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garage built rsx turbo setup (lots of pics)

30K views 62 replies 27 participants last post by  alexiseayy 
#1 ·
Getting straight to the point here, Ive been an rsx owner for a year. shortly after being an rsx owner i went with a JRSC supercharger. i melted a piston with it likely from exceeding the efficiency range of the charger so the idea came up LETS GO TURBO. and instead of buying a kit, i built one. 100% in my garage. and here is a build thread to document that.

you are welcome to ask away with any questions or speak up with ideas or recommendations!

goal: run mid 11's with anywhere from 500 to 600whp

strategy: fabricate till it makes the goal



first the engine needed some good parts. it had a melted piston so i put in an order for everything i would need (valvetrain components, pistons, rods, gaskets, head studs, oil pump, etc) and then dropped it off to golden eagle for a torque plate hone and step deck machining. the engine came out great and was broken in with 2,000 miles of abuse on the street.






Next, Billet engine mounts!



Next, a big boy fuel system! using a return setup, Ktuned FPR, grams 320LPH pump, and 20 micron filter. with all -6 AN lines




Time to fab the turbo hot parts. starting with the manifold









Now for the downpipe! decided to do a pie cut with this setup.





Need to get the intercooler stuff out of the way.






 
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#2 ·
now for the mid pipe. also pie cut. but with a 5psi cutout! ill be running this to a stock DC5R system and it will open at 5psi and turn into a fully dumped system!






hot parts are done and ready for ceramic and heat wrap



decided to use -4AN for all the boost lines so got set up on fittings



Almost forgot to throw a quick -10AN bung on the oil pan for turbo drain


While things are at ceramic, other things are showing up. first up i made a harness for the E85 flex fuel sensor. will be utilizing kpro V4 for this feature.



Skunk2 intake manifold, fuel rail, throttle body, and grams 1,600cc injectors finally arrived


Suddenly, the part i had been most anxious about, the competition clutch twin disc


hybrid racing shifter showed up


getting buck wild on welding the exhaust manifold




And finally after the clutch was in, i got to installing everything possible.


There is still a lot to be done. i need to finish installing the rest of the parts, then run the wiring for the flex fuel sensor and boost solenoid. finish installing gauges, delete ABS and build a -8AN catch can. My builds progress photos will be edited and updated into this post so others wont need to scroll through many pages to catch the progress and watch it go.

some random specs for anybody who cares:
- precision 6266 turbo (.82)
- 2.5" intercooler piping
- 3" 304 stainless steel used for all exhaust components
- Ktuned oil adapter used for turbo oil feed
- Ktuned IAT adapter used to weld IAT sensor to intercooler piping
- Grams 1,600cc injectors will be utilized
 
#5 · (Edited)
Is this the one hour in your garage DIY I heard about?

Actually cool as hell. I just bought a finished one and it's informative to see the work put into some of the parts.
I need to look at the flex fuel option. I'm E85 only on a V1, but as 3rd owner I don't like the feeling of not knowing enough about my set up. Turbo is the coolest thing ever and makes my stock TypeS feel slow. Kind of sucks as now you always want more.
 
#15 · (Edited)
okay its been a couple months but im here with updates, good news, and bad news. gonna pick up right where i left off. which is where the car is 90% done. the car is still on stock suspension! i am having trouble finding the right coilover setup for me. i am very picky when it comes to suspension as i know as much or more about it than the people who build it.

the next step was ensuring that my vacuum block wouldnt fall off the manifold. so silicone in the threads and wire tie was in order.




followed by fabricating the wastegate dump (which was a major pain!!) very tight fit.




followed by one last check on everything and hit the dyno! we did a 91 map, and an e85 map. then merged them for flex fuel capabilities via Kpro V4.





car made great power on the dyno but unfortunately got a very loud whine in 2-4 gears in the tranny. upon draining it, the brand new fluid was black; indicating it got way too hot. i believe the wastegate was dumping too close to it. so i pulled it apart to inspect and found nothing wrong....



buttttttt who pulls a tranny out of a car and doesnt build it? so i went with a GEAR X 1-4 drag kit and got a 1-4 carbon coated synchro kit from synchrotech along with a few new bearings for good measure. info for any of you, i believed that our synchros were carbon coated from the factory but this is not the truth. only SOME gears will have a carbon synchro and the rest will be brass. and that doesnt mean every K is like this either. they only implemented these after the shifting problems began. this is why i opted for all carbon synchros. YES all gears shift much better. now i can shift MUCH faster with the aid of the twin disc as well.






these teeth are MUCH larger than the OEM gear set. my 1-4 gear ratios are also much wider. than OEM. in the picture you will see a section of the first gear teeth has been shaved. i wondered upon first inspection why this was. during assembly i noticed it was to give the reverse change over gear some room to fit. this first gear is so large that the reverse change over wouldnt fit without that added removal of material on first gear.


got the tranny in, went out for some pulls. car felt great and very fast. tried an antilag launch on some street tires and the axle decided to give up the fight against horsepower and it snapped. i was very upset because i assumed it twisted the LSD. but nope! slapped a new axle in there and i was back in business.






!!VIDEOS!!
vimeo.com/242506172

vimeo.com/242506158



spoiler alert: i cannot discuss numbers on the forum. however, i am confident there is no other daily driven rsx with more power on the streets in the nation and or youtube. i can discuss numbers in a PM only.
if anybody has any questions on my setup, your own setup, or need any help or pointers for anything, FEEL FREE TO PM ME! i will pass on my knowledge and experience the best i can. i am on the forums to help people. period.
thank you everybody for the positive feedback. doing this build in my garage was a major headache and an insane process. all while working 800 hours of overtime within 6 months!!

youve seen it here, anything is possible in your garage if you are determined to succeed. the car is not done, parts are still coming in the mail, and the modifications will never stop! ill continue updating this thread as it comes. the winter project is to shave, tuck, and paint the bay. i've never done it before so it will be a learning process.

and yes, i said daily driven.
 
#16 ·
Very nice indeed. Who makes the guages? In the middle of my winter project. Quaife LSD and trying to clean up everything. Seems there is an air dump screamer pipe straight down. Wondered why it wailed once it spooled up. I really need to look into v4 flex. They drop the E85 to 70 and I'm not sure it will start as it's cold. I'm installing insane shafts, bushings and new ball joints. The plastic, fasteners and all that are jacked and will try and get it all done before it really gets cold. -f temps make your tools freeze your fingers as the garage is a torture rack. Would love to take off the exhaust, turbo and tidy all that up as well.
 
#17 ·
they are AEM X-series gauges. boost, oil pressure, and air/fuel ratio.

my car gets very loud because a lot is happening during a pull. the turbo spools up, the wastegate opens, the cutout opens, and then you have true boost sound. then when you let off, exhaust goes back to stock, BOV opens up, then bam. you sound like a stock rsx again.

once you dial in the flex fuel really well, its effortless. ive used everything from pump gas, to E54, to E85. the feature works great. and you can trim the fuel and cranking fuel percentage to get a quick start with any ethanol content in any temperature. i havent spent more than 4 seconds of total cranking on a cold morning till it starts. cant say for -f though! lowest i was at was 28 degrees.
 
#19 ·
I have older guages and a trans temp instead of oil. I think the oil pressure would be far more useful. I'll have to figure out the whole system and where the sensors are currently. I have an early KPRO so does the sensors feed the KPRO and cars computer and then the sensors? I guess I could also swap the gauge and see if the readings are reasonable. Problem of not being original owner when you want to know it all. Also where did you take the oil pressure reading?
 
#21 ·
i dont need to datalog any of my gauges so its wired straight from the gauge to the sensor. with the exception of the AFR gauge. the my AEM wideband is what controls the fueling for the car. i dont use any of the stock o2 sensors. so i chose to wire that straight to the ecu's power and ground so there would be no voltage offset or delay.

im getting oil pressure right below the vtec solenoid. i used the Ktuned oil adapter so i could run 3 oil related accessories off that one adapter plate. problem is, the damn thing wont stop leaking!! ive tried everything. im very dissatisfied with it but i just keep thinking im doing something wrong and its not their product because all their other products work flawlessly for me.
 
#22 ·
Mine might be the same, I'll have to chase the one O2 sensor and it might be set up as yours. I'll contact AEM to see if its just a signal that could be read by any guage. I found the boost vacuum hose and like the Oil adapter. Have you tried tape on the threads? How about copper washers like on a brake line?
 
#27 ·
ran into some troubles since the last post ive made. kept losing coolant but couldnt figure out why. it was the strangest head gasket diagnosis ive ever done. every test came back fine to the point where i isolated 2 reasons (head gasket or massive water pump cavitation). pull it apart and find a bad head gasket. pictured below is where you will see the head gasket failed. interesting as im using a golden eagle high performance head gasket, ARP's, and a golden eagle step deck process. all 3 of which are preventative measures of head gasket failure. ohwell. it happened. what am i to do now right?


HOWEVER, i have good news. i completed a few fairly small projects on the car that you will see below.



i also built my own radiator/fan/shroud combo. also used -16 AN hose for the radiator hose. next time i will be more picky on the fan.






my buddy got buck wild on the plasma and cut me out some pieces i designed for a catch can. also cutting a plate with my last name in it. pumped!!





next, i spent $350 on valve cover dress up materials. something i never thought i would do. but the cool factor if there so ohwell. picked up the skunk 2 hardware kit that i already regret (theyre weak. broke 1 within a few miles). added the billet dip stick, coil plug cover, some very expensive paint, welded some new -8 AN bungs to it, and finally threw on the hybrid racing oil cap.




block came back from CSS. the turnaround was 4 weeks. felt like a decade! disreguard the blackish looking rings in the bore. it has yet to be honed. i will need a new hone to fit a slightly larger piston this time. so honing will come next week.




heres what the car looks like in the current state. with the exception that ive got the engine apart and im welding up the bay. but none the less, this is how it looked when i took it apart.






fun random picture: this is the steel middle disc inside my twin disc. it looks horrible!! however i learned that this is common for a twin disc and can be re-assembled as such. pretty wild what this disc went through. and it still holds over 600whp like this!!



future plans: i want to redesign the wastegate. im using a single 45mm gate at a decent angle. however i think i can acheive a better angle with some hard work. the down side is i will need to redo the ceramic. ohwell. i want to be able to control boost better in first and second. im using a 7psi spring but it creeps to 17psi without activating the solenoid! i may need to jump to a 60mm gate. but this will test my fabrication skills as the room for the dump tube is very slim. i notched the subframe to fit the existing 45mm gates dump tube.

next i want to tuck the A/C which will likely involve me building my own A/C condenser and making custom A/C firewall adapters to use AN line that is tucked away. making my own condenser will then allow me a shorter, cleaner, easier path of the intercooler pipes. which ill hopefully do out of titanium.


in the process right now: engine assembly is still under way. still need to decide on who to do the torque plate hone and align hone. this stuff is important as i am willing to unleash this motor to 900+whp. going with some wiseco pistons again, turbo tuff i beam rods, balancing, surfacing everything, and some oiling system modifications. changing the main and rod oil clearance is a big one. i wasnt very satisfied with the oil pressure on the last build. so this time ill be able to get it right in the sweet spot for my liking.

and lastly: the roll cage is still at step 0. i want to get one in very soon but just havent got to beginning it. i am shaving the bay currently and have customer welding projects going on plus trips to miami and new york coming quickly. im hoping to have all of these things done by may. will update as the building progresses. stay tuned! i have even more plans that i didnt list. its never ending. :dontknow:
 
#29 ·
ran into some troubles during the following projects. somehow during the shave of the bay, sparks got to the interior of the car and she went up in flames. luckily i was able to get it out quite quickly but it ruined my dash and windshield. very embarrassing to have this happen and also because i am a firefighter. however, mistakes happen and the best thing i can do is fix them! so got a new dash and got to work.









now for the engine shave. this was my first shave and boy was it a learning process. many things i would have done differently to get the job done faster and easier. however i am happy enough with it.














next i pulled the transmission apart for inspection and for paint. i decided i would paint the tranny and the block/head since i went ahead and shaved the bay. i guess if im gonna go for it then im gonna dive in head first right?!









here you can see the entire gear set followed by a side by side comparison of 4th gear (gearX) and 5th gear (OEM) it should be obvious to you that the gearX is on the right. i notice nothing abnormal about any of the gearX products or the synchrotec synchro kit. i was very curious to see how the drag set had held up. again, i wont say true number but i have been putting more power through these than they are rated for. no issues. if you are considering this gear set, i would advise AGAINST using the 4.0 or 4.3 final drive that they recommend. my car is using a 4.7 final and it is quite difficult to take off from a dead stop. first gear is so much wider now than the stock set. also these gears are not as loud as a full PPG set, but they are far from the stock set. decel is very loud, and 4th gear has the loudest whine. at first it is hard to get used to. i felt like my transmission was getting damaged. after a while, you get used to it.
 
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