i wanted to know if you need to do any internal mods to run a turbo on a 94 civic ex vtec 1.6L d16 series motor. I was planning to put a Greddy turbo kit on it with a Greddy intercooler. What other kind of mods do i have to do for instance fuel pump, injectors, etc.... Also anyone know where i can find a wide body kit for this car and if there is a website can you post it. Thanks

Well, it depends on what condition the engine is in. Mileage is a big number to look at. You'd also need new spark plugs and wires. But anyway, if your engine isn't in that great condition, you might need to reinforce pistons, rods, because an old engine might not be able to take the extra power.

it only has 73,824 miles on it

Umm, did you have the car since it was new, or did you buy it used. because sometimes there is a big difference between hard driven miles, and grandma miles.

Well we bought the car from a guy who was performance orientated. When we recieved the car it had a dc sports short shifter kit a cat back exhaust system, bbs rims, air intake and dc sports headers. He never raced it though he just had to say he has it on his car.

well, if it was a guy who drove it, you can basically tell it's been driven hard. ummm, do you know any mechanics who are friends? you could have them look for stress on the block, pistons, rings and whatnot. if the engne is too weak, once you put the forced induction, you could bust all your rods and pistons, and then, you'll have to pay alot more in the long run.

let me put it this way if the car was mechanically in shape can i run a turbo on it and what kind of mods will be needed. I don't want to change my pistons, rods and etc... yet. Basically i'm asking if I can put turbo on my car without changing these things

yeah, you could do that. I dunno what does in the kit include? If it is just a turbo, you're gonna need an intercooler, a downpipe, blow off valve, wastegate, probably a new exhaust, new cap, wires and plugs. Oh, and ECU. but let us know what the kit includes.

First question is how much boost are you wanting to run?

You can get the Greddy kit for your car (about $1600 w/o Intercooler) It comes with pretty much all the stuff you need to run it at its stock boost of 5.5 lbs and be safe without really changing much. Just get some gauges and make sure your safe with your Air/Fuel mixture and not detenating

You can run about 8-9 (maybe a little more) safely with good tuning and and a solid motor, your should do your ignition (hotter plugs, good wires, MSD ingnition are good starters. A Distributor isnt a bad idea either.) and fuel (High Flow pump, and regulator, and maybe injectors) too, just to safe guard yourself against detenation.

If you want to go higher then that, You should get a block guard, low compresion pistons, rods, good rings, and even a thicker head gasket (this will also drop compression to run more boost). Thatll help you bottom end out a ton. The you could do the head and get cams and valves and retainers and things like that. This should give you a very solid motor, you can do some pretty major boosting with a setup like this. Just dont forget about your ignition and fuel either, and some good old fashion Dyno Tuning too.

While we are on the subject of turbos....

How much boost could I run with a Drag Gen 3 turbo on my 99 SOCH VTEC? Is 17-20psi an attainable level? Dont bother telling me I would need to prep the engine for that kind of boost cause I plan on doing that if I can run high levels of boost:D . Thanks!

with a good intercooler, and a nice boost controller, you might be able to do it. but carefull with all that boost.

don't forget the wastegate and blow off valve

Originally posted by Swonder67
don't forget the wastegate and blow off valve

Of course not :). I was planning on buying the complete Drag Turbo kit which includes intercooler, wastegate, blowoff valve, turbo exhaust manifold, bigger downpipe, etc. Thanks for the info

That's gotta be some serious cash man. I wish I could spend that much.

Originally posted by Swonder67
That's gotta be some serious cash man. I wish I could spend that much.

Your right about that! :( I don't know if I will have the cash to spend on the kit and the engine prep, but I am hoping that I can do it for my Senior Project next year and get all little bit of funding from the 'rents and the school. Who knows:confused: :confused:. Beside... I've always been a dreamer, I just wanna be prepared if any one dream might come true :D .

Well, I guess if you wer careful with your spending, and did whatever work you could by yourself, it is possible. As of right now, I don't have enough time to take on such a big project. because if you do it, once you get everything off, you won't be able to drive the car for a while till you get everything back on.

Originally posted by D16 V-TEC
While we are on the subject of turbos....

How much boost could I run with a Drag Gen 3 turbo on my 99 SOCH VTEC? Is 17-20psi an attainable level? Dont bother telling me I would need to prep the engine for that kind of boost cause I plan on doing that if I can run high levels of boost:D . Thanks!

The biggest problem you will run into wont be with the Turbo Kit. Itll most likely be your bottom end and/or Tranny.. SOHC motors arent the stongest out of the bunch, Im not sure what their max limits are, but with the proper build up and tuning, you should be able to get that much boost into your motor. The Drag 3 kit itself is great. Most people that I know running turbocharged SOHC arent running much boost, no more then about 10 lbs or so on stock internals.

Originally posted by Racing Rice


The biggest problem you will run into wont be with the Turbo Kit. Itll most likely be your bottom end and/or Tranny.. SOHC motors arent the stongest out of the bunch, Im not sure what their max limits are, but with the proper build up and tuning, you should be able to get that much boost into your motor. The Drag 3 kit itself is great. Most people that I know running turbocharged SOHC arent running much boost, no more then about 10 lbs or so on stock internals.

Yea, I definately wouldn't run more than 10 pounds on the stock internals. What do you suggest doing about the tranny to strengthen it up. And what about the lower end power loss? Any suggestions?

I wouldn't run more than 10 psi in a daily driver anyway.

Originally posted by Swonder67
I wouldn't run more than 10 psi in a daily driver anyway.

Under daily driving conditions I would run 6-8 lbs, but incase I needed to do something heavy duty, I could crank up the poundage ;).

hell yeah, 50 psi and 200 shot nitrous...

hey 94 civic, if i were you i would swap some new engine in first...you're running 125 bhp now, right? thats not very much. i would first swap some new engine in like a gsr. your turbo would then be a lot more useful

Originally posted by fortyoz2eric
hey 94 civic, if i were you i would swap some new engine in first...you're running 125 bhp now, right? thats not very much. i would first swap some new engine in like a gsr. your turbo would then be a lot more useful

While this advice isn't necessarily bad, there's a pretty huge freakin' difference in cost between putting a turbo on an EX motor and doing a few things to ensure safe operation, and swapping in a GSR motor. If you're talking about running over 10lbs of boost, it would probably be worth it, just because you're going to be able to get more power from the GSR using less boost, and thus sinking less money into engine internals, but as a daily driver, considering you're probably not gonna run more than 6 or 8 pounds anyway, swapping to a GSR motor would be entirely too costly, especially considering he said he was trying to do this as a senior project, and would be trying to garner some funds from his parents and the school. Again, not bad advice, just probably in the wrong direction.

Dont count the D16 out, it can put out the power if its done properly..

Originally posted by D16 V-TEC


Yea, I definately wouldn't run more than 10 pounds on the stock internals. What do you suggest doing about the tranny to strengthen it up. And what about the lower end power loss? Any suggestions?

If your gonna run 10 lbs I wouldnt worry about the Tranny to much, honda trannies are pretty strong will hold the power pretty well Id just do a good clutch and maybe a lightweight flywheel, you probably wont have to worry about the tranny until your putting out some serious power...

Lowend power loss, I would say maybe running a small shot of N2O(like a 25 shot) after you have everything tuned good. This will help spool the turbo up faster. I wouldnt go much bigger then that.

You may also want to think about getting a thicker head gasket if you dont want to replace internals right off the bat, and still be able to run more boost.. This will drop compression in the motor..

Fmax says they have a 96 EX pushing 230 hp and 212 Ft-lbs of torque on stock internals (and yes it is a SOHC, no swap).. Thats some power. Heres the link so you can see what all they changed its pretty impressive really.

FMax Civic D16 Turbo Kit (http://www.f-max.com/D16A%20VTEC%20DYNO.htm)

Cool article! Thanks a lot :).

Originally posted by D16 V-TEC
Cool article! Thanks a lot :).

Hey not a prob..

:cool: Those guys at F-Max sound like they definitely know their stuff. Has anyone had any experience with their turbos? It looks pretty impressive, but they only have 5 dealers to sell their product. It certainly seems that they've done their research, and the kit does look very complete, not to mention easy to install, but I'd like to know if anyone has ever heard about their turbos directly, or used it themselves. :confused:

Originally posted by CivicRacerX
:cool: Those guys at F-Max sound like they definitely know their stuff. Has anyone had any experience with their turbos? It looks pretty impressive, but they only have 5 dealers to sell their product. It certainly seems that they've done their research, and the kit does look very complete, not to mention easy to install, but I'd like to know if anyone has ever heard about their turbos directly, or used it themselves. :confused: '

Ive heard some people say they are great kits... but I know many people that use them. Most people I know go with the 3rd Gen Drag kit or Greddy kit. Ive been looking at all the kits.. Fmax looks great I just havent seen many people that use it for some reason.. Id like to know why.

I have driven on my Vortech SUPERCHARGER system for over 5k and it hasnt faultered or lowered my gas mileage. My ride kicks about 265 hp with the Vortech system, a DC ceramic 4-1 header, Apexi V-AFC and Boost Controller, AEM fluel rails and Denso injectors, and an Apexi N! exhaust. Not too much to acheive a sickening 120% increase in power!

Big up to anyone in STL or CHICAGO...where the events at!???

INDOORS THIS WINTER!:devil:

Originally posted by VortechCivicSTL
I have driven on my Vortech SUPERCHARGER system for over 5k and it hasnt faultered or lowered my gas mileage. My ride kicks about 265 hp with the Vortech system, a DC ceramic 4-1 header, Apexi V-AFC and Boost Controller, AEM fluel rails and Denso injectors, and an Apexi N! exhaust. Not too much to acheive a sickening 120% increase in power!

Big up to anyone in STL or CHICAGO...where the events at!???

INDOORS THIS WINTER!:devil:

Thatd be great if we had SI's... Id like to see you try that to an EX though.

17-20psi on a stock D16Y8 motor? hmm...

Of course it's attainable. With soem extensive fuel tuning (larger injectors, pump, stand-alone engine managment), bottom end building (ductile iron sleeves, forged pistons, and stronger rods), as well as some igntion tuning.

All this talk of boost reminds me of a short article in scc awhile back about a saab rally car. With a modifeid 2L, the dude was running about 32 psi and squeezen out 750 or so horsepower. So I bet with with the right modifications a d16 can withstand 20 pounds of boost.
Ktulu

ok all crap aside.....
heres what i got 93 del sol sohc d16z6 greddy turbo which i blew up my motor haha i knew it would happen now im rebuilding the whole thing ....
so the question is at 8 psi what kind of hp/tq can i expect?
i have stock internals head with 3 angle new guides new seals everything... fuel pump form an sti 4 mm headgasket to lower compression to 9 to 1 2.5 in exaust aem rising rate fuel pressure regulator and 450cc injectors.............
do you think ill be alright at 8psi on the stock bottom end has anyone done this before ???? i dont want to fork out the money for the rods and pistons .... any ideas? what else do i need???