Engine/Transmission/etc reliability + FI

awkwardturtle

Perhaps I'm blind, and that's very possible, but I couldn't find much on here about this topic.

Right now I drive a turbocharged 2007 Civic SI, and it's a rolling timebomb. The motors in those cars can handle boost very well, but my transmission is eventually going to shear a gear at these power levels of ~440 whp. They tend to last about 2 years for the lucky ones, 4 months for the reckless ones.

In my next car, I plan on making big power (500+ whp), and I want to make sure I buy a car that can actually sustain these power levels without complete overhauls.

So, I'm wondering what the limits of this car is in terms of FI. I see a lot of 500+ whp builds - can the engine, transmission, axles, etc sustain this kind of force for a decent amount of time? On my car, our only options really are to spend 4k+ on PPG/Albin gears. I can't even imagine what gears for this car would cost, and I don't really want to find out!

Thanks

Dembflyr

I read somewhere that the 6 speed transmission is capable of handling upwards of 700 ft lbs of torque. The weak spot in the 6sp is most certainly the syncros. The second weak spot is the concentric slave cylinder. The CSC housing is made of plastic from the factory. This causes issues when a stronger clamping clutch is used.
I had my trans replaced for syncro issues before I went TT. I still have the stock clutch and I am putting down 474 hp. So far no issues after 5000+ boosted miles.

I have no experience with the automatic. I have read about a couple of 7AT failures on the forum and the reason seems to be that the higher gears can't handle the added torque. But I will leave further explanation to those with more experience.

The durability of the engine has been dissucssed here many times. Here is the short story.
These engines are strong. The durability is all in the tune (to a point)
Many feel that the safe point is right around 500 WHP on a stock block.

In my opinion, go with a 6MT if you don't want to worry about the trans and just build the bottom end of the engine. That would probably allow 600 WHP all day long without worry.

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John@Z1

Get a 6spd 370Z and no worries. We have tuned a number of 500+hp street abused 370Z's that have only had clutch failure(on a full face clutch). We even tuned a 7AT that is still rolling on the stock tranny making high 4++ at the wheels.

370Z=Happiness!

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awkwardturtle

It would be a 6spd without a doubt, no automatics here. Interesting to know the car can make 500 whp no problems. hrmmm...

fuct

it is!!! just be prepared to spend more than double what boosting the Si cost.

Mike@GTM

More than double? Um, no. To get the numbers the OP is talking about, the universal e-bay kits aren't going to cut it. lol

Red__Zed

You can see about 500 whp on a k20 for about $5k

Mike@GTM

hmmm...maybe I was looking at the wrong kits. do you have a link?

corbin09

Mike- How much would it cost to replace the syncros on a 6mt with something stronger?

awkwardturtle

I spent nearly 10 grand boosting my SI. I know all about purchasing quality parts In fact, the kit itself for my car cost more than what I'm seeing for TT/SC kits for this car, but I'm sure there are other parts besides the kits needed whereas my kit was 100% inclusive of everything needed. If a TT or SC for this car costs 10-12k, I would be ok with that. Much more than that and I would question my sanity. For my specific car, you would never see 500 whp for 5k unless you bought really crappy parts, or bought them used.

Red__Zed

Offhand, no. I can dig for some once I'm not browsing from a phone.
Built several of them, never had an issue. Inline pro!=crappy parts

awkwardturtle

With my particular car, 5 grand just won't happen. That's like a greddy turbo kit. Those things SUCK - I would never run another greddy kit, no matter how good they are on other cars. Crappy quality, manifolds crack constantly, etc. My particular kit, with a tubular manifold, good injectors, quality piping, etc, is $7500. You can find a good kit used for 5k, but I don't do used when it comes to parts like this.

Trust me, I know If I could've boosted my car for 5k and gotten the same results, I would have. It's just not feasible. The best you can do is piece together your own kit with some lower end parts and a nice garrett turbo and hit about 350-400 whp, but that's running a log mani, and that's a no-go for me.

Red__Zed

I think I know what I'm talking about on boosting Hondas.


I'm guessing you (overpaid for) got the swift kit. The stuff we put together is just as clean and runs about $5000-5500 with a 5857jb

Cambinese

I have the same question.

awkwardturtle

Does that $5500 include a full 3" exhaust, a 3" downpipe, tial bov/precision WG, AEM gauges, gauge holder, stage 4 clutch, $700 engine management, a full tune, 1000 CC injectors, a bigger fuel pump, a boost control solenoid, etc? Yeah, that's what I thought,

If you factor out the engine management/tune, exhaust, gauges, clutch, injectors/fuel pump, etc, the core kit was only <$4500. That's about as cheap as you're going to get a fully hand-made kit. Look how much the greddy TT kit costs for this car? It's all mass-produced cast manifold garbage, and it's 8+ grand if I'm not mistaken. The kit I got is the cheapest "nice" kit you can get for my car before you step down to greddy junk. The cheapest quote I got from a reputable shop (Full Blown Motorsports) was $4500 for the kit, and that was literally just the piping they fabricated and the turbo, so easily add on $2000 or more for the rest of it. A full race kit is probably $2000 more than what I paid total as well. If you want to argue that FR is a waste of money and whatnot, then I donno what to tell ya, but we aren't speaking the same language.

Anyways, I'm not here to argue over Civic kits. I have zero doubt in my mind that I know more than you do about my specific car and turbo'ing it, so we'll end it here. If you think $7500 to completely turbo a Civic SI sedan with quality parts is outrageous, then whatevs. I'm here to learn about turbo'ing a 370 now, I've already conquered the SI for what I wanted.