How to Build a Turbo D16

Not everyone can afford to put a bigger b16a, b18c1, or b18c5 in their civic so going turbo d16 is a good alternative. These swaps alone can get quite expensive not to mention the cost of the motor set and the parts that have to come along with it like motor mounts, ecu, and shift linkage to mention a few. So what do we do? We go turbo on our d16. Going turbo on your d16 doesn’t have to be that expensive, when you decide to go turbo d16 rather than a b-series, the cost of the entire turbo d16 build will end up costing you about the same as you would have spent on a b series motor set. There are many ways to build a d16 to go turbo, you can do it in an expensive fashion by getting your d16 block sleeved and using all forged internals; but it’s not really all that necessary for a turbo d16 unless your trying to achieve something beyond about three hundred horsepower. A turbo d16 setup can be superior to it’s older brother the b series in the form of power to weight ratio and cost. Parts for b series haven’t exactly dropped in the last few years, but d16 turbo parts have always been inexpensive because it’s not as popular of a build. For the turbo d16 we want to build today our target horsepower level is right at 300 hp making the turbo d16 fun and street friendly with gobs of gas mileage, reliability, power, and most of all drivability.

The first thing you’re going to need are some parts:
Turbo d16 part–T3 super 60 turbo
Turbo d16 part–Cast iron exhaust manifold
Turbo d16 part–3 inch down pipe and exhaust
Turbo d16 part–Oil feed and return lines
Turbo d16 part–Intercooler with piping (almost any decent size front mount intercooler will do)
Turbo d16 part–Blow off valve
Turbo d16 part–35mm/38mm Wastegate
Turbo d16 part–Vacuum line
Turbo d16 part–Obd 0,1,2 conversion harness depending on the year of the car.
Turbo d16 part–3 bar map sensor
Turbo d16 part–S300 Hondata (with USB and laptop) and spare ecu
Turbo d16 part–RC 550 injectors
Turbo d16 part–Bkr7e heat range NGK spark plugs (very important)
Turbo d16 part–Walbro 255lph fuel pump
Turbo d16 part–Suzuki Vitara low compression factory cast pistons (.020 or .040 over bore)
Turbo d16 part–Eagle forged H-Beam rods
Turbo d16 part–Complete engine gasket kit (with multi layered metal head gasket, not graphite)
Turbo d16 part–New water pump and timing belt
Turbo d16 part–Rod bearings and main bearings
Turbo d16 part–Boost controller (of your choosing, I suggest a manual dual stage)
Turbo d16 part–A good clutch and lightweight flywheel (I suggest a 4 puck style clutch)

Now you may need some more additional knickknack parts for your turbo d16, but that’s the general list of parts. Now, to do make your d16 turbo you need to have some experience in working on cars and turbo motors or have a friend that can help you, while for some this is a very simple rebuild it can be quite complicated for others.

First off is dismantling the your d16 motor, take off all your accessories and belts, your distributor, intake manifold and exhaust manifold. In the process of doing these things you should have disconnected the entire engine harness (if you’re a novice then you should have labeled all of the d16 connectors with numbers from a paint pen or labeled them by name, Once you have this done you should also remove the d16’s front engine cover to get to the timing components. Now, your in serious, jack up your d16 powered car (on jack stands at the pinch welds on the bottom of the frame and make sure it’s high enough for you to slide under the car. Now you want to remove the wheels and get to the axle nuts, after removing the cotter pins, use an impact gun and socket or a breaker bar to remove the axle nuts (at this point stop what you’re doing and drain all the fluids: coolant, oil, and tranny fluid). Once you have the axle nuts off it’s time to separate the ball joint at the tie rod (steering rods) remove the cotter pins, take off the nuts, and use a hammer and a ball joint fork to get the rods free from the cast iron hubs (note; you do not need to disconnect the breaks to do any of this, it’s a waste of time and effort). Take out the two bolts on either side that attach the d16 hubs to the struts and pull the hubs back at the same time you push the outside end of the axle through the wheel bearing hole. Once you have done this get under the car and use a pry bar forcing it against the axle and the transmission case to release it from the differential (basically pulling the axles out, remember in installation your going to have to shove them back in hard, making sure they go all the way and click in place). Now you need to get back under the car and take out the bottom bolts that mate the transmission to the d16 motor and disconnect the shift linkage (there is a small pin that connects the linkage that will have to be driven out with a hammer and a punch.) Since you have those things done now is the time to disconnect the radiator and the hoses and pull them out, once you have this done your going to be at the step where you need an engine hoist (don’t forget to remove the starter). I prefer to use straps rather than chains to remove small engines (refer to you manual on d16 engine lifting points) get some tension on the d16 engine and transmission with the hoist supporting most of its’ weight (but make sure not to put too much pressure on the mounts, because you will now be removing the d16 motor mount bolts). Remove d16 motor mount bolts and use the hoist to jack up the d16 engine from the car (be careful to note the length of the boom on the hoist (how long or short it is, you should also have the hood removed for this procedure.

Now you have the d16 engine out of the car, it’s time to dismantle it (you should have already taken the valve cover off and loosened the cylinder head bolts, if you haven’t and it’s on the ground you’ll need an impact gun. (At this point if you’re new to this kind of thing and even if your not you should be taking pictures of the locations of components and Ziploc and labeling all d16 bolts and small pieces-it’s cheap insurance). Separate the d16 transmission from the engine (don’t forget before attempting to pull it from the car to disconnect the clutch slave cylinder and lay it off to the side and also the speedo sensor). It’s time to roll the motor to TDC (top dead center, you do this with a ratchet on the crank pulley turning it clock wise with the spark plugs out and a long 3/8 drive extension in the first spark plug hole closest to the timing belt (that’s your #1 cylinder) turn the d16’s crank pulley and watch the extension rise and fall with the movement of the piston when it comes to a point of overlap where it’s positioned between coming up and going down you need to take note of where the d16’s timing marks are for reassembling the motor, take some good pictures if you have to-you also should have marked/ scribed the position of the distributor as well earlier). Now remove the timing belt and all components left over. You now need an engine stand, put the d16 motor on an engine stand so that you can continue to disassemble it (hint-you put bolts and nuts with washer you buy from Lowes through the holes where the d16 transmission was mated to the engine to secure them to the head of the engine stand. Now that its on a stand you need to take off the crank pulley, water pump, and oil pump behind the crank pulley. Remover the d16’s cylinder head and whatever valve train components you might have had to remove to get to the head bolts. Remove the oil pan. Now you’re going to remove the pistons and the rods using a large crescent wrench to move the end of the crank snout using the key way (the little rectangular piece of metal at the end of the crank (make sure you remove this before sending it to the machine shop, they may lose it), unfasten the rods nuts and move the crank around to where you can get a ½ diameter wooden dowel rod to fit place against the inside of the piston, using a rubber mallet hammer on the end of the dowel rod and have your buddy ready to grab the piston and rod as it pops out of the block (you should have already had the d16 motor upside down at this point on the hoist. (your using a wooden dowel rod to do this so that you make sure not to scar the rod journals on the crank with something metal like an extension.) Take out all the pistons and rods and now remove the crankshaft, you do this by removing the crank caps (two bolts on each side). Once you have the d16 crank removed and the engine stripped down to the bare block it’s time to take it to the machine shop, but first make sure to scrub and wash the d16 engine block in purple power degreaser and dry it off with compressed air (machine shops hate when you bring nasty stuff in their place-I used to own one, so I know) , as for the crankshaft leave some oil on it and put it and put it in a plastic bag. Bring the block and the crank to the machine shop along with the cylinder head you washed and dried. (And if you intend on paying them to reassemble the motor you need to bring all the necessary parts like your d16 engine gasket set, new water pump and timing belt, crank pulley (with keyway) and anything else they might need).

So your at the machine shop what do you tell them? Well, lets start off with the d16’s cylinder head, tell them you want to check it for warpage and that you want it disassembled and inspected (this includes pressure checking) and tell them you want the new valve seals from the d16 gasket kit put on and you want them to lap the valve seats (now if this is a hot rod shop and you want some port work done tell them you want a bowl blend and clean up the ports and a port match, unless you have oversized valves to put in this thing you don’t need a lot of port work because you’re going turbo d16. Bring in your Vitara pistons (turbo friendly) and your forged eagle rods and tell them you want the pistons put on the rods and you want the block bored .020 or .040 over to fit the d16 block (I would have bought the .040 over pistons personally), tell them you want them to mic (micrometer) the crank and suggest what rod and main bearings to use. If your going to have them reassemble the d16 motor which I suggest you do, just ask them how much it will run (for a novice I especially suggest letting them put the motor back in time.

So you have your built turbo d16 motor back from the machine shop, well everything that you did to disassemble your car you need to do the same thing; but reversed by putting it back together, there are many websites on the internet that will help that I’ll post at the end of this article. So, now you have put the whole car and engine back together with your new light weight flywheel, 4 puck clutch (to hold turbo d16 power), and a fresh d16 turbo motor. Time to make that d16 turbo’d, before you begin installing anything you need to take the oil pan and have a bung welded into it for oil to return to the pan from the turbo. After you’ve done this put the pan back on the turbo d16 engine and get started. Take off the front bumper first so you can figure out how to mount the intercooler and it’s location, now bolt on the turbo, it’s turbo manifold, turbo wastegate, along with the turbo down pipe and run the oil feed and return lines to and from the turbo (oil feed will come from a small three port brass distribution block screwed into the 1/8 NPT female oil sending unit hole). Now it’s time to run your turbo intercooler piping (make sure that your kit came with at least three ply intercooler couplers and t-bolt style hose clamps, you don’t want the pressure of the turbo blowing these off.) Run the turbo piping from the intake manifold through the left fender well and to where the intercooler is supposed to go, do the same thing for the turbo piping coming off of the turbo to the intercooler, connect all the turbo pipes with couplers and clamp them down so you know where the turbo’s intercooler is going to be positioned; test fit the bumper, you may have to trim it to fit. Install your fuel injectors, high pressure fuel pump, and splice in your 3 bar map sensor removing the old one (the old one can’t measure the pressures a turbo produces). Now, if you did everything right it’s time to install your Hondata ecu, install the software on your laptop and get the car towed to the dyno performance shop. Keep in mind that not everything will go perfectly planned so keep a good chunk of money off to the side in case something goes a rye on your turbo d16. Good luck with your turbo d16 build.