Turbocharging your Honda Civic will substantially increase its maximum potential for horsepower. A turbo kit can help even a base model Civic outperform sports cars that cost twice as much or more. For the diehard Honda enthusiast looking for the ultimate performance gain out of the Civic, a turbocharger system is a must. It will allow your Civic to perform like and everyday car during normal driving, while offering significant horsepower gains under heavy throttle.
Drain your Honda Civic's engine oil and radiator fluid prior to turbo installation, as oil and coolant lines will need to be rerouted into the turbocharger unit.
Remove the stock exhaust header by removing the header bolts from the engine head, as well as the exhaust bolts holding the header to the catalytic converter. Bolt in its place the turbo exhaust manifold and exhaust downpipe from your Civic turbo kit. Hook all stock sensors into the modified exhaust.
Bolt the turbocharger onto its designated flange on the exhaust manifold. Route all custom oil and coolant lines into the turbocharger. As this process will vary depending on year and trim of your Civic, refer to vehicle-specific vacuum diagrams.
Remove your Civic's front bumper, and bolt the intercooler unit into place in front of the radiator. Attach the intercooler J-pipe by securing one end to the turbocharger's compressor wheel, and the other side to the intercooler inlet. Secure with supplied clamp rings.
Attach the intercooler up-pipe between the intercooler's outlet and the throttle body. Secure via clamp rings. Attach all vacuum lines and sensors to their designated plug-ins on the intercooler piping.
Install your turbo kit's blow-off valve onto the designated flange on the intercooler up-pipe. Install the air filter and/or intake pipe onto the turbocharger's inlet.
Cut a rectangular segment out of the rear of your Civic's front bumper with an angle grinder, such that the bumper will fit over the intercooler unit. Reinstall the bumper, and replace engine oil and radiator fluid.
Tune your turbocharged Honda Civic's engine via engine management software. A standalone tunable ECU is ideal, as they allow all engine parameters to be fully edited and refined for the turbo system. A cheaper and simpler alternative is an ECU relfash, which edits the stock ECU's fuel tuning to allow turbocharger use.
