ease question

[cndctrdj]

ok here is the deal. i am in the middle of making a car alot of fun. i got this turbo idea from you guys. with a limited tolerance for little little details, how difficult is it to put a turbo on a ka motor. i know i can get the turbo and the intercooler really cheap. probably around 30 bucks. but with oil lines and computer "piggybacks" fuel injectors, and piping. is it going to be a waste of time and effort or is it easier than it seems.

i have been reading all kinds of posts and they seem to go both ways some of you do it with no problems others seem to get more and more in depth with everything. i am just making this car faster for my sister, she just wants to outrun her husbands integra. i figured the turbo would do it for her. now im just rambling so i'll shut up. thanks for the input

[JJ240]

well theres bound to be things that will giev you problems if youve never done it before. I dont knwo where you think you will get a turbo and IC for 30 bucks. A turbo kit which will have everthing you need costs around 2500-3500 dollars. Its not a simple process, and its most certainly not cheap.

[encasemyheart]

It can be cheap at low low boost levels. I would go that route if I didn't want 400+whp.

A z31 turbo @ about 4psi or so would be very cheap. You would need a new fuel pump, adjustable fuel pressure regulator to turn up the fuel pressure, a short intake pipe if you use one at all, a pipe going from the turbo to throttle body very similar to the one already on the car that goes from the drivers side to the tb, 2 1/2" downpipe (custom) and a couple oil lines. The most expensive part would be the manifold. That would be it.

If I am correct in my thinking, you would need no fuel management at such a low psi, just a fuel pump and turn up the fuel pressure with a FPR. No intercooler at that psi.

It would be pretty simple. I suspect you could do all this for under $800 with mostly used/fabricated parts. It would cost less than a decent nitrous setup and give roughly similar gains, probably 35-40whp. Add an intercooler, exhaust, pulleys, fuel management with dyno tune etc. and you could have pretty decent power for such a small turbo.

Opinions?

[JJ240]

gonna drop around 500 at least on a manifold. another 100 for the fuel pump, 100 for adjustable FPR, probably 100 for muffler shop downpipe, 50 for oil line kit, 50 for charge piping, 25 for hose couplings, 35 for cheap BOV. Thats alot of money to just run a little bit of boost. Depending on what trim level and what has been done to the integra she still might not be able to beat it.

[cndctrdj]

well i know a guy at the local junk yard so i can defiantly get the turbo and intercooler for the cost of a case of beer = 30 bucks

its the other stuff i was worried about.

you have to be kidding its a 1.6 integra 5 speed. a turbo'ed 240 wouldn't beat it. i think it would smoke it now i just wanted insurance on that thought

[JJ240]

Well if its not an integra GSR the 240 can probably already beat it. And only integras i know of are 1.8s

[JJ240]

A junkyard turbo is going to have to be rebuilt probably. So it will cost you a bit more than you expect.

[cndctrdj]

how much does an average rebuild cost?

[encasemyheart]

If he can get the turbo/intercooler for cheap like he says it will be a cheap job, and you can get those equal length turbo-boss manifolds for $400 on ebay, a Bosch BOV for $10 on ebay.

And since it will be an intercooler setup he will gain probably a few whp extra per lb of boost, making him probably gain 45-50whp. Not bad, not bad at all. It would probably break 200whp with a few other mods and spool great.

That's enough to take on ITRs and just about any Honda on the street.

[encasemyheart]

I called turbonetics about a rebuild and they said about $250 for a z31 turbo rebuild.

[encasemyheart]

Also don't go cheap and buy a rebuild kit to do it yourself because it has to be balanced or it's crap, you can't balance it yourself.

[cndctrdj]

trust me i wont try that myself. so im looking at 500 for a manifold.

how bad is the oil line to put in for the turbo

how can you tell if the turbop doesn't need to be rebuilt?

[JJ240]

if it spins freely and isnt leaking oil it is prolly fine. Age and mileage is an easy way to determine it. And do a search i made a post about the oil line fittings a little while back

[encasemyheart]

For an experienced person the oil line will take five minutes, for the beginner, maybe 6-7minutes? You just screw it into the top of the turbo and connect it to an oil source.

Reach your hand into the turbo and spin the blade, see how well it spins. If it spins freely it is not siezed. Now move the wheel side to side, if it wiggles it had shaft play and will need a rebuild, the worse it is the sooner the rebuild, of course if the turbo doesn't spin freely or you have any shaft play I recommend a rebuild. The turbo should spin pretty well and not be able to move any way except to spin or leak any oil. You may get lucky though and not need one.

[C-Kwik]

It took me a weekend to install my turbo kit. The hardest part was hacking the back of the front bumper reinforcement to clear the intercooler pipes. The rest of the kit was just like doing a header, exhaust and intake for the most part. Takes a little longer than that, but that's about the difficulty level. The oil line was easy, just hard to get at the oil pressure sender since the space is rather small and awkward. The part that most people might stumble on is the oil return line. Lucky for me, I bought a used kit and just swapped the oil pans prior to doing the rest. It seems some of the turbo kit manufaturers have an oil pan exchange program where you get the cost of the core back if you buy one of their oil pans. Just make sure yours is in good condition.

[silviaNE]

Look for used manifolds. I found a custom made tubular manifold (setup for external wastegate) 3" downpipe and a turbonetics t4 with p trim for 500 bucks. I will upload some pictures later.