So you want to know if you can turbo your engine. In short? yes. However, before diving in head first there is a lot to consider. It is important to remember that turbo charging an engine can, and will damage it if the proper precautions aren’t taken. At its roots an internal combustion engine is nothing but a pump. Air is drawn in, mixed with fuel and ignited with the spark plug, then pushed out. If these elements aren’t working together your internal combustion engine could turn external. We don’t want that.
What tuning options are available for your vehicle
This is probably the most important question you will need to ask yourself before committing to a turbo upgrade. A turbo pushes more air into your engine. Therefore your engine needs to compensate with more fuel to balance itself out. There are many different ways to go about doing this but the most common are either a piggyback or standalone ecu. A piggyback ecu taps into your factory unit. this allows you to make changes thru your factory ecu’s code. Whereas a standalone will completely replace your factory ecu, giving you full control over every single aspect of the vehicle.
The benefit of a piggyback is that it is almost always cheaper, the downside is that they normally have less features and are less reliable than a stand alone unit. While standalones are more costly, the price more than makes up for itself in features alone. I personally use a stand alone unit on my daily driver turbo civic and I wouldn’t change it for the world.
Can your internals handle the stress
Its no doubt that a turbo can give huge power gains, but that does come at a cost. More power means a more violent explosion in the combustion chamber. More air, plus more fuel, equals more boom. If your engine was only rated to make 150hp, and your now making 250hp, its important to make sure that your engine can handle it. Whether these upgrades are neccesary for you depend entirely on what engine your looking to boost. However some of the common upgrades are, head studs, pistons, rods, and your clutch.
Headstuds are important because as you cram in more air you increase cylinder pressure. If this pressure becomes to great, you can begin to lift the head off the block resulting in blown head gaskets. A head stud is much stronger than a factory headbolt and will resist lifting much better.
Combining the piston and rod makes sense because they are connected anyway. Upgrading these components can strengthen them in order to handle the more violent explosion and increased cylinder pressure of the engine. Aftermarket pistons also have the added benefit of often coming in lower compression ratios. Allowing you to run more boost and make more power.
Finally, Maybe the most overlooked aspect of a build is the clutch. Its not nearly as exciting as visual or performance mods but without it your build wont be going anywhere. The clutch is the link between your wheels and your engine. When lookin for one, the most important thing is the torque rating. this will tell you what it can handle. Its always best to over estimate than under estimate
What size turbo to choose
We aren’t going to get into the technical information in this post simply because this was designed as a easy to follow entry into turbo charging. Here is a quick rundown on turbo sizing.
A turbo uses engine exhaust to spin the hot side turbine. A solid shaft connects from the turbine to the compressor that in turn sucks in air, compresses it, and shoves it into your engine starting the cycle all over again. Generally speaking the larger the compressor side is, the more power you can make because it can move more air. likewise, the smaller the turbine side is the faster the turbo will start to build boost because the exhaust gas can more effectively spin the turbine.
You may be wondering then. why doesn’t everyone have a pea sized hotside and a watermelon sized cold side? Good question, and the simple answer is efficiency. While a small hotside will spool faster it will also flow less meaning it tends to choke in the higher rpms or boost numbers. While the cold side can only force in so much air. A massive turbo does no good if the engine physically cant ingest the amount of air attempting to be pushed into it. Turbos are a delicate balancing act. Too small and it will run out of steam before the engine hits redline. Too big and your turbo wont spool until your well into your rev range. reducing efficiency once again.
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