Rep Power: 188

well you guys may have seen some of my questions on here but I will keep a post going on here with some progress notes as some of it may be useful to someone.
I bought my car with a Greddy T4 turbo already on it and didn't spend a whole lot of time looking into car. Well the car has had a couple issues,1. the gauges were wired with cat 5 phone line and caught fire, 2. oil pressure gauge wire with an extension cord and wires cut and tucked into fender well, 3. chunk broken off ECU, 4. no fuel or ignition management on car for turbo, 5. all boost lines and vacuum lines were ran with household water lines and were melting, 6. wastegate vacuum and fuel pressure vacuums hooked into themselves, 7. no actual vacuum line being pulled, 8. aftermarket gauges installed incorrectly, and 9. radiator fan hooked into headlight switch because the relay went bad.

 
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ewwww. post up pixs and progress of the fixing.

 
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Never buy a modified car without a list of receipts, a major mechanical inspection and a pocket full of cash to fix any potential problems.

 
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hopefully it will run a lot better when you fix it up =D

 
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i have fixed all wiring except the oil pressure gauge, i bought a sandwich plate to relocate the sensor, and the radiator fan, and I have fixed all of the vacuum lines. I have ordered an AEM F/IC and the extension harness and am waiting on it to come in. I have also learned that on the Civic when trying to install a boost gauge the best place to put your port is after the throttle body becaue it will not pull correct vacuum before throttle body.

 
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sounds like a disaster!

 
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Lmao. Did MacGuyver own this car before you? Were the headlights held on by duct tape and paper clips by chance?

 
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Hahaha this is priceless. Your sure the turbo isn't a hamster on a wheel?

 
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Did you inspect or drive the car before hand? Something must have given you a clue that the car wasn't right? I hope you can get it all fixed and not have to spend a ton of money .

 
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good lord, good luck, buddy...
At least you seem to know how to diagnose most of the stuff.
The other guy that did it on the 6th gen (or was 1-5th?) did not, and was in much worse situation than you...
good luck! how did the ECU go? got a new one?

 
Rep Power: 188

Thanks for the support. sdaidoji the ecu turned out to be a new motherboard in an old housing. This is my first turbo car and has been a nightmare for sure but have always wanted one. Not to mention this is my first Honda. I drove the car a little but it drove fine. The car was actually not getting any boost before it just had a turbo on it and was hooked up but had so many leaks it was the worlds first NA turbo'd car lol. I am now having a little issue with the boost.
I got all boost and vacuum leaks fixed but now when the car is started I am pulling 20 in/hg vacuum which is good but when I rev it the highest the gauge goes is to 0. Since this is my first turbo do you have to be driving the car for the boost gauge to really show up?

 
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so you are revving the car while it's motionless and it's not building boost?If that's the case then yes,that is normal as there is no load on the engine.As an experiment you can leave the E-brake engaged and put it in gear and slowly release the clutch till it starts to grab and the engine loads(but not so much that the car stalls or moves).You SHOULD see positive boost.If not then try a short drive and give the throttle a quick stab to see if it will go into boost.

 
Rep Power: 188

I will try that. A friend of mine that has a turbo civic says that he thinks my waste gate spring is bad. He said it shouldn't cost but a couple bucks to fix it so even if that isn't the problem at least I will know that is one problem I don't have to worry about. Anybody know how to find out which one to order or where best place to get one?

 
Rep Power: 188

Hit 8 psi tonight. Still want to replace the spring it was kind of hit or miss on the boost and I know that there are no leaks. I am afraid to drive it too hard or too long until I get my F/IC on there. Dont want go BOOM.

 
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sounds like ur taking something someone threw together and making it nice. congrats on the boosted civic and the positive fixes!

 
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agreed....

 
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1. the gauges were wired with cat 5 phone line and caught fire, rofl

 
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good luck all the way man....that cat5 wire and house hold water lines is crazy.

 
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how worthwhile is it to put a vtec head on it? or how do i know if i have one already?

 
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when I put in bigger injectors say 525cc do i have to replace the fuel pump? I want to put in a walbro but I think I saw that you have to install a return line.

 
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What engine is in it now? A big hint it's a Vtec head is it would have a vtec solenoid and an audible vtec "pop" as you go into the higher rpm's.
I don't think you HAVE to,but it's a good idea,otherwise the fuel pump becomes your bottleneck rather than your injectors.I've never heard of anyone having to run a return line with a walbro before,i know us 8th gen guys don't have to,but it could be different on your chassis /engine.

 
Rep Power: 285

Good advice on the bottleneck, fuel pumps are cheap and they absolutely will restrict the flow once you install larger injectors.

7g does not have a return line.

Install DIY here =>https://www.civicforums.com/forums/1...bro-255-a.html

 
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Ok so the 7th gen does not require a return line if i am reading correctly. Also I have never had the car above 4500 RPM and the valve cover is not stock and everything under hood has been covered in wire loom. andpaint.

 
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sounds like my engine, but no rat's nest of wires in mine.

 
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well couldn't find a pic on google showing where the solenoid was so you're lucky i felt like going out to my car, lol.

here's where it is, behind the head... look it's my white throttle body =D, can't believe i havn'e painted the solenoid yet, lol.




and here's what it looks like.



if you have one it's a d17a2 with the vtec head, if not it's a d17a1 non-vtec.

 
Rep Power: 188

ok I will look for it later. I removed the extension cord last night to discover that the oil pan gasket is leaking a little. I am not really worried about the head on the car as I found a receipt in the car from a local performance shop where they put new intake, exhaust and head gaskets on and rebuilt the head. So at least that is 1 positive.

 
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Just looked. No VTEC solenoid.

 
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you'r turboed so it doesn't matter, you'll be faster then all the stock d17a2's out there.

 
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You'll need to head swap if you want to put cams in, which you should, but it's a pretty simple and inexpensive mod.

 
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How many people have changed their oil pan gasket? Is it pretty hard or something I can do with some jackstands and hand tools? I am decently handy but nervous about just tearing into it without a heads up.