a20turbo.com

Turbocharged A20 resource site

Jason’s 13-second 1988 Honda Accord. The LXi-FlyBy

My 1988 Honda Accord LXi 4 door TURBO.

Some things I have done to the car have been a 5 speed transmission swap (it was originally an automatic) and have done weight reduction mods, such as dropping a/c, stripping trunk etc. When the car was bone stock it would run 17.3 at 81mph, even when i took my old stereo system out, subs and box.

Being into the car audio scene at first, the car was loud, it was metered at 146db at the dash and should have been capable of a little more with the 1200wrms of power it had, soon after, i sold that and started getting real with performance. After the 5 speed swap it ran 16.2 on much the same car, still not fast enough, so I designed and built a custom turbo kit for it also.

All the piping and manifold was custom made by me. For the front mount intercooler, much custom fitting took place to get it to fit. It is a Custom Coach FMIC: Aluminum Front Mount Intercooler – 31×6.5×2.75 2 1/2″ inlet/outlet. internally finned, handmade and works excellent, after a hard run you can feel the inlet side is pretty toasty but the outlet side to the engine is STONE COLD… BTW its not painted, they did such a nice job on it they left it aluminum, no silver paint here folks.

I installed a 6 puck sprung hub dual diaphram pressure plate clutch by clutchnet ($380) with the Aasco 8lb aluminum flywheel. I highly reccomend clutchnet, 2nd gear burnouts are no problem for it. The spec stage 5 was ground down to the rivets and pressure plate badly damaged. I also just fixed my wastegate so now it hits full boost at a little over 4000 rpm and stays at 13lbs until i hit the rev limiter :-).

The current engine managemant is provided by and MSD BTM for spark and Apexi Safc and mitsubishi 450cc injectors with a Walbro 255LPH intank fuel pump. Eventually this season im going to upgrade to a Honda Civic P06 ECU that is chipped, and an OBD1 Distributor to match (has to be modified to fit). Im also going to be running a EngineRunup 150PSI Methanol/Water Injection kit.

At the track its run 13.7 at 105 mph spinning like crazy on Street tires with a 2.4 60ft (very poor). With my nice fatty slicks i will hopefully be able to pull in the 12s, considering my 2.4-2.6 60′ times vs 1.8-1.9 60′ times with slicks. This was done on 13psi boost.

On another note I have just upgraded from stock honda brake pads in the front discs to AEM performance brake pads, and highly reccomend them. I just got a pair of Lenso VPD 13×7.5 forged wheels (wheels are 9lb EACH) and drag slicks. They have M&H Racemaster 22x8x13 drag slicks on them.

So far another engine is being torn down for forged internals and i have a built racing cylinder head with port work done, aftermarket valves/springs/retainers, and a custom turbo cam are all coming. On the built head there is a custom fitted polished AEBS Typhoon intake manifold with an Integra Type R 62mm throttle body.

The current engine has my custom turbo manifold, and a Garrett 60 trim (.60 compressor, .63 exaust) turbo and Stealthmode Performance Oil line kit. The charge pipes are 2.5″ mild steel and the exhaust is 3″. That is a 1g dsm bov welded on with the factory flange on the charge pipes. The gauges in the pod are Tenzo R A/F ratio gauge and Boost/Vac (mechanical). Nobody makes a pod for 86-89 accord so i used an autometer pod fitting a 99 style eclipse and it fits pretty close.

I custom made the turbo manifold from 1/2″ flanges i had cnc machined to fit, and 1.5″ primary tubing and should be much much more efficient then a standard log manifold. Fitment however was a royal pain, the front beam and front motor mount had to be modified to get everything to fit. I got some black Tenzo R Rally seats for the LXiFLYBY but they arent installed yet, im modifying some 5G accord seat brackets to make them work in the 3G accord.

Parts list/mods:

  • Garrett T3 .60 .63
  • Sillicone couplers with T bolt clamps
  • Custom Coach Intercooler
  • Owner built (thats me) custom turbo mani, flanges by BMC
  • 2.5″ Charge pipes
  • Apexi SAFC
  • 450cc 1g dsm bluetop injectors
  • MSD BTM 5462
  • Aasco aluminum flywheel (8.5lb i think)
  • Clutchnet Dual diaphram pressure plate and 6 puck sprung disk
  • Auto to manual conversion (used to be an automatic car)
  • 1g dsm bov
  • Walbro 255lph intank fuel pump
  • 3″ Custom Exhaust
  • 140 amp custom rewound alternator
  • Engine Runup Alcohol Water Injection kit
  • Tenzo R 2″ A/F ratio gauge
  • Tenzo R 2″ Boost/Vac gauge
  • Removed a/c and back seat as well as some supporting metal in the hood, stripped trunk.
  • Rear strut bar
  • Addco polyurethane swaybar bushings (front)
  • Bypassed coolant line mods, disabled intake manifold runner switching etc…
  • Stealthmode performance stainless braided oil lines
  • Lenso VPD Race wheels in 13×7.5 with 4x100mm bolt pattern
  • M&H Racemaster drag slicks in 22x8x13
  • AEM/Nissin performace brake pads
  • Golden Eagle Adustable Cam gear
  • Koyo aluminum radiator

Things to be installed:

  • Ported Racing cylinder head and turbo cam
  • Built Shortblock with forged pistons and rods
  • Head studs
  • Integra type R throttle body
  • Polished AEBS Typhoon intake manifold modified to fit A20
  • Revalved Bilstein shocks
  • Tenzo R rally seats
  • Civic Chipped P06 Ecu and custom OBD1 fitted distributor
  • Pacesetter Adjustable short shifter