As they say, from TIP to Turbo…..is how air enters your engine.

On the Type R, that turbo happens to be a unit from MHI. If you’re one of the many who’ve already upgraded to a Kuro or another larger unit, then you’re going to want to read this blog as we talk about opening up a crucial air pathway right before air enters the compressor wheel of the turbocharger.

Let’s start with the basics.

Air enters your intake system through the front of the grill. We’ll use a 2023+ FL5 Civic for illustration purposes. This applies all the same to the Integra Type S and older 2017-2021 FK8 Type R. The intake is well designed but nothing to write home about so we won’t focus much attention there. We’ve already documented ways to improve it.

The factory inlet pipe on the FL5/DE5, that’s another story. It’s a bit….odd. Flat at the top, not round. Why?

Well from what we can gather, to try and quiet things down mainly. It’s a resonance chamber (underneath). It stops some sounds from coming back out from the intake system and into the engine bay. We don’t want less sound, we want more sound, as long as it sounds good. So why tone things down? We’ll be focusing on making sure our design makes all the right noises. From the factory, it’s also narrow. Right around 76mm (62mm FK8) at the inlet and 59mm at the outlet. There is room to maximize airflow here so we’ll be bumping up sizing to around 80mm.

Switching to the FK8 for a sec, the tip is more traditional. No funky flat piece. Just a round tube and what you would expect from an inlet pipe. It’s no secret. There are many different options for a Turbo Inlet Pipe already available for the FL5/DE5 and FK8 family of cars. We are coming to market late with our TIP and we wanted to apply all the lessons learned and give you guys something unique. We are always looking to REDEFINE here at 27WON.

First thing. Why are the TIPs for these cars over $500? We want to bring the price down a bit for this popular upgrade. We think you guys and gals deserve that.

Second thing. We wanted to make it easy to change your mind. Because of our simpler 2 piece design, you can have it your way just like a Whopper! What we mean is that the center section aka the crossover tube is going to be interchangeable. Want Carbon (matte or polished)? No problem. Titanium? No problem. You’ll also have an option of Stainless Steel or Aluminum (like OE). You’ll only need to swap out the tube that goes over the turbo and that can be done in 5 minutes. You’ll be able to get the different crossover tubes from 27WON at any time day or night 24/7.

27WON FL5/DE5/FK8 Turbo Inlet Pipe, 2 Piece Design

Third, We want to offer fitment for the most popular intakes on the market, not just the 27WON FL5/DE5 intake. So, which fitments should we offer? Add yours comments 👇👇👇

27WON FL5/DE5/FK8 Turbo Inlet Pipe, Complete Design

Let’s talk about our overall direction for a bit.

We started our design with the intent to maximize airflow as much as possible. We’ll use a true 80mm pipe as our baseline size and only go smaller when we have to meet another connection point or junction. Bigger is going to be better here.

27WON FL5/DE5/FK8 Turbo Inlet Pipe, Wastegate Clearance

We are sticking with a cast aluminum design for the area near the turbo inlet. This allows us to clear the harmonic balancer pulley, wastegate actuator, and the VTC oil control solenoid in the area while maintaining maximum diameter. This is the best approach.

We’ve maximized the diameter of the pipe at the turbo inlet while still fitting OE turbo as well. This TIP will improve flow to Kuro and Kuro+ over the OE TIP. If your turbo can accommodate a larger diameter then our TIP will be easy to modify (or possibly buy) for that. Look for more details on that later.

Our next blog will share some progress on prototypes and we’ll share some data from testing and design validation. We’ll test intake air temps with different materials noted above to see if there's a difference and try to settle that debate once and for all. And we’ll of course fine tune the fitment so it drops in 100% just like OEM parts.

Our plan is to bring this new Inlet Pipe to market in late 2026!

27WON FL5/DE5/FK8 Turbo Inlet Pipe, Tagline

Oh, and before you go. Are you Interested in helping us with our marketing? Drop some tagline suggestions in the comments below on what we should write on the topside logo plate for this release? Don't worry, we are designing this part in a way that if you want to run no branding it’ll be easy as pie.

Mod on!

-Vlad

It All Starts Here: PT 1 of FL5/DE5/FK8 Inlet Pipe Design from 27WON

As they say, from TIP to Turbo…..is how air enters your engine.

Let’s start with the basics.

The factory inlet pipe on the FL5/DE5, that’s another story. It’s a bit….odd. Flat at the top, not round. Why?

Let’s talk about our overall direction for a bit.

Our plan is to bring this new Inlet Pipe to market in late 2026!