plbro81

Hey, I'm a new member here at Civic forums. I just had a few questions about turbocharging.

I have a 2005 Honda Civic Coupe LX SE and I just received a scholarship (2500) from school so I was thinking about spending some of that money to perhaps turbocharge my car. I have a few questions though:

1. Where can I buy a reliable turbocharger? Can someone link me to a reliable turbocharger (but not super fancy). I know that Procivic has a turbocharger (TSI) but I heard people have trouble fitting that into their cars.

2. How much will it cost to turbocharge my car? I don't want anything super fancy, just something reliable that will give my car more power.

3. What other parts do I have to replace?

Forgive my ignorance on this subject! And thanks!

MindBomber

Read the 7th gen turbo faq and do some searching and you'll find lots of info.

1. There are lots of places that can supply you parts, you should be more concerned with choosing the correct model for your application.

2. If you buy strictly used parts, install the turbo yourself and spend minimal time on the dyno you might be able to do it for $3500. Installing a turbo set-up is not something some that doesn't have ample experience should attempt though. Using new parts, having it installed and dyno tuned would cost between $4500-5500 for a very basic set-up.

3. The parts you need to replace depend on the amount of PSI you run and the gains you want to make, read the turbo faq for a more complete break down.

Without spending $2000 above the prices I gave above to upgrade your intake manifold and cams you would be somewhere between 175-185 whp with a basic turbo set-up. There are lots of inexpensive mods for the D17a1 available if your on a tighter budget.

plbro81

I'm going to take a look at that FAQ thanks! Just a quick question. When you say to upgrade my intake manifold and cams, i would be somewhere between 175-185 whp with a basic turbo set up. Does that mean I buy an intake manifold, cams, AND a turbo kit? Or just an intake manifold and cams? Sorry for my ignorance! I'm not looking for super horsepower gains or anything, just a moderate, noticeable amount is good enough for me. So in my case, would you recomment just cahnging those parts? Thanks so much!

MindBomber

Changing the intake manifold and cams, putting the total cost for the turbo build up to around $7000 would put you over 225whp depending on how aggressive a cam you put in.

An intake manifold swap on a naturall aspirated engine, that's what you have now, won't give you any substantial gains. A cam upgrade can be done on any engine, a stage 1 cam will give around 25hp for less than $400.

I'm a student as well, so from one student to another, i wouldn't recommend you go turbo. You'll be busy enough keeping up with everything, nevermind dealing with a turbo'd car and trying to pay for it. Suspension and brake mods are under rated, they make your car way more fun to drive and you can do them gradually for much less.

Also use the search button to look up questions, you'll find we've covered turboing a D17 pretty well.

plbro81

ok thanks! i will disturb you no more and use the FAQs and search.

MindBomber

Haha if you were disturbing me I just wouldn't respond. Feel free to ask questions, just keep in mind you can learn a lot by making use of the information that's been posted in the past.