supermex

iTrader: (4)

Here is the only COMPLETE FAQ with real info on how to build your d17 the right way.
No short cuts where taked when building this engine, Sleeves, needed or not they are there doing their job.
All my parts where research and developed from scratch other than the obious (turbo,block, guard and,,, just it) I didn't purchase any bolt on parts.
The need of notching the D17 was first discovered and done by yours truly the same goes for the ARP studs, fuel system, intakes etc.
Pistons developed specialy for me by Racing Enginering out Florida and they have being already available since 2004

NOW THIS ENGINE IS ON A FULL STREET TUNED CAR. This engine is driven almosty every day for the last 3 years with no problems at all.
(exteremely relaiable)
Fully functional with A/C and all the amenities, the motor is done done no excuses here!

I was at NOPI 2006 in Atlanta and will go to NOPI 2007 I'm driving there and back to Florida like the last year for anyone that cares to check the car in person.

Well, I read all the stories of engines go bad after turbocharging.
I figured since some of you already bought the turbo kit and had a bad experience with the engine cause of improper installation or to much boost is time to rebuild.
If you are going to all the trouble get it done, then do it right with the proper internals.

I had my engine done in preparation for a turbo and I would like to share my experience with the project.

Project starting date Jan 03

First it will help to get a Honda Factory service manual, it will be your bible when building your engine
You can order one from Factory Manuals.com

Is better to get a motor to work with , keep your original as spare.
Q: Were can I find another motor?
A: By now you may be able to get one at the auto recyclers.
Try your local places or the website http://car-part.com/ there is a lot of places that will have one for sure.
I bought my block and head from a car that blew a head gasket after an accident and ran with it for awhile the insurance paid for a new one.
I got it for $600.00 back in 2003 now you may find them a lot cheaper.

Q: Can I use my own block?
If you didn't have a major malfunction that cracked the block or sleeves you may still use your own motor.
You may have a mechanic take it out of your car or if you have the tools and garage rent an engine hoist and do it your self.

Q: Once I have the block what do I do?
A: Since my stock engine was running fine and I purchase the block I was able to safe money by take in it apart in my garage.
I bought an engine stand for $80.00 an the Honda service manual for $100.00
It was very educational and a lot of fun striping that block bare.
I could do no harm since it was already messed up.
(note) save all the screws, bolts and extra parts you'll need them on the future.

Q:What parts do I need and were do I get them?
A: At the time there was no pistons or sleeves for this block so I hit the web and started calling manufacturers.
I found a place in Lake Worth Florida were they do research and design parts for well known manufacturers.
The place is call Race Engineering Tel: (561) 533- 5500 ask for Jonh if you call him, deffinately tell him I, Hector told you about them and he'll work you a discount also tell him about our 7thgencivic site.

Any way I took the bare block to him with a stock piston.
And they designed a full floating piston and had Wiseco build it.
(Full floating piston are pistons that use a losse connecting pin that attaches them to the rod as opposed to the pressure conecting rods from stock reducing friction,they are a bit noisy and rattle when the engine is cold)
At the time I went for a bigger size piston 76mm (stock 75.02mm)


Piston part # XT- 519P76 Wiseco 76mm 9:01 compression about $450.00
I check my compression at about 95 lbs after installing this pistons
(stock 135- 145 lbs)
Wiseco now makes 75mm pistons (stock size)

Tell them that you are turbocharging and they will recomend the right set of rings and gap clearence.
depending on how much HP and size of turbo you'll be using the type of rings will be suggested.
Heat will expand and contract this rings so gap and type of rings will make a difference if you are racing at the track of just if you just driving day to day

Definately talk to the ppl at Racing Eng. for your application
Sleeves part #DS-300-010 Darton flanged sleeve from a D16- 75mm
I had to bore this babes out to 76mm to fit my oversized pistons.
Skip this step if you are using 75mm pistons.
About $210 a set of 4

Rods where already available CR- BR3740B Crower Billet Honda 1.7 $600.00
The good thing about Racing Engineering is that they will give you all the specs and measurements that you need for the machine shop.
This sure helps if you are not a car guru.


Q: And theeeen?
Take the block and parts to a machine shop and give them the specs that you'll get from Racing Eng. along with the Honda service manual
The block will have to be bored to fit the sleeves about 78mm and the cranck shaft line honed.
Also make sure the shop resurface the top of your block so is nice and flat.

Sleeves pressed in and bore out to fit the size piston you choose 75mm or 76mm and the bottom of sleeves noched to make room for the crower bigger rods to clear ( bigger rods will touch the bottom of the sleeves as they turn up and down,
Block before sleeves

After sleeves:


I found this out the hard way half way into the install.


Q: Now that I have all done how do I put it all together?
A; I deffinately recomend getting a good shop to do the job.
Make sure they are proficient in Hondas and take with you the service manual and ask them to see it carefully and use all the torque recomendations.

I would also purchase a gasket kit and new cranck shaft bearings $160.00
Check the manual book to learn how to order your bearings they come in colors yellow brown green etc.There are numbers on the block and the camsaft as well as on the rods.
The bearings can be any combination of colors and almost unique to your block.VERY IMPORTANT!
I went OEM you may choose after market.

KMS Block Guard if you want one, $40.00 http://www.7thgencivic.com/forums/sh...ms+block+guard
The BG is an insurance against cathastorphic failure on your internals.
It sort of keeps thing togerher.
It works great on racing cars one 1/4 of mile at the time, but on a daily driver can get the engine overheated on hot days
(there has being issues with Block Guard heating up the head because it obstructs the free flow of water to the head)
So I modifed the BG to flow more water by opening the holes on a side to side configuration as shown below

Also I intalled a huge superthin front pusher fan placed between the intercooler and the A/C core Autozone $50.00

Now you can apply a Nippon head gasket sold at the dealership $40.00.


Follow up with a set of ARP heat studsARP headstuds
ARP part # 2084301 Honda D-16 HSK for 1.6 SHOC vtec application. 10 studs
NOTE: ARP makes two types Z&Y (OURS is Z) about a $100.00


Q: What about the head?

I had the head P&P and valves installed a month later (stage 3 regrinded cam a yers later 2007) and end up having a shop make an Intake manifold with a big throttle body 75mm

But that will be another FAQ all together.
P&P Head KMS
If I was you I would only have my head cleaned and a 3 angle valve job just to get the thing going again without spending more money.
Can always take the head out later and deal with it like I did.

Before the mechanic installs the engine I ask for a full day with it to polished the block and the head cover





YEAR: LATE 2004 ---My engine installed looks like this


Just need that turbo now. Sep 04
But I know that engine will take it for sure.
I didn't bother on dyno it cause of the low compresion configuration and would do good numbers.
Price for all the labor varies from shop to shop.
So get quotes before you start doing anything.

JUNE 2005--A year later
The engine was turbo charged
Precision t3 t4 .69 trim .48 exhaust
Tial gaste gate
Custom piping
Greedy boost controler
Greddy type S BOV


Then I got an equal lenght manifold builded by a local guy nicked name GATO
and had it ceramic coated.
Did the same with the turbo housings
It helps move the air smoothly as it twirles inside the turbo housings.



Update July 4-05

UPDATE JULY 2006 fuel system taking care off, the return line was installed, on the bottom left you'll see a canister that holds a liter of fuel ready


available for when boosting at WOT won't dry out your line.
A Walbro 240 intank pump and a Mighty might inline pump is installed on front with a custom made fuel rail with Precision 550 injectors

Working together with an Aeromotive fuel pressure regulator holding 40 lbs of pressure.

With all put together it looked like this




75 SHOOT OF NITROUS
Courtecy of NX

Fogger system on the Precision IC


IN 2007 was time to change the old stage 2 ACT clutch and replaced it with the ACT stage 4

Wtih all nitrous / alchy injection and nitrous systems working plus racing fuel 104 and boosting 21 lbs I was able to dyno the following numbers

Tunning with an AEM EMS


This is the final result




up until now July 2007 the engine is holding up and I haven't had any engine problems at all

Hope this will help future D17 builders.
Don't let anyone tell you that the D17 is not a good plataform
Is actualy a very durable engine when modified.
You'll have a unique set up.

If you do what every one else is doing you'll be just like every one else.




modifing the vic and representing Since 2001

bullet02ex

great post +1 for taking the time to post this. and def one of the nicest 7thgens I've ever seen

TRIZ

iTrader: (14)

Pretty good, but you left out the chapter on what you've been tuning with, pushing the rev limiter to 8750rpm's doesnt happen with the flick of a switch, niether does the 430+hp (thats a vtechless d17a1 your boosting as well - which is def worth mention). That torque curve is amazing btw. Also, doesnt your aluminum oxidize after a month or so- what are you sealing it with to prevent that, if anything?

supermex

iTrader: (4)

You know,, you are right
Is soo much info I left out
I use AEM EMS and I didn't took any pics of the install of it
Other that fitts snuggly in the back of my glove compartment.

The aluminun is oxidizing already, I just keep polishing the parts that are visible that I can reach with a power drill an extention and a wire brush attached to it.

05CivicSprayin

iTrader: (1)

I'm also on planning to build up an a1 w/o the vtec conversion, but was wondering how much it ran you to regrind down the cams to fit and who did the job for you.

supermex

iTrader: (4)

I had mine done localy, but the stage 3-4 cam is already available.
Do some reseach or contact Dezod or Crower.
The regring is making of a whole cam they don't take your actual cam and grind it down.
They take your original specs them find out how much power you want to make then they make it according to that.
Has to do with valve lifting duration time.

burke420

iTrader: (4)

good work and hope to see it again this year Hector! i like it! i wanna hear this in action...

TRIZ

iTrader: (14)

I shoulda guessed AEM being your sponsered by them.



Oh, and I typed vtecHless, lol... hope no1 caught that- ****, well they all did now.

I'm going to have to look around for something to take care of the aluminum... has to be something out there. I'll hit u up if anything amazing surfaces.

supermex

iTrader: (4)

AEM is the shish!
Let me know what you find out.

Civicman1988

iTrader: (24)

there a place up here in Michigan that does aluimunum work and they say to polish it up and put a clear coat over it. I did it on my lower control arms last year never had to do them again. I still have 3/4 of a bottle left if anyone wants anything cleared i will do it for you

supermex

iTrader: (4)

I did clear coat my engine the first time and it got yellowish after a month or so. I used high temp paint.
turbocharged engines run hotter than normal.
Try it on a part close to the heat like valve cover or so and let us know how that works out.
By the way how is your intake manifold project turned out?
Any pics?

supermex

iTrader: (4)

SUPERMEX001.jpg?t=12806110

dustysaw

Congrats on your rebuild, it's certainly inspiring! I'm thinkin of some day doing the same, except i wanna do it myself, with the exception of the port and polish and any machining. My father's gonna be assembling his plane engine from the ground up as well, its a vw converted airplane engine, so i'm hopin to learn a thing or two from that. Obviously i'll have to do a good deal of research before I lay a wrench on her. What psi do you normally run ur turbo during races and what not? Also I'm very impressed by the numbers considering its the d17a1, it's certainly encouraging!

TRIZ

iTrader: (14)

He sold his car

sl33pyriceboi

iTrader: (3)

ur killing the poor guy's inspiration triz!


on a side note, thats what always happens..that y u dont poor so much dang money in ur car.

dustysaw

damn! lol well i guess things get old eh and outdated...I wonder how much he got for it...

AndRaw7

ok so i have a 04 civic dx vp my car actually runs great is all paid of and **** and i love it period now here is the thing my engine has 150.000 and i do want more power but i dont have much experience, so i would love to put a turbo in it, wich i dont mind to pay for but i wanna know step by step what do i have to do in order to run safely with a turbo and what should i do to my motor to be able to handle the turbo power with no pro..tx btw

Balzdpr

Dont even bother with a turbo on a SOHC motor. It's a waist of time and money. Sure you can do it, but your better off sticking to something clean and simple like a header back exhaust system (4-2-1 into a high flow cat and magna flow exhaust), keep the piping custom and when I say custom get that **** at a pipe shop and have a dude weld the other **** on. When shopping for diameters stay within 2" or 2.5".
Go out and get an AEM cold air intake system and install that with the best possible flow rate managable. With just these four things you should notice a sincere boost in HP and the car is going to sound awsome.
The company Ractive doesnt get its props, but there are some killer sounding mufflers out there that put some of the more expensive mufflers to shame when it comes to sound. The diameter of the internal baffle is what is key.

HbrandNinja

This is a retarded comment. First of all if you want to do something to your car its not a waste of time and money, second of all...i know its trendy to hate d series engines (especially in this forum) but in reality there are a shitload of d17's out there that are seriouse machines with seriouse power! If you want to just have another slow loud civic then go ahead and just put the intake and headers and exhaust like described above. If you want to follow what everybody else is doing, go for a k swap. If you want to make a badass d17, i say go for it and have fun. And by the way great FAQ post and sick ****ing car.