what should I do?

[AcuranVA]

I have a '94 Integra LS with an intake, exhaust, tires and rims...I have been looking at engine swaps or upgrades. What do you guys think would be my best option? My car is an automatic, but whatever modifications happen...it will be a 5 speed. The motor has 112, 000 miles on it, but seems to be running fine.

Doing the tranny swap alone would be $500+-?
Or I could get a type r or vtec head?
Or pull a total swap?

I am looking to either supercharge or turbo the engine soon after, so which of these options (or something else?) would be the best?

[h82lose]

Why don't you just turbo the b18b or your ls engine? The ls engine has a great low comp ratio and therefore responds well to turboing. Try using the search feature of the forum and you can find a ton of info on your engine.

[AcuranVA]

ok, thanx alot man

BTY...I've only been on this site for a few days, and can already tell...it kicks ass!

[ViGGa2LO]

i would keep your engine and talk to crower, they will make you car gooo. what comp rate do you have with your ls bc if its less than 10 you could get cams and pistons but make one a high runner and the other a low runner so you will be quick off the start and still be able to dominate at highway speeds

[GSteg]

Originally posted by h82lose
The ls engine has a great low comp ratio and therefore responds well to turboing.

actually..higher compression engines responds to turbos better than low compression.

[CRXkid]

doesnt a high compression ratio, with a turbo, just increase the chance of damage to the engine? it just seems to me that a lower compression engine with a turbo would be much safer than a high compression engine with a turbo. just my opinion though.

[GSteg]

Originally posted by CRXkid
doesnt a high compression ratio, with a turbo, just increase the chance of damage to the engine? it just seems to me that a lower compression engine with a turbo would be much safer than a high compression engine with a turbo. just my opinion though.

a higher compression wont' increase the damage to the engine. if tuning goes correctly, it will be safe. in a way, a lower compression engine is safer because it allows more headroom in detonation. at the same time, it would have to be boost a lot just to gain the same power as a higher compression engine with lower boost. for instance (with all variables the same), it would take an LS engine 13psi of boost just to gain as much power as a GSR engine with ONLY 10psi. either away, the GSR responds more to boost because it made power with less boost stuffed into the engine, all because of the static compression. when you're adding boost, it stuffs more air into the engine to create a bigger combustion. a high compression engine already does this, therefore needing less boost to be stuffed in. in an LS engine, the combustion is weaker, so more boost is required just to get the same compression rate as the GSR engine. the great things is that you can run lower boost to make the same power, which means less stress on the turbo to spin, and have better spool up time because of the exuast released by the high compression.

low compression= more headroom in detonation with higher boost
high compression= more headroom in making power with less boost.