Adding turbo to 98 Accord EX? Also engine question.

I was wondering what everyone's take is on this, and what a good complete turbo kit would be. I've seen some on turbo-kits.com that seem pretty good but they say it only goes up to 8psi boost. What would be needed to run 15+ psi? Also, would twin turbos be possible? It's a 2.3L VTEC.

One other thing...what type of engine is on it, does anyone know? I saw some badass kits for Civic's, but I'm not sure if any of those have the same engine as the Accord or not. Does anyone know if they would work?

You can't run more than 10lbs. of boost safely on stock internals, a "bolt on" kit is out. You'll have to do rods, pistons, rings and injectors to run 15+lbs. Look into a Drag kit, or a Rev Hard. I've got a boddy that ran a Rev Hard on his Teg motor at 19lbs for over two years with no problems, but he also built the bottom end...and it pulled like a raped ape. There have been some twin turbo setups made, and one from a guy that claims to have gotten good numbers, but they're all hand built from scratch, and for the money and time you'd spend, you'd get similar numbers from a good single kit. I run a GRaddy kit at 8psi, and it's more than enough for me, but it's also on a single cam Civic, so for the 2.3, you'll want the bigger drag, or Rev Hard kit.

Dave
Latest Craze

So it would need to be rebuilt if I got a Drag kit? What's the cost of the rebuild? Also, is there any ECU modification...and can it be run on an automatic? If not, would it be better just to get a bolt on kit and run it at 8psi?

Depends on how fast you want to go, and then that depends on how much money you want to spend. Your ECU doesn't need modified, but you do need some sort of fuel management. I had a buddy that simply ran a Vortech FMU (mechanical fuel management) and bigger injectors on a drag kit and never had a problem, but I've heard others say you'll get more power, more tuning options, and better gas mileage out of running a GReddy Emanage (what I run) or a Hondata or Uberdata system. It can run on an automatic with no problems. As for cost, plan on $the ballpark of $2500 for a drag kit, to run 10 or less PSI, and for more, plan to almost double that number, but that gets you to about 20 PSI.

Hope that helps

Dave

Dave, since you seem to know your shit a bit... do you need to run racing gas or anything at those big psi's?

You don't need to, but you "can" have your setup tuned so that it can run race gas when "needed" (meaning that running it won't mess it up), and regular 96 octane on the streets. The race gas WILL give you the added HP, but it also puts more stress on all those moving parts , so I'd keep the turbo blue out of an engine with factory internals.

Dave

Thanks Dave. One other question....was looking on turbo-kits.com and saw the Drag kit and they also have a Turbonetics. The Turbonetics kit comes with the several fuel management options that you mentioned...Hondata, Greddy emanage, etc. Also has options for 550cc fuel injectors and an aftermarket fuel pump. The Drag kit doesn't have those options and only has ball bearing upgrades....what do you think about the Turbonetics? The kits can be seen here http://turbo-kits.com/accord_turbo_kits.html Scroll down to the bottom for the 4cyl kits. There's also an FMAX kit, comes with fuel injectors and whatnot.....any input on the three kits?

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Those all look good, and the Turbonetics when it came out was WAY more money than that, so to come down in price that much is maybe good, maybe bad, ya know...If it were me...I'd do the Drag kit...for 3099, you're also getting the FMIC, and all piping for it, but I'd spend the extrqa money and get the Walbro intank pump upgrade. The inline won't do much good when the factory intank will determine what comes out of the tank, and it keeps the engine bay cleaned up, since there's no extra pump to mount. I'll take some pics of my engine bay and post them up in my profile tonight...I forgot I haven't done that yet. You can use the Vortech 12:1 FMU that comes with the kit, then upgrade to a Hondata or Emanage when money allows...then upgrade the internals down the road and get a boost controller, and up the HP...the Drag kit can take it. Keep in mind, even though the Drag kit may not have the upgrade option on that site, the Hondata, Uberdata, or E-manage hooks up to your factory ECU wiring, it doesn't come in contact with your turbo parts at all ;)

Oh, a few last tips, when you switch over, switch to Mobil 1 synthetic, only use premium feul, get a boost, oil pressure, and air/fuel gauge (they're CRITICAL), get a MSD Ignition box and external coil (I use the MSD6 and Blaster) to boost your spark, and go one stage colder on your spark plugs.

Dave

What about fuel injectors? Would 550cc be good? What's the Precision GT30R? And would a ball bearing upgrade be better?

I would think the 440's would be fine, up until you're well up over 350 hp, which, once you're up in that area, you're going to have to start worrying about getting that power to the ground more than getting the 550's...which means the streetability of the car becomes an issue. The ball bearing upgrade is fine, but I think that the GT30R upgrade, is a high output Garret Turbo that's good up to 600HP, which sounds great, except anything over 350, is going to be hard to put the power to the ground on the street. You'll be bracing your front suspension, running staggered suspension to help the pull...and the car doesn't ride well AND launch well...so you have to decide with that much power if you want to still enjoy driving the car around. Don't let me talk you out of the power, just keep in mind, when you go THAT big...you're going to lose funcionality. Hope that helps.

Dave