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What is UP community? I finally took the car out to drive! I can hear the turbo spooling up, but I am not yet ready on tuning my fuel map so I made it a short drive just to pass my idle/WOT tests for A/F ratios. My boost gauge sits at 0 the entire time and doesn't even read vacuum. I have it hooked up to my GE vac mani. The vac mani gets a main line from the brake booster which is Teed. One line goes to the intake manifold, the other goes to the vac manifold 1/2 supply port. I have my boost gauge and BOV hooked up to the GE manifold. I have to fix my boost gauge. I am using a manual boost controller. The manual boost controller gets it bottom port hooked up to the turbo pressure source, and top port ran to the wastegate port. I have a 5psi spring in the wastegate with my MBC set to minimal setting.
1) Not sure why I am not reading vacuum at idle on boost gauge/nor boost on load....... Any ideas?
2) Is it ok to tap in the turbo water line into the two heater core water lines? I've been running it this way, but for some reason the coolant lines to the turbo are not getting warm too the touch. They are -AN lines, and I now realized my heater does not blow warm air when dialed to the heat position and in defrost mode. I am wondering if me tapping the heater lines incorrectly has something to do with this? I read somewhere there is a one way valve for the heater core lines you must be cautious of. Not sure if they exist before the firewall on the EM2 by the firewall where I tapped in.
You may know, but boost gauges are not standardized across locations. You may be seeing your local "vacuum" reading as zero depending on your atmosphere pressure, due to your altitude. (Ask another boosted guy in your city, what it should read)
where I live my vacuum, no boost at the moment, is -9 with rpm -10.
not sure how you ran yours, but mine is connected after the throttle body, to it's own vacuum port, on my manifold. Maybe check for leaks, on your connection?
You may know, but boost gauges are not standardized across locations. You may be seeing your local "vacuum" reading as zero depending on your atmosphere pressure, due to your altitude. (Ask another boosted guy in your city, what it should read)
where I live my vacuum, no boost at the moment, is -9 with rpm -10.
not sure how you ran yours, but mine is connected after the throttle body, to it's own vacuum port, on my manifold. Maybe check for leaks, on your connection?
-Fixed boost gauge (Forgot to drill out the holes on the vacuum manifold)
-Fixed turbo coolant lines (correct way is to tap the hot side to the hot heater core feed inlet BEFORE the heater water valve (sits behind intake manifold) and run the cold turbo coolant feed from heater core return
-Went for test drive, and the boost is fun! I let her sit around 5psi, and she pulls! Boost kicked in unexpectedly and got me haha.
-Tuning: You want to aim for 14.7 psi before boost (in KManager this is columns 1-7)
Going to do a street tune write up and add to this thread soon. Stay safe out there boys. The show goes on.
Sup gang, Here is my updated progress on the build.
As many of you know, I posted a video a few replies ago. I have since Mid-Feb completed the project, and been fine tuning since then.
Fine tuning: Kpro fuel tables, wiring, getting all devices functioning like gauges, vacuum manifold plumbing, exhaust leak fixed, and I even test drove it 4-5 times.
The main issue I have not allowing me to progress is overheating.
I am running a 98 civic half radiator I bought from Autozone (same one I had while running N/A).
I have been trying to diagnose the reason for it.
So far, I changed my water pump.
I noticed this, The return line from my heater core (cold) which goes to turbo’s center housing coolant feed port had no flow through it while the car was running (even let engine warm up).
I am waiting on a motor mount to arrive in mail, so I can put on P\S and Alt, then fill the engine with coolant, bleed air, and see if the engine still overheats
One thing I have to say is, in 2017, I put on a new headgasket, timing belt, water pump, the whole 9 yards. I drove probably 20k miles before I put the car to the side to finish the turbo project.
The car sat with no coolant in the entire system for a little over a year until in February I started the engine up with fluids topped off.
Good news
I got the fuel maps made and it was idling and driving well. I hit boost at 5psi, and can say if you’re planning on going turbo, a Hondata Kpro is the best way to go in terms of fuel management.
I can’t wait to get the engine cool and normal to really up the boost.
Maybe with the extra coolant lines you're having difficulty getting the system burped?
Well I will have to bleed the system and verify if the issue persists or not, I burped the system for 45 minutes but still had overheating issues. I changed the thermostat, still overheating. Going to give it another try once I get some parts in the mail and start the engine to test the new water pump, etc.
You could also run a 12v pump to an indipendant cooler.
I'm planning that for the supercharger oil.
No I figured it out. It's working now.
-Replace faulty water pump
-Upgraded my radiator and replaced radiator fan
She runs like normal now. No more overheating, just need to play with the tune a little bit. This project is coming to a close. I can honestly say I am done at this point with the boost project!
Here is a direct comparison of the stock radiator to the new upgraded radiator I installed. (Left=Stock, Right=Upgrade) Works wonderfully
I was able to also cool the turbo using my heater core lines as I plumbed them correctly. The return line from the heater core is tapped for cold supply to the turbo coolant inlet banjo port. The coolant line exiting the turbo from its banjo fitting is Teed into the hot thermostat housing coolant line. The only thing left to do now is to tune my A/F ratios properly. I am running KPRO in closed loop, but have to modify some things and run it in open loop to obtain desired idle, PT, and WOT ignition/fuel settings. Might do a write up.
With minor modifications and cutting I was able to fit the giant radiator behind the bumper and have great fitment still.
Well boys it looks like I am having fun issues now actually related to driving the vehicle.
-Boost spike to 10psi
-Misfire
I have a MBC installed with a 5lb spring on the Tial F38 WG.
I am running NGK 1 step colder plugs NGK BKR7EIX-11 stock no. 6988 which gapped at the recommended the stock 0.044” out of the box. I remember pianoman55's build he had to close the gap some, so I'm thinking of trying that. This only occurs by the way on boost levels above 10psi. It could also be the MAP sensor being stock, so I will see to getting it upgraded as well.
I'm running closed loop with the external wideband for tuning, with a bit fuel added across the board. Overall I idle around 15.7 A/F and between 3k-5k RPM run at 10.0 A/F. Going to have to get these settings changed ASAP because a) burns WAY too much fuel if you think long term and b) 14.7-15.0 is ideal for idling where as 13.8-14.7 is great A/F for pre-boost.
Quick update
-Boost is consistent now at ~6psi (goal was 5psi). Spike issue resolved.
-I figured out from a datalog that I am running highly inconsistent A/F ratios. I tried utilizing live tuning through KManager but that didnt work (cell value are not updating as they should while driving).
-Datalog shows a A/F average of 15.7 at idle and low RPM, with inconsistency in 2nd, 3rd, 4th gear running 10.0, then going lean at 3rd/4th/5th gear above 80mph and 4000rpm to 17 A/F. So lean the wideband wont even show numbers and displays ---.
-My A/F and fuel sucks. The car literally gets like 10-15mpg at the moment. I am going to manually add fuel to the lean areas based on data and test drive again. Hoping to enrich the lean side for interstate driving to 12.3-12.7 and get the rich side on part throttle/idle to 14.7-15.0, and pre-boost to around 13.8. Boost to 12.3-12.7.
Needless to say, the turbo spools up phenomonally! I have an absolute blast the other day doing some pulls on the city streets and interstate. I mean, she spools up QUICK and I MEAN QUICK. 3.8k-4.3k rpm is the spool rpm and when VTEC + Turbo kicks in yo, its a blast. I enjoy seeing the speedo climb so quick relative to N/A. I'm planning on selling the car after a while so once I fine-tune the fuel map, I will be ready to get her gone and move on to the next chapter of life.
Final specs. I recently sold Nicole to a new, younger owner. It was time to move on to the next chapter. I enjoyed the support and help from everyone! Boost ON! Motor
JDM D17A2 Motor from Japan – 65,000 miles (February 2017)
ARP Head Studs
Fel-pro Headgasket, Gates Racing Timing Belt, Gates Racing P/S belt, Gates Racing Alternator Belt (February 2017)
New water pump (March 2020)
Transmission
Action Stage 1 Clutch + Pressure Plate (2017)
OEM Flywheel (Re-surfaced 2017)
Loctite utilized with proper torque values of clutch flywheel bolts per Haynes Manual (87 ft-lb per bolt)
Stainless Steel Clutch Line (2020)
Exedy OEM Clutch Master Cylinder (2020)
Exedy OEM Clutch Slave Cylinder (2020)
Exhaust
Custom 2.5in S.S. downpipe wrapped in titanium exhaust header wrap
Front brakes: EBC Slotted Rotors (for EM2 a.k.a. 2005 Civic EX) with EBC Greenstuff 2000 pads
Brake Lines: BF Goodrich S.S. Lines all around
Brake Fluid: Pentosin DOT 4 Super Brake Fluid
Tires
Yokohama S. Drive (Installed 2017 summer, Took off for duration of fall 2017 and winter 2018, Put back on spring 2018 to current) – 10k-15k miles of wear (80-85% life)
Wheels
Enkei RPF1 15 x 7 +41mm Offset (Stock is +43 offset) so pretty close
Interior
NRG Neochrome Shift ****
NRG (EK Civic) Black Hub Adapter
NRG Neochrome Quick Release Kit
NRG 350mm Steering Wheel Neochrome
Intake Manifold
1998 Civic M/T Intake Manifold (d16y8)
Golden Eagle Universal Vacuum Manifold 1/8NPT size ports
Turbo Manifold
SPA Turbo w/42mm W.G. Port
SPA Turbo 42mm to 38mm block-off adapter (for installing Tial F38)
Tial F38 Wastegate
Wastegate Spring is “small red” on catalog for Tial F38 installed currently which equates to 5.60 psi
NXS Motorsport Manual Boost Controller (ADJUSTED ALL THE WAY TO LOWEST SETTING TO ALLOW FOR 5psi, BE CAREFUL, THE MORE YOU ROTATE CLOCKWISE, it adds 1psi of boost to motor per thread) (Small red thing with two stainless steel lines connected to it is the manual boost controller MBC) This allows you to increase the boost without opening the wastegate and replacing the spring!
Crankcase Breather System
Ebay Oil Catch Can Plumbed from Valve-Cover to Intake Tube before Throttle Body to allow pressure to dissipate
Turbocharger
Turbonetics T3 .63 A/R Ceramic Ball Bearing with water-cooling ports and oil lubrication ports (both connected)
Turbo receives oil from stock oil pump off a brass Tee from the oil pressure switch location where I have plumbed the oil pressure switch that comes stock in addition to a pressure sender unit for the pressure gauge for oil on the dash and finally the oil feed line to the turbo
Recommend replacing the oil pressure sender unit (brass cylinder) about 30 bucks from Autometer
Turbo feed line has been plumbed to top of turbo with -AN line size -4AN
Turbo return has been plumbed to oil pan with -AN line size -10AN
Turbo oil restrictor came installed on the turbo when bought new
RECOMMEND INSTALLING A TURBO MESH FILTER ($60 online) or a MUSHROOM FILTER on the TURBO to PREVENT DIRT and DEBRIS from ENTERING
Intercooler
-RDT motoring universal kit aluminum tubing black from ebay
-Ebay coolant expansion tank (reservoir..the long shiny cylinder full of coolant/anti-freeze located by the battery distro-block)
Engine Computing Unit (ECU)
-HONDATA® K-Pro (Use a WINDOWS laptop with KManager software to connect to the ECU)
-USB connection cable is in passenger glove box for tuning
-AEM custom cam gear for D17 (has to be installed for ECU to work, per instructions of Hondata)
Email me if you require login information or have trouble changing the registration of the serial number because the ECU it can be registered to an owner to upload/download maps from the database. I was not sure but if you need help contact me and I can get it registered in your name by providing you with my old login information.
Re: Erf's Low Boost Build (Stock Internals) 
