Buddy of mine has a 97 civic 4 door w/b16a2 swap. He's got ctr pistons w/crower rods. He was thinking of going with a toda head package but I'm trying to convince him to go turbo. But the local speed shop is telling him that a turbo would not be a good idea with the high comp pistons. What do you think?

 

with CTR cams you'll have 11.1:1 compression..if my guess is correct.....uh you can boost it....but you'd better tune really really well and boost nothing higher than 6psi....you'll pop that motor apart....I can't even imagine trying to squeeze more air into the combustion chamber with already an optimized compression ratio......swap the pistons out if you want to turbo with more boost......to 9.2:1 or even 10.1:1 like the GSR's ......and you can safely boost into the 8-15psi region....

 

He better go with a lower compression piston. With out the right tunning with that much compression he will tear those pistons up for sure. probably break the ring lands.

 

So is the consesus that it is a bad idea? Or is it ok, just boost low?

I was under the impression that if a integra type r (which has high comp) can boost and have mad power, why wouldn't his motor be able to?

 

if tuned properly he could make some nice power.. probadly couldnt boost over 6-7 psi...

It will make a ton of power, probadly near 280-300whp at that amounto f boost, with the right turbo...

if i was him, id just spend the extra money and get lower compression pistons.

 

Most R people lower their CR before boosting though, thicker (I think 3 layer) Headgasket.

 

Yeah thats what I told him to do, was to get a head gasket to lower compression but his mechanic told him otherwise and I can't remember what his reasoning was.

Unfortunately it would be quite expensive to open up the motor and swap out to some low comp pistons AND do the turbo setup. The rev hard turbo kit installed is already over $3000.

 

Ah, high compression b16a's. I ran a 11:1 compression b16a for 6 months with zero problems. It comes down to having a good tuner that knows how to tune around the high compression. I was limited to 7-8 psi on pump gas, but the engine responded very well to high compression and boost.

I am getting ready in the next month to tune a fellow honda-tech member 11.2:1 b16a. We'll run 7lbs maximum, but it will generate lots of power as well as a torque curve a 1.6L that mocks a 1.8L.

 

better have a good tuner. i was gonna go that route at first.

i had a b18c1 with itr pistons. didnt want to risk my block blowing up risking damaging the block itself or sleeves so i just went with je 9.1 instead.

its up to u though, if you have a awesome tuner, then go for it. if you dont, then i wouldnt recommend it.

oh, and as for lowering the compression with thicker hg, ive heard good and bad things about that.

many will say that is a 'bandage' job of lowering CR. others have said that it has worked for them. search more on this topic, there are many posts/threads about it.