Integra or Eclipse?

[TunerTeg]

Well I am about to graduate and start racing on my new budget, I have raced before, but since I has to work for all my stuff and no money from mommy and daddy like some of the spoiled brats. Any way I currently have a high mileage Integra LS, and I was wondering your input if I should get a 95-99 Eclipse GS-T (or if I can find one a GSX) or do you think I should stick with what I have? If I rebuilt the Teg it would have a Crower stroker kit with JE pistons, Comp Cams, and the upgraded GSR heads from Dart MotorSports(I will do more latter, but I need money for Exterior as well). If I had the Eclipse I would install a GReddy turbo upgrade and boost controller and lots of other goodies that I saw on the dyno that increased horsepower dramadically. Any input on this would be great, also what do guys think about engine swaps, I was thinking a B16A2.

[S13wanabe]

you shoud do an ls/vtec. it almost sounded like you were going to do this in your thread but then you mentioned the b16. b16's are weak, you need at least 1.8 liters. the extra torque makes a huge difference. i don't like mitsubishi. A coupe friends have them and they make good power, and they're fast, but they break a the time. they are constanty working on them. they are also cheaply made and the body and interior fals apart. i was at the track once and this guy with a gsx was in ine to race and his little side marker light on his front fender popped off. just little things like that happen all the time. they're fast though. I would stick with the integra.

[george536]

Oh my god the sidemarker fell off, everybody panic!!! j/p probably something he forgot while putting his front mount intercooler

gst/gsx respond very quickly to mods, and the best "swap" you can do is already in there ( unless you wanna go with an old school 6bolt from an older eclipse, thats another story) Theres people runnin 12's with about 2,000-2,500 in mods with gsx's. But thats my 2cent

[S13wanabe]

Oh i'm sorry do you want me to go on about how they fall apart. This was just an example of how cheaply they are put together. Yes they respong very well to mods. great for a race car, not my cup of tea for a daily driver. don't want a car where the seat breaks and falls back, the dash board rattles, the window mechanism doesn't work, lenses fall out randomly all over the car, headlights get a jacked up in the sun beacause they are cheap plastic. keep in mind this is just one of the four i know of. i believe it's a 1997 gst. The others have more problems, but they are older and faster. They are very cheap cars. all mitsubishis have little annoying problems that poeple don't like including engine problems. Maybe that's why mitsubishi electronics had to bail them out again. Yes Mitsubishi has been going out of business more than twice and mitsubishi electronics has bailed them out every time. Mitubishis are cheapass cars. Fast though, can't argue that.

oh, forgot to mention, he is the original owner, loves the car, runs low 13's, and is meticulous about maintanence on his car.

[george536]

ok i wont argue with little problems like that, but your making it seem way more worst than it really is. problems like those are not common. Ill admit i get little noises that i have to track down and fix, but thats it for me. No seat falling back or nothing. Also think about how fast you can make gst/gsx with less money, and for exterior trust me they look nice as is ( so little money going there)

[S13wanabe]

Yeah they deffinetly look nice stock. The little problems would just get annoying to me, and something I wouldn't want to deal with in my daily driver. They are easily made fast, I know that. I thought about buying one for the track but decided to get into autocross with my Civic and drifting with my 240SX. I just expect a problem free car for my daily driver. I'm very picky.

[LittleGSEclipse]

I've had one problem with my eclipse. And that was one morning after we had some freezing rain the night before. My door handle was frozen and it broke off in my hand.Easy replacement though. I havent had any problems with seats breaking or anything falling off my car. My car runs great and looks great.

Technically I have fixed more "little" things on my accord then my eclipse. But of course my accord will out last the eclipse. But for a fast daily driver to rip around and look good doing it, I would pick the eclipse all the way.

[S13wanabe]

I would say if you really want to get an Eclipse, get the GSX. At least you will have AWD and a car that is really cheap and easy to get into the 12's. That would be the only one I would go for. I'm still contemplating getting one. If a good deal comes around I might consider it. As for the Integra, you must not have a B18c1 or GSR motor if you are considering a b16. An easy upgrade that is a pretty fast setup would be the LS/Vtec. You should look into it, but there is always turboing, which is even easier. Honda's (Acura's) are pretty fast turbo cars if you can hook up.

[whtteg]

I think you guys have over looked the 1st question that needs to be asked.
What is your budget?
What kind of racing are you getting into?

Those two questions should be the first thing to determine before deciding on something.

[civicHBsi91]

If you want to drag race I would say get your motor rebuilt stock or even a slight bit lower compression and turbo the LS motor.

A buddy of mine put a turbo on his 94 LS with 150k 7psi untuned it ran 13.6 @ 106mph with 2.0 60' on street tires.

Not too bad for about 2 grand on an internally stock untuned 94 integra LS.

Since he got Tboned and bought a gsr shell which a built LS will go into...im sure he will break 12's easily with that.

[TunerTeg]

Well as far as the budget Ill be making enough to do pretty much what I want to, Ill just have to take my time with it. Will not have many bills for awile. For the second question I will be doing mostly drag, but it does need to be a daily. Unless I build the Integra, which I will take out mostly to race, but still needs to look legal if you get my drift.

I have enjoyed your input, and as far as the B16A2 not having enough tourqe I figured I could go old school and bore and stroke it.

The small stuff on the Eclipse does not bother me much, I love to work on cars and plan to do most all of my own stuff and have so far. What does concern me was the fact of the motor breaking down alot, and I have heard of this from many tuners. And I know the Honda motors are well built, but it is hard to resist the power and style of the Eclipse.

If you guys have another car in mind for under $6,000 (so I can put more money in them) give your input on them, I have a long list to consider, I love cars so much (the Eclipse and my Teg) was just on the top of the list to start with. I plan to get a Supra when I get more money and racing experience.

[S13wanabe]

Well if you want to drag race and you don't mind little problems, then the GSX is calling your name. AWD and easily made powerful = a good drag car, especially if it's not your daily driver. This shouldn't even be a question anymore.

[Vtec95Civic]

Drag racing? Get the GSX, no contest.. it stomps on the teg. AWD, stock turbo, a block that can handle up to about 500 whp on stock internals, etc etc. Speaking of the block, I don't know why you heard it breaks down a lot. It's probably Mitsubishi's best engine, and it's used in the Evo as well. The only bad problem is crankwalk, which is not as common as people make it out to be.

[TunerTeg]

Thanks for all your input, I love Honda, but I think I am going to get with the Mitsu this time. I have always loved them even before I got into cars and racing. Plus I got alot of ideas on how to make the 4G63 rule the streets.

[civicHBsi91]

Originally Posted by TunerTeg

Plus I got alot of ideas on how to make the 4G63 rule the streets.

....when its not broken that is.