im looking at turboing my 2000 civic dx with a 1.6L single cam non-vtec.
this is my daily driver so i dont want it to start building boost untill about 2800 rpms, so what would be a good turbo choice?

 

go with a garrett t28

 

i was thinking about that but heard they start spooling around 1400 rpms.
i dont want it to spool until later so i can still drive on the interstate at 3000 rpms, and not kill gas mileage.

 

you can get the exhaust housing in different a/r's. i build mine the same way. i like mid to high rpm boost so i can drive it around without boosting until i want too. thats a pretty small motor so unless your building it for big power/high boost i would stay with a t28 because anything larger would be a waste. find a t28 with a 86 a/r t2 exhaust housing. that should give you a bit more lag. i believe they also can be found with the smaller 62a/r exhaust housing which will spin quick. these are more common. check the garrett site. they have a list of t28 turbos and one of them has an 86a/r housing. the next biggest is the t30 which uses the bigger t3 inlet flange but this turbo will be overkill for your build

 

could you help me find a fairly cheap, new one, because i am a real newbie when it comes to turbo descriptions.

 

run the gt25, upgrade the internal wastegate, and run a manual boost controller. the wastegate actuator for the stock turbo sucks and will cause serious boost spikes. the after market actuator will give adjustment on the exhaust side and be a more solid unit to control. the manual boost controller will give you just a little more boost control on the vacuum side. the gt25 is a good option for that power and a budget. if you want a little more power with no more boost, go with the gt28rs. the AR on the compressor side is more nominal and the turbine on the hot side reduces back-pressure a little. it frees a little power up and allows you to make more power on the same boost.
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