im planning on putting a to4e or similar turbo in my 12A after i give it a large streetport. i am wondering how durable these motors are

 

as durable as any other engine with a turbo on it

 

You can get at least 60.000 miles, with care. after 60
it's time to start thinking new or rebuild time.oh,, the turbo's as well.

 

"how much abuse can the 12A take?"

A lot. Too much boost results in cracking endplates(ask how I know), no more then 10-12psi MAX is my recommendation with a IC. I am currently dowling out my engine to handle 15psi to deal with the problem. I also had the sideplate-rotor housing sliding in the spark plugs area which occurs from excessive combustion pressure, dowling will help, at least I hope. Run extra high octane that you can afford. I converted to E85(ethanol 85%, gas 15%) which is 105octane. Detonation?.. what detonation?

 

lol How did you come up with that magic number.

Like any other engine it depends on how much power it's making, what sort of rpm you use, state of tune, maintenance etc.

 

12a's though for the most part are tough little motors!

 

Its all in the tuning IMO.

~T.J.

 

my 12A died after 268,000Km the chrome lining of the housing just wore out, and i drove it like it was suppost to, but i changed oil regularly, and warmed it up fully every time i drove it.

 

as of now mine is pretty much stock with about 114000 miles on it. im probably going to use racing beats race rotors, maybe get the housings and rotor faces ceramic coated, and can you give some more information on dowling. i read what it was before but i forget. how expensive is it to do? my final goal for my 12A ( i say 12A instead of car because after college i am planning on a 13B or 20B swap) 350hp, but now listening to you guys i dunno if i will be able to without using too much boost.

 

I'm rebuilding my 12A with a little bit of porting on the intake. If i want to port the exhaust, do i need to change the apex seals ? or the stock ones would be enough ? And Do i need a large street port to run a 12A with a turbo?

 

Yes, definately port the exhaust as well. Stock seals will be fine.