Hi all. I'm migrating over from the honda world. For the last couple years I've been driving a b16 swapped '90 CRX HF. Unfortunatly, she's blown her tranny and since the car has some rust, I'm going to sell it and get another car.

This summer I drove my friend's 850 turbo and even though her car is an auto, I liked it a lot. I liked the torquy motor and the interior is much more comfortable than my CRX. Since I'll be moving in a year, after I graduate from college, something more practical than a CRX is in order. I've started looking around for an 850 turbo wagon, but they're damn hard to find in a 5 spd!

Since you guys all probably know your stuff, can you give me some input regarding modification? What are people running for suspension? I was running ground control (eibach) coilovers on KYB AGX shocks on my CRX which were alright, but I was thinking of upgrading to Konis. How much power can the stock bottom end hold on the 850? Is there any practicality of upgrading the turbo or increasing boost (if the stock snail isn't maxed out) without building the motor?

Thanks guys!

Edit: Just had a thought. Since I plan on racing the car in SCCA Solo, I probably shouldn't mess with the engine enough to kick me out of STU. Does anyone know if 275 tires will fit on the front of the car without flairs? Would be nice, they would be the most competative rubber to have.

 

Welcome to the forum, I wish you find it resourceful.

As I'm more of a scheduled maintenance reminder and not into mods, I'll let others help you with the mods. However, as to the suspension I went with Bilstein Touring sets, but they probably wouldn't satisfy your needs. You may want to go with adjustable units, and I believe Koni makes them. I would stay away from Bilstein Heavy Duties, as they make the ride rock-solid.

I believe the LP turbo is rated at 222HP as opposed to 240HP for the HP models.

Honda seems tame lately, even at Tokyo Motor Show there was nothing exciting; I expected to see V10 vehicle for the NSX replacement but there was not even a sign of it. Nissan Skyline GT-R took all attentions from the audiences.

Good luck to you,


JPN

 

Yeah, I've actually never even considered owning a Honda made after 1991 with the exception of the NSX. They're getting pretty affordable too...I might pick one up after college. What got me into cars was the CRX, I loved the way it handled, great peppy little car.

I've looked into the different trims and I've seen that the GLT models only have about 170hp, the Turbo and R models have 222 and 240 repsectively, but the differences are mostly in the ECU programming. It looks like if you upgrade the ECU and put on a larger downpipe/exhaust you can pretty easily get ~300hp, 300lb*ft of torque out of them. So, obviously, I'll be looking for one of those models.

From what I'm looking at, it doesn't seem that a manual version of the 850 Turbo or R models. Does anyone know if the base model 5spd mates up fine? How hard's the swap?

Hmm...this is getting pretty technical, maybe I should start posting this in another forum?

 

Hi,

Yes if you can post technical questions in the 850 forum that would be the way to go.

Unfortunately, I do not believe there were turboed 850 with manual shifters in the U.S market, but some people have been doing the swap with not much of a problem. Others could tell you better than I could.

If you want to power up the engine, there are certain stages that have to be followed in order to achieve improved performance while keepingnegative resultsdown to the minimum. The first stage is called "Stage-Zero". I believe there is a link within the top page of the forum, so try searching.

As for tyres, I believe whatever meets the car's specs in size, with Z-rating would suffice for your needs but I could be wrong.

Well, see you in the 850 forum.


JPN

 

Yep, I read the stage thingy in whoever's post that was, very informative. It's always nice to get pointers on what quirks there are with a car that need to be taken care of. I'd probably end up pulling the turbo as well and checking it for play and rebulding it if necessary.

For tires I'll be running Bridgestone Poteza RE960AS Pole positions for every day driving (I have them on my Subaru and they're pretty nice) and a set of Khumo V710's for racing.

 

Welcome. Keep us informed of your mods.

 

Here is my suggestion if you really want the five speed wagon. Find a 98 V70 T5 five speed (referred to as the T5M). It would be the same as the 850 Turbo wagon with a five speed which was not imported to the US. As far as stock HP, the GLT for 94-96 was an NA model with no turbo with 168 HP. In 97 and 98 the GLT was given a Low Pressure Turbo which boosted the HP to 198. The regular Turbo for 94 and 95or T5 model of 96 and 97 had 222 HP and the T5R of 95 and the 850 R of 96 and 97 had 240 HP.

Based on what you have written I would look for an 850 T5R or an 850R if you can not find a V70 T5M. The V70 T5M for year 98 is not easy to find. I've been looking for one to go with my 95 T5R and my 97 850 R. I will get rid of the 98 V70 GLT if I find the right one. I will only accept Red with Charcoal interior and have yet to find one.

I would go with the KONI yellow adjustables for a start at upgrading the suspension. That is based totally on reading posts though, not through actual experience. I still have all original struts and shocks on all three of mine. The 97 has 175k, the 95 has 150k and the 98 has 130K. I need to put spring seats on the 98, but I don't plan on changing the struts unless they show leakage.