Tuning my own turbo setup

[SimplyJDM90CB7]

So I rebuilt my stock motor (f22A4) and I admittedly screwed up the assembly. So to bounce back from that I chose to drop in an F23A vtec from Japan into my car. I realize that there isnt much for performance in that swap but my money was the motivating factor. As i was almost done with the swap I decided to blow caution to the wind and turbo the stock motor. Here is a list of what I have going so far...


F23A engine
F22A4 intake manifold
Custom made adapter plate for intake manifold
EGR delete
Catch can
Ebay turbo kit running 7psi
Turbo specs are: .57 compressor, A/R compressor .50, A/R Turbine .63
Custom 3" to 2.5" SS catback exhaust
Cat Delete
Narrow band O2 sensor (for now)
p06 to p28 ecu conversion
stock h2u5 transmission
DIY gasket matched throttle body
Integra half size racing radiator

I am just wanting to make this a dd with a conservative tune. And I would like to do the work myself. I have done the wiring and welding and the custom parts all myself and I would like to continue that trend if possible.

I am getting close to starting and running this motor, and I will be having a basemap for my initial tune on my ecu but I need to tune it. I plan on using crome to tune with. Any advice on how to do this and what to look out for would be greatly appreciate it.

[BackRoadCB7]

I would get injectors and a bigger fuel pump and either chip your ecu or get an emulator. You can run a base map, but thats only good for start up and mild driving until you get a full tune. Ebay kits also have weak bov diaphragms and you better hope you got a oil pressure restrictor so you dont blow the seals of the turbo.

[GhostAccord]

Don't start your car without a wideband O2 or a way to monitor your engines combustion/AFRs.

Tune your engine without the turbo hooked up first as well. A basemap may not get you in the ballpark for boost tables. You want to tune your boost columns from scratch on top of a good solid tune on the base engine.

[SimplyJDM90CB7]

BackRoadCB7: I have a oil filter adapter that is reduced into a 1/4" feed line. on the turbo the kit came with an adapter that looks almost like an injector. Is that what your talking about?

GhostAccord: I can get a wideband O2 np. By "unhooking the turbo" you mean just unhooking the intercooler piping and tuning with that first?

Sorry this is the first time I have turboed anything, however I have personally owned and worked on 4 hondas so far. I have tried to read as much as possible before asking questions. Just kinda hard to find every question online.

BTW: Thank you for your help. I really appreciate the info.

[GhostAccord]

Yes that's what I meant. Disconnect the turbo from the intake/throttle body opening. You can have the turbo installed and have all the piping routed, just don't put boost to the engine right away.

[SimplyJDM90CB7]

ok i appreciate that info. now as for tuning my ecu on my own doing a street tune method... and suggestions?

[Chrisnick]

Why not run the F23A intake manifold?

[SimplyJDM90CB7]

I didnt run the stock manifold because I bought an F23A from japan and it is obd2. it didnt have all the same connectors and i didnt have the wiring harness to pull all the connectors from. so my car already had all the connectors for the stock manifold. it may have been complicated but maybe it will give a little bit more power out of it. who knows lol

[SimplyJDM90CB7]

So im going to be ordering 550cc injectors and doing the wiring to take out the resistor box soon. I will be using a walbro 255lph fuel pump and upgrading my fuel filter and ill be getting a wideband o2 sensor. Today ill be getting the turbo timer wired in and ill be using it mainly as a a/f guage. The car is almost ready to start just waiting on my p06 ecu to come in with all the chipping stuff. Ill be doing my own chipping.

So if anyone can help me understand how to do the tuning on my ecu that would be awesome! I will be getting a basemap from phearable. i already have crome and that is what i will be using to do the tuning.

[SimplyJDM90CB7]

As it was before the swap

[SimplyJDM90CB7]

This is as of a few weeks ago.

[cgr-honda]

If you are tuning with crome, do the reading on pgmfi.org. They have answers to almost every question you will have. If you are using crome free, download a program called freelog for datalogging. You will need a way to datalog from the computer. Moates.net has a logger called hulog or hondalog, they both work. And you need to get an emulator or a chip burner.

[SimplyJDM90CB7]

Thanks man i appreciate the info. Ive actually been reading up on pgmfi.org. I now have a question about the oil pressure switch and the other sensor on the back of the motor. They Are like an inch apart but i dont know what the other sensor is. Anyone know what it is?

[Vladi]

Takes some guts to tune your own setup, very interesting!

[GhostAccord]

Thanks man i appreciate the info. Ive actually been reading up on pgmfi.org. I now have a question about the oil pressure switch and the other sensor on the back of the motor. They Are like an inch apart but i dont know what the other sensor is. Anyone know what it is?

It is more than likely that you are seeing a knock sensor! It is usually the only other Honda sensor found up higher on the back side (under the intake manifold).

You probably won't want to use the stock one on a boosted setup. Unless you are going to be using it to monitor knock through tuning software and not to automatically adjust timing through the ECU.