so, i know a guy that wanted to turbo his 98 civic ex on the cheap. i got him one of my complete turbo kits. i figured since i was going to install it, it would be a great time for me to document the whole thing so everyone could see the real deal about these things. i will also update this thread if problems arise later.

so, here is the kit as i unboxed it.

the turbo. its a t3/t4. .50/.63 ar, external wastegate. since i installed it, it comes with a 1 year warranty. if a shop installs these, i can warranty them. thats not my rules.





the manifold. standard ebay cast stuff. these are lifetime guaranteed also.





everyone knows the CDM 38mm wastegate





Type RS knock off. there are no color options with this kit. everything is blue





gaskets and hardware. the gaskets were nice except the manifold gasket. typical ebay trash. the hardware was mostly complete, but it was lacking a few things and some of it wouldnt work for anything.





here is the oil line kit. the feed was a little short, i had to add a short -an hose i had to make it work and since it has a straight fitting, i had to clock the hell out of the center section for it to clear the manifold. the fitting that comes with it for the back of the block is standard npt thread. i just ran a npt tap in to the block and now its npt. simple fix. the kit also comes with its own oil restrictor. the oil return line is badass. it comes with a -10an hose with a -an bulkhead fitting to put in the oil pan. so far not a single leak and the kit has about 300 miles on it.





here is the pipe kit. its is a little hit and miss on the couplers fitting. some could be forced and seemed fine but sometimes they just wouldnt fit and i had to use other couplers. the quality of the couplers is very nice, but they put some wrong sizes in the box. the clamps were also the same deal. they were nice t-bolts, but half of them were the wrong size





here is the intercooler. pretty standard stuff





and last, the downpipe. this was a pretty decent part. i have no complaints and it cleared the a/c compressor by 1/2". thats a big plus cause he didnt want to get rid of his a/c. it gets hot in FL







now for the install. i wish i could have gotten more and better pics, but i always forget to take pics when i am working on a project.

this is what i started with. the stock airbox was already removed in this pic. this car was completely stock except a few ricer exterior mods and the fake Mugen strut bar





here is the turbo on the manifold





here they are in the car







wastegate mounted. it clears the hood nicely. no need for an elbow. i have a feeling that an EG would need an elbow though and thats also not included




i had to make a dump tube with some random stuff i had laying around. this kit didnt include one. my mig welder was acting up with erratic wire speed so it ended up being pretty ugly, but it works. it was mild steel and painted with exhaust paint







here is the intercooler mounted. it fit in very nicely





i drilled 2 large holes to put bolt though the top and 2 smaller ones in the bottom of the bumper support for mounting





this was one piece but i had to cut it. the center of the "U" was way too long. i think i took out a good 3-4"





here are a couple over all shots. the whole install went pretty smooth with the exception of couplers/clamps not being the right size and the lack of hardware. the oil line will be re-routed soon. i was running out of time.







and here is the bumper back on. there was only some minor trimming to fit the bumper around the intercooler





the kit also does not come with any sort of engine managment. i went with a missing link and FMU cause the car was obd2 and being a stock Y8 he cant run much boost anyway. this keeps him from messing with things he doesnt understand and blowing it up. when i fired the car up the first time i held the turbo from spinning for a few seconds. who knows if this helps the CDM turbo last, but i remember reading it a long time ago and i figured it couldnt hurt. there wasnt a single leak or problem. i was very happy with that. i took it out for the first drive and it ran just like a stock car. once it warmed up i decided to do some 2nd gear pulls. the turbo spooled up to 5psi by 2500 rpm and pulled nicely to redline. we were short on time so i gave it to him like that. tomorrow, i am going to shim the wastegate spring and try to get a couple more psi out of it. i am going to limit him to 7psi for now. when he gets bored with that, then he will get a p28 and i will tune it with crome. it seems to be a bit rich (plug readings) with the FMU. thats fine with me. i might try putting the wideband on it (when i get a new one) and limiting the boost pressure the FMU sees to try to lean it out some.

my overall opinion on this kit is that it is a deal considering the money spent. it is $800 shipped and it keeps you from having to look all over for a lot of the little things. 90% of it comes in one box. i also feel that it is capable of just as much or more power than a greddy kit for half the price.

 

not a bad price for a easy ready to go kit...

I say sell that with a chiped p28 and a basemap, and call it a 1200 dolar kit for some noobs that dont know there ---- hole from there mouth...

Im a fan of the CDM ---- so ya wont get any hate from me on that matter...

 

u will def need the elbow for en ef

 

Only thing I havent had fail on me so far is the intercoolers and the cast manifolds need to be ported has the alignment on them is garbage but you get what you pay for.

 

The install looks great. Hey how did it fit with the a/c? Also how low did the turbo hang?? Any oil drain issues?

 

pretty decent work

 

it was a little tough to get the turbo and manifold down in there, but once it was in there was nice even clearance around everything. i didnt have to trim anything. there was at least 1/2" clearance between the downpipe and the a/c compressor too. honestly, i was a little worried that we would have problems with keeping the a/c but there wasnt one mod i had to do to keep it

 

i also have these kits for
D,B,K engines
Scion TC
BMW E36
VW VR6

 

So hows that oil inlet line supposed to work




edit: you said you had to clock it? you were able to use that oil restrictor flange