what to do next?

I just took my car down to the track and ran a 15 flat at 95 mph. With the mods i have in it (a small 16g turbo, full apexi n1 exhaust with apexi downpipe, k&n filter, TRE transmission, 2600 ACT Clutch with XACT Streetlite flywheel) i thought I would run a little bit better than that. I probably will next time I go down because it was my first on the track with it. What i am trying to get at is I dont want to try as hard to get a better time, so i obviously want to mod it up more to get it alot faster. I was thinking of an engine swap because i am running on the stock engine that has 50000 miles on a rebuilt engine (196000 miles on body.) Any suggestions of some race motors like a buschur race motors or anyone mods that will help me get to a desireable time like 13's or 12's? I would probably spend between $3000 to $6000 on whatever seems wil help the most. Thanks

Why do an engine swap on a motor that already has great stock internals? You factory bottom end can still handle as much horsepower as you can throw at it.

I don't have the priviledge of owning a turbo model DSM, but from what I've ready I would upgrade to a big 16g, and all the goodies for that (injectors, FMIC, etc. etc.)

And your car should be running faster than that, being a GSX with a few upgrades....you should be low 14s high 13s (can you drive well?)

Im a good driver, its just my starts really kill me. I just got all that new tranny stuff in like the TRE trans, 2600 clutch and flywheel, so i dont really want to launch or anything like that. I tried launching it on the street at 4.5 rpms, and it didnt seem to do much, so i just took off from zero on the track. Other than that, i was real good with everything else, its just my starts are real bad. Idk about keeping my engine I have right now. It has sprung a couple oil leaks that I had fixed because its so old and they will prob spring again if I keep this engine. I have been looking for new turbos and injectors and FMIC's too. For turbos I have been looking at the EVO III GT, and the Big 16g. I doubt my car could handle it, but I can prob afford a garrett, but I would most likely not go with that until way later. Injectors and FMIC, just been looking at whats on dsmparts.com and dsmtuners.com. I really dont have a clue what works best for my car, but I really need to get some suggestions to get a better idea of what I should do.

I can't really offer anymore advice thatn I already have, getting deep into turbo stuff is just Chinese to me.

I'm sure Keven or Jake or someone will post here eventually, they really know what they're doing.

Good news on my track time. All I needed was a decent launch and shift at 7 rpm instead of 6 like I did the first time. Shaved off a full second! So now Im down to a 14.1 and i can easily get into the 13's like the last guy that owned my car did, I just need a perfect launch. The ones ive been pulling now are ok but are still a little sloppy. Im going down this friday, i guarentee ill be in the 13's when i get back! But still any more input on what i should put into my car to give it a little more push? Ive been thinking of a new turbo or maybe a front mount intercooler. Any ideas guys? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

First of all, what are your 60' times? Yes, the launch is important, but an indication of how much power you are making should be in the ET. My shitty t25 runs were a little faster than 95mph, so I suspect that the car isn't tuned well. How much boost? What are you using to tune the car?

The s16g is a great turbo--I would not be looking at the Evo III 16g or Evo GT as an upgrade.

How much boost are you running?

As far as upgrades, I would have to say fuel before FMIC. Buy some Evo8 injectors ($100-150), and you should be able to run more boost without pulled timing.

Check for boost leaks, check your tune (log some pulls and make sure you're not running too rich/lean), fix your launch, etc. You should easily be in the 13s with that setup.

Injectors, fuel pump, and pocketlogger.

That will satisfy you for a while...

yeah, i dont see a boost controler in your mod list. do you have one?

you should beable to lanch fairly well at 5000rpm with the 16g you have.

if you want to get any better times then you have you NEED to get a logger and air/fuel tuning device, and the other fuel mods Ladnoawd suggested.

I dont have any logging device at all and no boost controller so i have no clue what i am running. That is probably really bad, but thats how i bought the car and really havent put any mods into it since then except the tranny clutch and flywheel, so i really cant answer any of those questions. But i definately have a very good launch down that i will easily be in the 13's the next time i go down to the track. I can almost guarentee it. But im pretty sure i wanna go with an evo III soon, because that small 16g is probably not gonna be as last much longer because it has been on the car for so long. Dsmparts.com came out with a new front mount intercooler system for $500 that hooks right up to the stock Upper intercooler pipe so all the kit includes is the front mount and the rest of the piping it needs. So, i will probably be buying that soon. Also, can anyone give me a site on where to find those Evo8 Injectors. On the site im looking at im not finding any evo injectors at all, but i would really like some. With those, do i need any other mods like fuel pump or fuel pressure regulator or even a fuel controller device like a SAFC II or something? Thats alot to answer but i really needed to ask all of it lol. Just get back to me on that. Thanks

First of all, you need to understand more about your car before you blow your engine.

If you don't have a boost gauge, stop driving fast until you have one installed. Autometer makes good boost gauges. I would recommend one that reaches 30 psi, since the s16g makes its best power in the 20s. Hook up the boost gauge and see how much boost you are running. You don't want to run more than 15 psi, or you could be damaging your engine.

After you get your boost gauge hooked up, buy a boost controller (manual or electronic, it's up to you). Do some research using the "Search" button. A tutorial on how to set it up can be found on the DSMtuners.com Tech pages, or in the VFAQ.com turbo section. Set your manual boost controller so that it reaches no higher than 15 psi if you're on stock fuel parts.

You also need a logger. DigitalTuning.com sells a program called Pocketlogger than you run on a Palm Pilot hooked up to your car. By "logging" pulls in your car, you will be able to tell how much your car is knocking, pulling timing, etc. I suspect your poor track times are because you have a boost leak and are not running enough boost, or you are running too much and getting pulled timing.

After you get all of this sorted out, you can consider buying injectors, a fuel pump, and a SAFC. EvolutionM.net classifieds is where I got my Evo8 560s. However, not doing the stuff I mentioned before is a great way to be sure your car will be on jackstands in no time.

Also, I want to discourage you from buying a different 16g to try and solve this problem. Try everything I mentioned, then improve your fuel system. Your car will be much faster, and you will be running it much more safely. Small16gs have dynoed almost 340whp on awd cars, and gone 11s. A change to a b16g or EvoIII would be a very, very minimal gain, if any.

I already have a boost gauge, in fact it is a autometer. I have watched it a couple times, i gets around 15 to maybe 17, its hard to tell because the gauge only goes up to 20 so there isnt much space to watch where the needle goes. So i guess what i need is a boost controller, ive been looking at the Apexi AVC-R. I have also been looking for dataloggers as well. The thing im worried about is i have no clue how to program those kind of things and i dont wanna wreak my engine because i tuned something wrong.

Buy an inexpensive, manual under-hood boost controller. I bought one on ebay for $15 and have been running it for a year with no problems other than that it's beginning to rust. Buy a higher end mbc for $50, and you'll avoid that problem.

Adjusting the mbc and hooking it up are easy. You tighten the bolt to raise boost, and you loosen the bolt to reduce boost. It is a simple ball and spring design--the tighter the bolt, the harder the spring is to compress, and the more pressure it takes to push the ball up and actuate the wastegate.

The datalogger cannot hurt the car. If you refuse to tune it, sell the car now and get a stock one. You cannot buy an EVO16g and expect more power. Your turbo has TWICE as much potential with more boost, but you need to buy a datalogger, S-AFC (or better), injectors, and a fuel pump. If you don't do this... every mod will be a waste of money.