i have a 99 civic ex and i want to turbo it but keep it legal at the same time. i heard bad things about the greddy turbo kits that come with the e-manage. does anyone have any information on these kits in general and also on e-manage?
Thanks
no one?
define legal, if you mean it’ll pass inspection then you have more flexibiilty than if you wanna be legal if a cop pulls you over and pops your hood. depending on the tuning software you use, you can make the car pass inspection if you have a legit exhaust and it’s tuned well. you can swap exhausts just for inspection. if you just want to pass inspection, screw the greddy kit and get something that’ll work well and will be cheaper. if a cop pulls you over and pops your hood, i’m pretty sure you get it trouble just for having a non-factory turbo, however the cop has to know what he’s looking for and that it’s non-factory. the best way around that is just don’t drive like an asshole and paint your intercooler black. if i were you, i’d just get a good turbo setup, swap exhausts for your inspection, and get a good tune. if you don’t wanna do that, pm dying wish, he knows a guy who makes custom cats so that you won’t have to switch your exhaust and it’ll still flow well.
Pennsylvania cops cannot pop your hood and check for modifications, this isn’t gay cali where they have ref’s and shit, thank god.
If it’s obd2, the greddy kit will probably still pass as long as you have no engine light because it uses the piggy back system.
if it’s obd1 and you don’t keep it exempt, good luck passing the tailpipe test.
best way to do it is keep it under 5,000 miles a year, make good with someone that does inspections/emissions, or do some shady shit with the odometer.
even if it’s obd1 you can pass the tailpipe test. they test the emissions at idle and 2500 rpm. neither of which should build boost. as long as the tune isn’t retarded and you have a cat you’d pass. and even if you’re under 5k, you still have a visual inspecion to make sure you have a cat. but you can always cut one in half and weld it over your straight through pipe.
my car is obd2…from my understanding obd2 ecu’s arent tuneable and i’d have to get an obd1 ecu. Putting an obd1 ecu in and obd2 car is illegal and the inspection shop would know it when they plugged in their obd2 computer and it said no connect or no read
you can tune an obd2 ecu, how do you think kpro works? you just need hondata or something that lets you retain your stock ecu
exactly, i think you’re worrying about it too much anyway. most people you’d take your car to wouldn’t even know what they are looking at haha.
obd1 ECU in an obd2 car won’t communicate, you are right. however it goes through emissions, automatically passes it for that year but says you have to have it fixed before next years test.
you guys make my head hurt with all of the misinformation in this thread
what is incorrect?
ditto, just wondering jay, considering i have all the certifications for emissions testing i’m assuming that isn’t directed towards me.
Turbos will not build boost without a load. hell even if it did as long as its tuned right it shouldent just dump fuel out.
yes obd1 will not talk to obd2 when you go to the shop. they will pass it with a “no connect” and they will not know why
Are you drunk?
AEM is the only thing you would be able to retain the OBD2 port on that honda.
I was reading this thread and thinking the same thing then i came to your post and LOLed
my bad i thought hondata and kpro just worked in tandem with the stock ecu
your 1/2 way there.
hondata only works with obd1 computers. Kpro is a different beast!
What about using a AEM FIC to tune the duty cycle of the injectors instead?
Look, I don’t drive a turbo car, but if I were in your position, I would talk to some of the N/A-Turbo guys on here, and I bet you’ll find that unless you know what you’re doing and can do work yourself, going turbo is never really cheap and it’s anything but easy.
The bottom line is you ask a lot of questions like this (not that it’s a bad thing). It seems like you are relatively new to this and you probably aren’t in a position to do much work yourself. If you want to learn to do the work, that’s great, but until you’re at that point, or at least ready to learn by doing on a car that’s not your daily driver, I think a project like you’re describing is asking for it. You will throw money at getting your turbo setup right until you hate everything about your car, and you stand a good chance of blowing it up or being left with a half-finished project that no one wants and you can’t get your money back out of.
My personal recommendation: Learn to do this on something where you can accept plenty of downtime. If you have money for a Greddy kit, you have money to buy a cheap shell and start building.
i know i ask alot of questions on here and the reason for that is i found that this site is better that looking stuff up on some other sites. Alot of other sites have alot of people who don’t know much saying stuff. After a while of reading different posts i now know who knows stuff and who im not gonna listen to.
by reading my posts…yes i do sound like someone who has never picked up a tool but i have. The idea of buying a shell and going from there has crossed my mind from time to time but in the long run thats too expensive. Turboing my car would be the cheapest thing for me to do and i would say the easiest of all my options.
If you’re set on it, and it sounds like you are, the AEM FIC may be your best shot if you aren’t comfortable changing the ECU. As I understand it, it’s about the best piggyback you can get under $500. If you spring for the FIC-8 (I think it’s like $650) you get more data logging and an integrated boost controller. You are still probably gonna need someone to tune it, as you can’t just bump up the fuel curve and call it a day, but everything I’ve ever read/seen/heard from people is that it blows E-manage away.
I had the greddy kit on my rsx and i had no problems with emanage. You just have to install it right and find a good tuner!
I just recently worked on a greddy kit’d RSX type-s and street tuned it on the emanage. It isnt a bad unit, but it just has its quirks. I have yet to use the FIC, but its supposed to be much more user friendly for the tuner.