turbocharger

[jorligan]

I am looking to turbocharge my 98 NSX-T. I emailed BEGI and received a reply from Corky. He states that his fuel system is adequate but that the he isn't sure if the ignition retard will work with a 98 ECU. For those of you with a turbo and OBD II, how did you get it to work? For others, does anyone know if the Motec or Haltech units can be used to control the VTEC as well as fuel supply and turbo boost?

Thanks in advance.

Tim

 

[jackmac]

I don't even know why you want to turbocharge a 98 model....you still have warranty right? Why don;'t you wait until the warranty is over then think of getting turbo upgrades....enjoy your car first man!

 

[David]

A Motec can easily control everything, but is probably more sophisticated than you need. The Haltech probably will do just as well, and is considerably cheaper. Call Haltech (972-831-9800) and ask them about the E6K - I believe that is the system you will want. It can control VTEC activation and even NOS.

Ask them if you can piggy-back it on the stock ECU so that the ECU controls all the mundane stuff like the AC and the Haltech runs the fuel and ignition systems.

If it can do this, you may want to consider deleting all of Corky's fuel system stuff and upgrading the six stock injectors. If not, a Haltech will easily control the two additional injectors he uses.

If you want to run more than 6 psi, e-mail me directly and I will go over the internal engine mods you will need.

Hope this helps.

 

[swede]

I'm looking into turbo charging my -94. Motech has released a new ECU called M800. I belive if you piggyback that one to just handle the ignition and fuel delivery, and leave the Acura ECU to handle the rest, it should work OK. As long as the MOTEC is correct adjusted, the Acura ECU wont even "know" the motec is there, and will be just fine and dandy handling the TCS and ODB-II.

------------------
Enjoying life at 8.000 RPM

 

[swede]

I have to speed up my writing in English! I'm always 5 minutes behind the action!

------------------
Enjoying life at 8.000 RPM

 

[David]

Yes, the new Motec product line is amazing and is probably the best programmable engine management system available, short of the absurdly expensive F1 level stuff. The reason I suggest looking at the Haltech first is that it is much less expensive and I think quite adequate for this task.

 

[swede]

Yepp, I believe you are 100% right David.
The motec Is definitely overkill for this kind of installation. (but have you seen the tuning software that comes with it? Makes you really wanna have one)

------------------
Enjoying life at 8.000 RPM

 

[NSX next car]

David, I am also seriously considering going turbo on the NSX after I get it and definitively want more than 6 lbs

how much boost can this engines take?
figure if I have a budget of $25k - $30k for power mods, how far could I take it?

Its gonna be a 97+ car (most likely a Zanardi), I dont know how much difference this makes on the internal engine mods due to the different material used for that engine

 

[nsxtasy]

Its gonna be a 97+ car (most likely a Zanardi), I dont know how much difference this makes on the internal engine mods due to the different material used for that engine

Isn't the engine in the Zanardi the same as all the other 3.2-liter engines?

 

[David]

Originally posted by NSX next car:
David, I am also seriously considering going turbo on the NSX after I get it and definitively want more than 6 lbs

how much boost can this engines take?
figure if I have a budget of $25k - $30k for power mods, how far could I take it?

If you are going to run more than 6 psi, IMHO you should upgrade the internals. The stock block is reliable up to the 425-450hp range. So, what you need to do is send it to Comptech and have them do the following:

Must do:
deck the block
forged pistons (JE or Arias)
ductile cylinder liners

should also do:
ceramic coating (Swain or similar) on the top of the pistons
Teflon or similar coating on the skirts

There are also a few other minor things you can do which I am sure the guys at Comptech will be happy to go over. Since you will have the motor apart anyway, you might also want to Extrude Hone everything that moves air (intake manifold, etc.). You can actually go through your motor and build a bullet-proof high-performance engine for significantly less than buying a stock replacement motor from Honda.

The fuel system will also need to be upgraded, that this is really simple and not expensive at all. Just add a higher volume pump or a second pump, a regulator, a pressure gauge and larger injectors.

With your budget, you should easily be able to see 400-450hp at the wheels with a very drivable street car.

You might also talk to Jim McFarland at MechTech (760-432-0555) as he has done several high hp installations of the Bell TT kit.

Feel free to e-mial me directly with any questions.

 

[SpeedDemon]

Originally posted by jorligan:
He states that his fuel system is adequate but that the he isn't sure if the ignition retard will work with a 98 ECU. For those of you with a turbo and OBD II, how did you get it to work?

I have a twin-turbo OBD2 NSX.

You do not have to go stand-alone or otherwise invest in a fuel/timing solution that requires laptop programming if you don't want to.. There are "bolt on" controllers that will do the basic trick. (For more serious applications (beyond the 450hp mark) though it's probably a really good idea to go with the stand-alone's.)

If you want to go "bolt on" (which I think is fine if you're going with the basic Bell kit), here are my recommendations:

For fuel, the Rebic 4 additional injector controller. Very adjustable & easy to program on the fly, and gives you a decent amount of info/feedback to work with for tuning (peak holds, alarms, injection simulator, boost/injector/rpm display, etc). I'm very happy with the unit I'm running and it took very little time to program/dial in.

For timing retard, you (and anyone else with a forced application who has an interest in adjustable timing retard) are in luck.

There's a timing-retard controller available for the NSX as of now. A while back, I called up a company who had a general-application retard controller and had them customize it to work on the NSX. They finished prototyping it on my car about 6 weeks ago, it's worked flawlessly since then. You can dial in retard based both on boost and rpm.

I will post a message on this forum with all the details sometime soon (things have been crazy lately, haven't had the time). But in the meantime at least you know a timing retard solution is available and that unlike a pre-programmed chip, it's fully adjustable on the fly.

Best,
Marc
97 NSX-T Twin Turbo

[This message has been edited by SpeedDemon (edited 17 July 2001).]

 

[David]

Marc is right about the Rebic being a good controller. It will easily do the job if you use the two additional injectors and keep the boost moderate.

I only recommend going to something like the Haltech if budget is not a serious constraint or if you want to bump the boost up. Also, the parts for the Haltech probably only run about $1200, so it is more expensive than the Rebic and ignition controller, but not terribly so. You would also have to figure another couple hundred for a tech to dyno tune the Haltech system.

 

[sjs]

David,

As long as you're on this thread, can you recommend solution to inadequate volume/pressure from the stock fuel pump? Pressure falls off as I increase injector duty cycle, with no apparent net gain after a certain point.

Can I pull through it with another one, or would a new OEM pump deliver enough for my basic tt? (I figure option A is cheaper and maybe better)

 

[NSX next car]

"Isn't the engine in the Zanardi the same as all the other 3.2-liter engines?"

yes, the engine is the same 3.2 as in all the 97+ cars, I believe David's car was one of the older ones with the 3.0 engine

I understand that the 3.2 engines are made of what Acura calls the Fiber Reinforced Metal I was wondering how that affected the work required for this type of project

Anyhow, David thanks for the info. I will be working on finding the car first, then once I have had a few months with it in stock trim, I will start with the mods

 

[nsxtasy]

Obviously I misunderstood what you meant. Thanks for the clarification.

 

[David]

Originally posted by NSX next car:
I understand that the 3.2 engines are made of what Acura calls the Fiber Reinforced Metal I was wondering how that affected the work required for this type of project

Actually, the 3.0L vs 3.2L question is a very good one. I know that pressing in ductile liners is very simple on the 3.0L motors because of the traditional casting method. The 3.2L motors use a sort of crystaline cylinder liner technology pioneered by Porsche. Comptech would probably be able to tell you what you need to do with the sleeves in that motor to make it turbo-friendly. I personally didn't have to solve that problem, so I can't give you a definitive answer. I suspect that, at the worst, they would have to hone the cylinders, then press in liners.

If Comptech can't tell you (I would be very, very surprised if they can't), e-mail me directly and I will talk to the guy who built the drag motors for the A&L Racing Nitto Tires NSX. They are using a 3.2L block now, so I know they have figured it out.