Hello! I used to own a '93 (blue w/white racing stripe) and a '97 (Vtec, green w/tan leather interior). Love my Del Sols but lost both to radiator failure leading to blown head gaskets.

Recently, saw a '94 (red) Del Sol w/103K miles for sale in Central FL. Went over and bought it. Here's the story. She bought it in 2012 from original owner in Portland, OR. She said that guy was a car dealer and he had all of the items listed below installed at a Honda dealership. But there’s no receipt. Just some paperwork.

FMAX Turbo; MSD Boost Timing Master; Eagle Connecting Rods; Crower 63401T Crankshaft (new ones are $734); Crower Rod Bolt Assembly; ARP head stud kit and something I can barely read that says “the world’s smallest 3-D fuel injector driver”. I asked her why she went all the way to Portland and she said "There were no good Del Sols for sale in FL and this one was mint." I looked up the seller on LinkedIn and she's a former FBI agent, so probably not a dumb person.

I'm taking it to my mechanic tomorrow to have him look it over and advise me. Car drives straight, ice cold AC (new system) and brand new tires. One of her receipts was from replacing the clutch at 94K miles in 2017 and says: "This is not the factory original engine for this car. 1.8 VTEC Honda/Acura engine w/aftermarket turbo setup and aftermarket racing clutch, transmission is matching to that of ’98 Integra or ’00 Civic SI as far as clutch and internal components are involved.” Needless to say, it's an interesting situation. It will be fun to find out what's in there and if I should keep it or sell it. Just posting this in case anybody has any thoughts to share.



Thanks!

 

do a compression check at least. Parts on the car are dated of course, like the turbo setup. If you do end up keeping it, get it tuned with some engine management program like Hondata or Neptune...

 

Thank you for that suggestion!! Good idea. I dropped it off tonight and added that to my list.
Can't wait to hear what the mechanic has to say. Fingers crossed it's good news!!

 

>filter on the blow off valve

Lmao what

At a glance looks pretty decent OP. Like NV said the parts are definitely dated, but it appears to be a pretty "complete" setup which is a good sign. Do you know what turbo it is?

 

It's called "F Max". Attached above is what I found in the file. I'm not familiar w/turbos and don't really turn wrenches. I can change oil and fix a leaky radiator with JB weld and duct tape!
Can you help me understand what your comment means? Is the filter in the wrong place? Sorry if my question is dumb, I just don't know anything about it. Thanks!

 

Here's FMAX info....

 

Thanks for your comments, guys! If it weren't for radiator failure/blown head gasket, I'd still be driving that '97 Del Sol Vtec....loved that car!

 

Not to discourage you, but if you drive this car often you're going to be forced to learn at least some new mechanic skills.

The purpose of a blow off valve is to release positive air pressure in the intake tube when the throttle body closes between shifts, it blows air outwards. So it's a little funny to me that your BOV has a filter on it, as it really should never be breathing in, only out. I'm not sure if it's for emissions reasons (which wouldn't really make sense, as this is uncombusted clean air), or if they were concerned about vacuum or something.

I can't think of any problem it would create by having it there. I suppose it would likely quiet down the sound of the BOV a bit. It's likely just some "old tech" that's been abandoned for the reasons I mentioned above.


Edit: Also I've never heard of FMax, so can't say too much there. I do hope that your oil return is tapped higher in the pan than what they show in that PDF. For now see what your mechanic says, and start putting around the car and see how it treats you/behaves. Have fun!

 

Oh, and the reason you want a BOV on a turbo car is so that air has a way to escape the intake tube when the throttle blade closes, otherwise that positive compressed air is forced back into the turbo's compressor housing, forcing the wheel to try and spin the other way. That's the "StuStuStuStu" noise you'll hear on some people's turbo cars, that some people love so much. It's honestly an awful noise, because it's basically the sound of your turbo fighting itself. It's not a good thing (to not have a BOV, or an improperly routed one).

 

Thanks Chance EG, great info. I will share with mechanic. I have a '93 Nissan 300ZX too (NA). I never wanted a turbo in the past:
1) I have a ton of speeding tickets w/OUT access to a turbo!
2) Being a man of modest means for most of my life (and not a wrench turner), feared the expen$$$e of blowing a turbo..
Honestly I don't really trust myself with a turbo....I'll just get myself in trouble....

 

PS: Not sure if this helps, but found this re FMAX TURBO: Fmax/Turbonetics Bolt-on Kits - <br>Fmax Turbonetics Complete Bolt-onTurbo Kit <b>Honda Civic DelSol</b><br>92-00<br> - Import Sport Compact Race Performance Car Parts
Says $3400 for the Del Sol Turbo but that's probably brand new today.
Who knows if the system was any good when it was installed?

 

I found some comments about FMAX turbos from way back in 2002. One persons says NAY and another says YAY in my experience....
F-Max kits have a bit different fuel system than most turbo kits for our hondas (2 injectors before the tb) so that might go for a tricky install, which in turn costs you more money. the d16 will defiantly not last long at 225 whp, and this is just 1 of the reason i do not like the f-max kits. they give you alot of pre-tuned/calibrated fuel management, but no real engine support.(actually, now that i think of it, i think they can include a thicker headgasket if you give them some more $$$, and then you have to have that headgasket put in, costing you even more $$$). So with this fuel setup, who's gunna tune it if you want to go onto a higher boosting more hp application later on?

Onto their crappy manifolds with no warranty.. F-Max manifolds that are fabricated for hondas are made from mig welded boiler parts. Not to mention that they flow like crap(worse than drag manifolds)

Do yourself a favor, and check out either Max Rev kits, or Rev Hard Turbo kits for your car. www.groupbuycenter.com has a big deal on max rev kits(2400 shipped, intercooled) or www.rev-hard.com both very nice quality turbo kits, and a good base to work off of.
-good luck

Sprocker

Senior Member

• Apr 3, 2003

I have an F-max kit and love it, well I started with an F-max kit, I have heard just the opposite about the manifolds, I heard they are some of the best made log style manifolds and comparing them to the Drag kit is a Joke, a rising rate regulator is a piece of crap in my opinion. I agree there are better routes than the addition injectors but they work a lot better than trying to make your stock injectors flow 7+ times the stock fuel pressure, I agree the greddy kits and Rev hard and max rev are all nice kits too. But comparing the Drag manifold to F-max I have always seen F-max get higher #'s than drag, and I ran the F-max kit at 8psi on a stock engine for a year with no problems and gained 80 whp at 8psi without getting any tuning done. And F-max has stood behind their products 100%, I have talked to them many times as well as some people from Drag and there is no comparision in customer service, F-max does warrenty their manifolds and so far of the 20 F-max kits I kow none have had any cracking problems, and some of those have been ran to 20+ psi. This is just my opinion, no offense boostedGS, this is just what I have experienced. Hope this helps. Plus now F-max is owned by Turbonetics and so they have a lot more experience, now also I must say I am talking about the drag gen 3 manifolds, I have no experience with the newer ones so maybe the newer ones are better.

 

PS: Another comment on the thread from 2002:

Fmax Turbo Kits.

In response to the fmax turbo kit, i think it is the best turbo kit out there. I had a 95 honda civic ex, 2 dr, coupe, manual. I bought the fmax turbo kit in 2002 and I had about 40k on the car. I decided to go with the head gasket option to lower compression because the results were about 225 horse to the wheels along with the same in torque. When installed I used ARP head studs so I would not be able to stretch the head bolts. I started off at stock boost which was 7 psi from the wastegate to my knowledge. I was a little skepticle at running 15 psi everyday on pump gas like the website said you could with the headgasket, but i decided to give it a try. The timing was retarded .2 degrees per pound of boost. So 3 degrees total. I bought a Greddy profec b boost controller on hooked it up. I had all the guages, temp, air fuel, oil pressure, etc. Let me tell you, because the kit comes with a stand alone fuel management and 2 440 lucas injectors, the kit was perfectly tuned and I even passed emitions. I ran 15 pounds of boost everyday for about 3 years and put about 50,000 miles on the turbo kit, with no problems!!! I used 20 50 oil weight due to the low compression. But it's true, honda rods are thicker then a mustang 5.0 and as long as you lower the compression your good. There were a couple times I ran 17 lbs and didn't even lean out. If you want to get more boost, buy the piston and rods. My car ran awesome becuase the injectors didn't kick on untill you were on boost. And it came with a three bar map sensor so it reeds the rpm your ar, the fuel, and boost and adjusts the lucas injectors so your car runs totally normal. I'm telling you guys, this kit is for real!!!! I would not joke, the only reason I sold the car is becuase I bought a house, and I used to be a car guru. Do exactly what they tell you and you will be fine. I beat a lot of cars out there with this kit and some of my friends still can't believe that I had no problems. That's because it's a HONDA!!

 

Hey guys, finally heard back from my mechanic. He replaced the timing belt, water pump, etc.
I also paid him to open up the engine and tell me if all of this stuff was in the engine: FMAX Turbo, MSD Boost Timing Master, Eagle Connecting Rods, Crower 63401T Crankshaft, Crower Rod Bolt Assembly, ARP head stud kit, etc.

He confirmed that stuff was in the engine AND identified the engine is from a 1994 Acura Integra (receipt attached)
He showed me on the block where the stamp says: B-18-C1" (which he says is a "GSXR" engine).
There's no boost gauge, but he said when you turn the silver dial, you can hear the turbo "spool up" and "blow off" (sorry, I don't know anything about turbos, just telling you what he told me).
He said "Somebody spent a lot of money on this engine." He suggested I find somebody who can "tune" it.

He also said "two fuel injectors in the intake tube are looped together" and he wasn't sure why it was set up that way.
Anyway, I'm open to suggestions. Trying to figure out if I should sell this car or keep it. It drives nice but not sure I need turbo, souped up engine, etc..... Thanks!

 

Meant to write GSR engine

8. B18C1 was an engine for USDM Acura Integra GSR. This was an analog to JDM B18C, but the compression ratio was reduced to 10. The VTEC system was triggered @ 4,400 rpm, intake manifold was triggered @ 5,800 rpm. The power was 170 HP @ 7,600 rpm; torque was 174 Nm @ 6,200 rpm.