Can I Put a Turbo on a Stock Honda Civic?
- Written By: Eric C
- On
You love your cars agility, go kart like handling and cool y2k aesthetics but there’s one thing that bugs you.
It takes 2-3 business days to get up to speed.
Enter the turbo civic. You’ve seen countless videos of a civic with a laptop confusing other drivers while delighting the owner.
Unfortunately, though, making massive HP numbers that seem normalised on instagram costs much more than most sane people are willing to spend.
Which begs the question, can we just slap an eBay turbo kit onto our D Series and call it a day?
YES, but with limitations.
This article will serve as a boosted civic 101, breaking down the common tricks, methods and limitations for boosting your D 😉
Table of Contents
What Is A Turbo Kit?
Google HP mods for your civic and you’ll most likely find recommendations of pod filters, whale chode intakes, weight reduction, questionable ECU tweaks, obnoxious exhausts or stainless steel headers.
I’m going to save you some time and money – nothing will come close to the power created by forced induction.
A turbo system essentially forces more air into your combustion chamber, creating a more powerful explosion, driving the pistons through their cycle with a lot more force.
Sometimes explained as more air + more fuel = more bang / more power.
In terms of actual components you will need, the typical setup on an EG / EK consists of:
Turbo – You’ll find plenty of T3/T4 hybrids on eBay in a .63 Turbine AR. This one by maxpeedingrods is nice for D series making moderate HP.
Turbo Manifold – This is a key part of creating your kit. Some are pretty, the most reliable ones are ugly. It’s important to check if your manifold lets you keep your AC as half of them won’t clear your condenser.
Waste Gate – Controls your boost pressure (measured in PSI) by letting excess pressure vent out of the turbo system.
Blow Of Valve – Makes cool psssssst sounds when you let off the gas. This releases boost pressure when it’s not needed.
DownPipe – This connects the outlet of your turbo to your exhaust. A welder is needed. Patience and a good attitude helps as well.
Intercooler and Piping – This mounts in your front bumper, creating a method of cooling intake air.
Accessories – There will be plenty of gaskets, oil lines, clamps and tubing involved. This seems daunting but I promise it’s not that bad.
TurboTristan has plenty of videos installing turbo kits on D16 engines, which carries over to the D15 perfectly, so his channel is a great resource for Civic EG and EK owners.
Will this nab me hundreds of HP?
As a rough estimate, you can expect to take your stock D15 to a good 160-190HP or your D16 to slightly higher numbers at 170-200HP.
Considering your stock 300,000km engine probably pumps out 95HP this is a world of difference that you just can’t achieve with a fart cannon and a pod filter.
If you want to go even further than making 300+ builds is well documented and there’s awesome parts support for upgrading your pistons, rods, cylinders, fuel, driveline etc.
Check out Robbie Ferreira‘s channel for inspiration for building the EG platform, he has a few older videos boosting a stock D15 that are a great watch
How to Save Money buying a Turbo Kit
When it comes to purchasing a turbo kit, it’s important to be smart with your money. Here are some tips to save on your turbo kit purchase:
- Research and Compare Prices – You will find a few options out there for full turbo kits or components that you can piece together. Try searching for the seller on google for forum, reddit or facebook posts and see what other people have to say. Pay extra attention to if the manifold clears the AC, if parts needed modification to fit, and other nuisances you may want to avoid.
Generally speaking, for HP goals like 160-250HP any old turbo will do, but things like the blow-off valve and boost controller can often be a let down on cheap kits. - Facebook Marketplace – Turbo kits can be quite expensive when bought on eBay or from stores. Every now and again you’ll find someone who’s got the full turbo kit but realised they bit off more than they can chew. It’s worth having a look on facebook marketplace for a bargain.
- Find Coupons for your favourite brand – At least stalk the socials of any brand you may go with to see if they have a discount, on eBay, too, you can often find a coupon code.
Top Tip: Try and find maxpeedingrods sales reps on facebook or even dm them on alibaba – they will often hand out discount codes that get them some brownie points with their boss.
- DIY Installation – If you have the knowledge and skills (or youtube tutorials and patience), consider installing the turbo kit yourself. Hiring a professional for installation can add significant costs to your project. However, your engine was not designed to handle boost from the factory so a good amount of study and caution is recommended.
Tips for keeping your D Series reliable on boost
While the humble civic is known for it’s reliability, the D15 and D16 engines were only made for so much HP. The more power you make the higher your risk is of breaking something.
I would recommend you build with reliability in mind so you can get the most out of your car and your cash – it’s not a budget build if you blow your engine and end up needing another one!
Here’s a few tips to keep your boosted civic reliable:
- Know What to Skimp On
There are plenty of enthusiasts online who have boosted their D series. Make sure to spend a good amount of time stalking their builds and take note of what cheap parts work, and which ones you will want to upgrade.
For example you can get great performance and reliability out of maxpeedingrods turbos and cast iron manifolds, but their boost controllers are all over the place so you will most likely want something nicer.
Your typical chinesium turbo kit - Get Your Tune Right
With extra boost your engine will need timing and fuel adjustments to keep your engine safe from overheating and damage. Make sure you either have a good understanding of tuning or take your car to a professional to help you get not only reliability but the most power out of your turbo.I know you’ll be excited to get out there and on boost, but keep the untuned hooning to a minimum and get a proper street or dyno tune done ASAP.
Keep On Top Of Your Maintenance
“With great power comes great responsibility”
Compared to a naturally aspirated engine, a boosted engine will benefit from more regular oil changes, visual inspections, and servicing.
Don’t neglect your oil changes
Have you ever changed your timing belt? It might be time to get it sorted before you strap a turbo on.
How about that valve cover leak you keep ignoring? It’ll only get worse with boost.
There’s no need stress about every last detail but to neglect your boosted engine is a great way to run into trouble.Keep Your Head On!
If you’ve been doing your homework on boosted civics, you will find a lot of people have trouble with ‘head lift’. This is when internal cylinder pressure breaks the seal of your headgasket can causes loss of power and some concerning grime in your coolant system. D series engines will usually run into this issues after a few hundred kms on 6+ PSI of boost.
The answer to headlift is not just changing out endless headgaskets, but stronger, higher torque head studs. There are plenty of options out there but given this is a reliability mod we recommend not skimping and getting the cream of the crop: ARP head studs.
Consclusion & Further Reading
Building a budget turbo civic is one of the best ways to learn more about working on your car, engine performance, and tuning. Having around 200HP in a sub-tonne car is sure to put a smile on anyone’s face, too!
For further information I recommend:
- The D Series facebook group
- Turbo Tristan’s video on how to turbo your civic
- Rust Belt Auto’s in depth workshop video with his 405HP D16 build
- Robbie Ferreira’s EG Hatch videos
Enjoy!