It's all in the tune my friend. It also depends on the driver. Someone that drives like a maniac with 600 hp on stock diff will blow it. With a resonable power goal <500 and a good tune, there is no reason why the car wouldn't be reliable.

 

[QUOTE=2ndTimeAround,Oct 18 2010, 09:14 PM]
No, if you want cheap HP FI is the way to go.

 

Over $7000 for 30whp, sounds like a good investment to me.

 

Cars are never an investment, just a necessity or a hobby.

 

People invest their money into their cars to make it how they want it, it doesnt always mean you are trying to make a profit on it, people use the word a little differently sometimes. People put money into their cars to make it theirs, nothing else. I am not trying to give "investment" advice at all. I'm saying its retarded to spend over $7k for something that will get you almost nowhere. If you invest your money into FI, it can be reliable and make a decent amount of power over stock. If you do something to your car that makes you happy, its a good investment imo. I wouldnt be to happy to spend a ton of money to get 30whp, but if I spent that kind of money and made some real power (like I would with FI), I would be happy. Whats the point of doing all that in the first place? To make power, and a $7k N/A setup wont get you that far. I have nothing against huge NA builds, I just dont think its all really worth it unless your doing it for a very specific reason. If someone wants a little more power, there is nothing wrong with doing some simple bolt on's, but like I said you aren't going to get that far. I'm very happy with my bolt-ons since I have a little better throttle response, and it sounds awesome in vtec. Thats all I wanted for now.


Also, why do you keep saying a "real" turbo car, if a car isn't turbo from the factory or brand spankin new its retarded to put money into it then? You will never get all the money back you spent on a car, especially if you just spent almost 10 grand to get you into the low/mid 13's when the car runs high 13's stock. An easy 50 shot of nitrous can get you there, and if you know what you are doing it can be safe to run. If you can make the power you want for cheaper on your 9,000 car, why not just do it then? Why make it harder and still not make that much power? Plus, I do see why it would be crazy to dump over 7 grand into a $10,000 car, but I have no plans of selling mine, and I just love the s2000. I know I have already spent thousands on the things I have done to it, but i'm happy with it, and thats all that matters.

I see you have a "custom color" on your s2k according to your profile. A good paint job for our cars with a custom color if done right runs around $5000+. Are you the one that got it painted? What if they said, okay we will paint the front half of your car for $7000, or we can paint the entire car for $5000, same quality and everything, which one would you choose? You are getting your car painted for a reason, just like you are doing performance mods to your car for a reason. Why would you spend more for less? Thats my point.

This is all pretty much my opinion, and you can agree or disagree, its cool. I just don't like arguing with people on here. So now that I have said what I had to say, i'm done with this.

 

Not all the time man. A lot of peope do invest in cars to make profits, you just have to know what you are doing.

 

Cliff notes:


F/I

- More HP
- More headache
- More maintenance
- More race wins
- Less money



N/A

- Less hp
- Less headache
- Less maintenance
- Less race wins
- More money



The end.

 

It is pretty funny though because my brother and I had a fully built 612whp 2.2l Eclipse, and I have had to do just as much maintenance to my s2k than we ever had to do to that eclipse. We daily drove it at 12psi (pushing 402whp @ 12psi) and we never had problems with it. My s2k is harder to work on and has had more problems than that car surprisingly.

 

LOL almost forgot about this thread...I see it's stirred up some debate. Well to address some things...

1) I realize it's not a good investment, which is why I have gone this long without doing anything...but this is the one time I am still single, have a decent amount of money (no gf anymore), and my car seems to still be running good, so I figure now's the time if ever. Also, this is still less debt than buying a brand new car right now, and I'm planning to keep the car forever.

2) I agree a bolt on turbo or supercharger seems the way to go...but it's just such an all or nothing thing...have to drop all the money right at the start. As somebody else mentioned the additional power may also require drivetrain upgrades.

3) I kind of think it would be cool to stay NA...I can always go FI later on down the line. With NA I can slowly build too, a part at a time, so if I DO have any regrets about spending money, I can always stop with the boltons and ECU.

Angerman, suprised you are not promoting your Turbo kit for sale

 

It would be okay to do basic bolt ons, but I wouldnt just get crazy expensive ones, or tear your engine apart until you decide 100% on what you want to do. Just get a decent I/E/H/TP, and go have fun with it for now if you arent sure.