EH2DX

remember that JDM H22 i bought for my g/f's prelude Si? well anyway, she ended up fixing her car instead of swapping that in so now i have that motor laying around.
i have a few offers for $1400 cash for it, a trade for a 2nd gen B16 with hydro GSR tranny (which i can't use), and an offer to trade it for a turbo kit.
the kit is complete, but it's made for honda accord. all i would need to get would be the manifold, downpipe, and exhaust. it's complete with t3/t4 turbo, big FMIC, all pipings, fittings, clamps, oil return lines, waste gate, FMU, BOV, turbo timer, etc. etc.

now i can't decide if i should accept that offer or get cash and buy cams, valve train, and chip my ECU.
i drive a lot so i want my **** to be reliabe. and since i don't have any pesos to do internal work i know that something would go wrong within the next 15000 miles (at least my piston rings ) if i boost.
i know H22 is not the best motor to turbo, but i wouldn't mind doig it because i love boost. but reliability is a big issue.
now i could get some SKUK2 stage2 cams, and upgrade my valve train to rev past 8K RPM, chip my ecu, and maybe get the SKUNK2 intake manifold later on. and i should be able to join the 13 sec club N/A.
i know i'd be faster with boost, and i'm so very tempted to do it, but like i said, reliability plays a big role here.
so can you please suggest what you think i should do and why. i just can't decide...

2000TypeSh

Tough one. Now I'm very impartial but I would say go turbo but be smart. I ran my h22 turbo on stock internals for about 5 months before something finally went wrong (burnt exhaust valve). That was the cheapest repair I have done in a long time and since I had time to save up after getting the turbo I was able to upgrade the internals while I had the engine apart.

My 2 cents.

EH2DX

that's what i'm saying, i don't think i'll have enough pesos to upgrade my internals any time soon. i wish i had money to do it right now and boost safely, but unfortunately that's not the case.
i don't plan to boost more than 6psi on stock internals, but i'd still run into trouble. either way i look at it, i'm gonna have to spend more money with turbo.
N/A on the other hand is more reliable eventhough i'll be spending big bucks for small gains. but hey, i'll be happy with anything over 200whp and i think that's pretty respectable too.

93 VTEC

If reliability is a big concern, I would stay all motor. You won't make nearly as much power, but you also wont have nearly as great of an expense. The items you will need (manifold, DP, exhaust) will cost you at least another $1000 after you trade for the turbo kit, not to mention you should upgrade your injectors ($300), get some sort of EMS (at least $300), a ELECTRONIC boost controller (at least $400), plus gauges, etc.

If you went all motor, you could get away with some Crower stg 2's for ~$600, Euro R mani $300, Kamikaze (makes more power than the DC) header $300, larger TB, maybe a Hondata, or just keep your Fields unit. This should put you at close to 200HP at the ground, with bone stock like reliability


[Modified by 93VTEC, 7:00 AM 12/24/2002]

EH2DX

and that's what i decided... i will be getting some cams pretty soon... i want to save up some more and get valve train at the same time, then a manifold and maybe a hondata....


[Modified by BB1, 11:45 PM 12/26/2002]

0Mike95lude

I agree that you should go NA. I personally wonder how well cams are going to perform on stock 10.0:1 compression?? I plan on upgrading more NA as time passes.

BoostedH23a1

put that bitch on ebay.