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Turbo tips needed!

14K views 64 replies 11 participants last post by  MDB92 
#1 ·
Hello! I've finally paid off the Civic, and saved for a turbo. Holy crap it gets expensive past the "kit". So far, I've got a Full race turbo kit, with a E.F.R. 7064 turbo. I've got motor mounts, a stage one exedy clutch and flywheel (hard motion said good for 500hp range, hoping so). Hondata 4 bar MAP sensor. PRL RBC intake swap kit with new RBC intake. Injector Dynamics 1000cc injectors and adapters for RBC. I have not ordered a fuel rail, exhaust, hondata, or bosst controller.

Anyone that has a turbo, I've never put a turbo on a car, and never had a turbo car. Is there anything that I'm missing here? I'd hate to get this all together, take it to the tuner and look like a newb! My goal is around 400hp with it driving stockish, hence why I haven't picked exhaust. My kids will ride in this on occasion and just with a RV6 down pipe my 6 year old daughter asked "why is your car tooting?"

So a few question, do I need to save my M.A.F sensor? What weight oil is normally ran, I'm sure 0-W20 would not be ideal? Any tips on install that you found?

Thanks for any help.
 
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#2 ·
Ok for a full race turbo kit, here's things I wish I had known before, but was fun working through at any rate.

1.) Walboro fuel pumps are a very tight fit. I suggest buying D.W. If your worried about it failing, in the scheme of things it's not expensive to keep a extra on hand. I have had no in tank leak or pressure drops so far.
2.) Total cost. I've not turbo'd anything before. It was done in my garage over about 5 months, and my help was my 6 yo girl and 3 yo boy. It went to a local shop for first start and tune. This put total cost just over $10k. Dyno shop was well spent, they did clean up quite a few loose ends. It would have been cheaper for them to look it over, rough tune...then having online tuning.
3.) For the full race kit, the MAF sensor isn't used, but still has to be plugged in. Amazon sells IAT sensors and pig tails I needed.
4.) Should have gotten full motor mount set. The downstream 0² sensor is very close the the firewall. I got 70a top and rear mounts, the 50 miles I drove it so far, no issues...but is worriesome.
5.) Adjust wastegate alingment. Will be checking this before I drive too much, there's a video on YouTube that explains how to do it much better than the borge Warner efr training documents. I found the video after project was done.
6.) This I didn't mess up, but is helpful. I did not cutt any webbing from my oil pan for turbo oil return. There is a small area just left of where the oil filter is that was a perfect spot. That webbing on the pan is for strength.
7.) This is a big one. Looking at pros and cons of hondata vs ktuner, they both looked fine. Ktuner has that nice touch screen with it. UNLESS your only doing online tunning, and have someone willing to tune ktuner, don't buy a ktuner for boost. Shop wanted hondata, as you can live view information vs only datalog on ktuner.
8.) Subframe goes on much easier if you build a "t" shape out of wood, bolt to jack. Doesn't take any special would, I think I had 1½ pine.
9.) Full race down pipe doesn't attach to 2012 stock exhaust, I ended up with the full race exhaust.
10.) I was on the fence about doing a RBC swap, I shouldnt have been. It's easy, looks better, and for boost it's extra power.

I have the efr 7064 turbo. It was 40F when I drove it home, and it started building boost at 2500rpm. And the recirculating valve doesn't keep me from getting a little bit of turbo flutter, which I was a little worried about. I'm at 8psi, tapers to 6psi and gives around 350whp. It's not that fast, but man it's fun. After my wife recovers from this project, I'll do gears and turn up the boost.
 
#3 ·
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=s9rATOFgoVc

Borg Warners instructions on wastegate alignment are vague...this video is spot on.

I did not do this when I aligned mine, and my boost shot to 10 (tuned at 8 dropping to 6, not ideal but long story). It was very noticeably faster and very worrying after I seen the boost controller! So whoever is installing this in the future, use the above link to save yourself $60 for a new wastegate and $5 for new underwear!

Note that realignment may fix it, as I'm not a expert. I'm assuming the 3,000 miles I've put on it may have caused a leak on the diaphragm that I will replace out of abundance of caution. I'm happy that the tuner did map out past where they tuned boost pressure to...they've went up a few notches in my book.
 
#4 ·
Waste gate was fine, alignment was off but managed to fix without removing turbo. Called Dyno shop, they said turbo must have broke in, and waste gate should be fine. Alignment didn't cause any problems, just the turbo is broke in. Boost has been holding steady just fine, and seems to spool sooner too.

Another thing I wish I'd done while installing this kit, shave the intake temp sensor. The old style sensors are incased in plastic, and tend to be slow reacting to changes. So, sitting at a light my IATs show 140+ while air is moving slow and getting heat soaked from engine bay. Once I take off, air settles to about 120, but sensor is slow to see the cool non-heat soaked air from intercooler.

Concern with this is I'm headed to a drag strip, and my sensor wont update to actual temp till after the race is over. Don't think I can shave it without a retune...so ill add to my list of winter items.
 
#5 ·
0w20 is no good for turbo. I'd switch to Torco SR1 5w30.

IAT sensor I used an older style from a 2001 Odyssey, spliced into the stock MAF (you already know it has to be connected). I got a MAF extension and tucked the MAF into the firewall. Now its getting signal from the IAT sensor I mounted into my cold side piping a couple inches from the throttle body.
 
#6 ·
Yep, I need to look for extension for MAF, good idea. I'm using 5-W30 as well. I don't know what the IAT sensor I have is from, but it's the typical 90s Honda deal. Watching IAT, I can tell it's slow acting. When I bought it, i couldn't find anything with the right mount that was fast acting. I figure it's important as I'm speed density only, so I plan on shaving the plastic off when I need a retune to make it respond to change faster and should make a decent difference for my tuner, and my tune.

I'm mainly just update this thread to help out anyone in the future that decides to install a full race kit. I've had several instances where posts from years back has been the sole place for a answer, and saved me headaches.
 
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#7 ·
For any routing questions. Ask any questions and ill add what I can! Didn't get oil feed or return, but wasn't going to jack car up.
 

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#9 ·
The intercooler pipes going to the intercooler were the tightest. Have to trim and hammer a bit to get them through, not a fan of that. Turbo was pretty easy to put on, more room back there than it looks.
 
#11 ·
Now that I think about it, the RBC and Borg Warner EFR created alot of work in front of the engine. The full race kit, with EFR turbo is water-cooled. Rerouting coolant for the RBC swap, and for the turbo was alot of hose routing. The RBC required a different fuel rail, adapters for the I.D. injectors, and cutting up the fuel injector wiring, as well as buying the special crimper for the type of pins on the new injector clips.
I did not want to do a build that my wife and kids didn't want to ride, and with a open downpipe they wouldnt ride in it.
 
#13 ·
That's a very good question. Probably not 10k worth it! I have a beater Subaru as a daily, so that helps. Only worked in garage as I wanted, and kids were with me in there nearly the entire time. I'm kinda getting tired of being rushed working on crap, so I figured if I was going to turbo it, i was going to do it as enjoyable as possible. I had always wanted to turbo something too.
Couple things, my car before was worth about 12k. Now it's worth, about 12k. Not financially a good idea. I don't daily it. I used to tailgate gravel trucks waiting to pass, now I'm afraid of door dings in the work parking lot. So that's weird.
Funny story, my 7 years old daughter was at school, there was a career day type thing. One guy there had a dirt track race car for kids to see. My daughter asks how many turbos does it have, and told him my "race car" had a turbo. Guy ended up starting the car for her.
 
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#15 ·
It's winter upgrade time!
Gear X 1-4 are being installed. My opinion on these gears, is the car is going to be geared like a sportbike. Being that its a long 1st gear (49mph), the rest of the gears are farely close together. This wouldn't be great for slicks, but I only plan on using street tires, and the long 1st should make it easier to control wheel spin.
Trans is out and cracked open. I'm doing it myself so far, but have a back-up plan just in case.
I was planning on doing a full rebuild, but every seal and bearing adds up fast. I've ordered a couple items im pretty sure I'll need, and I'll order more if I see more wrong. There's a good Honda service bulletin on trans work without replacing all seals/bearings.
I've had very good luck with the exedy stage 1 clutch, have done 3rd gear rolling burnouts on my all all seasons. Clutch felt stock, never slipped. However....for some future proofing, I'm putting a exedy stage 2, 4-puck in. I don't want to add methanol and find out I gotta pull the trans again. I almost went with a ACT clutch, the exedy stage 1 was so good I'm sticking with them.
Where my oil drain is in the oil pan, it's not a flat surface. Tapered threads on a non-flat surface don't seal well, so I used some JB weld on the threads for sealing it only. This was done on a removed pan, completely cleaned. It did well for awhile, but starting seeping oil, so that's going to be fixed while I'm in there.
If it drives good, I'll work on the IAT sensor before tuning for more boost. If I do methanol before summer, decides if I Etune or dynotune.
Next winter I may build the bottom end. I want to close the deck, but need to read more into it. I don't see myself trying to get much over 500, but time will tell.
 
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#16 ·
It's winter upgrade time!
Gear X 1-4 are being installed. My opinion on these gears, is the car is going to be geared like a sportbike. Being that its a long 1st gear (49mph), the rest of the gears are farely close together. This wouldn't be great for slicks, but I only plan on using street tires, and the long 1st should make it easier to control wheel spin.
Trans is out and cracked open. I'm doing it myself so far, but have a back-up plan just in case.
I was planning on doing a full rebuild, but every seal and bearing adds up fast. I've ordered a couple items im pretty sure I'll need, and I'll order more if I see more wrong. There's a good Honda service bulletin on trans work without replacing all seals/bearings.
I've had very good luck with the exedy stage 1 clutch, have done 3rd gear rolling burnouts on my all all seasons. Clutch felt stock, never slipped. However....for some future proofing, I'm putting a exedy stage 2, 4-puck in. I don't want to add methanol and find out I gotta pull the trans again. I almost went with a ACT clutch, the exedy stage 1 was so good I'm sticking with them.
Where my oil drain is in the oil pan, it's not a flat surface. Tapered threads on a non-flat surface don't seal well, so I used some JB weld on the threads for sealing it only. This was done on a removed pan, completely cleaned. It did well for awhile, but starting seeping oil, so that's going to be fixed while I'm in there.
If it drives good, I'll work on the IAT sensor before tuning for more boost. If I do methanol before summer, decides if I Etune or dynotune.
Next winter I may build the bottom end. I want to close the deck, but need to read more into it. I don't see myself trying to get much over 500, but time will tell.
I <3 my Exedy Stage 2 clutch, it took about 1,500 miles for the chatter to go away.

What gear oil are you planning on using? Another member on here was concerned about gear chatter noise. This is very common with a lightweight flywheel and clutch setup. I'd run some Motul Gear300 75w90. I tried Royal Purple (garbage) Redline (slightly better garbage) and OEM (okay for 2k miles, but shears into water after about 4k miles, you'll notice harsh engagement issues.

Best of luck with the trans build, mine is also in the works :)
 
#17 ·
I've had the stage 1 and lightweight flywheel for a year, didn't have any rattle luckily. Still using Honda MTF. The new gears may make some noise, the teeth are quite a bit beefier. Good to know someone else is running a exedy, seems like everyone else's uses competition/act/action etc.

Did you get a 3 or 4 puck stage 2?
 
#18 ·
Oh you're one of the very few lucky ones!

I went with the 3 puck style stage 2 since R18 doesn't have the option for a 4 puck style. Which is probably why mine made so much noise in the beginning of the break in process.

I'm also running a 7lb flywheel which doesn't help quite things down much either :). I'm glad Exedy has their R&D down, and includes a huge warning label before install lol.
 
#19 ·
Working on the gear box, I got all the main shaft, secondary shafts assembled and in. Last night I was trying to turn each gear after making sure the gears shifted properly. All gears turned well except for reverse. I was doing this with the case off still.
Did some reading and watched rebuild videos, kinda shocked no one tried spinning each gear. Anyways, I had to put the case back on, held by a couple bolts to test reverse. Case on it rotated fine, all gears fine. With the case off reverse was completely locked up.
 
#21 ·
Pics! You can see how much beefier the main shaft is. Gears are thicker, and less but bigger teeth. Stock ones I assume have alot of smaller teeth I assume to reduce noise.

Was hoping my speedometer would be accurate in the stock 5th and 6th gears, however speed sensor runs off new 4th gear, so nothing will read accurately. I'm ok with that, but warning for future people.

Upgrading cutch now. Had the Exedy stage 1 for almost 10k miles. Several times I street started in 2nd gear. This improved launches (similar to my new first gear), but did wear on the clutch. The stage 1 is not shot by any means. Glad I opted for the stage 2, 4 puck for future proofing.

The car is strictly a toy, and I don't drive it like I would if it was my daily. There's blueing on the flywheel, I know that was when I was next to a Camaro SS ?.
 

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#24 ·
I wonder if there's a way to fix the speedometer reading?
 
#25 · (Edited)
I've been wondering the same. I know there's a Dakota digital box that intercepts and changes the speed sensor signal. There's a bunch of stuff they make, not sure if one would work for us. Haven't read of it on the Si yet. It's going to bother me, I'm just not sure how much, if it bothers me too bad I will try to fix it. Seems like most people run in KPH because it's "more" accurate.
 
#26 ·
#28 ·
I've been in industrial maintenance for 15 years, mainly CNC machines. It helps, but by far doesn't make me a expert on any automotive stuff. I'm lucky this car isn't my daily...otherwise I'd have had someone else redo the transmission.
 
#29 ·
warning below
Have my car back together after gearbox build.
Tips for that, gearbox is easy if anyone's gotten this far on their own! I couldn't find my feeler gages, but through many years of fairly tight tolerance work, I know what a sheet of paper is (and have digital calipers to double check). This is at your own risk, and Google will help.
My turbo oil drain was 1/2" too long, and kinked a little, fixed that. From the start of it, I should have put both fittings on, and measured out the hose between them (1/4" extra would have been plenty if done right).
Where I tapped into oil pan wasn't a flat surface, this isnt a good seal for NPT. I had tried JB weld, it seeped and slowly got worse.
Oil pan, I pulled off again, razor blade clean both surfaces, wiped with brake cleaner/rags, and used Hondabond 4. Only used Honda bond 4 on threads I added in oilpan, and tightened slightly after 30-45m.

Warning I broke the JBwelded fitting off pan, and when I pulled pan off, there was chunks insides oilpan. I had only put the JB weld on the pan when I threaded it in...meaning alot had made it through threads.

  • Waiting for a 3 day cure time. After 2 1/2 days I have to work, 12hr at night. As bad as it was on a non-DD, I'm waiting till it's cured. Waiting to put oil in, then it's ready for a shake down run. I'll report back on the oil leak issue short term, then long term.
 
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#30 ·
Shake down run complete!
Hondabond 4 has fixed my leak (so far).
Drove roughly 12 miles. Changing display to KPH made the speedometer match within 1mph of phone GPS, up to 60 (all gears). Nice to have accurate speedometer, I do want to fix this at some point though.
There's definitely some gear noise I never had in 1-4th, particularly during on-off throttle. Nothing terrible, I really like it. The gearing is great, longer first gear is perfect IMO.
Exedy stage 2, 4 puck, has some chatter, particularly at low revs or hill starts. It's not broke in, but yet the chatter isn't a issue as far as I'm concerned. It doesn't feel to be a "on/off" clutch at all, but the slip point is shorter.
 
#31 ·
What's your redline and how fast are you going in 1st at redline?
 
#33 ·
I'm on my stock all seasons (summer tires are taller), and seen 45 in first. Redline I think is 7,200 if the tuner touched it.
 
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