MAXIMUM Horsepower without a turbo/supercharger

[bcsintegra]

I am debating on whether or not to get a turbo for my 99 integra GSR. I am only 15 and have to keep this car to drive to high school and college. Would it be worth it? How much difference is there in the gas mileage? I want to know other ways besides a turbo that I can get mad power, because I just rebuilt my motor, and it can handle about anything now.

[b16a3sol]

a turbo is nice, but its also expensive. if you are only 15, i would think you would have to be a drug dealer to come up with 3 grand. if you can good for you, and buy the turbo, if thats what you built the motor for. otherwise, sucks for you, cause you have to go back in there to build it up to handle it if you want to get it all done right the first time. after that you wont need to spend anymore money on your car and you can save that up for other shit. the gas mileage shouldnt change too much if you dont race around everywhere, but it also depends on how much boost you run. good luck either way.

just as a side note, why did you rebuild the motor of a '99? thats kind of early isnt it? and if its just to build it up, then i think you should already know what you want to do with the motor, otherwise that time and money was pretty much wasted depending on what you decide on.

[bcsintegra]

When I got the car the motor had already been messed with. The owner before me had already put the LS block in it and had it bored out with new rings, pistons, rods, ect-I do not know why. But he sold me the car so that he could get a 300 ZX. About 3 weeks after I got it, it started to knock. So we took the motor apart and found out that they had put the #4 rod cap on the #1 piston, and the #1 on the #4. So I had that fixed, crankshaft re-miked and it put back right. Now, while I have the motor out, I was just wondering if putting a turbo on would be worth it, because I have heard a lot of people talk about the huge problems they can be, and the risk. I was just wondering if it would be a lot of trouble if I had it put in right with all the right stuff, wastegate, turbo timer and all that? Plus I know that turbos require certain headers and stuff, and I didn't want to go and buy all that if I was going to have to turn around and sell it to get the turbo. I need to know the power comparison of my B18 with a turbo and the Tanabe exhaust to my B18 with many mods (including the exhaust.)

[b16a3sol]

the first thing you need to know is how the engine was built? what is the new compression on the motor, and what other stuff was done to it internally. a turbo will net you about 40% more power on a stock motor with just 8 lbs of boost. it takes a lot of stuff to get that high just going NA. it also depends on what kind of money you have. being cheap with a turbo lends towards having something go wrong. build up NA is pretty safe, but again, you dont get as much of a gain either. its all up to you.

[bcsintegra]

I am not sure what kind, but it has aftermarket pistons and rods. Someone told me to just upgrade the fuel system, which wouldn't really give me any horses at the moment, but would help. Like the fuel rail, injectors, and all that. Then I could work with different cams/shafts, that way if I do decide to get a turbo in the future then nothing would be harmed, only helped. Since I will more than likely have to make a fuel upgrade anyway for a turbo, and I won't have to worry about replacing the headers or whatever that won't work with one. What do you think about that idea?

Thanks
BLAKE
:sun:

[b16a3sol]

sounds good to me. one way to see what your compression is at, is to get a compression tester, see what kind of pressure it reads and compare it to stock numbers, and those of lower and higher compression engines. from there you can learn what direction to go with your motor.