Anyway, to make a long story short. I have a 96 eclipse GST with a 20g, fmic,3in exhaust and all supporting mods to make it a 12 sec beast! And it seems lately i just cant keep it on the road. Its always having something wrong with it. Now my girl and my friends say "if u sell it u wont ever have a car as fast" and "when you lose you'll be so pissed". Its true but I cant afford to keep fixing it these days...anyway, in the DSM forum(www.dsmtuners.com) they all say "keep your dsm..hondas suck blah blah"...One thing i dont know is how much potential the gsr really has. If i did get one i'd only do minor mods, no turbo but probably nos. How much hp is the bottom end good for? But would you guys say i should ditch it and "mildly" build it up? btw, if u want to read the post at the dsm forum its here http://www.dsmtuners.com/forum...00406

 

DSM's are proven to be unreliable and often expensive to maintain, you're not alone. They're incredible for making large amounts of horsepower though. But fortunately, you have come to the point where the thirst for horsepower has been overcome by the price. An Integra GSR is a great performing car with a lot of potential. If you want a faster car, then get a Civic, a B-series engine, and a turbo, but I'm glad you inquired as to the GSR.

The GSR offers a moderate and well balanced performance package. It's reasonably powerful, handles great, stops good, and is fairly comfortable. In addition, all of these performance aspects can be easily modified to suit your goals. Running 12's however is a different story. I think that if you decide to go with a GSR, then you'll be swayed by it's handling appeal and not focus so much on drag racing.

If you are looking only for speed, then I must suggest finding an old EG hatch, gutting it, A more competent engine (maybe a GSR engine, maybe an LS/VTEC, maybe an ITR engine), and a turbo (which is less expensive than a lot of people would like to believe). It's very possible to build a 12 second Honda for very little money and the information on this website should be useful in helping you accomplish this. It all depends upon your goals, and how much you want to spend.

Also, ask the DSM guys why they think Honda's suck. There are equally fast street cars out there from both Honda and Mitsubishi. Also, Honda specializes in road racing, and it shows on the suspensions of most of their late model performance oriented cars.

Do your research, and I think you'll find that selling the DSM in favor of a Honda is very much in your best interest.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Kendall &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">DSM's are proven to be unreliable and often expensive to maintain, you're not alone. They're incredible for making large amounts of horsepower though. But fortunately, you have come to the point where the thirst for horsepower has been overcome by the price. An Integra GSR is a great performing car with a lot of potential. If you want a faster car, then get a Civic, a B-series engine, and a turbo, but I'm glad you inquired as to the GSR.

The GSR offers a moderate and well balanced performance package. It's reasonably powerful, handles great, stops good, and is fairly comfortable. In addition, all of these performance aspects can be easily modified to suit your goals. Running 12's however is a different story. I think that if you decide to go with a GSR, then you'll be swayed by it's handling appeal and not focus so much on drag racing.

If you are looking only for speed, then I must suggest finding an old EG hatch, gutting it, A more competent engine (maybe a GSR engine, maybe an LS/VTEC, maybe an ITR engine), and a turbo (which is less expensive than a lot of people would like to believe). It's very possible to build a 12 second Honda for very little money and the information on this website should be useful in helping you accomplish this. It all depends upon your goals, and how much you want to spend.

Also, ask the DSM guys why they think Honda's suck. There are equally fast street cars out there from both Honda and Mitsubishi. Also, Honda specializes in road racing, and it shows on the suspensions of most of their late model performance oriented cars.

Do your research, and I think you'll find that selling the DSM in favor of a Honda is very much in your best interest.</TD></TR></TABLE>
Says it all.

 

it's not going to be as easy to make a 12 sec honda as it is a turbo eclipse. To start off you should prolly get a 92-95 hatch and do an engine swap. Then you need some engine building, sleeving, rods, pistons, turbo, intercooler etc. Engine management, tuning/dyno time. Anyway, if you choose an integra or a civic or prelude you are going to have to spend a lot of money to hit 12's. Minor mods on an integra like intake header and exhaust will only possibly get you into the 14's. You're looking at the wrong car for cheap speed.

 

They are all right up above. DSM's are very fast, but have incompetent suspension even for an AWD. I've smoked just about every kind of eclipse and talon in a road race. You can literally destroy them through corners. Hondas are lightweight, high-strung, little pocket rockets that can basically out handle anything. If you are looking for the same speed as the eclipse, turbo a GS-R or a 98' Prelude SH and I'll guarantee you see a better difference with a Honda or Acura. Just remember, if Honda made turbo charged Vtecs, They would dominate the road and smoke eclipses, 3000 gts, subarus, and any VR6 VW or 1.8 t!!!!!!

 

well, you've already done it with a dsm.......... nothing wrong with trying something different........

 

Before you go on, you should ask yourself what your number one priority is.

Going in a straight line really fast? Cutting corners? Daily beater? Econo-car?

To tell you the truth, if you want to remain fast in a straight line and don't want to spend more, I say stick with the DSM. The car is already there with some bruises on it and who knows how much you already spent on it. Perhaps spent a little more to get her fixed and leave it at that.

Also, think twice if you want to get a 12sec GSR. You buy a used GSR ($6k~). Perhaps a (custom) turbo kit ($2-4). If you want to go 12s, I'm already thinking engine build (?) and of course we can't forget tuning (?). Either way, it's going to cost more. And if 15k$ is penny change to you, why get a GSR? Down payment on a STI, SRT, Cobra, Evo... ?

Don't get me wrong here. I like hondas, but I think money wise and your preference to remain 12sec fast, it might be a better decision to stick with what you already have. Unless you want something new. As suggested by Team4R, since you already done it with a DSM, why not give honda a shot? You might as well look into domestics too because camaros (v8s) aren't too slow either with a few $$$.

Good luck whatever car you chose. If it's a Honda. Welcome aboard. If not, it's cool. We're all hear because we like cars (regardless of who makes them). Well... me that is.