PRL Motorsports 2023+ Acura Integra 1.5T Drop-In Turbocharger Upgrade Development

• Well, sometimes... As a company built on grassroots racing history, we have always strived to push the limits and develop products that offer the highest potential while keeping as broad of a power curve possible. Typically “bigger” turbocharger wheels and housings translate to higher power potential. However, there are times that “bigger” is not always better depending on the application.

• It is important for manufacturers and customers to properly match turbocharger specifications around their desired power goals, driving style or application. Though larger turbine wheels, compressor wheels or housing sizes may result in increased power potential, it can also mean increased turbocharger lag/response. Properly spec’ing out a turbocharger can be a balancing act - trying to implement the best of all scenarios into one package. This is where compressor/turbine wheel aero design comes into play, such as blade count and profile. Modern technology and aero knowledge allow manufacturers the ability to manipulate or change potential airflow with various designs within a given footprint.

• One of the biggest hurdles manufacturers must overcome, especially with drop-in, factory-location turbochargers, is tight spacing constraints. We must keep in mind existing housing sizes, connections to surrounding components such as oil/coolant lines, downpipe, charge pipe, intake, inlet pipe, etc. There also becomes a point where fitting too large of components such as turbine or compressor wheels can lead to reliability issues if the CHRA’s bearing structure isn’t intended to support that large of a rotational mass or spin that fast, or if there isn’t enough material left in the housings, which can lead to cracking. We cover many of the leading causes of turbocharger failures, issues and preventative care in a previous blog article

2022+ 11th Gen Civic 1.5T & 2023+ 3rd Gen Integra Turbocharger Comparison:

• Journal bearing CHRA
• High efficiency point-milled 9-blade billet 7075 aluminum 65 Trim compressor wheel (48mm inducer, 60mm exducer)
• High efficiency Inconel 713C 9-blade 84 Trim turbine wheel (47mm inducer, 42mm exducer)
• Larger wastegate actuator door

NeoDiNardo said:

Does 350HP seem like a bit much for a 1.5L 4-Cyclinder? I would have expected Elantra N speeds not Better than Civic Type-R speeds. This is coming from a base of no actual knowledge on the subject. I mean this is like the GR Corolla, can the engine handle that with as much reliability? What if I just want about 275-300HP to be on the safer side of things?

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Integra23 said:

Probably not handle that much HP stock. Tune gets you close the the 260/300 mark

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ken_r34 said:

I saw a tune on youtube only doing around 240hp only, a tune can get you up that high?

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Integra23 said:

Phearable tune

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ken_r34 said:

would an ECU tune like this damage engine or cause excessive wear?

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PRL Motorsports said:

Nick at Ososik Media and Daniel at Powermetric tuning put our L15CA drop-in turbocharger to the test with their 11th Gen Civic Si.

By simply bolting our turbocharger on, the car was able to produce 20+ horsepower and ft/lbs of torque more than the factory turbocharger without changing anything. Turbocharger spool stayed within 700 RPM of the factory turbocharger, which is impressive for a turbocharger upgrade, and carried power much further in comparison to the factory turbocharger. After tuning, the car made 325 horsepower and 338 ft/lbs of torque on a Mustang Dyno, which reads ~12% lower than a DynoJet. This is almost identical to the power our 10th Gen Civic's full Big Turbo Kit make. We are all extremely pleased with these results. Nick is now sending the turbocharger back to us for inspection so our engineers can decide if any changes need to be made. If all is well, we will begin doing further road and track testing for durability.

Stay tuned for more updates!

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PRL Motorsports said:

A few months back we compared Honda's 10th Gen and 11th Gen Civic’s (which is also the same as the 2023+ Acura Integra) turbochargers, discussed turbocharger measurements/specifications and mentioned that we would be developing a 100% drop-in turbocharger upgrade for these platforms. Today we are here to showoff what our team has put together for thus far and what these communities can expect to see from PRL Motorsports.

Bigger is Better

• Well, sometimes... As a company built on grassroots racing history, we have always strived to push the limits and develop products that offer the highest potential while keeping as broad of a power curve possible. Typically “bigger” turbocharger wheels and housings translate to higher power potential. However, there are times that “bigger” is not always better depending on the application.

Turbocharger Spool

• It is important for manufacturers and customers to properly match turbocharger specifications around their desired power goals, driving style or application. Though larger turbine wheels, compressor wheels or housing sizes may result in increased power potential, it can also mean increased turbocharger lag/response. Properly spec’ing out a turbocharger can be a balancing act - trying to implement the best of all scenarios into one package. This is where compressor/turbine wheel aero design comes into play, such as blade count and profile. Modern technology and aero knowledge allow manufacturers the ability to manipulate or change potential airflow with various designs within a given footprint.

Spacing Constraints & Reliability

• One of the biggest hurdles manufacturers must overcome, especially with drop-in, factory-location turbochargers, is tight spacing constraints. We must keep in mind existing housing sizes, connections to surrounding components such as oil/coolant lines, downpipe, charge pipe, intake, inlet pipe, etc. There also becomes a point where fitting too large of components such as turbine or compressor wheels can lead to reliability issues if the CHRA’s bearing structure isn’t intended to support that large of a rotational mass or spin that fast, or if there isn’t enough material left in the housings, which can lead to cracking. We cover many of the leading causes of turbocharger failures, issues and preventative care in a previous blog article

Our development team has kept all of these factors in mind while designing our 1.5L turbocharger upgrades. We implemented a moderately sized, high-efficiency turbine wheel to properly complement Honda’s small displacement 1.5L Turbo engines for optimal spool, while also mating it to a high-efficiency compressor wheel that utilizes the latest in aero technology. The wastegate actuator diameter has been increased to alleviate back pressure and promote turbine exhaust flow. Reduced backpressure from the larger wastegate actuator hole and reduced shaft speed (in comparison to other options) from our selected compressor wheel, will help aid in turbocharger longevity. A journal bearing CHRA will be retained to keep the price point down for the 1.5L Honda market.

This turbocharger was designed with the goal of efficiently producing around 350 horsepower, hoping to touch around the 400 horsepower mark at max effort. We plan to begin testing these turbochargers within the upcoming weeks to see what they’re capable of.

2022+ 11th Gen Civic 1.5T & 2023+ 3rd Gen Integra Turbocharger Comparison:

Prototype Turbocharger Specs:

• Journal bearing CHRA
• High efficiency point-milled 9-blade billet 7075 aluminum 65 Trim compressor wheel (48mm inducer, 60mm exducer)
• High efficiency Inconel 713C 9-blade 84 Trim turbine wheel (47mm inducer, 42mm exducer)
• Larger wastegate actuator door

Click to expand...