Build or Boost?

[northbridge]

Im ready to get some serious power going, but i need some help from the community choosing my path.

I am torn between boost and going NA.

For boost, i would turbo the car using the kit from Toni@Southeast. He made 470whp on the stock motor.

Big Ben was making serious power until he lost compression in cyl2. Boost issues like this make me unsure wether to boost it. It seems that i should save some trouble and build the motor first if i want to boost adding to the cost.


If im building the motor, i could also just go NA and make good power (like 300+). I dont think anyone here has upgraded anything but cams correct? If i was buliding, i was planning on using high compression pistions, rods, cams, valves retainers and springs from either hytech or blueprint.

The problem is that if i start building the motor, theres no going back. To build for boost i need low compression and to build for NA i need high compression.


I cant decide what to do. Someone help!

[ThirdLane]

What are you looking for? Big crazy power? If you want to have the 300+ whp I say go for boost. But I ask, why would you want 300+ whp on a fwd sedan? I personally like the power delivery of a boosted engine that has been tuned correct with good usable power down low to up top. NA built engines tend to be too peaky for me. That also clashes with the TSX character

[juri]

Build it up first, then if you want even more power after that, than boost it. And it will last.

[jteeen]

if i get to choose N/A i always like N/A. much more easier to maintain and wont cost you a lot of money along the way.

[northbridge]

Originally Posted by ThirdLane

What are you looking for? Big crazy power? If you want to have the 300+ whp I say go for boost. But I ask, why would you want 300+ whp on a fwd sedan? I personally like the power delivery of a boosted engine that has been tuned correct with good usable power down low to up top. NA built engines tend to be too peaky for me. That also clashes with the TSX character

i wanted to be btwn 325 and 350. I've seen blueprint dynos for NA cars with K series motors around 330whp.

I thought NA was better for power delivery and usable power especially down low?

[kuma912]

NA has a better powerband. But boost will give you more power. And who says you need low compression for boost. You can have high compression and still have boost.

Before you do anything. There are a few things to look at. You boost your car, you'll have to deal with the headaches. You go NA, you'll have to deal with the closer tolerances.

[TSX_WS]

You would need to build most of the engine to get over 300 whp. With boost, you can get 300 whp without even building the motor itself. I mean you could add block guard just to be sure. If you plan on going over 300 WHP (350+ like you wanted), you should definitely look into different rods, pistons, block guard, and maybe oil radiator to keep it safe and reliable.

I personally am not a power freak, so 300WHP and say 250 lb-ft of torque would be enough for me

[TodaSi]

Hard question, I've always built my engines N/A.
With K-Pro, you can build a strong NA motor that WON'T be peaky and can exploit the long strong of our K24, but to get 300+whp I think it will be too costly to build it NA.
A nice simple boosted engine will be fine and reliable as long as you don't get greedy. Rods, pistons (more for the forged pistons than to lower compression), a smaller turbo with a good intercooler and you should be good.
Good luck on your quest.

[ThirdLane]

Originally Posted by northbridge

i wanted to be btwn 325 and 350. I've seen blueprint dynos for NA cars with K series motors around 330whp.

I thought NA was better for power delivery and usable power especially down low?

When you go with the NA route to build power, you sacrifice low end power for top end. Think most high compression NA engines like b18c5, k20a, etc. Most na builds that I've I seen and helped out with usually sacrifice shit ton of low end power for freakish output at the top even with a professional tune. Thats the problem, you're not going to like driving with your engine at full scream to access that power on the streets. Sure the low end would improve over stock but I personally dont like driving an car with a non tactable powerband. Most NA engines usually make power with revs. I like boost because I actually prefer cars with a tactable powerband, which would be easier to accomplish with a boosted engine. I've driven a couple of mildly boosted k24 accords that had amazing low end tq with boost. Imagine having your engine making peak tq of 250-270lbs and 80-90% of that tq available from 1500-2000rpms to 55-6000rpms. You can't get that kind of tq delivery with a NA engine, unless you're talking big displacement v-8's. That more than possible with mild boost with a real good tune. And with most NA builds, most of the power tend to be lodged at the upper range of the revs. TSX being a rather high displacement 4cylinder, you can easily achieve 300-350whp with a mild boost, which I wouldn't want to reach considering its a freaking fwd sedan.

[northbridge]

seems like the consensus is boost to 300 - 350whp.

[northbridge]

Originally Posted by TodaSi

Hard question, I've always built my engines N/A.
With K-Pro, you can build a strong NA motor that WON'T be peaky and can exploit the long strong of our K24, but to get 300+whp I think it will be too costly to build it NA.
A nice simple boosted engine will be fine and reliable as long as you don't get greedy. Rods, pistons (more for the forged pistons than to lower compression), a smaller turbo with a good intercooler and you should be good.
Good luck on your quest.

thats probably the route i'll take.

[Jeremiah]

Big N/A power is not cheap.

Moderate boost is not a maintenance nightmare, is reliable, and alot of fun.

[northbridge]

thanks everyone. now im off to find a turbo!

[Jeremiah]

I wish you luck on the journey. Always remember it gets the hardest right before the end. People will always say this or that cannot be done. It just means they don't know how to do it. Do not let the weak hold you down.

Years ago when I boosted my 6th gen accord, people said all kinds of incorrect information about the engine, and myself and 5th gen accord friend proved them all wrong. Now some guy is still cruising around on my hard work and research.

The journey is alot of the fun in and of itself.

[evertp1]

Go N/A, then you can buy my valvetrain off me! Cheers