This will all be going on my stock LS. All stock from head to oil pan. I am shooting for 225-250whp and I am going to try and tune it myself.
Now I need to get the rest of the stuff… Any comments or input about the list above?
Looking for intercooler and piping I found go-autoworks has a kit for the DA, anyone tried this? Or where else should I look for intercooler+piping? Also I think I am going to stick with stock MAP sensor as I do not see myself running more than 11psi for a while… I know I also need these things:
Fuel pump (Walbro 255)
Intercooler+piping (Anyone have experience with ebay kits?)
BOV (Tial)
Half radiator (Any suggestions for this?)
Clutch (CC Stage 4, or should I wait on this? Will stock clutch hold up?)
Breather tank (two lines from valve cover, one from block)
Wideband (PLX?)
Also I plan to incorporate an E-Cutout somewhere soon after the wideband in the exhaust
I feel like thats about it… I’m probably not thinking of some things but for now I am just looking for input. Let me know what you think about my setup, what may need to be changed, what I have overlooked… Please, any advice would be greatly appreciated as long as it is constructive.
The number ONE thing that will ensure a properly running motor (not to mention longevity) is the tuning aspect… why in the world are you wanting to tune it yourself? Do you have tuning experience? Self-tuning, especially on a turbo application, is the fastest way to experience first hand what it feels like when a motor detonates. Seriously, consider having someone who has tuned Hondas tune your car… they make Dynos for a reason, find a tuner and throw it on the dyno.
I COMPLETELY understand what I am getting myself into when it comes to tuning. I have no previous experience but I want to learn how to do it someday… So why not now? I figure I will at least try it, If I am unsuccessful or do not feel comfortable then I will take it to a professional (I already know who if it comes to that). Even If I do tune it myself I may still go to a professional to see what my setup is capable of. Is it really that hard to do? Are you advising me based on personal experience or otherwise? I appreciate your input.
If you are just trying to buy what you need and tight on cash I would save to get the clutch later. If you re shooting for 250 than the stock clutch should be plenty. I have my stuck clutch in for 380/300 and it slips but brought it down to about 250 for track day, ran it all day without any problems. But I would suggest tuning with a proffesional as well. This is how many motors dont last because it isn’t tune right. The most important thing is the tune. Should spend the extra money to get the tune right with all the money spent already then not do it and wreck all that you worked for. Not saying its impossible though!
Cool, thanks for your reply. I am still considering tuning myself, I haven’t decided. You two make a good point, a point I’ve read many many times on other threads. I realize the benefits of a professional tune… I feel like I have a pretty decent understanding of what one is trying to accomplish when tuning a turbo honda. As long as I take it slow I think I will be able to do it… Anyone on here learn to tune by tuning their own turbo honda?
The reason you’ve read it so many times, is because its true in 90% of cases. There is a reason that there are ‘profesionals’ that get paid to do these things… like Mini, I’m not saying its impossible, but very unprobable that your motor will last very long if its tuned poorly.
The ‘benefits of a profesional tune’ aren’t just maximum power… its about your motor lasting longer than a block or two, its about reliability. One small mistake on your part could cause catastrophic engine failure.
I’m all for learning to do things yourself, but when it comes to tuning, you’re safest and best bet is to pay someone who has experience in these matters.
Probably a good call, and I think you have almost talked me into it. I will decide for sure after I play around with smanager a bit more… Maybe I will learn to tune on another, less expensive build sometime in the future… Thanks unified112 . Anyone have input on intercooler+piping, e-cutouts, and half radiators? What is everyone using on their turbo DA’s?
you’re forgetting the oil feed and return line and the water cooling line if you decide to run it. i believe there’s only two intercooler kits available for the second gen now but i forget by who. my setup is all custom and i much rather custom piping then kits. half rad just get any civic half rad that you can afford i highly suggest getting a quality rad though like a koyo with a spal 13" puller because i guarantee you will run into cooling problems. for the e cutout i had bought one but my tuner convinced me not to install it. he installed 4 different kinds and every one of them blew up while tuning on the dyno. it can’t take the pressure and backfires so then you find yourself with a leaking e-cutout that sounds like shit.
as for tuning yourself, i say go for it man! my buddy just bought all the necessary equipment to tune his sr20det and we’ll be having fun with that this summer. if you do enough reading and know pretty well what you’re doing it seems simple enough. i’m looking to get the equipment to tune my own car also since i pay my tuner to do it at the moment. i see him do it and i wonder why i pay him because i understand fully what he’s doing i just never bought the necessary software’s to do it myself. how do you think all the “professionals” became professionals. by tuning their own engines and practicing. if they never did what you want to do then there would be no tuners. worst comes to worst you blow you’re engine and you realize tuning isn’t your thing and you let someone else do it. you’ve leaving the engine stock any way. b18a’s are cheap. good luck with whatever you choose.
More than half the site is. I just stopped posting, as there are more morons than people who actually know. OMG its weasel, where are you so you can show these people the proper format for posting shit you have no clue about? ANd then add the wonderful, “my friend of a friends car I rode in was that way, therefore my ethos is undisputable”.
Dosnt sound like bad advice IMO. In fact I agree with about every word that redtegra said.
OP. Dont listen to all the neighsayers in here. there is a fair amound of risk in tunning your own ECU, but with that comes lots of pride in know that you did it and a fatter pockbook cause you didnt have to pay someone else to do it. Im learning to tune my own car! its been a long process, im a couple years into it and still dont know everything I would like to but I fell well past comfortable with tunning my own car. play around with Smanager, get a feel for it. do lots of reading around on hondatas forum and pgmfi.org, if you have a question its probably been brought up and answered. then start small by tunning idle and low throttle/low load cell and move up when you fell more comfortable with it, tuning it while its still N/A would be a great starting point. then just take the next step and tune for boost.
Good luck:up:
I would also like to add A set of arp headstuds and a new H/G wouldnt hurt depending on the millage of you motor.
open up your eyes man you’re the one who thinks everyone should buy new parts even when they’re good and should always go see other people for work. you might seriously suck in mechanics and mechanic knowledge but keep it to yourself. i’ve been a mechanic for a long time and know what im doing and what im saying. if you want to post what you think is correct then do so but stop being a douche.
Yes, I seriously suck in mechanics… since this thread is all about me.
You may be an expert in ‘mechanic knowledge’ (not mechanical knowledge) but advising people to go out and tune their own turbo’d motors shows exactly how much experience you really have.
I never onced questioned your personal experience… you may be the shit at tuning, and I could really not care less… but when advising someone who has never once tuned a motor to go out and learn on their own motor because ‘b18a’s are cheap’ is horrible advice. If you actually had years of tuning experience and proven results then your advice of how ‘easy’ tuning is might hold some weight, but that is not the case.
Yes, tuners learn by trial and error, and any good tuner has seen his fair share of motor desctruction and understands why, and can make the changes necessary to have a motor run top-notch… that is why you pay someone, because they have done the trial-and-error.
If you want to do the trial and (keyword) error on things, that’s great… I am simply saying that tuning is one of the most important parts of any build, and that its not as easy as a reputable and experienced tuner makes it look.
If you want to keep personally attacking me, you should at least research some of what I have posted, and my personal build thread, so you can see that I actually do plenty of my own work. Otherwise, go back to buying a cheap eBay knock-off traction bar that was made for a different application, or a new turbo because yours ‘gave out’ on you. Sometimes you gotta pay to play, going the cheap route isn’t always the best way to go.
Calm down a little bit there. You obviusly don’t relize the fact for people like redtegra and myself. Owning a DA isn’t about just droping a motor and driving/racing it around and being done with. Its all wrenching and those sesions in the garage. Just you a beer and the teggy. Its half the fun of own one.
Who care if the motor pops or you turbo takes a dump, there’s always another one out there, lesson learned!!!
Because I haven’t turned a wrench on my car at all eyeroll
I’m in it for the same reasons you are… I love my car, I love driving it, and I love modding it. But I also like giving sound advice. I have reasoning behind my advice, not wishes of ‘pride’ because of tuning my car myself.
You can tune your own car, cool. I simply made the point that its not in everyones scope of knowledge and that its not just a matter of the motor ‘running correctly’… it can very well mean well-being and life-span of the motor. Anywho, I’m done with the topic. My advice has been said.
stock head studs will hold up until around 250whp which is his highest goal. so he can pass that up but at the same time i recommend it as well depending on mileage and if it’s the original head gasket.
I believe the studs to be a good idea… Not only will it get those old/fatigued bolts out of there, its cheap insurance when pushing higher cylinder pressures & RPM. Though rod-bolts will give-out before head bolts, Id still look into replacing them.
Man you guys are awesome, thanks for all the advice and suggestions. The motor is stock it has ~155000 miles on it… The e-cutout I thought would be a good idea because my exhaust is fairly new and I did not want to replace it with something else. I’ll look into e-cutouts more to see what I can find. I probably will go with a good radiatior and fan like koyo and spal just for the peace of mind. I want to start at a low power level so that I can learn how to tune with less stress on the engine. I did buy my hondata before the turbo because I figured I could tune a little before adding the turbo just to see how to do it. Thanks again yall for the words. Anyone else have anything to say please feel free.
if you find any success stories about the e cutout please let me know. i still have mine and i really want to install it. but until i hear actually success with it on a honda i don’t feel like testing it out. it would be more of a toy for me then anything. 155000 miles, i would do the headgasket with arp studs and at the same time it’ll give you the chance to check out your cylinders and stuff. sometimes you find surprises.