Budget mods/tuning

Wondering if anyone has experience with budget performance mods? Curious about k-series stuff but any ebay specials are welcome

Car I'm potentially gonna put a junk turbo kit is a 96 civic hatchback with a k24a2 in it. My thoughts are that I'll likely wind up replacing a number of things on the kit once they shit the bed anyways. Wastegate especially, however the whole kit is only 680 new on ebay.

Anyone know if the cast Manis fit in a k swap? Seems almost everyone goes sidewinder, likely for a reason.

I'm also wondering if anyone has tuned for themselves, regardless of car? I'm in a tuning deadzone but I have hondata so I'm going to try my hand at tuning. Largely getting afrs within range and not playing with timing so much. I don't care if I'm making tons and tons of power by having aggressive ass timing.

  1. 2 weeks ago
    Anonymous

    everything is made in china now so it’ll all basically be fine, except for the turbo maybe.

  2. 2 weeks ago
    Anonymous

    >96 Civic Hatch
    >K24a2
    You don't even need a turbo man you already have a torque powerful 4 banger in a light chassis

    • 2 weeks ago
      Anonymous

      Yeah I haven't driven the car a ton lol been enjoying wrenching on it more than driving it. I certainly won't daily it as I don't feel comfortable driving my son around in it.

      • 2 weeks ago
        Anonymous

        >Yeah I haven't driven the car a ton lol been enjoying wrenching on it more than driving it.
        we know, thats why you made a dumb thread about trying to find more work for yourself

        • 2 weeks ago
          Anonymous

          >dumb thread
          >thread about actually working on vehicles and not just stupid banter about which car you'd drive if you didn't ride the bus
          Pick one.

          • 2 weeks ago
            Anonymous

            working on vehicles for no end is dumb
            t.doing my motor mounts in an hour because theyre shot

            • 2 weeks ago
              Anonymous

              The end is I get a faster car for not a ton of money.

    • 2 weeks ago
      Anonymous

      Yeah I haven't driven the car a ton lol been enjoying wrenching on it more than driving it. I certainly won't daily it as I don't feel comfortable driving my son around in it.

      I also have built it, besides injectors and a rail, with a turbo in mind eventually. When I bought the stuff for it my mindset was buy once cry once. Got kpro, 500 hp rated axles, 400 hp rated clutch, and walbro 255.

  3. 2 weeks ago
    Anonymous

    i’ve watched a few of these ebay turbo civic installs, seems like there is always a bit of fucking around involved, fabricating mounts or pipes. it won’t be plug and play so as long as you have the knowledge to troubleshoot go ahead, i wouldn’t

    • 2 weeks ago
      Anonymous

      ebay turbo "kits" are trash
      Learn yourself a skill and make your own log manifold
      build your own dump pipe too
      charge pipe is just a mix and match of what combination of piping and silicone joiners fit

      Either learn to do it yourself or pay someone to do it properly IMO

      I have a large private shop (2500 sq ft) and a welder. My thoughts were I could just fab something up. Is it possible to fab up a mani with unshielded flux core? I'm pretty good at exhaust, done several cars. Had to weld one of my mounts in on the swap since the nut turned in the frame rail. Also just practice for fun often.

      • 2 weeks ago
        Anonymous

        Yes.
        It's just like building an exhaust but with thicker steel. You don't have to go crazy using 7mm steampipe btw, just something a bit thicker than the usual <2mm exhaust pipe will do. Most cheap flux core welders will handle it.

        • 2 weeks ago
          Anonymous

          I'll have to give it a try. I'll probably buy a collector

          The best budget performance mod is switching to poly bushings all around. And the cheapest way to do that is to buy a 3D printer and casting polyurethane and make them yourself. Printer does not count in cost because it's a tool, you never count tools in the budget unless they will never be used again (like a super specific socket) or you break them in the process.

          I already have a 3d printer, though I have hard race mounts as is because

          I wouldn't go poly on a daily driver, though a k swap civic probably isn't a daily.

          Is correct it is not a daily driver. The shifts are very crisp and aggressive and so is throttle reaponse. Took it out last night in the rain and was spinning all over.

          • 2 weeks ago
            Anonymous

            You don't need fancy collector bullshit - go look at a bunch of stock manifolds, most of them look like shit because it makes 2/10ths of fuckall difference on a turbo motor.
            That's why "log manifolds" are so popular for Turbo DIYers.

    • 2 weeks ago
      Anonymous

      I know practically nothing about the subject, but seems like the bearings in those chiner turbos would be completely untrustworthy.

      • 2 weeks ago
        Anonymous

        From what I've read you can get good ebay turbos. Everyone essentially say, check it for shaft play once it shows up and make sure to prime it. Check if for shaft play often, the ageeance seems to be that it's cheaper to buy 10 100 dollar ebay turbos and keep a close eye on them than to buy a 1k+ turbo.

        • 2 weeks ago
          Anonymous

          10 cheaper than 1
          way she goes these days, unfortunately

  4. 2 weeks ago
    Anonymous

    ebay turbo "kits" are trash
    Learn yourself a skill and make your own log manifold
    build your own dump pipe too
    charge pipe is just a mix and match of what combination of piping and silicone joiners fit

    Either learn to do it yourself or pay someone to do it properly IMO

  5. 2 weeks ago
    Anonymous

    >ebay specials are welcome
    Ebay can be bad at pricing, found some spare parts cheaper from dealer even.

  6. 2 weeks ago
    Anonymous

    You’re not gonna be able to put that turbo in your car and expect it to work for $680. Budget like $3k and then go for it. There’s ALWAYS a bunch if shit you dont expect when you go into something as invasive as this

  7. 2 weeks ago
    Anonymous

    The best budget performance mod is switching to poly bushings all around. And the cheapest way to do that is to buy a 3D printer and casting polyurethane and make them yourself. Printer does not count in cost because it's a tool, you never count tools in the budget unless they will never be used again (like a super specific socket) or you break them in the process.

    • 2 weeks ago
      Anonymous

      I wouldn't go poly on a daily driver, though a k swap civic probably isn't a daily.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *