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I really love the BMW!!!! I am going to fix her up soon then get the Civic project back on the road. I decided not to sell the BMW as I can handle fixing it. Just need to find a friend who loans garage out. Time to take a break and go to car meets.
I was reading but somehow got lost along the way, I have similar interest though, I want to boost my em2, I'm not sure what's the right formula, could you lay it on a plate for me please, I am gonna do the install myself, for sure I know I gotta take it to a tuner afterwards. but I wanna know what I need for boosting an all stock internal d17.
I was reading but somehow got lost along the way, I have similar interest though, I want to boost my em2, I'm not sure what's the right formula, could you lay it on a plate for me please, I am gonna do the install myself, for sure I know I gotta take it to a tuner afterwards. but I wanna know what I need for boosting an all stock internal d17.
Idk that this is the route OP or many people have taken yet but I think the easiest/cheapest approach is to get the bolt-on Rev9 kit (unless you want to spend more on a "nicer" turbo kit that prob does fit better), get bigger injectors (440cc I think?), a walbro fuel pump (190LPH or 255LPH are common), a wideband (AEM is popular), and a good tune. I vaguely remember you'd need either K-Tuner or Hondata Kpro, otherwise there are piggyback options such as the AEM FIC. All in, I'd say your costs for the budget build with some new and some used parts will be $1800-2000, considering kpro would be like 800. might be able to save a few hundred from there as well if buying used.
This wouldn't take in to account wearable items such as the clutch, and also doesn't consider engine strengthening in the form of head studs.
Good to hear from ya.
Like i said before, school is overrated....spend time with the car, you may never get that time back...lol
XD
School is a scam. Im just finishing this last year so I can move on to wrenching. Sometimes all I wish is I could be in a garage with my tools and a engine, and no other bullshit along the way. Add a boxing bag, some mats, and two big b**ty.... you know!
Sadly, I have taken this L with grace. I am selling the BMW daily. It is too much work to restore it. I found a buyer, so I'm getting rid of it soon. Currently I daily drive my Honda Civic aka Nicole. She has never let me down, but I do get tired of driving stick shift daily.
I have learned a valuable lesson in life.
Stay tuned boys. The Low Boost Build EM2 project will proceed. I will not waste my breath to educate this young grasshopper on how to boost the notorious D17. At the end of this project, Id be more than happy to list what I would do differently, cost options, etc. Right now, I am in the heat, and it would be inefficient.
Sup fellas.
As you all know or may not know upto this point in the last few months the Civic has been giving me issues. Whether it is oil leaks, check engine light, or the fact that I run Kpro and the car doesnt start below 32F, and winter is coming. I did not want to deal with waking up early and dipping my ECT sensor in hot water and starting the car every day for the next four months, soooo, I decided to cop a daily driver to make life simpler. xD
All jokes aside though, as you remember I bought a BMW daily driver several months ago. Well, it had more problems then I expected it (bought as is from auction) said it ran and drove but the car had a blow HG and every engine sub-system was rusted or to shi*s. I learned a valuable lesson there. I bought it for 800, invested 400, drover her around the block and it was in limp mode. From there I decided I had no resources to fix it in Knoxville, and Im a student still so I had to do the smart thing. I took a loss here and had to sell it for 300. I got rid of it last week. So I lost 900 bucks on that. And I learned a valuable lesson! Dont buy a car you have not seen in person or test drove. I took a gamble and lost.
Luckily my parents back home had bought my sister a Nissan Sentra two years ago and it was sitting collecting dust in my grandmothers garage. My sister could not drive it because well....(license suspended). And my parents had quite literally got fed up of dealing with her behavior.
I dont want to talk about it any more than that.
My father offered and said to take the Sentra which was for my sister and its great for a daily. Came home this weekend to Nashville and cleaned that, made it my new daily.
Dropped the Civic in the 615 with my parents house where my tools are! Now I can comfortably come home, work on it when I can or want, and STILL have a reliable daily!
With that being said, I have got my life together. I got one year school left, I got a clean reliable daily driver, and I have kickstarted the Civic project back up by dropping the old exhaust system.
Thats all for now
Future plans
-Downpipe and stainless steel exhaust fab
-Mounting the turbo
-FMIC tubing
-Vac lines
-injectors
-And the usual kinks that come with it
-TUNE
looking forward to another successful year finishing up my civic!
As the days go by, I just want to inform everyone that I am in my last year of undergrad school in Mechanical Engineering! I am thankful for being blessed with the opportunity to find a daily driver such as the current Nissan Sentra I drive. I am also grateful to have made it this far with the Civic. I tell myself everyday, no matter what happens, I will finish this turbo project. And that is exactly what will happen by the end of this year! 2018 was a year of upgrading my garage. 2019 will be a year of FUN!
-Clock the turbo, mount the manifold and turbo the the car
-Fab the exhaust
-Install IC tubing
-Run the VAC lines
-New injectors
-Run the oil lines for feed/return
-Run the water lines for turbo
As the days go by, I just want to inform everyone that I am in my last year of undergrad school in Mechanical Engineering! I am thankful for being blessed with the opportunity to find a daily driver such as the current Nissan Sentra I drive. I am also grateful to have made it this far with the Civic. I tell myself everyday, no matter what happens, I will finish this turbo project. And that is exactly what will happen by the end of this year! 2018 was a year of upgrading my garage. 2019 will be a year of FUN!
-Clock the turbo, mount the manifold and turbo the the car
-Fab the exhaust
-Install IC tubing
-Run the VAC lines
-New injectors
-Run the oil lines for feed/return
-Run the water lines for turbo
Happy New Years fellas
Haha that's not that bad, you're doing well. ...I'm like 5 years into a supercharger build, which all the mods raz me about. lol. Good Luck!
Today I fabbed up the downpipe from the turbo to under the oil pan. More stuff has to be done to the downpipe thought see below..
I ended up going with a 2.5" downpipe and plan on transition to 3.0 once under the oil pan.
2.5----> Vband for removability-----> transition------>3.0 straight pipe to axle (rest Ill fab later)
Grind the end flat again Determine whether to use the 45 2.5” elbow or go straight to a transition? Mark/Drill the tie-in for the waste gate pipe Tie in the waste gate dump-tube make it removable Weld the two bungs for O2 upstream and AEM wide-band on down-pipes Clean the down-pipe of residue Wrap the down-pipe and waste gate tie-in with heat wrap
Now we are done with top-side of exhaust For the next assignment Install waste gate plumbing to boost controller Tighten down the coolant turbo banjo bolts Mount the E-Bay catch can and run the appropriate lines one from VC to IN side and one from OUT back to the charge pipe before the BOV Install the fuel rail with new hardware and brackets as well as 410cc injectors Flush the coolant system Pour some leftover oil into VC, drain, and empty it back into a dirt oil container to clean the water/oil mixup out the engine from sitting so long Fill and top off the coolant system Add oil to engine and install filter Run the AEM wide-band gauge wiring to KPRO unit and solder the wire to the pin Gap the plugs to .030 and install new ones in Wire-in all the gauges professionally this time Check FMIC plumbing to see if it can be done with current bumper bar and install FMIC piping Buy a used valve cover, sand it, prime it, paint, clear coat, install it Wash the engine bay and shine it
Absolute last thing I want to do: Update injector size to map on pro Rest of exhaust setup (bring car down from hill) Tune (tow or drive hmmm)
When all goes well….. add the sub/headunit again and fix up some of the electric work
For those who may be wondering what happened to updates, see pics below. I have been extremely busy these past few months with finishing my spring semester at uni. (senior year aka senior design for engineering) (MY TEAM WON TWO AWARDS!!!!), getting ready for my internship which I am now in, and moving to my new apartment/making some side hustle moves........ and April was a crazy month for me, but I still managed to put in overtime and keep the dream alive for those wanting to boost their stock EM2. Keep in mind I drive 3 hours to Nashville to come do this work every now and then, but summer is opening my timetable up and this project WILL be completed by the end of July.
I will do a lesson's learned post at the very end of the project to simplify what to do and what not to do if you plan on following in my footsteps, so look out for that.
It has been an extreme challenge to procure the materials, the welding supplies (had to get a dual flow regulator/refill my argon/timing was critical), and schedule to go ahead and fabricate the downpipe and dumptube together, but it is finally complete. That was my major hurdle for this project. Now, the following remains:
Install waste gate plumbing to boost controller (waiting on AN to M5 fittings to come in early June) Order the E-Bay catch can and run the appropriate lines one from VC to IN side and one from OUT back to the charge pipe before the BOV Install the stock fuel rail and the 410cc RDX with new hardware and stainless brackets (gonna have to handwork some brackets to mount the fuel rail) Flush the coolant system Fill and top off the coolant system Run the AEM wide-band gauge wiring to KPRO unit and solder the wire to the pin on the board (gonna have to research the pin to use) Gap the plugs to .030 and install new ones in (per PianoMan55's lessons learned) Wire-in all the gauges Check FMIC plumbing to see if it can be done with current bumper bar and install FMIC piping (not really concerned on removing the bumper rein. as I wont daily the car every day) Buy a used valve cover, sand it, prime it, paint, clear coat, install it Pour some leftover oil into VC, drain, and empty it back into a dirt oil container to clean the water/oil mixup out the engine from sitting so long Add oil to engine and install filter Wash the engine bay and shine it Absolute last thing I want to do: Update injector size to map on Kpro Rest of exhaust setup (bring car down from hill) (weld the rest of exhaust from the mid pipe back, (easy sh*t)) Tune (tow or drive hmmm)
When all goes well......tbc
Originally Posted by GolNat
Looking forward to the upcoming stuff!!! Mac and you are putting in the work!
If only you knew., thank you!
Originally Posted by mac25
Cant remember which ecu you're running; Are you using an AEM FIC?
If so, and if you have the n/a maps running right, just go to your fuel map, right click and select the injector feature.
Then type in your stock size and the aftermarket size and the fuel map will automatically change.
If you don't me suggesting, since you are running what looks like a gen 6 radiator, you can always do some cutting on the upper radiator mount. I personally would get rid of the top portion from your dump tube to your gate valve for some extra clearance.
pic attached... Maybe get rid of the area in blue for some extra room...
after i took a closer look at that pipe...will your hood be able to close?
Yes, of course I tried the function of the hood closing before tacking them.
I'm keeping the radiator support even if the fan is out of the way because it ties into the hood latch and provides structural support. Without it the hood latch would flex downwards too far. I could cut it out and weld a piece to connect the latch piece, but thats too much work.
Whats up boys so quick update not much left to do but two more weekends worth of work! The dump tube is giving me alignment issues. Even though I added my flex pipe to the down pipe, the v band which connects the dump to the down pipe is misaligned by 1/2in. I can flex the section and get it to line up, but Im about 1/2 in length short on the dump tube. The reason this occurred is probably due to heat warp on stainless from welding. Or, I should have bolted both flange holes down instead of one when tack welding my dump tube. At this point, its time to correct the issue and not worry about what went wrong but lesson learned! No worries though, as I plan on cutting some 1.5 stock I have laying around and adding some length to that straight section to make sure the two flanges are on center. I thought about just putting it on misaligned, but worried heat cycles may warp it or damage the flex section over time. Do it right is the motto here!
This weekend I plan on stopping in and getting some work done.]
Just two more weekends worth of work and shes ready for a tune!
Unwrap dumptube cut and weld in a section to help meet length req re wrap and set aside install wg lines install E-Bay catch can and run the appropriate lines one from VC to IN side and one from OUT back to the charge pipe before the BOV run the new hood latch cable in to engine bay Run the AEM wide-band gauge wiring to KPRO unit and solder the wire to the pin Weld a piece of steel to strengthen hood latch mechanism begin to install intercooler piping and check routing possibilities Gap the plugs to .030 and install new ones in
Redo gauge wiring Flush the coolant system Fill and top off the coolant system Pour some leftover oil into VC, drain, and empty it back into a dirt oil container to clean the water/oil mixup out the engine from sitting so long Add oil to engine and install filter install fuel rail and fuel injectors with better brackets Wash the engine bay and shine it Absolute last thing I want to do: Update injector size to map on kpro Rest of exhaust setup (bring car down from hill) Tow to tuner dyno
Whats up boys so quick update
-Fixed dumptube Vband off center misalignment issue by cutting some material off the dumptube where it mated to the vband flange as it was a bit too long
-Re-wrapped dumptube
-Got the downpipe and dumptube bolted in and ready
-Fixed misc. unrelated to project items that (e.g. replaced hood latch cable, welded some reinforcement in hood latch area)
-AEM is now hooked up to KPRO. Kpro V4 is what I have and is the latest as of 06/23/19 (for anyone wanting to buy it, Kpro V4 came out in 2015 I believe and is still the latest board)
KPRO V4 requires no soldering to the actual board itself. It has a wireharness pigtail you solder to one of those wires
I have attached the color code for KPRO V4 (V4 only!!!!!!) for all the analog inputs. With my AEM GAUGE, I have to run a chassis ground and not a analog ground, so pay attention if you pursue.
-New colder plugs are in (see image for model number of NGK plugs
Upcoming tasks
1) Install the intercooler tubing
2) Test fit the bumper to check fitment/address any issues preventing so 3) Solder and run gauge wiring for oil temp, oil pressure, coolant temp, EGT 4) Flush the coolant system 5) Fill and top off the coolant system 6) Fuel injectors installation 7) Valve cover installation 8) Add oil/oil filter 9) Update ECU Injector size on KPRO V4 Hondata software from stock to the new RDX 410cc 10) Fab up the straight pipe exhaust 11) Tune (tow or drive hmmm)
new catch can. setup will go from valve cover to IN port, then from OUT port back to charge pipe before BOV Finally finished the dumptube, (had to take some material off to make it sit flush with the wastegate flange and line up the vbands on center but it FITS LIKE A GLOVE!!! shoutout to OJ... well.. not in his case Gloves were too big hahaha Black and gold! Intercooler tubing next. Finally fixed that annoying hood latch weak area by welding some steel to reinforce the hood latch member on the radiator support frame. Having hood closing issues due to dumptube (shave time) Just wiring and soldering. Finally got AEM analog wire soldered to the analog input off Kpro V4. Just use the RED wire thats A0 coming from the inside of the ECU. New 1 step colder plug (in my hand) versus old in case anyone wants BKR7EIX-11 from NGK
FMIC tubing installed
-Removed crash bar
-Removed some chassis frame material from areas where tubing meets intercooler
-Mocked up the tubing
-Made some cuts
-Need to order 2in to 2.5in couplings to finish compressor discharge hookup
-Need to relocate coolant reservoir to near the catch can
-Need to fab up stainless brackets for FMIC to connect to front chassis
-Need to grind off some of the hood where the dumptube bends upwards to clear
-Need a good solution to brace this turbo/manifold as heat and weight will be an issue for the head carrying all that weight on one side. (Fab up a triangle bracket? hmm)
-Put the valve cover on
-Fluids fill
-Gauge wiring and routing
-Heat tape on exposed/high heat areas/wiring management
-little sh*t left to do before we can get Nicole on the ground and get the tune date setup!
-Stay tuned fellas.
Thankfully the ebay FMIC tubing kit had ALL the bends I required (plus treadstone 3 in to 2in couplings for turbo compressor 3inlet i ordered seperately. RDC motors makes the ebay FMIC kit I bought it for like 100 bucks ebay two years ago! It was sitting in the attic and I have finally installed it. Some good shots Currently awaiting the coupling to convert the compressor outlet 2in to 2.5 to make the tubing complete. that battery relocation really helped me I need as much space as possible
updated bay fule rail and injectors snapped in (no mods) custom fuel rail brackets from Stainless Steel Aluminum welded custom FMIC brackets I made :-)
1) Redo gauge wiring, buy the drill size for 1/8NPT tap, heat wrap all electrical items near turbo/heat areas, run vacuum boost gauge line, install all O2 sensors and heat wrap its wires
2) Valve cover sand and paint
3) Turbo support bracket from 1/8 steel
4) Fix hood closing issue (fab up a gas strut mechanism? hmmm)
It's my birthday today gang!
Verified the bumper fits, made some mods.
Goodbye fog lights, hello FMIC tubing!
Got some new shots of project. Coming together smoothly now.
Remainder of tasks 1) EGT probe install in turbo manifold, heat tape O2 upstream wire
2) Turbo support bracket from 1/8 steel (fab up) Yayyyyaaaa I love welding.
3) Fix hood closing issue (fab up a gas strut mechanism? hmmm)
4) Valve cover installation
Weld up rest of exhaust from after the downpipe (bout 6 hours work) Got all the bends I need so should be straight forward minus the hangar positioning for tacks Love the intake. Sexy. almost there!!!! just wait til I do some management and the newly painted VC is on. Gonna look mean boi no mas fog lights
5)Add coolant and oil
6) Update ECU fuel setting for injectors in Hondata KManager (running Kpro v4)
7) Burp the car and idle it
8) Drive to tune slowly and get her tuned for Gods sake I've kept everyone on their toes.
Some notes: My car came with wide-band O2s from factory when I installed Kpro I noticed this. the AEM is just an aftermarket visual. Install was easy. White signal wire goes to Kpro Analog Pin. (see diagram in thread) I posted it earlier a month ago. Ground to Chassis. Power to 12v. and ignore the blue wire.
e
10-10-2018
shoutout to OJ... well.. not in his case Gloves were too big hahaha
looking good man!!
