i am going to put on the greddy kit on my Y8. does anybody know how long the engine will last with 5psi? i kind of want my car to last.

 

Corky Bell seems to think that a properly turbocharged car will only reduce an engines life expectency by 10%. I agree with him. HOwever, a setup not done right will last but a few weeks, if that.

 

it depends on how you take care of it and how much you abuse it

 

Wise man once said :

Turbo doesn't blow up motors, people do.

 

I'm counting on that one. I'm going to treat mine like a 3rd child. I need her to last a while.

 

Well there are some people who beat their cars daily and they have lasted for years. You have to realize though that these people put the money into their cars to be able to beat on them all the time. However just a stock Greddy kit on a stock Y8 should last you for a while as long as you arent shifting at redline everywhere you go and flooring it every second. With normal driving and the occasional race it should last for a long while.

 

Get the car tuned with hondata, and that should take care of all your worries about how reliable the car will be. Tuning, or the lack of kills engines. The blue box with the greddy kit is ok for 5psi, but its not tuned for your indivdual engine. Hondata is cheaper than a full rebuild.

 

would anybody recommend the vafc hack to tune my car? or would it be better if i got hondata.

 

The vafc works very similar, but your timing is still left uneffective. Most everyone will say that on 5psi your timing isnt much of an issue, but if you want to turn up the boost in the future you can within 15-20minutes with a good tuner make the adjustment on your boost pressure.

 

are you talking about ignition timing or cam timing because i also have an aem cam gear?

 

Ignition timing. You need to retard the timing while under boost, and the simpliest way to achieve this is by using hondata. The vafc hack only controls fuel, you lack the control over timing. Actually the vafc hack doesnt give you enough control over the fuel, which is why its to be used for low boost applications only. Hondata is superior to all the hacks, gizmo's and doodad's that you can buy because its simple, reliable and most importantly retains what the factory intended.

 

do you know by chance how i could learn how to tune hondata myself. my turbo kit broke the bank. are there any websites or books that would help that you know of?

 

Tuning with the Hondata is very easy in terms of tuning EMS's. I have tuned with haltech, dfi, efi pms, and dabbled with aem only a bit. The hondata is the most straight forward, and user friendly that i have used (not the chip burning stuff, which is a PITA!). You will need to purchase yourself a wideband meter so you can directly hook it up to the hondata unit. This allows you to record precise air/fuel levels, and inturn allows you to make changes to the maps with precise knowledge of what your individual engine needs. The timing maps supplied for turbo will be very close to what you need. Only minor changes should have to be made, save those for the dyno. Tuning is trial and error, there isnt anything that can teach you how to tune...its pretty much personal experience and judgement. Every car can be tune numerous manners, its what you have to take into consideration that becomes hard. Case in point if you want to make the most HP, then the engine will most likely live a short life. A general tuning procedure is:

1. Take a look at the maps, make sure they are reasonable for the application. No n/a maps for a boost engine. This takes some personal experience reading a map.

2. Tuning for air/fuel partial throttle first, then full throttle. Disconnecting the turbo from making power to get a solid map, then connecting and tuning for boost.

3. Cam gear and timing adjustments are done on the dyno, you usually cannot see the effects of minor timing changes on the street.

This is a very broad overview of how to tune, read hondata's site and do alot of search's on this board. Ask questions that havent already been asked after searching if you are still confused. Tuning takes time, skill and patience to master.

 

on the ignition timing, would the msd btm control box work for the igniton timing?

 

You can use that, but if you add up the msd btm unit and vafc you have well over 600.00, probably closer to 700.00. A hondata stage 2b runs 500.00 from kyle at KS motorsports, then add another 50.00 to get your ecu converted over to hondata. 550.00 and you can control everything from one simple unit.

 

so, if i run 5 psi on the street and 7 psi on the track, i should not have any probs with the blue box and my engine should last me a while? do you think it would hold me over for at least two years before i get the hondata? sorry to bug you with these questions.

 

Nah, its ok with the questions, that is how you learn. The blue box is only meant for the 5psi to be operated safely. If you are running the intercooler it would help tremendously. You will make more hp and torque by switching to the hondata unit at 5psi than the blue box. The blue box fuel curves are meant to run rich, and you wont get very good gas mileage because of it. As far as your engine lasting two years, i have heard of the greddy kits running on 5psi lasting a few years with just the blue box. I knew someone awhile back that had one, his only complaint that his gas mileage was a little crappy with the blue box. He switched to hondata and was getting 32-34mpg off boost.

 

Don't listen to all these people with their techno bable.....

Put the turbo on your car and it will make the engine last longer. Raw fact I swear!!

 

how would it last longer?

 

thanks for all of your help. Could i still run 7 psi. only at the track safely?