Here's the deal, I dont know much about cars -- when I read the threads in HT, pretty much everything goes over my head. I want to turbo my GSR though, but I dont want there to be issues and areas of concern that come up, cause honestly I'll have no idea what to do about them.

Thanks for any insightlful answers . Please dont bitch about how I dont know much about cars. Thanks.

 

start with basic engine knowledge... come back to that question again in a year or two. there is no point screwing up your car/engine. unless your willing to pay for turn key setups

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by rewerbcrx &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">start with basic engine knowledge... come back to that question again in a year or two. there is no point screwing up your car/engine. unless your willing to pay for turn key setups</TD></TR></TABLE>

agreed. i researched about 6 months before my h22 swap. about 2 years research and gathering parts for an auto to manual conversion. along the way other thing such as tensioner conversion and p/s pump removeal. but since my thoughts of the h22 swap, i have looked in on N/A vs turbo. for my car turbo would be more effective with better results due to my cars size and weight. an all out N/A could be just as expensive as a decent turbo build. know your pros and cons and use the search or just go thru threads with topics that you find you can learn from. jump on other forums and do the same. i still don't know half of what the experienced guys on here know but i do my homework and prepare myself for whats ahead.

 

if u arnt COMPLETLY ready to buy another engine and install it yourself or pay for someone else to install it, remembering down time during the middle, then you shouldnt turbo your car

if you need reliable transportation, and dont have alternatives, dont turbo it

if you have extra transportation, extra time, extra money and the will to learn and prove coutless people wrong at autoparts stores along the way, go turbo

 

Unless you don't mind payin out the *** for a reputable shop to do everything (including when/if you have problems) then either don't do it at all or do a lot of research and start learning about cars. Start small and work your way up.

 

id say learn skill before going for power , i am currently building a 500hp motor for my ITR , it will be my first boosted motor , I've had 6 all motor / nitrous builds , and 2 stock motors in it , and that's just 1 car I've had among many Honda's ,

common knowledge will save you in the end , just keep reading , and if you don't understand , search , or just plain ol ask . nothing wrong with asking a question .

i say that comment about skill , but i don't know you , you may be the next andretti , who knows , point is , there is always something new , or a new way to do an old trick , with what you have .

FYI , i had no problem beating boosted cars with my all motor setups , esp with spray ,
BUT i KNEW exactly how to drive those motors ,
i am VERY well aware that my car will be slower with 500hp for a while , until i RElearn the skill it takes to drive it .

plus your DEF gonna get screwed ,If you go to a shop ,
because the first time you say something dumb ( not really dumb , but inaccurate info , or you just sound like you have no idea what your talking about to a shop)
they will take such advantage of that you have no idea , you'll walk out with a 25K bill , I've seen it ,.

hope that helps .

also , i have some all motor stuff for sale , if your interested pm me

EDIT : how old are you , maybe a school for auto stuff is something to think about , UTI , or something like that .

 

you could start by having a intake system--then--&gt;header, exhaust...and on to turbo...once your ready...thats wat i did.

 

by a second car to be your daily driver, then start playing with the GSR

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by blinx9900 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">by a second car to be your daily driver, then start playing with the GSR </TD></TR></TABLE>

Good advice. It makes it so much more stress free and fun if you don't have to worry about getting your car back on the road because you need to go to work. Just find a beater pickup or suv. That way you can haul parts around if need be.

 

Thanks for all the info and help guys

To answer some of the questions, I'm 26 and I don't think I'd have much time to take auto classes since I'm starting my MBA in the fall.

I definitely do want to get myself a second car, I was thinking an SUV to get me around in winters (moving to Toronto in a couple months).

A couple questions...
-- Where should I go to learn about cars? not just turbo, but all aspects about how a car works. whenever i read something now, it pretty much feels like i'm reading arabic
-- What does 'all motor' mean? does that just mean stuff other than turbo/nos (i.e. intake, header, exhaust, etc)?

 

Does anyone know of a good beginner read on cars and how they work? I'm talking VERY BASIC stuff.

 

honestly after reading your responses you seem capable of learning.

the best way to learn is to get dirty. buy some beers, find a local honda guru and do a motor swap. thats how it started for me. heres a great idea, pick up a Honda with a blown motor for cheap, and do a swap into that for your cheap new daily driver.

all motor means exactly what it says, all motor, nothing else. (IE, nitrous, forced induction)

if u want a good book to read, pick up a Haynes manual for your car. read that over. (chiltons is great too)

check out some build threads and see what other people are doing. i got really interested in turboing hondas from http://www.homemadeturbo.com.

 

Blinx9900 has the best advice of all! Get a beater then start tinkering. Its alot better to work with out the added stress of it been your daily! good Books to read Maximum Boost by Corky Bell, Engine Management Advanced Tuning by Greg Banish. Dont worry the only way you are going to learn anything is if you get in there and get your hands dirty like has been said. Im sure you are pretty mechanically inclided if you wanna learn. Yes you gonna blow **** up, melt ****, brake ****, cuss alot and im sure your blood pressure will increase to! lol But as long as you learn from your mistakes however expensive they may be thats all that matters. You will learn as you go along. It also all depends on your passion and how much you wanna learn. My noise is in boooks every chance I get and I have been into car for 10 years now and I learn new stuff all the time!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by welfarepc &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">honestly after reading your responses you seem capable of learning.

the best way to learn is to get dirty. buy some beers, find a local honda guru and do a motor swap. thats how it started for me. heres a great idea, pick up a Honda with a blown motor for cheap, and do a swap into that for your cheap new daily driver.

all motor means exactly what it says, all motor, nothing else. (IE, nitrous, forced induction)

if u want a good book to read, pick up a Haynes manual for your car. read that over. (chiltons is great too)

check out some build threads and see what other people are doing. i got really interested in turboing hondas from http://www.homemadeturbo.com. </TD></TR></TABLE>

More good advice. Hell, you could find a beater civic as mentioned, keep the sohc and boost that. Get yourself an extra sohc and mess with that. sohc's are cheap, so aleast you learn on those engines. They also can make a decent amount of power too if built right with good parts.

 

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/engine.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I...ngine

http://www.siu.edu/~autoclub/frange.html

http://findarticles.com/p/arti...07382

http://world.honda.com/news/2000/c000616.html

http://www.theautochannel.com/....html

that should get you started on the "how does this work" area
google is your best friend


Modified by 95jeremie at 4:18 PM 3/28/2008

 

nice advice given. i second the getting a beater. it saves time and money. you can go at a slower pace and not have to rush things. and i second that getting dirty(hands on is the best way to learn) you can only do so much by reading and just looking at pics. everyone learns differently. to the post that said do the basic I/H/E, that is a good start but you shouldn't jump right to turbo afters. there is a whole alot inbetween that step. Turbo should be dead last next to All out N/A IMO.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by rewerbcrx &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">start with basic engine knowledge... come back to that question again in a year or two. there is no point screwing up your car/engine. unless your willing to pay for turn key setups</TD></TR></TABLE>

who knows if there will be gas in a year or two

take it to a shop and have a beast built

 

yea man only thing you gotta do is get out there and get dirty. Research also that gooes a long way. I say as long as you have basic mechanic skills forget the idea of a shop. Man I am the one to tell you I knew nothing about cars up until 2 years ago. It just takes time and patience grasshoppa. Now like my man said go and get a Haynes and dig ya face in it.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by DJLikwid &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Here's the deal, I dont know much about cars -- when I read the threads in HT, pretty much everything goes over my head. I want to turbo my GSR though, but I dont want there to be issues and areas of concern that come up, cause honestly I'll have no idea what to do about them.

Thanks for any insightlful answers . Please dont bitch about how I dont know much about cars. Thanks.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Everyone starts somewhere just start off with the basics work your way up.Eventually you'll have better knowledge what to and not to do. To prevent stuff from breaking and stuff blowing up.I'd just say alot of reading my friend we'll do.

 

Thanks again for all the help. I actually have a Haynes right now, but I havent read up on many things that I wasnt directly looking into at the time. My tentative plan right now is to read up as much as possible this summer, get a beater this winter, and hopefully get into the turbo in about a year or so.

Another question though -- why do a motor swap into the GSR? why shouldnt I just turbo the motor I have now?

 

My whole setup began with a CRX, an engine that "doesn't fit", almost no automotive or fabrication knowledge, and a whole whack of nay sayers.

You sound like you have the motivation, you'll be fine!

Some great advice in this thread.

 

I would say go out and buy/borrow a repair manual for your car, that way you could learn how things work and you could also work on it or just gather info from here.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by xdaex &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I would say go out and buy/borrow a repair manual for your car, that way you could learn how things work and you could also work on it or just gather info from here.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yup, got a Haynes. I'm gonna start going through it when I have some time.

 

Haynes is better than nothing. Chilton would be next. But the top dog of them all is the Helms. Its about 100 bucks but well worth the pennies. Anyone on here would prefer it over anything else. Its the OEM manual. Lots more graphics and detailed info. You can also get bits and piece of the helms online. I can't remember where I got it but I have a good bit of the 4th gen prelude, 4th gen accord and 92-96 civic. Although the complete book would be ideal. I needed some pages that weren't part of the package I got.

 

The main things you need to learn before going turbo:

*how turbocharging works
*how to tune the afr's/timing retard
*fuel system upgrades (what & why)
*what's included in the normal turbo kit

As long as you get a compete kit, you can install it pretty much yourself, then have a local shop tune it for you. When done right, a 300whp 'stock' GSR can last for several years.