hey there techies, just wanted to say great site.
well i just got a 1997 acura GSR. besides IHE upgrades. what else should i do to make it a quick car, not too over the top but not to simple. please dont bring me down cause im a newb. i am willing to spend about 5000-6000 until about christmas. thanks a lot.all motor??? turbo??? what do you guys think? thanks. i just painted it pheonix yellow with a c-fiber hood and konig tantrum wheels. alright thanks a whole lot in advance.
-Ryan-

 

it all depends on what you are going to do with your car. use the search function and dont be an ***. that is the best advice i think you can give

 

thats alot of money. whatever you do, research before you do anything. don't forget to spend some money on security.

 

this may sound dumb, wait this is dumb but i dont know where to start. sorry....

 

well first off, i find it hard to believe that @ the age of 17 you purchased a 97 gsr the other day, had enough money to repaint it phoenix yellow, add a c/f hood (oem style I hope) and Konigs and still want to spend 5-6k. Rather you have a kickass job or your parents helped you, and theres nothing wrong with either of those . . . . oh hell, I'll just assume your telling the truth.

IMO, with the 5-6k, id buy a nice turbo kit for it and slap it on there, and use the rest of my money to start building an ls block, and leave it @ that.

 

honestly, if you have $5-6k to blow on the car, i'd tell you to sell the car and get something better.

 

yea...get a fast car but i love the integras...so i'd say build the block up a bit, throw a turbo on, and a nice set of coilovers i think you'd be very happy

i know i would...

 

Piece together a turbo kit. Get some eagles rods, arp head studs and cp pistons to build up your block. Grab a clutch that can handle the power and any suspension mod you can find to affectively put that power to the ground (koni yellows, some aftermarket springs that aren't cheap, mounts, sway bars, etc.). Get all your parts from the dealers in the forced induction forum, and make sure you spend a good chunk of your money on engine management and tuning. Thats the most important part of turboing a teg. If you want to save money go with Uberdata (just find someone that can tune it, a reputable tuner). You could easily push 300-350whp and be reliable with a good tune with that setup I mentioned (beefing up the block). You'll be very happy with your power......If you have enough money grab yourself a Quaife LSD ......

If you want to go all motor, well I can offer advice there too but I gotta get to work. Ill post up later on.

 

With that much money turbo is def they way to go. U can do a nice kit and build ur block

 

When I was that age I had a 96 Gsr, and about 5-6k to spend I started by trying to go all motor, but before I even got to Cams/Pistons/headwork I had already spent almost $1,500 on bolt ons, and I was still running 15's

So I went nitrous route, I spent $2,100 on a nice setup, ended up blowing my 50k mile Gsr motor after only 8k miles on bottle

Then i spent the last of my $$ on a Jackson Racing supercharger, I was very disapointed, can you say "No top End"

After wasting all that $$ blowing motors, I finally went Turbo.

End of story and that brings us to the present im still but Ill say this time and time again Turbo isn't for everyone, it's like a commitment so be aware of that.

So all im saying is your young, apparently you have some $$ to spend, don't touch it until your knowledgable because mistakes in this sport are costly $$.

If you do want to spend some $$ right now, I will always recomend a nice suspension setup. If you dont have it already, Koni/Ground controls/Itr sway bar is a nice setup and you can do it for under 1k

 

First, spend the time to learn your car. Use this forum's search feature well and you'll get very knowledgable.

Digression: If I were you, I'd just save the $6k for something that'll come up down the road. The GSR is decently quick and gets the job done. Keep the car with minimal work and work towards a bigger car goal in the near future. I say this because we're about the same age and we have the same car... but, everyone's different and you weren't asking for my opinion, so

Back on topic: If you wanna go fast cheaply, go turbo. I know I would.

 

search and read EVERYTHING YOU CAN

in the forced induction and all motor forum

you'll make your own decisions

 

If you want to go all motor then plan to spend a lot of money and your going to have to wait patiently for very good power (unless you fork out a ton of dough at once). Just take a look at this mod list that I had. This was on my GSR last year and I made 190whp. Look at the prices, I could have EASILY made a bunch more power with cam gears, fuel tuning, injectors, ecu chip, higher redline, and bigger cams or even the same cams.

DPR Stage 6 Headwork - $1950 (nearly the cost of a pieced together turbo kit), but this was crazy headwork, free'd up a ton of power, upgraded my valvetrain to handle revs up at 10k rpms and raised my compression...this was the works.
Toda Header - $1,000 (awesome header great resell value too, I sold it for 800)
ITR cams - $330 (great midrange and gave me good top end with my headwork)
Type R tranny with jdm 4.785 final drive, kaaz lsd, fidanza 7.5lb flywheel, exedy street clutch - $a shitload of money for all that, ill guess around 2,500-3,500 for work and everything all together (perfect gearing for all motor though, was fun as hell)
B&M short throw shifter- $100 or so (quick shifts, not necessary but i wanted it)
VAFC - $225 (tuning device, for vtec changeover and fuel)
Unorthodox pulley - $100 or so
Skunk2 Intake manifold - 250-300 i think (still using it with turbo)
2.5" Carsound cat - $100 (not sure on the price, around that...i am still using this with turbo)
70mm (2.67") kakimoto exhaust - $575 (free flowing exhaust, im using with my turbo aswell)

now thats a ton of money for 190whp. that was with stock cam gears, stock ecu, stock redline, stock bottom end (pistons, rods, etc), with untouched fuel tuning. the car easily had 200whp with itr cams, with some bigger cams im thinking around 210whp was easy to attain and that was some good power with my gearing (itr tranny 4.785fd), with the kaaz lsd, and my suspension setup (koni yellows, neuspeed race springs) the car handled like a dream and was a great autocross setup, i only ran it once at the track with the itr cams and it was on a slick night and i ran a 14.1 @ 98.5mph. I could have easily cracked into the high 13's NA with some more track time and tuning. My GSR weighs in at 2,450lbs, thats with gutted AC, Power steering, Rear wiper assembly, aftermarket parts, etc)....so im thinking around mid 13's is the best I was going to do. The VTEC was very loud and sounded great but I just wanted more power and torque, so I decided to part out my parts and piece together a turbo kit. I sold nearly all my parts with ease (good thing about aftermarket parts) and then i bought the turbo setup with the money i got from the parts. Now im running 6psi on a pieced together turbo setup that is all some pretty good stuff (i didn't go cheap on any part) and its all on a stock block. the car is street tuned and i tell you what, it pulls like crazy compared to my NA setup, its a whole different world. Im guessing im pushing around 250whp give or take..ill find out in about 2 weeks when i get back from the dyno...i kept the skunk2 IM, went to a GSR tranny and have a 7lb flywheel and a dual centerforce clutch, i sold the rest of my stuff.......Ill hit the track after i tune aswell....this winter i plan to upgrade the block (cp pistons, eagle rods, arp headstuds and then boost to around 10psi...which will give me around 300whp and ill be good to go from there. running 12's and feeling damn good. Turbo is the way to go, however, all motor is a lot of fun and great for autocross & daily driving...be prepared to fix things with turbo, but its all worth it

 

Also, remember to fork in the fact that you need to pay to have all those parts installed. Unless you can do it yourself and save yourself a ton of money...thats another thing to factor into your pricing.

A bolt on turbo kit is very easy to install yourself, with a couple of buddies. Or you could find a shop to piece together your kit and install for one flat rate, possibly including tuning or something. It all depends on your area, etc.

If you have any questions about anything I just said in either of my posts (turbo or all motor) then feel free to PM me or you can just post on this thread and ill do my best to follow it.

 

FI will definetely get your car faster for cheaper. For 5-6k you could have yourself an extremely fast car

 

full-race.com turbo kit or build a good all motor setup just research a lot so that u have no regrets later on.

 

damn!! with that much money you could build your motor sick i think you should just get a new crank, pistons, itb's and some tien's...i think that would be prety dope.

 

SELL YOUR CAR.

 

AGREED, i spent $5k and bought a Jeep Grand cherokee with a 5.2 liter V8. Fun to drive and none of the old "scraping the lip" worries i have on my teg. I particularly like the drive anywhere and over anything capability



The car is something to get you from A and B. If you make it a lifestyle, just be prepared to keep in mind the commitment you signed up for and the funding for the spiral of modifications forthcoming...

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by mrmonk &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">SELL YOUR CAR.</TD></TR></TABLE>

 

I agree a Jeep is fun. I drive around a beat up chevy with a 350 in it, fun as hell. However, it doesn't compare to having a turbo teg. If your into cars and you really want to make this a hobby (modifying) then by all means its fun as hell and you learn a lot. I'd modify the teg....its something to call your own and you did it. Nothing gives you more pride

If your into saving money and making a career/life now then by all means save your money (I save half my paychecks each week and still keep my hobby). You can easily balance your budget if your smart.....Just save like a grand to buy a beater to drive around, because your going to have downtime, it happens. You'll be more then happy with a turbo teg or an all motor monster

 

thanks a lot everyone ive learned a lot. for now i guess ima build s LS block and build a turbo. thanks again!

 

why dont you just build up your B18C5 and turbo that

 

If you already have gsr motor, why don't you just build that up and turbo it.

 

Im lost here.

First you say you have a 97 GSR then you want to do a LS/VTEC. Whats going on here?

Just boost your stock GSR b18c1. I don't know why you'd want to tackle ls/vtec when you already have a C1.

Please elaborate more.

 

Hit the HT Classifieds forums hard; there are many good finds to be had for your gsr, also hit the sponsor market place for good deals. Look to spend your money wisely on discounted parts or slightly used parts.

1. Spend money on your rims/tires first for the most bang for the buck. I recommend a nice lightweight 15x7" rim with some 205/50/15 tires (go with an upscale brand since you have a bit more money....the falken azenis are a good value but wear too quickly and are a bit heavy).

2. Then upgrade your suspension. Prostreetonline.com (HT sponsor) has great prices on Tein coilovers. There are also a couple people selling sets used.
Ground Control coilover sleeves are also good when teamed with konis.....Big Ed has a set of used konis for sale in the classifieds forum. I recommend not to go too stiff since you are new... so the Tein SS is a very nice setup for under $1,000. Pickup a rear strut bar/front strut bar/itr rear sway bar for a good price once again in the classifieds section to go along with your SS.

3. Now see how you like driving your GSR, and improve your skills, spend some cash on a driving school or autocrossing. After you have attained some skill, then look into power adders like turbo or NA. It's better to drive a slow car fast, than a fast car slow.......or something like that.

4. Don't listen to the people telling you to sell your teg......hope that was a joke about the jeep cherokee thing .........tegs are great cars, so just save up half your money for when you've had it a year, and are ready to take it to the next level, at which point you will have a better idea what YOUR next level will be. Welcome and good luck