I've wanted a turbo project for a long time and now its finally starting. Initially I looked at turbo'ng the Cobra but I really don't want to tear it apart. It's such a nice car and not to mention the turbo kits run around $7k ~ $10k+.
So then I decided maybe an older Mustang or Camaro or some other V8 but it wasn't in the budget and I already have a boosted V8. Something else was in order. I wanted something cheap I could blow up and rebuild at minimal cost and learn about turbos and have fun without breaking the bank.
That's when I decided to start looking into small light compact 4 cylinder cars. Something exciting about a high revving 4 cylinder turbo car. Wow should I get a focus? how about a cavalier? nah not really strong motors and won't take much boost.
My next focus was the Neon SRT4. Those come with turbos from the factory and seemed like a really good starting point. I searched around and found that even though those cars sold for $20k brand new back in 04/05 they were around $8k ~ $12k now days with a lot of miles and abused. Get past the turbo and the motor and it's still a Neon lol. Everything falling apart and still just a pile of junk. I got on some Neon forums and found the problems and repairs on those cars endless.
I then ran across a guy on one of our fun cruise nights a few weeks ago that let me drive his SRT4 and that settled it for me right away, I didn't want one of those. It was a clunker.
Another thing in the back of mind the whole time was I really wanted to take a naturally aspirated car and turbo it. The SRT4 was factory turbo'd and took half the fun out of it.
So that's when I started looking into Hondas and found the Civics to be very attractive. The 1990 ~ 2000 models specifically. The 90-95 is one generation (odbi) and the 96-00 is another (odbii). Both generations run the D series motors (SOHC) with some minor exceptions such as the 99-00 SI model that had the B series DOHC motor. 2001 and up are the K series motors and boosting them gets to expensive and wasn't the kind of project I was looking for.
I got on some Honda forums and found the turbo parts to be in absolute abundance and was very impressed at how these cars hold up to boost and how much power they make.
I'm starting out with a 98 D series 5 speed. I have the EX model which made
127 hp and 107 ft/lb from the factory. The LX and DX models made less. Boosted with stock internals these cars make 200+ hp to the wheels all day long and been that they are so light they are like little rockets.Forged lower compression pistons, forged rods, main + rod bearings = $499
Blower cam = $130
Few other misc parts and guys are running 400+ to the tires in these things for not much money.
They ares are light too. The 90-95 models are lighter but I couldn't find a good shape one for a price I was willing to pay but still my 98 I weighed with a full tank of gas. 2440 lbs. Wow my Cobra with a half tank was 3640 lbs.
I'm still piecing together (planning) the exact parts that will make up my turbo kit and I'll be ordering soon. I plan on tuning it myself too. Let the games begin!
Here's a pic of the car all stock as I got it.
