B18c5 vs B18c1 turbo

What's up everybody? For the record I couldn't decide whether to post this is the turbo forums or the jdm engine swap forum so I just put it here. Okay here's my question. I went to a local shop here in L.A. County where they sell JDM engine's. I went there with the intention to buy a GSR engine and LSD transmission. They want $3,300 for the complete swap (pretty much the whole front clip of the car, some suspension, brakes, ecu, ect.). But then when I mentioned that I want to eventually have the motor rebuilt for turbo he said that that wasn't such a good idea. He said that most people with a turbo on their car's end up killing the engine within 2 year's whether or not they build the engine for boost. He then went on to try and sell me a Type R complete change over for only $4000. He had like 5 of them, all in pretty good visual shape. Even here in Los Angeles that is a pretty good price. So then I started wondering what I should do. First of all I have to consider that maybe the seller is bull shitting a bit because the Type R setup is a bit more expensive. But then I was also considering how much more money I will eventually have to dish out if I do go with the GSR motor and then rebuild it ($1,500), have it installed again ($500), and buy a turbo ($2,500). Even thought a boosted GSR will be faster than a ITR motor I don't know if it's worth all that much. I'm really considering going with the ITR and paying the little $700 extra to save me all that money in the long run. Any opinion's or comment's are welcome. Thanks everybody.

First of all, 3300 for a complete GSR swap with ECU, brakes, and some suspension stuff? Immediately you should be thinking stolen and check all that shit out before you even touch it. Same goes for a 4000 dollar ITR swap.

Second, get the GSR motor. You're going to get a half-assed turbo kit with poor engine management for 2500 bucks, and it's going to be a good bit more than 1500 to rebuild the motor with pistons/rods, new bearings, gaskets, oil + water pump, etc, even if you know how to do it yourself. You arn't going to save yourself anything with the ITR motor, the weakest part of the B-series motors (Save for the B20) is the ringlands, and they are weak for the GSR and weak for the ITR. Put the 700 bucks you'd save over the ITR towards better engine management.

Thanks so much for the quick response. But let me clairify something. I really don't think that the engine's are stolen. The company is pretty big out here in L.A. and they have paper's for every engine. Although you are right that those are some really good prices. I've been shopping around for about 10 months now. Oh and were you trying to say that I'm pretty much going to need to rebuild the motor anyway's whether I go turbo, N/A, GSR or ITR? Because of the ring's? I asked him to be honest about the milage and tell me the most milage the engine would posibly have on them. He tried saying from 40,000 to 75,000, tops. Even if he isn't lying I think that 75,000 is way too many even for a Honda engine. So I think your right about having to need a rebuild regardless. Once again thanks.

75k too much on a honda engine??? not if you took care of it, my d16 had 184xxx miles on it and it still ran like a top. but i agree with Turbo.. get the gsr, rebuild and turbo... it may take more time and money, but you will be 150% more satisfied than with the C5.

75k too much on a honda engine??? not if you took care of it, my d16 had 184xxx miles on it and it still ran like a top. but i agree with Turbo.. get the gsr, rebuild and turbo... it may take more time and money, but you will be 150% more satisfied than with the C5.
:iagree: My d was still running exceptional with just over 100k before i killed the tranny on it.

But what about when the guy said that even with a rebuild most people end up ruining their engine's after about 2 years. Is there any truth to that?

Sorry I meant that they will ruin it if they turbo charge it. I guess boosting your car make's it less reliable. Is there any truth to that.

lol, if their was, how many car campanies would release turboed cars (Evo, eclipse, old chryslers) a car is only as reliable as the owner that performs the maintanance.

Sorry I meant that they will ruin it if they turbo charge it. I guess boosting your car make's it less reliable. Is there any truth to that.

Sounds like a shop owner trying to pimp more parts on you. I had a stock LS motor with ARP rod bolts in my hatch for a while, I put about 24K miles on it turbocharged. That's running 14 psi from a T3/TO4E 57-trim on pump gas every single day, and that motor started off at 120K miles. An 8 psi drag kit or something of that nature with good tuning will last a very long time.