My 97 Turbo Coupe

[Diana Nam]

my GT3582R turbo with .63 turbine hotside. and my pretty TIAL MVR 44mm wastegate


a good friend of my gave me a hand with putting the transmission on.







hybrid racing shifter bushing kit.





ash tray from european model EK3 VTI bought it off a guy from Amsterdam along with the clock






AP1 cluster

this is what it looks like with the wires hooked up.



my harness removing all the abs wiring and all other stuff that i don't need.



all cleaned up and ready to go on the motor!!!.



motor installed into the car.



my little hamster Dora decided to lay back on my valve cover after the paint was all dried up and cured lol.



some pictures of my LCA and rear subframebrace both are Black Works Racing.

 

[5SpeedEJ6]

damn I'm jelly lol. Looks like a lot of work (since I'm not much of a 'function' guy myself lol). Props to ya for doing most of the work!

 

[Diana Nam]

damn I'm jelly lol. Looks like a lot of work (since I'm not much of a 'function' guy myself lol). Props to ya for doing most of the work!

yep takes a lot of time to do all these work. usually i have my guy friend help with heavy lifting and stuff like that since i'm not that strong lol

 

[5SpeedEJ6]

yep takes a lot of time to do all these work. usually i have my guy friend help with heavy lifting and stuff like that since i'm not that strong lol

well I know who to talk to now when and if I do an engine swap

 

[Diana Nam]

my Black Works Racing SS coilovers

well I know who to talk to now when and if I do an engine swap

lol yes indeed i've done lots of other build for friends too only thing i haven't got to tinker with is k series lol

heres when i had the GSR hammers aka the Fat Fives



then through a good friend i got a chance to get rota slips in mint condition for dirt cheap.. could pass up on it had to pick it up lol





wasn't really feeling the looks of the slips so up it went for a Trade then i got these .



Agency Power titanium full 3in

exhaust from Nissan 240sx








mounted on but looks like i'll need to shorten the hanger, which i will get to later on when i can get access to tig welder machine agian.






upgrading my front brake setup to DC2 GSR front spindle and complete brake setup as you can see the big difference in size from stock DX rotors

vs GSR rotors





spindle are on along with my new Insane shaft axles.




rotor and caliper and lines installed



fills the inside of the rim barrel a lot better.



random side view of the motor and how it sits with Innovative swap mounts



another random top view.



picure of my ground clearances with my car slammed all tho i can go down even lower!!! lol



raise the car a bit and now i have 4 finger gap.



buildi

well I know who to talk to now when and if I do an engine swap

i aways had very high interest in building motors and doing engine swap. the way the motor works and every interest me a lot lol

couldn't find any other way for the dump tube to point to since every other position points to either my intercooler, radiator, oil return line. upwards was the only postilion it could work for me so i ad to make a hole for the tube to come out so i'm able to close my hood.








trimed my dumptube by cutting the excess piping so now it look better and don't look like a tractor lol



plus when i hit the 2 step a nice big flame will shoot from up there

so far that how she sits now.

 

[XpL0d3r]

Question, since you're in NY: I had a boosted B18 back in the day.... I couldn't pass inspection so I just ran it until she rusted away.. I went 3 years un-inspected and even got pulled over by a state trooper with it expired, but luckily he didn't notice. Do you just hope to not get pulled over, or do you have a friend? Because you won't pass inspection with that dump tube going up if you could before... just be real careful with the tube there... I had mine vent to atmosphere inside the bay and it would make my ex sick lol

That's actually strange that it won't fit downward, mine ran parallel to the downpipe.

 

[Boostedchicky]

Nice car. But what happened to the front-end? Had an accident? I didn't know you were boosted aswell. Respect How much hp do you think she makes?

 

[Diana Nam]

Nice car. But what happened to the front-end? Had an accident? I didn't know you were boosted aswell. Respect How much hp do you think she makes?

most likely 480-500hp

Question, since you're in NY: I had a boosted B18 back in the day.... I couldn't pass inspection so I just ran it until she rusted away.. I went 3 years un-inspected and even got pulled over by a state trooper with it expired, but luckily he didn't notice. Do you just hope to not get pulled over, or do you have a friend? Because you won't pass inspection with that dump tube going up if you could before... just be real careful with the tube there... I had mine vent to atmosphere inside the bay and it would make my ex sick lol

That's actually strange that it won't fit downward, mine ran parallel to the downpipe.

yea usually nowadays people been selling blank inspection stickers(usually around 70-80$). but back in the day i worked at the at a shop so i passed my own car lol

@Boostedchicky my front end wasn't put on right i had a 2000 front on it including the 2000 front radiator support and my stock front won't fit perfectly because of the 2000 radiator support, also common problem with my swap is the alternator being really close to the headlights or sometimes it touches it. H/F have alternator in the front instead of the back like d/b series

@XpL0d3r for H/F cause most of the stuff are in the front so usually bottom mout manifolds tend toplace the turbo really low or at a bad spot i was tring to test fit part of my downpipe in and i can't even fit it in ther either lol my bottom radiator mount bracket gets in the way or it hits my oil drain lines.

so i decided to take some more picture of the space and how everything sits... its pretty tight with space. and put a piece of my downpipe in to show how it sits and what problems i came across with my downpipe situation.



this is one of the common problems F/H swap users typically get into.... yes it sucks but they do make aftermarket brackets that puts it higher up ordown where ac compressor sits. but my manifld requires the ac compressor to be removed.

this is how low my turbo sits. not really a good ideal place to be :/ but gives me room to put a pipe and velocity stack onto the inlet and have it face forward like a "ram air" type setup



my downpipe pieces i will be using since i already had these. 3in aluminum piping with 2mm thick walls unlike those SS ebay downpipes that are around 1.4-1.6mm thin walls.



here is the space that i have to work with which is not very much lol



side view with the turbo



another picture with the downpipe piece mocked into place and as you can see it get very very very close to where my slave cylinder would be mounted





ass you can see my bottom radiator mount bracket gets in the way and its a good amount of it blocking it.



there is just about a hand gap between the bottom brackets to the turbo itself, not a lot of space :/..

Since you're a gear head, do you know if other engines hang lower/higher than D series in EKs? I've been thinking about doing a swap, but I won't if I lose ground clearance with the oil pan.

for best ground clearance i would stick to b series swaps they sit just about the same height as your d series. low oil pan is also a common problem with K swaps also which didn't really surprise me either

 

[5SpeedEJ6]

Since you're a gear head, do you know if other engines hang lower/higher than D series in EKs? I've been thinking about doing a swap, but I won't if I lose ground clearance with the oil pan.

 

[5SpeedEJ6]

for best ground clearance i would stick to b series swaps they sit just about the same height as your d series. low oil pan is also a common problem with K swaps also which didn't really surprise me either

damn I wanted to do a K swap eventually because of how the headers don't wrap around the engine, which would make me scrape a lot less. The oil pan is a bigger issue tho lol

 

[Diana Nam]

any sugestions or solutions maybe?? if i can avoid having to cut that part of the bracekt but if no other way then i'll cut it.

damn I wanted to do a K swap eventually because of how the headers don't wrap around the engine, which would make me scrape a lot less. The oil pan is a bigger issue tho lol

yea i wish honda used this design first time around lol it would solve all of our clearance problem with the exhaust.

@5SpeedEJ6 there might be mounts that may have it sit a bit higher but i'm unsure of that would need to look into different mount brands. But most of them seem to have the pan hang low like mine including hasport and innovative and they usually have teh best oil pan to ground clearance them most other brands. if it sat higher you'll have to use the hood spacers and usually if your car is parked and its snowing/raining a lot of of the snow/rain gets inside the engine bay i did a test not o long ago with it when it pouring for few days in a row afterward everything was soaking wet middle part of my valve cover was the only spot that didn't get wet lol

old random picture of even earlier stage of the car itself and plus my 88 GSX600F next to it.

 

[XpL0d3r]

wow you really don't have room for the dump tube anywhere haha. I'd have preferred to have a custom one fabbed up though, other than cutting a hole in the hood. Be super careful to not be caught in a rain storm!

 

[5SpeedEJ6]

wow you really don't have room for the dump tube anywhere haha. I'd have preferred to have a custom one fabbed up though, other than cutting a hole in the hood. Be super careful to not be caught in a rain storm!

Or just make the exhaust come out the fender/bumper lol

 

[Diana Nam]

wow you really don't have room for the dump tube anywhere haha. I'd have preferred to have a custom one fabbed up though, other than cutting a hole in the hood. Be super careful to not be caught in a rain storm!

oh i have a remedy for that i use a center cap from another wheel as a cap

Or just make the exhaust come out the fender/bumper lol

funny story i wanted to do side pipe so when i hit the 2 step flames will shoot out from the sides and top of the hood lol. looks like i'm gonna have to do that and run it through the side of my bumper

 

[5SpeedEJ6]

funny story i wanted to do side pipe so when i hit the 2 step flames will shoot out from the sides and top of the hood lol. looks like i'm gonna have to do that and run it through the side of my bumper

That'd be dope, post videos when you do lol. And yeah I'd probably suggest a side bumper exhaust type.
Something like this (random pic I found online btw):

 

[Diana Nam]

wow you really don't have room for the dump tube anywhere haha. I'd have preferred to have a custom one fabbed up though, other than cutting a hole in the hood. Be super careful to not be caught in a rain storm!

yea i would done that but i no longer have access to a tig welder my friend sold it!!! so he can buy a bike

That'd be dope, post videos when you do lol. And yeah I'd probably suggest a side bumper exhaust type.
Something like this (random pic I found online btw):

i like it and i won't have to worry about the exhaust scraping either too then when its ran under the the length of the car 3in is pretty big pipe

 

[5SpeedEJ6]

Exactly. Side exhaust would fix some of the scraping around. The oil pan is a different story now lol.

 

[Diana Nam]

at first i was thinking about doing up pipe and have a hood exit but then again you never know who'l just put s**t in there at least with the dumptube stuff will get blow out when it opens up under boost lol

Exactly. Side exhaust would fix some of the scraping around. The oil pan is a different story now lol.

yea would have to go either cut it and make it shorter and wider or spend the $300+ on moroso oil pan, greatest thing is my pan is of steal so mig welder will be perfect for this

 

[5SpeedEJ6]

Mig welder works fine on steal pans. I never understood why EX civics with VTEC had aluminum oil pans.. they crack so easily..

 

[Diana Nam]

Mig welder works fine on steal pans. I never understood why EX civics with VTEC had aluminum oil pans.. they crack so easily..

same for H22a4 they have aluminum pans with "fins" on them

all other H/F had steal pan i guess they was experimenting with it... lol

maybe one day when i get my shop open i'll make titanium oil pans specifically geared toward lowered cars so we'll never have to have this problem breaking again and reducing weight as well

 

[5SpeedEJ6]

maybe one day when i get my shop open i'll make titanium oil pans specifically geared toward lowered cars so we'll never have to have this problem breaking again and reducing weight as well

Or you could make custom engine mounts that raise the whole engine.. I'd like that too lol

 

[Diana Nam]

Or you could make custom engine mounts that raise the whole engine.. I'd like that too lol

true but poeple with h2b already have height problem its why hood spacers was made h2b tilts the motor leaning forward like the d/b series back side of the valve cover hits the hood back in the olden days used washers and nuts as spacers or some have even gone as fas cutting the hood for it to stick out like the J swaps

omg lol look at this subie

the weather is starting to get warmer again almost 60. so i decided to lower my car down more this is my max drop. all my camber and suspension settings are setup to make this ride height work since i have full camber kits front and rear and can adjust my suspension and needed.



my wheels are still in a neutral chamber settings so my wheels still sits straight and i'll still have full contact patch between the tire and the ground
this is my ground clearance.





only can fit 3 fingers but moroso oil pan sits much higher but since the oil pan is steal makes it easier to modify and shorten it in the future.

i'm checking to see if i can maybe shorten my oil drain line and have it mounted on the second location on the oil pan maybe this might help with the downpipe

so i moved some coolant lines and re-routed the lines.


its starting to rain decent amount now but also have shorten the oil drain line. if i had another 90 degrees AN fitting would make it perfect.



putting the fitting over to the other line was pain in the ass took a lot of struggling to get the threads to catch on. vice grip and extra set of hands would be very nice but i left all my vice grip at another location and no one else was around. so i got creative and used my press to hold it in place while i give it a good push and wrench to turn it at the same time.




all said and done..



Soo decided I am gonna go with hood exit up-pipe even bumper exit seems a bit of work to get it to work as my radiator still gets in the way. So far I a pieces together how it would route



How it looks without the intercooler off

 

[5SpeedEJ6]

Looks legit. So you are getting a Moroso oil pan after all? I want to see pictures of that mounted if and when you get it.

 

[Diana Nam]

Looks legit. So you are getting a Moroso oil pan after all? I want to see pictures of that mounted if and when you get it.

i might just get one and call it a day. by dimension and design wise it should give me about 1"-1.5" of additional clearance at the same height the bottom of the oil pan is level with the bottom most part of the front side factory tow hook. i might just also get a traction bar in the front get the radiator mount tabs and just cut the stock piece off the tubular traction bar should give me a little more room to work with. a hood exit would make it much easier to do with how i have everything setup. but idk if i have anything can i can use as a cap like i do with my dumptube since the piping is not to large.

 

[XpL0d3r]

I miss my boosted Civic, it was so much fun to drive lol.

I'd get whatever clearance you can, that pan is pretty low! I only got as low as a flat downpipe