California Turbo Build

SAccord

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Hi All,

I have been surfing the 6GA boards for a couple years now, digging into everything from N/A builds to turbo builds, F23 tunability to popular swaps and so on. Lots of great information is archived in these threads, thanks to all those who have posted!

I have a 99 EX F23A1 Coupe 5-Spd with about 121k miles, that I have owned for about 4 years as the 3rd owner (my best friend bought it from the original owner <1 yr before that at 80k mi). By the looks of the oil starting to leak when I drive it a little hard, the head gasket is due for replacing. I daily a 2017 WRX, so the Accord has been relegated to weekend/project car status. And as much as my wife hates it, I can’t seem to justify parting ways with it for how much fun it can be to drive and how sexy that body looks. Especially considering the pennies you get for it on the used market.

So as I debate what the future role of this car will be, I am tempted to go down the road low-boost turb build route. This would be my first build, and I know from surfing the boards the F23 isn’t the “friendliest” platform to build. But I am thrilled by how it could play out.

My key question is this: given the smog regulations in California, is doing a street-legal turbo build even possible? I’m a bit flabbergasted among the options I have heard of with piggy back setups, stand-alone setups, OBD-1 conversions and so on.

Any guidance or help on this would be greatly appreciated!
 

Nam1911a1

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Best option is to move out of California lol. I landed in LAX last week and the smog was so bad it looked like low clouds covering the building and the beach. But no it was smog.
 

BlkCurrantKord

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Your first and biggest obstacle is going to be tuning it. I would look into AEM for that since you're in Cali. After that, it's just parts.
 

juicebox00

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My key question is this: given the smog regulations in California, is doing a street-legal turbo build even possible? I’m a bit flabbergasted among the options I have heard of with piggy back setups, stand-alone setups, OBD-1 conversions and so on.

Any guidance or help on this would be greatly appreciated!

You have 3 routes that you can go with an F23 turbo build in SoCal.

1. AAA 1-day pass every time you want to drive the car.

2. Illegal smog. It's much easier to do on anything pre-2000 because of smog laws and how they test. You'll just need to know the right people, and make sure never to get your hood popped on the streets. If you get popped, state ref and no more turbo.

3. Trailer the car everywhere you go.
 

SAccord

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That’s ok, I just read it and this post was still something I have been seeking an answer to.

Although I have been considering NA builds now. I have seen some interesting hybrid builds of F23s with F22a1 heads on Honda-tech.

My intake hose ruptured so I failed visual smog. Replacing that then diving into a build, plan to start a thread.

Ultimately, I am trying to understand if doing a build to any degree in Cali is streetable or if I should just expect doing a build = non-smog-compliant.
 
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