY35 with a 9cm housing (still big) and sell your HX35. Alternatively look into the GT/GTX/G28-series or new Turbonetic C15 range of turbos. An Evo 3 Mitsubishi TD05-16G can also work well for you.

Honda's like compression and big cams - I've never built a D-series myself but the general rule seems to apply to the single-cams also.
What fuel are you planning on using ?

 

Wow, those hx35s are good for a lot more power than I thought. definitely a bit big lol. Luckily I should be able to clean it up and sell it on eBay or something. I'll probably not be running ethanol because the closest gas station to me that has it is almost 40 miles away lol. Hopefully 91 will work for my goals. But I appreciate the input on the turbos. I'll go research more about them

 

Thanks for the great info man, his build sounds like a blast! Unfortunately I don't have access to e85 here where I live, I'll have to learn to tune better for knock and see where I get. Will probably try to build a set of det cans. I've heard from a lot of people saying that the d series aren't worth reving past 7k. Guess I'll have to build a nice valvetrain and see lol.

 

D-series is a great build. Where you can rev depends a lot on what cam and valvetrain you choose. I'm running a comp cam 59300 with their springs; 912-16, stock retainers and locks, and Ferrea 6000 valves. I can safely rev to 8k, but the cam im using starts dropping power right around 8k. So I stay between 6500 and 7500. Without E85, I would suggest you look into a water/methanol spray kit.

 

Yeah, I'm super excited to get started building now that I have more time. I've never thought about water/meth kits. I'll do some searching and research. Do you have any experience tuning with water/meth injection?

 

Yes! I recently ran 70/30 methanol/water spray with 93 octane on my D16Z6. I had to dial the tune down due to slipping clutch but ended up at 363/325. Through 14 total pulls, WHP ranged from 324 to 380 and torque went from 310 to 365. On 750cc injectors, I was only at 48% injector duty on my final run. I have since switched to E85 but would HIGHLY recommend water/meth for those without ethanol as an option. I ran single stage spray; on at 10psi and up. Progressive kits are available but the single stage is pretty straightforward.

 

Not trying to thread jack, but I'm also in an area with 91, but also with ethanol. From all the reading over the years, it seems that e85 can have issues tuning, is that not the case nowadays if you run s300?

 

Name a fuel with no tuning issues. I'll wait...

 

C16. yay!!!

 

Wow that's awesome! Did a little research and it seems like tuning methanol injection is pretty simple, yet hard too lol. What tuning software would you suggest. Right now I've been using Honda tuning suite because it's cheap lol but I'm not sure if it's compatible with methanol injection.

 

You want a Hondata S300 or Neptune RTP for your build - cost effective and proven. You can even do twin maps with bluetooth switching with the bluetooth module (one map for pure pump fuel, one for water/meth). 91 Octane is a power killer as other have pointed out. Do your research and then find a local Honda-savvy shop to help guide your build.

This turbo kit will get you half-way there: GO-AUTOWORKS Street Turbo Kit Honda Civic Acura Integra Del Sol CRX D16 B16 B18

 

What turbine housing is on the HX35? Its a number inside near the flange. Its the biggest factor. A 12cm housing will work like a GT3076 with a divided setup. A 16cm housing will make the turbo lazy AF.
Compression ratio wont help spool btw its a myth. Get a basic valve spring retainer kit from supertech and some p2p0 custom length rods + YCP pistons and youre golden.
The only real harsh pricetag is the divided manifold + 2 wastegate combo, but it will pay you back with turbo response / spool and better knock resistance when (if) youll run boost above like 20-25 psi later.
You dont need the intake manifold that much really. At least for now. Id get an intake manifold above 20psi its an easy install and you can do it by yourself later. You really get numbers from an aftermarket camshaft tho and its cheap too(one cam instead of two everyone else needs ).Also its better to install the cam when the engine will out anyway for pistons/rods.The Brian Crower stage 2 turbo cam is like 250$

 

While you have made a fantastic suggestion here, I suppose I should have been a bit more specific on that. Lol! I should have said, "Name a fuel with no tuning issues that is readily available and doesn't cost an arm and a leg."

You don't need your spray controlled in any way through your tuning software. The stage 1 kit i have is very simply adjusted through its own boost sensor. That sensor has a preset Allen screw adjjsted to 9-11 psi activation from factory. Essentially, it comes on and shuts off at that point. Example: you spool up and hit boost pressure of 10psi, spray kicks in and sprays until you let off the throttle. With the addition of a progressive controller, you can set a min/max spray amount. On the basic kit it is simply on/off. I'm not a professional tuner, but have tuned my own setup and found it pretty simple after all was said and done. I have no experience with the progressive setup so, i couldn't really comment much on that aspect outside of speculation and pure opinion. As far as your tuning software; I'm not too familiar with what you're using. If that is a burn to chip program, I would recommend moving away from it and going to either Neptune RTP or Hondata setup. Tuning your spray is pretty simple really. The hardest part is finding what water/meth ratio you wanna run with. Lol!

 

Yeah I knew in the end I'd probably be going to s300 because it's a great platform. Lol and I definitely have a lot of research to do.

Wow! Thanks for the great info man! The housing is the 12cm one, which I've been deciding whether or not to sell it and get something more like a hx30w or keep it and do a setup like this. Cause I'm not shooting for the moon in power, just somewhere around 300wheel. But I'll definitely have to look into valvetrain upgrades, I've had a lot of people tell me it's worth it. I was planning on running stock head + cam haha.

Wow that controller seems to handle it more than I thought it would. I'm going to definitely look into hondata though. It's a lot more common and safer from what I've seen. But of course the tune is only as good as the tuner 😂

 

on a hx35 i made 20psi by 3800rpm on a 1800cc engine so on a d16 it would be fine, this of course assumes your actually using a twin scroll manifold

 

Yea, been lookin around for some actual twin scroll manifolds for the d16... kinda hard to find. probably going to have to make one myself haha

 

The DOHC architecture and long stroke of your Rover K series would help spool but it's nice to see some other real world results on a proper setup. Too many DIY'ers use the wrong manifold design and then blame these turbos for being laggy etc.

You unlikely to find, its not a popular configuration on D-series engines. While a HX30W would be money for your setup, I suspect its not available in North America or in very low quantities if it is. If you aiming for 450+whp at some point on E85 then the HX35 is worth pursuing but for anything less than that you going to be sacrificing too much powerband. You can also look at a Borg Warner S252 with a AGP 0.48 T3 housing as they very reasonable as well.

 

Ask Greg from go-autoworks

Did you end up going with an HX40 to tell me some data about spool loss/power gain?

 

I was going to PM you, @AvianAviator , but that's not an option in your drop down menu by your user name. I have been thinking about moving up in turbo size on my setup. If I do that, I'll probably sell my TNX 20/60 turbo. I made 316 whp / 310 ft-lb of torque (E60 blend) on my D16Z6 build. It would probably be cheaper than buying a twin scroll manifold and two WG's. The turbo has less than 2,000 miles on it right now and was brand new in February 2020.

 

What you upgrading to? Inquiring minds want to know!!

 

I'm not 100% sure I'm going to upgrade right now, but I've been looking at the C15 5257 and trying to shoot for 380-400whp.

 

Hey @DaX I think you cant pm me because i'm such a new user. they consider me a trial user. Id totally like to talk to you about that turbo if you are possibly going to upgrade. maybe in a day or two they will release my trial user tag.

 

I just emailed you.