Honda City Turbo
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The Honda City Turbo is a sport compact built by the Japanese manufacturer Honda between 1982 and 1987, based on the subcompact car Honda City.
The City Turbo is part of a rare breed of turbocharged Honda road car engines. Other turbo Hondas include the V6 for the late eighties Honda Legend and the new turbocharged i-VTEC 2.3 L in the 2007 Acura RDX.
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[edit] History
The City Turbo is the brainchild of Hirotoshi Honda, son of Honda founder Soichiro Honda as well as founder and owner of Mugen. In the early 1980s Mugen was a small tuning company that was beginning to make its mark producing performance parts for motorcycles and automobiles, but was yet to gain recognition outside of racing circles. When he created the City Turbo, Hirotoshi took one of Honda's most unassuming vehicles and turned it into an aggressive street rocket, considered to be well ahead of its time. Impressed, Honda took Hirotoshi's idea and made a production version of it.
[edit] Engine
The City Turbo had a 1237cc (1.2 L) CVCC engine that upon the addition of a turbocharger, produced around 110 PS at 5000 rpm and 16.3 kgm at 3000 rpm. Further changes to the engine included an aluminum/titanium alloy head and magnesium valve cover to keep the weight down. The IHI RHB51 turbocharger, developed as a joint venture betwwen Ishikawajima Heavy Industry and Honda, was lighter and smaller than most other turbos and allowed for higher engine speeds. Combined the Honda's PGM-F1 fuel injection with an 8-bit digital computer control unit, resulting in one of the most efficient engines ever built as well as with little turbo lag.
[edit] Suspension
The City Turbo's suspension was refined above that of the ordinary City. The 4 wheel independent system used progressive rate coil springs, with stabilizers at both the front and the rear. Tires were the 165/70HR12 radials and stopping power was provided by ventilated discs at the front and semi metallic shoes at the rear.
[edit] Styling
The body of the Honda City Turbo was made sportier by the addition of a new air dam with fog lights and asymetrical grille at the front and a spoiler over the rear hatch. Meanwhile, a hump was added to the hood to make room for the extra equipment of the turbocharged engine. The City Turbo II, meanwhile benefited from flared fenders over both the front and rear wheels with factory graphics labeling it as an "INTERCOOLED TURBO II."
[edit] Interior
The interior appointments to the car focused both on driver involvement and comfort. A digital speedometer surrounded by a tachometer and boost gauge replaced the regular analog instrument cluster (at least until the final run of Turbo II, where the analog assembly from the regular City was used). Form fitting bucket seats were made standard as well as a special "sonic seat" which responded to the audio system by a transducer sending sound and vibration to the user through the seat.
[edit] City Turbo II
The Honda City Turbo II, lovingly known as the "Bulldog", was introduced in 1983. Changes included the already mentioned flared fenders as well as a few changes to the engine. The City Turbo II's engine now had an intercooler as well as a revised intake plenum, slightly larger throttle body, modified inlet manifold, higher AR turbo compressor and exhaust housings as well as a slightly raised (7.6:1) compression ratio. While the original City Turbo ended production in 1984, the City Turbo II contnued on until 1987 when the Turbo model was retired. The last run of the City Turbo II had a normal, analog, speedometer/tachometer assembly in place of the digital speedometer of the earlier models.
A few City Turbo IIs were released as cabriolet models.
[edit] External links
- Honda City Turbo's and The Beginning of Honda Endorsed Mugen Motorsports
- Mugen Official Site
- Honda City Turbo II factbook
- City Turbo site
