turbo now or later??

[integraluva]

whas good guys,
quick question. i jus bought a 92 integra ls with 180 000 highway miles on it. Now i know everyone must think im doub as hell, but i took a mechanic with me and he said the engine runs fine, no problems. he was surprised at how well kept it was and the inside of the car is emaculate. i bought the car for only $1500 and now i hav 5000 to play with. before i supe it, shuld i buy a whole new engine? and if so, which is the best one?[/quote][/quote]

[DjiNN_Inc]

i wouldnt put a turbo on that engine....... i would just get new LS motor and put turbo on that..... it will cost you 5-6k for both.

[maxspeedhonda]

Originally Posted by DjiNN_Inc

i wouldnt put a turbo on that engine....... i would just get new LS motor and put turbo on that..... it will cost you 5-6k for both.

You would be alright for awhile on the stock motor, buy if you have the cash do it right. Ls motors are easy to come by and cheap as shit. I'd say go with the motor swap right away, all parts and depending on what you want to do yourself, I'd say 3,000. Then save a little more and get a turbo setup done right. Trying to do a turbo with 2,000 while me having to half ass some things which you really dont want to do.

[99IntegraGSR]

I have a GSR engine with 45,000 miles on it and I'm looking pretty seriously at turbocharging it right now. But like the other guys said just take your time and do it right. Get a new engine in there and then put on the turbo. I know it's hard to wait, but the results will be a lot better.

[integraluva]

Originally Posted by maxspeedhonda

You would be alright for awhile on the stock motor, buy if you have the cash do it right. Ls motors are easy to come by and cheap as shit. I'd say go with the motor swap right away, all parts and depending on what you want to do yourself, I'd say 3,000. Then save a little more and get a turbo setup done right. Trying to do a turbo with 2,000 while me having to half ass some things which you really dont want to do.

o k ... but shouldnt i get some sort of ls/vtech engine instead of a stock motor?

[integraluva]

Originally Posted by integraluva

o k ... but shouldnt i get some sort of ls/vtech engine instead of a stock motor? .

thanx for the input guys but now what motor should i get to turbo?? keep in mind its a '92ls. i want the best i can get if possible...

[Myjunkistight]

Get the stock motor that came in your car, the b18 non vtec. Since you are going to turbocharge it later, this would be your best choice because it can take more boost than the vtec engines and it has a lower compression which turbo applications need. If you wanted to go all motor you could get a b17 which is the gsr engine for your gen. Or you could get a b18c1 or c5, the c1 has 180hp, not sure about the c5 but it's around 200hp. If you get one of the latter engines you would have to use a cable tranny from your gen.

[maxspeedhonda]

[quote=Myjunkistight]this would be your best choice because it can take more boost than the vtec engines and it has a lower compression which turbo applications need. [quote]

That is one of the most generic, mistaken statements in existence. I agree it is the best choice for you because of your budget and ease of the swap. Yes the block can take more boost BECAUSE of the lower CR. Turbo apps dont NEED low compression. It is simply a failsafe. Open a magazine, you will find tons of high compression turbo cars. RSX Type S, US and JDM teg type R's, s2000 and so on. The higher CR will equal more hp per pound of boost and faster spooling. For example, I have taken down eclipse gst's running 18-19 psi stock, on my 10psi with 10:1 CR time and time again. Tuning is a MUST however.

But for your issue, yes use the b18b. It is cheap and will drop right in without any problems. You should be able to run 12psi daily if done right. Stick with the stock ls motor for now, then look into a better flowing vtec head (or worked ls head) after the turbo motor gets running strong.

[Myjunkistight]

Not trying to be smart or anything, but then why do they make low compression pistons for b16's and b18's which have high compression ratio's? It makes sense that if you have a high compression ratio already and you add boost it will give you more hp per boost, but then what is the point of low compression pistons? Why couldn't you just run less boost and get the same amount of horsepower?

[maxspeedhonda]

Originally Posted by Myjunkistight

Not trying to be smart or anything, but then why do they make low compression pistons for b16's and b18's which have high compression ratio's? It makes sense that if you have a high compression ratio already and you add boost it will give you more hp per boost, but then what is the point of low compression pistons? Why couldn't you just run less boost and get the same amount of horsepower?

They make low compression pistons to run high boost levels safely. To run high boost on a high CR you would need the tuning of a tuning mastermind. It isn't really practical for daily driven cars. A stock b16a internals can handle 12-14 psi WELL TUNED and the sleeves can support about 14-16psi. Now take that same b16a and put on 9:1 pistons in there and boost at the same psi. While it would make less hp, it would be alot safer. If you let and 10+:1 motor detonate just once, you might as well kiss it goodbye. Now what some retarded ass people do is change the pistons and try to boost 20psi on the stock block which will almost always result in cracked sleeves or worse. Dropping the CR on a block with stock sleeves just makes the motor more streetable and prevents detonation among other things, definatley not a bad idea if you want to spend the cash, but it all comes down to one thing TUNING!!!!

[Myjunkistight]

[quote=maxspeedhonda]A stock b16a internals can handle 12-14 psi WELL TUNED and the sleeves can support about 14-16psi. Now take that same b16a and put on 9:1 pistons in there and boost at the same psi. While it would make less hp, it would be alot safer.[quote]

Okay, in your example you say that if you run 14 psi with 9:1 pistons and the stock block and it would be safe if tuning is good.

And you say that if you didn't have the low comp. pistons in there and still boosted to 14 psi it would need alot better tuning. I agree because you would be pushing more horsepower.

But, since you are not going to get as much hp out of the engine with low comp pistons anyway, why don't you just leave the stock pistons in there and then set it at a lower boost which would produce the same horsepower as the 14 psi with low comp pistons. Because thats all were looking for here right, Horsepower? It really wouldn't matter if you were boosting 1 psi, or 100 psi, as long as the 1 psi puts out enough horsepower. Just a thought.

As you can see I think alot about stuff like this. I am the type of person who always tries to figure out exactly how things work so pardon all of the posts. I am hopefully soon to be boosting a zc in my crx and am trying to get all the info I can.

[Jeff C]

I would boost a stock motor till it blew up, then I would worry about building it. Learn on the stock motor, not the built one.

[maxspeedhonda]

Yep you have the right idea. I'll use myself as an example, I have been boosting 10-12psi on a stock b16a for almost 2 years now. I drive it pretty damn hard plus I live in South Florida and it is hot as shit. As of about 2 weeks ago I have even compression reading all the way across the board. That is the only reason I havn't made a full build yet, but one will be in the works soon...

[Myjunkistight]

What spark/fuel management are you using?

[93weed_eater]

check out www.homemadeturbo.com they did a couple of custom turbo setups on a zc in a crx. good info you'll learn alot about turbo's