Ok I have a 94 4 door gsr with approximately 140k on it. Normal matinance has been done on it and has been kept up. I bought the car with 95k on it. My future plans if the laws of physics and the engine permits is to turbo this car. For now i have a cai, dunk catback, and p28ecu with hondata s200. I am in the process of putting on a skunk2 manifold with hondata intake manifold gasket. What should i do next. I don't have enough for the turbo, so that will have to wait until next summer or around then. If I am to do a rebuild (still thinking if i should or not) what am i looking at in down time on the car and what parts would I need to piece together or look into when doing this rebuild. This is my daily driver by the way.

I am debating whether to let the turbo idea sit for a bit until i get a new car. If i do that i will still keep this car, but wont be messing with it for a while, which probably wont happen since I am pretty much addicted to this money pit of mine.

So whats your suggestions?

PS forgot to mention I will be getting the compression test and leak down done whenever my friend gets a chance to do it for me. Also suspension has the following modified, KYB AGX shocks, GC coilovers, Nar spec rear LCAs, Type r 22mm sway bar, BSQ kit, Rear strut bar and lower tie bar.

 

Have you considered headwork? Or perhaps a bottom end rebuild with perhaps LS pistons to lower the compression for the turbo. How about a good set of tires? Or a couple of HPDE's?

 

Im thinking about a set of omni power valves, springs, retainers. I have falken ziex tires on my stock gsr wheels, but later im looking into getting the set of subzeros that i have posted in my sig. Other than that not worried about spending too much on tires. Whats HPDE?

Also thing about the rebuild is downtime on the car. I am a college student and also work and need this car to get around becuase it is my daily driver.

 

Changing to a good set of tires can make the car feel a thousand times better.

HPDE is High Performance Drivers Education. These events are commonly organized through SCCA, NASA, and other sanctioning bodies. They're well worth it.

 

oh ok. I understand, I know about the whole tire thing, but don't want to spend too much because the falkens i have a pretty decent. I go through tires quick since i do a lot of highway driving and with a set of good ones they would just go too quick. I really want to focus on the engine and see what else i can do to get more power out of it.

 

Problem is, if you are going turbo in the near future, your options are limited because NA mods are sometimes opposite of turbo mods. Meaning, you want to lower compression for turbo, but raised compression for NA. And you don't want to buy a nice header only to have to ditch it for a turbo manifold. I say, since you are going turbo soon, work on your head, suspension and brakes and save the rest for your future turbo. But what do I know, I am still sportin a NA B18A, lol.

 

yeah....you are right. My suspension is done for now. Im not going to spend anymore on it unless i get a ASR rear 32mm sway bar kit but thats like 500. Brakes are fine as is also, don't need spoon calipers anything else. I have Brembo slotted/cross drilled in the front already. What about cams or cam gears. After the skunk2 install I am going to get the car tuned to get some more power out of the current setup. I might look for a decent header if i can find one for cheap.

 

other thing also is I have been trying to save up, but i always start spending it on something else. Im thinking if get a turbo kit its gonna run me around 2500. So im wondering if I should save up, spend 1500 get used turbo kit and spend the 1000 and build the motor some.

 

It sounds like you've had no plan for your car and are lego building at this point. Why else would you buy a Skunk2 IM when all you have is a CAI and an exhaust. That's the wrong thing to do at this point, you shouldn't even think about getting an aftermarket IM until after you have done cams, and pistons to raise the compresion. Your going to gut you low end and midrange power for real small gains up to, and you'll be slower overall.
It sounds to me like you don't have much cash, so that alone should knock the possibility off getting a turbo right out of the box (if you want a quality turbo that's installed and tuned correctly) you get what you pay for. If you want to play with your car and are going paycheck to paycheck, stick to NA, because like Sam92teg said, parts for NA and parts for Turbo are in 2 different ballparks, 2 completely different paths. And you'll be wasting alot of money hopping from one to the other.

 

Well i have had a plan. I bought the skunk2 manifold becuase of what some people told me to do and what direction to take. Pistons and internals were not really in the plan before becuase of downtime that i couldn't take. Before also I didn't have the funds to do the whole turbo thing. My plan before was just do the whole NA thing, but that changed since i recently got a new job and actually started doing things. I have gone through the car in steps. First it was the stereo, which lasted a while and been through many different systems in the car. Then it was the suspension, which im done with, except for the wheels. So now im focusing on the engine. The skunk2 manifodl has not been installed and maybe i will wait on installing and get another P72 ECU because i don't know where my stock one is. Im just what can be done to the car as a neutral setup for gains but not actually straight NA or FI. As in I can do but not have to take off later because I want to go turbo. The whole reason of not going turbo now was the fact that I do not have the funds, which is why I said I would do it next summer. By next summer I will have the funds to do the setup right, a brand new kit with brand new parts and have to worry about the other things. Thanks for the advice everyone so far.

 

Nicely said

 

i would hold that cash for the turbo til you get a new car. i was going to boost mine with 160k but with that kind of miles youd have to run it pretty low not to kill it. im just waiting til next teg comes along.

 

well I was thinking of running 7psi. Then after i have the turbo in there...save up for the new car and have this as my beater and also straight project car. My goal was before i get a new car to do the whole turbo thing on this one.

 

if so, thats the most boost i would run on stock internals. i dunno i have been goin pretty easy on my car so something doesnt bust bfor i sell it

 

yeah id like to run 5psi and then start building it up after that, but not many kits come with a wastegate that has a 5psi spring.