turboing a k8

[hgallegos915]

My frind ivan did it I drove it around. Its NOT ANYWHERE NEAR a boosted kl. Its slow, sluggish. it just sucked when compared to a boosted de and a ze.Def not worth it IMO. Oh and we blew it in around 2 weeks haha.. I dont know how that happened. Maybe he overboosted or something. The pistons are tiny.

[Josh]

My frind ivan did it I drove it around. Its NOT ANYWHERE NEAR a boosted kl. Its slow, sluggish. it just sucked when compared to a boosted de and a ze.Def not worth it IMO. Oh and we blew it in around 2 weeks haha.. I dont know how that happened. Maybe he overboosted or something. The pistons are tiny.

With what? an FE motor, BP, K8? ...

The K8 will only take like 5 to 7 lbs of boost for every day driving, anymore than that and they will blow. They are weak sauce. They are like turboing a stock ZE, brittle and need to be perfectly tuned for longevity. IMO a DE is the best rout when turboing a V6.

[MrMazda92]

I doubt a freshly rebuilt K8 would fall under the category of "weak" in the longevity category... There are examples of 300K MILE K8s out there, point me to a KL that has matched it...?

The OP lists 280K MILES for his own engine, for a "close to home" example.

I agree though, boosting a tired engine is rarely, if ever, the way to go. To lump all K8s together though, that's honestly silly... You know better man, and I know you do.

Also, the G4 seems the ideal boost candidate, especially if it's bolt-on turbo'd, and not heavily built.

[Nd4SpdSe]

I doubt a freshly rebuilt K8 would fall under the category of "weak" in the longevity category... There are examples of 300K MILE K8s out there, point me to a KL that has matched it...?

The OP lists 280K MILES for his own engine, for a "close to home" example.

It was in reference to turboing a K8, nothing about the K8 in itself being weak, just it's poor ability to handle boost.

[Josh]

^^ yep

[marcdh]

Andy hppwdn on boosted k8:

As for boosting the K8, it's not much fun. A guy here had one and even on 12-14psi he still ran in the 14s at the drag strip. It was really reliable though, he daily drove it for 2 years on that much boost with just an FMU until someone rear ended him and totaled out the car.

I don't see why it wouldn't last. Rods don't seem much worse than KL, pistons are smaller bore, but are they significantly thinner or inferior metal? I doubt it. Remember se7en too, it was his gearbox that went before the engine did.

[Josh]

Andy hppwdn on boosted k8:

As for boosting the K8, it's not much fun. A guy here had one and even on 12-14psi he still ran in the 14s at the drag strip. It was really reliable though, he daily drove it for 2 years on that much boost with just an FMU until someone rear ended him and totaled out the car.

I don't see why it wouldn't last. Rods don't seem much worse than KL, pistons are smaller bore, but are they significantly thinner or inferior metal? I doubt it. Remember se7en too, it was his gearbox that went before the engine did.

So my only thing with this is I guess it could be driver error but 14's on a boosted K8 with 12-14psi. I ran a 14.1 on 6psi with my B6... just sayin

From what I have always been told is that they are very delicate and by that i mean fragile when it comes to boosting. they are a one off motor for the MX-3 unlike the DE and ZE engines. Sure if PROPERLY tuned they will run just fine. But most do not and thus they have a bad rap when it comes to boosting. Hell, if I had a GS with a K8 I would boost it too, just until I blew it and picked up a DE

[marcdh]

haha but you got mad skillz Josh Yea 14s is a bit lame, must have had terrible 60's! However the reliability implied there is interesting, especially considering the FMU and therefore running stock NA timing.

Yea totally, k8s are pennys, people give them away! No harm in blowing a few up

[Josh]

haha but you got mad skillz Josh Yea 14s is a bit lame, must have had terrible 60's! However the reliability implied there is interesting, especially considering the FMU and therefore running stock NA timing.

Yea totally, k8s are pennys, people give them away! No harm in blowing a few up

You would be surprised if you had seen my setup. It was so Hack compared to my build now. I had an SAFC for a while couldn't get it to function properly so dropped it went to a BP10 NA ecu, an adjustable FMU, and a RX7 VAF, adjustable cam gears and dialed it in little by little. Took forever but ran like a top.

I know several people who have a spare K8 sitting in there garage, it was like me with B6 motors lol

[MrMazda92]

Although the idea of starting another argument on here makes me sick at this point... It needs to be said.

Nothing will run "fine" if improperly tuned, it will always be problematic. That's a blanket statement I see thrown all over the place by FI guys, and it's as bad as the arguments of 2.5" vs 2.25" exhaust diameter. Duh, cheaping out will have adverse effects.

I've heard so few examples of K8 failures that none even come to mind right now. I vaguely remember reading about a boosted K8(I believe hppdwn mentioned it) that was run successfully for a long time, after being pulled and swapped, it came out reading even compression in all cylinders, with bent con. rods to boot...

I get that a boosted K8 won't automatically outperform a boosted KL, that's a no-brainer for anyone who's familiar with the engines; still, that's not an excuse to badmouth quality engineering. Sorry for stepping on people's toes, but honestly performance on the track and longevity are far from the same thing, and less experienced(i.e. newer) members will take the wrong message from this. Try not to lead them too far astray.

[MrMazda92]

It was in reference to turboing a K8, nothing about the K8 in itself being weak, just it's poor ability to handle boost.

Given the long list of(what, 5 people?) who've attempted it, I'm shocked that while blowing their K8(little fun project prior to swapping?) took little effort.

Yeah, I'm being sarcastic... I'll cop to that, maybe even being a little blunt. Still, without actual proof that the K8 will turn to ash if boosted, I'm not going to buy it guys. You all demand dyno plots as evidence of high powered builds, for good reason; You want to see PROOF that people are making the power they claim to be making. That makes sense, questioning something that goes against the norm! Everyone should question information, especially that which they've read on the internet.

That being said, I can't wrap my head around people taking things like this at face value... The K8 is bad for boost because 2 or 3 people blew theirs up for fun after buying a KL? C'mon... You guys aren't stupid, so you should see the thinking errors piling up here...

[RS_OBD'oh_2]

I would also like to note: not knowing why or how one blew would lead me to believe that the tune was not very good. If the build was never done right, it should be excluded from the conversation.

[MrMazda92]

Thank you, I'm happy that I'm not alone in that belief!

[Josh]

You were never alone...

I have been on this forum for 10 years and there have been more than five people who have boosted a k8. from what I remember is that the k8 wouldn't handle much more boost then 6-7 lbs. Much like a ZE in stock form. The bottom end is weak for boosting and can't handle the pressure (from what I remember). That's all I am trying to say, I think you are reading Into it a little to much. It's not really something to get upset about. Now the examples I know of I can not speak to there tuning abilities so who is to say that, that is all that was wrong. On a FI motor TUNING IS EVERYTHING, detonation can be a Biatoch. I am not saying the k8 is an inferior motor or that its weak, its a great little big engine for a 1.8L displacement. And I am positive that if someone really wanted they could see decent numbers. They are strong runners in NA form as they were intended to be, and can be great boosted if properly tuned just like any NA motor.

[MrMazda92]

I meant no disrespect Josh, I've been a little impatient lately with this type of debate... I'm sorry if I was short with my replies.

Honestly, I just figure people haven't given the K8 it's due credit. Especially in recent years, as you(and a few others) have mentioned older members having done some performance work on them. Honestly, those are the worklogs I need to be digging through... Do any stand out off the top of your head? I've been meaning to learn more about the K8 for a while now.

Thank you btw.