Because the setup isn't relying on a turbo manifold, wastegate and possibly boost control for a good power curve. The transition of power to the blower is linear and the variables are just the pulleysize. When talking turbo there are thousands of combos you can get together. Different housings, different manifolds, WG's, the design of the piping also much affects the outcome. With SC you have the stock manifold which is a very good one to be a production car.

From what I know about turbosetups vs SC setups, and from what I have seen alot of posts about on these forums, the "no tuning required SC" kits such as kraftwerks (well there is a reflash but nothing custom) are working good with a nice power curve. The greddy kits out there really need a tune to be good and even with the tune the turbo is small and tends to make much more torque at 4000rpm than on 7500rpm. Which I am no fan of.

If I had to go FI with 3500 bucks I would look for a used SC kit with a decent "no tune functionality" or with a real engine control included. I would definitely not invent the wheel again by going my own route into new experiments, as a rule of thumb they always end up more expensive.

 

the cheap "no tune" solution is relying on a Fuel Management Unit (FMU) that does nothing more than raise the fuel pressure under boost to add more fuel. you can only get away with that for a small amount of boost and is far from ideal or safe.

any form of FI will make the transition into VTEC virtually seamless. turbo kits will do the same, most of the bigger turbo's will surge right around that point while the SOT kit will already be at full boost, a centrifugal kit will be steadily building to red line.

 

For $3k, I highly recommend going after a supercharger setup.

Turbo setups are deceptively expensive. $5k will get you a cheap turbo setup. My first turbo setup was pieced together with a log manifold, hookups for welding from friends, self tuned, self installed, and was still $5-6k. (of course I did use an AEM EMS, WBO2, Tial WG and BOV, and GT30R- used or ebay turbos/wastegates/BOV's and crappy fuel management would be cheaper)

Tim

 

add an ECU, hondata or AEM, to any setup and it'll start getting pricey

 

Check the for sale section for used setups like greddy.

 

It can be done for that price with out supporting things like gauges, clutch, fuel pump that is only on super low boost. I might have something you are looking. It is a speedforceracing.com sold by spugen a few years back. All you will need is a fuel pump if you plan to up the boost it has a 6psi spring. Here are the details:

SS downpipe
SS dumptube
SS manifold
polished charge pipes
Garrett t3/t4 .60a/r
Tial 38mm wastegate
Spearco front mount
HKS sequential bov
RC 550cc injectors
UR oil filter relocation kit
oil feed and return
will trade tapped oil pan for your stock one
Emanage blue with boomslang pnp main injector and ignition harness and the support tool will also be included. With a basemap already on it. I also have other supporting things like aem 1052u, t1r 70mm exhaust, synapse fpr, etc..

I had a different tune on the emanage before but I accidently deleted it. To be honest tune was horrible and ran better on the basemap. The car did put down 310whp and 217wtq on a dynojet with a real poor tune on the emanage. The car start seeing boost as early as 2700rpm and fully spooled roughly 3600-3800rpm. I am willing to let it all go for $3500 and if you bring your car up here I could install it for you as well. I am in NW suburbs of chicago. Here are some pics of it on the car.

 

First, you need to know exactly what you want. Read SC vs Turbo posts. There's a ton of them.

The more informed you are, the more satisfied you will be in the end. That's a fact.

SC only sees full boost near redline. That's a minus. But boost is instant-on.

Turbo (depending on size, plumbing, efficiency, etc) spools to full boost at ~3.5-4K RPM. So the midrange torque will be fat.
There's the blow-off valve sound. these are pluses.
But it has a bit of turbo-lag. That's a minus.

Cost should not be a factor if you're thinking of having a reliable car.

There's three: fast, cheap, reliable. But you can only have 2.

A compromise will suck.



I bought a used turbo kit from ebay, bought more stuff for it, came out about $5000.

Then borrowed my uncle's welder and welded a custom dual exhaust, straight, no cat, from mild steel 3" pipes from ebay. It was the first time I ever even tried a welder. But it worked and I saved a bunch of money on a very smelly exhaust!