Other Engineering
Let's Turbo Charge a Honda CR-V

A thread.

If you've ever sat in a first generation Honda CR-V you knew you were sitting in a masterpiece. It was often called "the Jeep for men who can still grow hair". But this wasn't just any all terrain off-road bad ass it could also get kids on time to soccer and pick up groceries.

I've owned 3 over the years and although their ground clearance, 5 speed manual, all wheel drive and built in picnic table are all delightful they lack one thing: power. The b20z is a great 2.0 liter DOHC for smaller 2 wheel drive cars but not enough for the magnificent CRV.

That's where this project comes in. Pictured below is about $2k in parts for a custom turbo build including a CX Racing turbo kit, intercooler, B-series manifold, AEM gauges, a Magnaflow catalytic converter, a chipped and tuned ECU, RC 440s injectors and lots of other doodads.

Turbocharging is a method of forced induction. We're going to use hot exhaust gases to spin a turbine to compress air that were also going to cool. This dense air has more oxygen allowing us to burn more fuel and make more horsepower with the same engine.

This is my first turbo build and we're going to make it up as we go. First things first is this bumper needs to go.

The factory air box is a horsepower thief and won't be going back in.

Look at this sad factory exhaust manifold. That's gotta go.

We're going to tuck the intercooler under this bumper support.

Before we can get the exhaust manifold off I need to disconnect the downpipe from the factory catalytic converter.

Well crap. Those nuts are rusted solid. 2001 was a long time ago.

Those nuts weren't coming off no matter what I did so I cut off the catalytic converter with an angle grinder and a cutting wheel. My friend recorded a video from above.

Safety first.

Many showers of sparks later I've disconnected the down pipe. Flared end wrenches are ideal for removing o2 sensors.

While I rest from the trauma of hacking apart my car with a cutting wheel let's talk about some of the components going in. Here is the turbo. The grey part (left side) is where the exhaust gases will go in. The silver (right side) is where the intake air will be compressed.

Here it is attached to the exhaust manifold with the oil line attached.

This is the waste gate. It will attach to the top of the turbo and prevent too much pressure from building up on the exhaust side of the system by venting gases if it goes above 7 psi. I may change that pressure limit later but this is a safe starting place.

This is the blow off valve. It will prevent pressure from getting too high on the *intake* side of the system by, you guessed it, venting air when pressure reaches a pre-set limit.

Anyway, back to building stuff. Rememeber all that factory air stuff we removed? This intercooler piping is going in its place.

The blowoff valve goes here. It will have a vacuum hose connected to the intake manifold *after* the throttle plate. When the throttle is closed (foot off the gas pedal) the relative pressure inside the manifold will drop actuating the BOV's piston, dumping air to atmosphere.

That intercooler piping needs to connect to the intercooler so we're going to drill holes in the bumper support and bolt it up right here.

Add these supports to the bottom and it is solid. You can shake the whole car by yanking on this intercooler.

Now we can add more piping and connect the intercooler all the way to the intake manifold. How cool is that?

Hmmm... Upon further review my friend working with me thinks the intercooler shouldn't stick out in front of the edge of the bumper support. He's pretty smart so let's use these brackets to tuck it back farther.

So remember when we disconnected the exhaust downpipe from the catalytic converter? That was so we could pull the exhaust manifold.

Before we can install the turbo and exhaust manifold combo I needed to cut away part of the radiator fan shroud to make room. Don't worry I'm a professional. (I am not a professional)

Let's talk tools. I use Ryobi everything because I'm basic like that. On the right is the JobPlus multi tool I used to cut the fan shroud. On the left is the grinder I used to cut off the catalytic converter. In the back are 1/2" and 3/8" impact wrenches I use for everything else

Ok let's bolt up the new exhaust manifold (with turbo already attached) to the cylinder head. If you're wondering why I'm using a cast manifold instead of steel tube headers it's because this takes up the least space and I want to keep my AC and power steering.

That is one happy spinny boi.

Remember when I cut off part of my factory radiator fan housing to fit the turbo? Well I decided I was still going to need more room I yanked the whole thing and I'm replacing it with two slim fans that will be on the other side of the radiator leaving me plenty of room.

These fans are designed with a flippable blade so they can be used for "push" or "pull". I'm using "push" so I need to flip them both over.

Just to make sure I understand how air work's in testing them on this battery. Yep, flipped over is how I need them.

Ok, I need them mounted on the front of the AC condenser to blow through to the radiator but obviously it's not gonna slide in the way I pictured it.

So let's unbolt the radiator and condenser and see if I can make this work.

It's a tight fit but it does fit.

Let's solder the connectors from the factory fans on to these new fans. Electrical tape is for suckers.

Pretty enough.

Now mount the fans to the condenser with the clips and brackets they came with and bolt the condenser and radiator back to the unibody. This part would have been easier had I not mounted the intercooler first. Lesson learned.

Let's talk oil. Like most things that spin at thousands of RPM this turbo needs oil. I'm installing this sandwich plate between the engine block and the oil filter to steal some oil for the intake side of the turbo.

And for the return? I'm going to add an inlet to my oil pan to run the oil back out of the turbo. So let's drop the oil pan. I have this new oil pan gasket to install while I'm down there.

Many nuts and bolts later I have removed the oil pan.

While I'm down here I'm going to install that sandwich plate and new oil filter. A smarter man would have done that before he removed the oil pan so he didn't get dropped all over.

Sorry, I can't photograph the sandwich plate because of where it is. But I assure you it's on there and I've run the oil line up around the intake manifold.

Look now we've got oil to the turbo!

As for the return? Well I don't weld (yet) so I sent the oil pan and this inlet to my friend @Timterror to weld up for me. Also, this kit didn't come with braided house for the return so I need to order that anyway.