I've been reading up on boosting Preludes for awhile and it's always come down to the weak ringlands... But can't this be avoided with less boost (5-6psi) and lots of tuning?
There are half a dozen or so boosted Preludes in my area and only one tuning shop that has done them all, so it's not hard for me to get some professional help. Which premade turbo kit can I make fit the SH? The ATTS will obviously become useless once a Hondata is in place, but will it still burn out from the extra power running through it?
Do I need an adjustable ignition system with a Hondata? If I could get a turbo kit cheap off ebay (somewhere around 1,200 bucks we'll say), how much would I be looking at for the other parts required? I already have an ACT HDSS clutch which should hold the extra power. Has anyone ever tried deactivating VTEC and running a lower redline? A lot of people say having the VTEC system is a problem since it totally screws up the air and fuel ratios, but why not just deactivate the solenoid and use the Hondata to adjust the redline?
My car has 96k and is in great mechanical condition (runs STRONG, all maintenance has just been completed). If I were to do this, I would want to do it for less than $2,500 total (assuming I can get a turbo kit for around 1,200) on the stock engine block. I want it to be daily driven. The difference is, I don't want high boost, I am willing to lose the ATTS, and I will gladly deactivate VTEC and tune the crap out of the engine with a Hondata. What are your thoughts on this? Is it a pipe dream to make a turbo kit work reliably and cheaply?
__________________ Prelude Tribute Videos Ver 1 and Ver 2
With all boosted Prelude applications, it is smart to have a contingency plan. As you know, many people blow their motors, and it is wise to have enough money to be able to return your car to stock if need be. So if you just have enough money to boost, I would wait a while for your peace of mind. Keep in mind that higher mileage motors are more prone to problems under the added stress, even if it's running strong and perfect under a N/A setup. Just my .02
i see no reason you couldn't use any one of the existing turbo kits, some 370cc injectors, a vafc and j&s and have a reliable (relatively speaking) turbo setup at 5 or 6psi. not sure about wastegates and whatnot to allow that low psi, but properly tuned with enough fuel i see no reason why you couldn't have 200whp at 5psi for a long long time. the ATTS will most likely work most of the time, if JRSC owners' experiences with that approximate amount of power hold true.
in my mind the three main things to keep your ring lands intact are
1. TIMING. tune it carefully and conservatively and have a J&S as a backup.
2. FUEL. you need enough. don't go with a rising rate FMU setup. get appropriately sized injectors and use a standalone, PMS, or VAFC to get it right.
3. POWER. if you start getting close to 200 lb-ft at the wheels, i don't think the stock pistons will hold up even with 1&2 taken care of. the ATTS will also shut down well before this. [conjecture]
I've looked into the Fmax kit, it seems to be fairly complete. It includes an MSD ignition timing system and new fuel injectors. I think a standalone would be a requirement because the stock ECU will try to tune for 14.7 a/f which is way too lean for a turbo setup. A VAFC would just get overwritten by the closed loop operation. With a Hondata that makes the whole project extremely expensive and the boost would still be slightly too high (unless I could wastegate it down). It might just be a pipe dream afterall. It would be fun to expirement with an Eclipse manifold and a used trubo/FMIC... with enough tuning it might work.
__________________ Prelude Tribute Videos Ver 1 and Ver 2
Originally posted by NotoriouSH I think a standalone would be a requirement because the stock ECU will try to tune for 14.7 a/f which is way too lean for a turbo setup. A VAFC would just get overwritten by the closed loop operation. With a Hondata that makes the whole project extremely expensive and the boost would still be slightly too high (unless I could wastegate it down).
i think you need to do a little more research. the stock ECU does NOT try to run at 14.7:1 in open loop. in fact it runs fairly rich. if your car is tuned properly in closed loop, the stock ECU will not ammass a large long term fuel trim factor and will then NOT have significant effect on your VAFC tuning under boost. the vafc 'hack' method is pretty well documented (remove your map limiter, set the vafc to -XX% across the board such that at full boost you achieve very slightly negative manifold pressure/vacuum after the VAFC) and then adjust it up or down from there at various rpm points.
You're right it's probably more around 13'ish AFR. The VAFC hack is new to me, it sounds interesting. I am running a Field controller though so that hinders my plan even further. I envy you turbo guys, nothing sounds sweeter than a hissing turbo and a loud ass BOV!
__________________ Prelude Tribute Videos Ver 1 and Ver 2
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