B16a Turbo Conversion in the UK

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B16a Turbo Conversion in the UK

By UK_Dave
- Tue Jan 17, 2012 12:15 pm #290474 Image

Hi.
first of all i done this awhile ago and didnt take many pictures and also had help off my friend chris who has done about 10 turbo conversions before. this is a pretty straight forward conversion as long as you tont try and take short cuts! once all the parts arrived you could theoretically do it in a weekend.

therese are a list of items you will need and roughly how much they costed me. like i said was awhile ago so prices may not be spot on

ebay T403e turbo £150 ( this is good for low boost application only, but i usemine daily so its fine. can be rebuilt with a garratt kit if internals go so hey ho either way you got a quarter price garrat turbo ;) )

walboro 255 fuel pump £60 ( do not buy a chinese copy they will only work if you got half a tank of petrol or more! )

chipped ecu, in my case a vtec converted p08 from usa about £200 after shipping etc... the ebay guy u buy it off will write you a basemap if you send him youre spec.

larger injectors in my case 525cc delphi ones make surer you find the right ones for youre engine obd1 obd2 etc aswell. 300c ones are too small and any bigger than about 500cc is too big but hey ho all depends on what power youre running.

equivalent clutch kit tegiwa.co.uk does them for about £170

equivalent oil return lines you can get em off ebay for about £25 off ebay

front mount intercooler & piping size is upto you but i went for a small one with 2.25" piping too large a piping and youll get lag too small and youll starve the engine and run rich. get a kit off ebay for about £170 it costed me more to buy it all seperate. youd be surprised how much silicone and clamps are.

equal length manifold £170 you can get any manifold you want but i find the equal ones dont crack and look better than the cast iorn one. also it linesd the turbo up straight to the exhaust minimising bends.

3" downpipe back, i had one spare but tbh anything 2.5" up is adequate. make sure you get rid of the cat!!! tbh its best off getting it custom made as even the ones on ebay you can buy never fit without altering

282mm front brake conversion off an mg zr £100 (youll need em believe me)

any bov, ive got a bailey one i had from before but its youre choice

flexible exhaust piping £30 (sreamer pipe!)

a wastegate 32mm or 36mm i had one already but you can get em on ebay at all sorts of prices

and alot of washer tubing, i forget the size :/ u can get e any colour on ebay

alloy rad £70 (youll need it)

thats about it i believe ill add more later about the process :)
Last edited by UK_Dave on Tue Jan 17, 2012 4:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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By UK_Dave
- Tue Jan 17, 2012 1:52 pm #290488 first thing i did was change the fuel pump, easy one :). just let youre petrol drop as far down as you can without running empty.

take your rear seat out. the bottom part this shuld juts tilt towards the front of the car then you can un hook them.

un screw the screws on the fuel cover and bobs your uncle shuld just pop out. whack your new one in ( and i cable tied mine in place just to be extra safe) reverse the steps and job done.if youve got a stripped out interior do us all a favour and either change the fuel cover for a carbon fibre one or paint the old one ;) and replace the screws for some nice new ones (sall about the little things).

second thing i changed was the ecu, just locate youre ecu (normally passenger footwell under the carpet unless its been moved) un clip it from the harness and re attach the new ecu. i did these changes before boosting the civic so it was awhile after that that i did the rest.

i also changed the front discs and calipers for 282mm mg zr (the v6 ones). simple. the mg zr ones fit exactly to youre civic. :) so just pop the old ones off and replace them with the zr ones. this is a good time to paint youre calipers and fit some drilled and grooved discs and upgraded pads you can find vairious ones on ebay just get some drilled and grooved discs and the ebc black utimax pads (make sure search for mgzr now) this shuld greatly improve breaking. i was skint at the time and just cleaned up the old ones.
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By AdotDstar
- Tue Jan 17, 2012 9:11 pm #290570 Good write up mate, all seems pretty affordable for running low boost and having a great daily drive that will put a good few cars in there place

:)
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By UK_Dave
- Tue Jan 17, 2012 11:32 pm #290619 i got plenty more left to write lol but yeah if you want low boost and know youre way around a welder/ socket set its nowhere near as hard as people make out. especally when here a company will charge you £3k just for labour and then insist that its not warrantied because thier stock internals, thats what happened to someone i know... :P
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By AdotDstar
- Wed Jan 18, 2012 8:35 am #290767 Shiit thats some serious cash, ive seen some pretty serious turbo kits that i could buy for that sort of money. Keep the write up coming! That eg sold i was going to look at so the hunt still continues! Everything happens for a reason, wasnt ment to be!
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By UK_Dave
- Wed Jan 18, 2012 10:10 am #290775 Damn, unlucky but yeah like you said probs be the perfect civic waiting for u :/ btw i really wouldnt recommend those conplete turbo kits, if you buy all seperate you can guarantee yove got the setup you want (and normally get better quality components)
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By AdotDstar
- Wed Jan 18, 2012 2:30 pm #290797
UK_Dave wrote:Damn, unlucky but yeah like you said probs be the perfect civic waiting for u :/ btw i really wouldnt recommend those conplete turbo kits, if you buy all seperate you can guarantee yove got the setup you want (and normally get better quality components)


I would source my parts seperate, might take a little longer but like you say ill get exactly what i want from it.
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