I plan on adding a turbo to my '01 Integra GS-R here very soon and I need a little help on deciding which turbo to go for. I want a turbo that will spool up quickly but not too quickly where I will run into traction problems off the line. I was looking into a Turbonetics T3 or the T3/T4 turbo, but they dont come in a convienent kit like the Greddy 18G turbo does. I heard the Greddy kit does not produce much hp compared to other turbo setups; is this true? If so is it b'cuz of the piggyback ecu that comes with the Greddy kit? Also, can I run safely at 8psi w/o an intercooler?

 

T3 and T3/T4 are general classifications for "families" of turbochargers. There are about a bazillion different ways to put together a turbo and still call it a T3.
The GReddy kit has no intercooler and is designed to be an all-in-one solution complete with fuel upgrades and such--it's tuned pretty conservatively to keep people from blowing up their motors and complaining to GReddy. With the addition of an intercooler and some way of actually tuning your fuel ratios you can extract more power from the kit.
That depends on what you do to make sure there's enough fuel getting to the motor to go with all that extra air. It's definitely doable but you'll need to be more specific.

 

I have some of my gs-r's fuel done already; I have an Aem fuel rail and adjustable fuel pressure regulator. Would that be enough to run 8psi w/o an intercooler? (that is if I turned up my fuel a little bit) I was thinking on maybe just getting a stock eclipse gst intercooler for now to save some money.

 

The Greddy kit apparently loses steam past 15 psi. Are you planning to boost that high?

You can run 8 psi safely with proper fuel management, but I wouldn't drive the car hard in boost for long periods of time.

Shingo

 

Only 15 psi...well what if I decided later on to swap turbo's? What kind of fuel management do you mean? This guy told me once that he had a friend w/ the Greddy 18G kit on an SI and he was running at 11psi and was only gaining about 60hp! If I decide to get the Greddy kit I dont wanna run into that problem. Have you ever heard of anything like that before? ∙Thanks∙

 

60 hp is a lot. "Only" is a relative term.

With an adjustable fuel pressure regulator and nothing else (a different fuel rail isn't going to change anything other than give you a spiffy-looking piece of anodized billet aluminum under the hood if you have your stock injectors) you will not be able to get enough fuel into the motor to go with 8 psi out of any turbo.

If you go with the GReddy kit, it includes everything you need to get a turbo setup going--the turbo and associated bits, plus higher flow-rate fuel injectors and a computer "black box" that plugs into your ECU which effectively reprograms it to give you enough fuel when combined with the injectors. The thing is, since your car is an '01 the GReddy black box won't work with your ECU. The main advantage to the GReddy kit is that on the cars it is designed for it is basically a total bolt-on mod with no further tuning needed. But since you can't use the black box there's not really much point.

The base kit doesn't have an intercooler, which is why your friend "only" gained 60 hp. Basically a turbo is an air compressor. When you compress air, you make it hotter. Hot air is less dense than cooler air. Less dense air means less oxygen molecules that can combine with fuel molecules and combust, which means less power. If you add an intercooler, that cools down the air going into the motor which makes it denser. Denser air means more power.

If you want to make the most power, I would suggest either a DRAG or RevHard kit, 450 cc/min injectors, and an A'PEXi V-AFC.

 

you may want to look into a custom turbo kit...... you can pick all the parts you want and it may be cheaper in the long run. a few other things....
1. use an intercooler, if you don't need one at first, you will, boost is addicting
2. your fpr won't do much, you'll need bigger injectors as well as some type of fuel management... (hondata, aem ems, etc.) a lot of people do the v,s -afc hack... here's the link for that v-afc hack. if you run low boost with an fmu, then your fpr will be useless
3. tuning and proper fuel management is key to any turbo setup
4. tuning and proper fuel management is key to any turbo setup... there's a reason that's there twice

My turbonetics t3/t4 spools up nice (although i'm not using the biggest size piping because i wanted to keep my a/c, if you use thicker piping(ie. 2.5-3 inch) it will spool up even faster, but as far as traction off the line is concerned, when i launch with my 17's, it sucks, but with my stock rims I get pretty good traction, i'm going to go with a nice 15" rim next.

check my sig for my current setup

 

The Turbonetics T3/T4 turbo is the one that I wanted originally, but I like it if it came in a kit. I definently planned on intercooling it but just not right away due to limited $. Shouldn't I get a smaller turbo so it will spool faster. I'd like to run very high boost but I know I cant yet b'cuz I will need internals done and countless other things, so i'm not worried about crazy hp yet.

Has anyone heard about the newest Blitz boost controller? It was highly recomended to me. Does it also have a turbo timer built in?

 

To repeat: There are about 60 different versions of the T3/T4. It's just a standard classification for a whole family of turbos, not a particular model.

The Drag and RevHard kits both have some kind of T3/T4 turbo in them, which one in particular I don't remember off the top of my head. They also both come with an intercooler.

Don't worry about a boost controller until after you get the rest of the setup including your fuel delivery taken care of. The wastegate is perfectly capable of limiting boost.

 

I know I know, different turbine and compressor housing sizes and different stages. I was also just recently thinking about the Drag 3 kit. Have you ever heard of a Super FMU; I know what a FMU is but this guy recomended the Super FMU, I think maybe it is made by Vortech.??