I was scrimping and saving for the Sprintex but now that I see the issues with tuning, I figure may as well just pet together a turbo setup and tune it myself anyways.
Cheaper and more fun!

This is not my first ride on the turbo rodeo but it IS my first NA to Turbo build.
Main difference here is the tuning aspect. Ive been reading up on tuning methods for months and Im ready to get my grubby paws dirty here.

I am amassing parts and as I type shipments are being sent from various corners of the US and some overseas locations to this very spot!

So Far my rough list is as follows,

Manifold (China)
Turbo T25 EMUSA (China)
You way go gauge/sensor
RDX injectors
aem Fic 6
AEM Harness?? still trying to figure out if plugs are same as other vehicles?
air/water intercooler ?? still undecided on this route.
audi 1.8t intercooler+ fan ($20 used) till I can figure it out.
Piping/tubing
SS braided hoses/fittings
t25 outlet flange

 

In for updates & looking forward to your progress.

I'm in the same boat... briefly thought about the SC, but my heart belongs to turbo...

 

Thanks for stopping in!

Yah Supercharger seems more practical but Im a turbo guy at heart!

Here what I have already,

Turbo, With integrated T-Rex





Manifold, sadly no T-Rex option.




Sorry for crap pictures were focused before flash...

As you can see I've marked for the matching the manifold and turbo inlet, quiet a bit of material there. also the wastgate opening needs some love.

will also smooth out the many rough transitions i.e., edges of flanges from inside, inside angle of wastegate port... to eliminate some turbulence.

Note on this manifold, it is a SS ebay manifold from nikel_sport. quality looks good on welds but flanges could have lined up better with tubing, little offset.

Note on the Turbo; Quality is also quite good on this turbo. I went with EMUSA brand as they seem to be more well known than the nameless Chinese turbos. Could have paid less for a oil cooled only turbo but figured may want the extra assurance of a water jacket. Build quality is pretty good though no major defects in castings, the use name brand SS hardware to my surprise. if it needs to be clocked I will have to drill and tap new mounting points for wastgate but Im ok with the purchase so far.

 

Yup me too.... so much so that I actually loved the turbo lag in my old Audi turbo.

Will definitely be following your progress.

When I'm done with suspension & brakes (hopefully before the end of this year), I will start gathering parts, but will have a relatively local (and extremely reputable) performance shop doing the install & tuning. I hope Flashpro will be out by then, but even if not atleast we got the AEM with the Boomslang harness to make it a bit easier.

Good luck, and keep us updated.

 

add toyota camry/sequia/tundra side marker clips to that list to help ease the install of the injectors.

gonna run AEM F/IC?

 

Nice! Ebay budget build, i like it! I plan on building my own also sometime after my kid pops out. Ill probably go with aem series 2 for management tho. Dont forget a to add a BOV and colder plugs to your list!

 

use Scion TC injector clips, they plug right into those RDX injectors

The Boomslang harness should be BF12124, tunersports sells them for just under $600 shipped.

AEM FIC6 should be a lil under that all said and done (any extra sensors maybe)

 

In for this.

 

Holey Sea biscuits Batman! $600??? Hell I'll wire this thing in the dark with one hand twice rather than pay that!
Call me cheap, but no way I'm paying that much for some wires and plugs.

I'm very proficient with the soldering iron, was thinking maybe 150-200 max may be worth the time savings.

Thanks for the tip on the TC clips was wondering about that.

 

yeah its $600 but hopefully boomslang drops the price on them.

 

what im sayin....But anyways, why not RDX injector clips?
http://www.rywire.com/catalog/obd2-h...ters-p-65.html

 

Why not! why not?....
Ill tell you why not!..... Actually I got nothing.

Good question.

Are there female clips for the stock plugs so I dont have to chop the stock connectors?...

OK just saw the link, looks like they do plug in!

 

lolz...

 

this should be pretty sick.

what engine management again?

how many cc is the RDX? what fuel 91/93 or e85?

 

AEM FIC 6 I think it will be. Still bargain hunting for one but may end up retail price.

Beleive RDX are 410cc off top of my head.

Thanks for dropping in Guys!

 

Damn... $600 just for the plug and play harness.

 

Yah thats a bit like price gouging lol,

I was thinking some along these lines, Honda service news article shows same/simiular connectors for several models including fit.



Which you can get for the low low price of 177 on vividracing.com
AEM ECU Extension Harness Honda Ridgeline RT | RTL | RTS | RTX 3.5L | 3471ccV6 [

But dont plunk down your cash just yet youll notice they do indeed list the 09 fit for that prt no# AEM ECU 30-2985
BUT if you keep digging they also list the 2007 fit as well<

Wahts more if you look up harness for the GD fits AEM ECU 30-2986/C you will see that they alos list the GE fit so Im hesitent to buy until I can confirm that the other vehicles listed in pic above do indeed share the connector....

 

I just converted my stock harness to run rdx injectors. You have to grind the pins slightly so that they fit snug in the tc clips.

FYI when searching for tc clips my local dealership tried to charge $15 a piece, I cross referenced the part to a tundra side marker clip and got them for $6 each. Same part number which makes me question the price gouge.

 

ok, so bit of an update.
Still ammassing parts. Latest buys keeping with the ebay theme,

Injectors and clips, Honda Civic Acura RSX K20 K24 R18 RDX 410cc Denso Fuel Injectors Clips Adapters | eBay

AEM FIC 6, Aem FIC Controller Honda Civic 06 07 08 09 10 11 Piggyback w Harness ECU 1910 | eBay

check out the FIC auction. took a bit of a gamble there as it comes with the boomslang harness for 08 civic which as I noted earlier I beleive has same plugs.
If not I only paid 400 (seller accepted best offer down from 450) so its not much of a loss and could sell it.
I did get a look at one partial pinout diagram for the civic and looks like pin locations will be different.

So best case senario is its just a complete repinning of plugs and worst case is it doesnt fit and I sell it off and think Ill still come out ahead as the FIC is about 400 new and this harness is 500+ new...not that I would charge that much for it.

those are the major items, picked up various small items like fittings ect.

One note Ill want to post for anyone looking to got with this EMUSA brand turbo. it has a unique outlet flange shape.
I ordered a cheap standard T25 flange for mock up and hoping perhaps it might be good enough quality to use for instal.
GSP T25 T28 18g Turbo Exhaust Elbow Outlet Flange SR20DET s13 s14 Silvia | eBay

$15, cheapest on ebay... well its cheap alright. poor casting some bubbles and defects lack of material around some bolt holes. you can tell this was cast as 1/2 flat peice roughly the size/shape of final product and machined down a bit.
overall about expected for the price and great for mockup but for final install I wouldnt trust a peice like this in anything under 3/4 inch.

But as I said its the WRONG flange for EMUSA turbo. the correct piece seeminly can only be purchased from the sellers of the turbo themselfs. Ironically out of stock on thier site yet listed on ebay for them otherwise would have bought it with turbo.
TB2528 Turbo Downpipe Flange TB25 TB28 5 Bolt New 1 | eBay

The Good?
Quality of this peice is much better looks like its hast as large peice then sliced into 1/2 stock then the flange looks to be cut with a punch! this seems odd for the thickness of the peice but thats what the patterns of the cuts tell me.
The EMUSA outlet is much larger than the standard T25 shape (25%?)
The Bad?
Take a look at the shape! how the hell can you bend a pipe to fit the rediculous contours of this peice? Also because of the way it was cut (see above) it needs to be cleaned up and I can tell the surface was not machined after the shape was punched so may need to be resurfaced. Not too bad as after I weld it I will probly need to resurface it anyways.

I actually now have plans to use both of these pieces. Thinking Ill weld the smaller one to the one that actially fits and enlarge and consolidate the holes to fit a 3 in pipe to it. This needs to wait till I can get the cat off and make a jig from it to mock up the downpipe.

Anyone have a spare cat I can borrow or some headers to make my jig befor hand? That would be helpful!

 

Some pictures of the flanges and some progress on the turbo inlet/manifold outlet port matching & wastegate porting.

Wastegate widened and correct flange


Turbo inlet opened up


Manifold outlet opened and smoothed.


Standard T25 flange on EMUSA flange


And another small project I just conceived and completed,

I have an older analog spearco boost gauge that was faced from sun and had lost all color. I disassembled it removed needle and scanned the face. I then imported the scan into adobe illustrator and convert it to vector based graphics. I the redesigned the face with several versions and printed the best ones onto photo paper. I selected the one that I liked the best and sprayed a few light coats of clear on after cutting it out. I glued it to the old face carefully and reassembled with a newly painted needle. Calibrated (0-20psi) and re installed glass and ring. I will get a better gauge eventually.



My used audi/VW 1.8T intercooller cleaned up some,





Did I mention I also have a ferrari F40 in the garage?



powered by the OEM fit battery and custom tray,



Ok so the Ferrari is my sons