I'll preface this by adding that I'm paraphrasing this the words aren't exact but the meaning of what the shop said is. Also I'm not going to say who they are.

Ok, so I have a newer integra gsr with low miles.
I've been reading honda tech for a while and I've picked up a few good FI parts along the way.
Well I finally got a decent xmas bonus at work and realized that put me into what I thought was good honda-turbo money, so I went to the best shop near me I could find. Boy was I SHOCKED at the things they said.
First of all they laughed at me for having picked out some parts already, they had never seen them mind you.
Then I said "ok fine, but assuming I have excellent parts which come together easily and you run into no problems; how much to just install them and how long?"
"$5-6000". I'm not joking. I almost laughed in their face. So I said ok does that include tuning? they said sure. Then they said "i hope that's not your only car, because we don't want you calling us if it's not done in a month. And it could just blow up too, then you're looking at much more money."
So then they said "and if you're planning on running more than 5psi, which you better be because any less than 15psi is bullshit and not worth putting a turbo on, you might as well use a baloon; then you better build the motor with at *least* turbo cams, pistons and rods and lower compression. And that's another $5-6000."
So I asked "what about sleeves? how much boost do you have to run before you have to add sleeves also?"
Them: "we build cars with 30psi and we never use sleeves. Why do you need sleeves? as long as they're steel and you havent bored them too thin."
They also said to make 300hp out of my b18c1 I'd need at least 15psi.
So I told them I had seen dynos of my motor, stock, makin 300whp on 10psi they told me that anyone who said that is a liar.. and that the motor would just blow up and the cast stock pistons would melt.
So according to them I'm left with some FI parts which will only ever make very little power with me dropping $5-6000 for install plus the other parts I'm missing. Unless I build my engine for another $5-6000 in which case I could do it all for a pretty sum of about 13-17 grand.
In other words they told me I can't afford to turbo my car and sent me packing... what's going on here? They're charging $125/hr and can't put in a turbo and tune it within a month?
I've been to a couple of other shops round here but ooooboy I wouldn't trust them with my motor...
I already have tons of good FI parts for it. My goal was also not that high I'm looking for 250-300whp. I was hoping to do it on my stock motor. Apparently I can't do it?
Oh yes this is my only car and it is my daily driver. BUT I can get to work without a car and there are other cars in my house so I didn't think it would be a huge issue...


Modified by vod at 1:12 AM 1/7/2004

 

go to a different shop

 

dude you can install it all yourself. Turbo install is very very easy. changing my oil was almost as bad as my turbo install. I only know how to do it on the SOHC but i'm sure the DOHC isn't much different. Talk to someone nice on here who has a good turbo DOHC i'm sure they'll help. Don't make me drive to MA just to install ur darn turbo, lol...

 

It's hard for me to do the install. I'm renting so I have no garage. I also have no tools at all right now and no prior turbo experience.
I have changed my oil before and done other little things like a stereo install, fuel cuttoff etc.
I even taken a mini engine appart before but that was a long time ago and i had plenty of help.
However I still feel the need to get the turbo done at a shop. One with a dyno who can tune AEM ems or hondata.

 

i'm sure there's another H-T guy on here who lives sorta close to you and has a garage. They shouldn't charge more than 800 for the install if you have all the stuff. Thats without dyno of course

 

If you dont really work on your own car, I wouldn't even go turbo at all. You WILL run into little things here and there and you need to know your car inside out or you will be paying shops a shitload. IMO either learn and buy tools, or wait.

 

i got the same bullshit answers from shops up here man....I just decided to do it myself..still have lots of questions but hopefully with the help of everyone on here..I will be able to complete it..good luck..btw...try a different shop!!

 

Which shop was it I wanna know so I can call them up and harass them, if it was warmer weather, I'd tackle the project, but with this cold weather, I' want to take a week or two.
-PHiZ

 

ya, i would recommed doing the install yourself. just get all the parts gathered up and once it gets warmer maybe someone would come help you

 

i live in boston every weekend..if it was warmer i could do the install, it would take a day if you had all the parts.

 

See i knew it, this is why i love H-T. Sure there are a lot of dicks on here but there's also a lot of good guys willing to help out.

 

sounds like a domestic shop. Anyone on ht will do yours for 100 a HOUR/ jk ahah but you could probaly do it yourself( i did it lol).

 

I don't think they were a domestic shop because they had a civic, a subaru, a viper and a porche in there. It looked like a mix of cars. I swear that civic looked like a vw tho.
So are my expectations too high of a stock block? I've read all the stories of 250-300hp on stock blocks daily on HT even the crazy 350-450hp on stock blocks, but now I'm having doubts they're actually real? maybe those people just dynod them and they blew up when they left the shop? lol. I've even read people on here saying it's cake to make 300hp off a stock b18c1 now.

 

300+ is easy...there are plenty of good tuners in the northeast, just take a day or weekend trip to NY/NJ ...none of the shops in boston impress me..

 

Invest in a Helm's manual, read the thread on the drag kit install in this forum, and post questions on here. By the time you are ready to do the install it should warm up some and I'm sure the guys who live by you will be willing to help you out. Hell, if I can install a turbo kit on my car, I'm sure you can. The good things is that you'll be saving money and learning your car at the same time.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Prod &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">go to a different shop</TD></TR></TABLE>

 

Like was stated above, if you don't do it yourself, don't do it at all. If you don't do it, when things break, you won't know what, or why. Then, you're stuck paying someone to fix it all over again. It's a big headache. It's a ripoff, too. It can be done in two days 100% custom (I did it, ZERO prior experience).

I reccomend you a greddy KIT and a self install. Sell what you have (keep an intercooler + bov if you have them) and start like that. Greddy kit is easy, cheap, and reliable. It also has some potential for when you're ready. 99% of "shops" are good at nothing more than fixing broken cars and replacing stock parts with stock parts. Don't let those ***** touch your car. They won't know how to tune it for ****. It can be done, easly.

Good luck!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by BlueSi2k &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">If you dont really work on your own car, I wouldn't even go turbo at all. You WILL run into little things here and there and you need to know your car inside out or you will be paying shops a shitload. IMO either learn and buy tools, or wait.</TD></TR></TABLE>

yeah

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by vod &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> Also I'm not going to say who they are.
</TD></TR></TABLE>
Why on earth would you not help the rest of us avoid this **** shop.
<FONT COLOR="red"><FONT SIZE="5">NAME THE SHOP</FONT></FONT>

I would gladly help you for free if I was near you, and I am sure others would too.

 

there's no need to name the shop. if you called them or went there you would be told right away everything I was told.

 

the guy at the shop clearly doesn't know what he's talking about. they've probably never done a custom turbo setup before so instead of admitting they can't do it, they just tried to convince you that it couldn't be done.

and since you almost believed him, you clearly need to do way more research yourself (not to offend you, just being honest). there's so much great info on this board alone, you should have no problem finding all the answers to your questions about what you need in order to achieve your goals.

ps. a pretty good custom setup w/hondata and tuning can be had for less than 4 grand if you shop around and wait for a few deals to pop up. and no, you don't need to replace all your internals, you won't melt your pistons unless you run really lean no matter how much power you are developing, sleeves are not necessarily good enough "as long as they're steel" (why do you think people replace them, cause it looks cool??), and dammit say the name of the shop so others don't go there! no one want's to go to a place that just throws around false information. SAVE ANOTHER FROM BEING SCREWED LIKE YOU COULD HAVE BEEN!!

thanks

 

hey i did mines myself, if u can do things like change ur own oil, springs shocks then its no prob just take your time and research you'll be happy you did

 

Do the **** urself. They'll charge you an arm and a leg otherwise. This is important stuff. Turbocharging isn't all bragging rights or any of that ****. It's all well earned. If you're gonna go turbo, you better learn and understand what you're doing.

 

i highly recommend goign with a premanufactured kit like a revhard or drag or greddy. why? Thsi si your FiRST turbo project and you now have no shop support. you have no expirence in forced induction except what you've read here and 90% of that is also crap. so if you do invest in a pre made kit it will be directly bolt on, you can have it done in a day at worst, and you can call the shop if you have questions. So living in an appartment copmplex as long as it's finished same day, they usually don't get upset.

 

Its not really as bad as it seems at first. You'll be surprised how much you learn and before you know it you have done the install yourself. There is nothing 'technical' about a turbo install apart from the tuning side of things. As everybody said, if you do the install, when **** breaks you will undoubtedly know how to troubleshoot, find and fix the problem. Else it will drive you mad going back and forth to your mechanic. I'm sure you will find all the info you need here