Hi I have a 96 Civic EX Coupe and I’d like to do a cheap turbo on it, but next year I plan on engine swapping so I don’t care about the condition of the motor all that much, all I want is to have fun and have the engine survive for a year before I do serious ECU upgrades and tuning when I swap to the H22. What are some cheap options for me so that I can run a turbo on the d16y8 for a relative year?

 

Yes, tune it or you risk destroying something rather quickly. Why bother wasting money on a "cheap" turbo system if you plan on swapping the motor?

 

The cheap turbo system consists of low psi and it’ll only cost me like $200 because my dad is highly experienced in fabrication. I don’t want an ECU with high tune potential until I get an H22 in my Civic, I just want a fun, cheap experience without spending loads of money. Are there any pre-tuned ECUs out there for less than $200? And if so is a new ECU practically just plug and play? I’m new to the whole car scene and I just want to have fun before I get all serious and rebuild an H22 and get it tuned with a good turbo kit. I’ve heard about upgrading the fuel pump with a fuel regulator, and I’d like to know more about that too. So please don’t give me a “your gonna hurt your engine if you don’t get a tune” I get that but I could care less about this engine, so please give me the right answer to my question, how can I run a turbo on a d16y8 for a year and as cheap as possible.

 

I'm done here as I refuse to spoon-feed noobs. Research is my advice. Everything you can imagine has been done to these cars and a majority of it has been documented. Hell, I've even removed a supercharged D16y8 out of my 99 Civic and swapped in a H22 at one point so I'd like to say I'm familiar with what you will end up going through, too. I have been modifying cars for 15+ years and can tell you that reading through forums will provide you with all the knowledge you need.

With that said, if you research and still have questions, we are here to help bridge the gaps. It's obvious that little research has been done based on the questions you are asking. If you end up trying the turbo with no tune, we invite you to document it in our project section. Good luck.

 

I'm with ^ that guy. Seriously, there is no way you're going to have fun for $200 with no tune for a year. More like one 1/4 mile if that and shortly after hello new engine. I've done the ghettoest turbo on a civic (rear mount in place of muffler) and even that was more money and needed at least a missing link for fuel management, which ran like total crap... read a lot before you do anything and once you hit actual issues - ask questions.

 

Okay so no turbo for cheap, the d16y8 has decent horsepower to have fun so I’ll leave it at that, but next year when I do plan to do an h22 swap, how would you reccomend I approach it? My dads friend owns a dealership and I was wondering if I should just buy a wrecked 97-00 prelude for cheap and rebuild the engine, or should I buy a low mile H22 and buy the following parts I’ll need to put it in my Civic, I will admit I am a noob when it comes to cars, but I’d just like to know more about them, and that was just one of my questions is whether or not I could just upgrade my fuel delivery system instead of a new ECU and get it tuned, I saw people say they put fuel regulators in as well as a new fuel pump and injectors and we’re able to get 12 psi safely, I just wanted to know more about this route and whether or not it’s be cheaper to do something like that instead of the tune route, I didn’t mean to come off as annoying and I’m sorry for that and I hope you can understand that I’m just new to this but I wanna learn more, my dad was the one who got me into cars, but he really only knows so much and never got into the computer side of things when it comes to cars, so I’m willing to learn all about obtaining a tunable ECU and where to get it tuned and all.

 

is your current civic auto or 5-speed?

As far as H-swap goes, it is always easier when you have a complete car. As far as which transmission - you have options. If you want to convert to a cable shifter than keep the H, otherwise you can buy an adapter plate for an H motor to a B tranny. Do your homework on the transmissions to decide what you want to do. If you start with a wrecked 'lude I'd keep as much stock from it as I can.

Why an H though? You can do a B18/20 that's less troublesome.

Also, considering how far things have advanced since the eg/ek civics were in production - consider electric power steering. The type that works with a manual rack and the motor is on the steering column. It only takes like 5 wires to make it work and it's lighter and cleaner than hydraulic. The feel is a bit worse though, but it is simple, effective and clean.

 

My current tranny is a 5 speed but Id like to do a H swap because I want some high horsepower but for cheaper than a K swap, I’ve seen plenty of civics swapped with a rebuilt H22, good turbo kit, and a good tuner and have gotten 600 whp, I mean this could sound stupid but I kinda want an underdog, all I hear from people when I tell them what I want to do is that it’s a waste of time and money because it’s a civic, but I don’t believe that and I love these cars, one day I saw a type r in a beautiful gunmetal grey and it was clean as hell and since then I fell in love with Honda’s, so I turned 15 this early summer and got my permit, so for my birthday my dad bought me a 1996 Civic EX Coupe and taught me how to drive stick in it, and he always tells me about story’s where he blew an engine in an Eagle Talon after he threw a turbo on it, and how he flipped cars and showed me all the paint jobs and stuff he’s done, and he’s got me attached to cars and all I want to do now is learn more about them, sorry for the sap story but it’s my mindset behind wanting a stupid fast civic.

 

Let's get something straight. anything above 300hp on a FWD light weight econo box like a civic is not a daily driver. It is an uncomfortable, torque steering bitch that tries to kill you every time you hit the gas.

Now that that's out of the way, keep in mind that pretty much every combination of anything out there has already been built. Look carefully through build threads on here and on honda tech.

https://honda-tech.com/forums/hybrid...196065/page20/ here's an allright example, not perfect, but gets you started on the reading.

At least you're starting in the right place at 16 and not ricing it out.

P.S. here goes my old fart been there done that advice - don't waste your money. Flip a few cars, gain some experience, by the time your insurance rate drops to normal levels (assuming you don't go out and do stupid sheit) you'll be able to afford a good platform to build on. Hell, if it has to be a honda - an S2000 is a hell of neat car. If you do decide to proceed, do know that it takes A LOT of money to do a build properly. Engine rebuild with machine work and forged bits is easily 3K+. A good turbo setup is easily 2-3K for something that's worth running. Yes, you can get by with something crappy, like a T3 or a T25 or even a chinese clone of them, but eventually you come to realize that you have to use quality components if you want to drive the car and not spend weekends working on it all the time. It's exciting now, but wait until it leaves you stranded in a downpour on the way to a college final.

 

Thanks a lot man I really appreciate the advice and right now I’m leaving my car in my dads name for insurance purposes, but yea like you said the s2000 is an awesome platform to build on which is the next car I plan to build on (or a 350z) and what you said about anything over 300hp being not fun to drive, that’s probably what I’m going to target as I still want a daily driver and 300 hp is definitely fast lol. And I’m not gonna say my car isn’t ricey at all, I’m putting a clean (in my opinion) body kit on it, and I have the quick release steering wheel and stuff on there cause I think it’s cool; but I’ll definitely steer away from the fake hood scoops and giant wings lol, but seriously thanks for the advice