Originally Posted by
g2_teg_na
well the price for a gsr is $2000 for long block, and $1360 for ITR transmission.
gas mileage is not a factor. i have a 93 Accord SE that gets exceptional gas mileage. but it'd prolly run a 17 sec 1/4 mile. the civic should run mid 13's with the engine swap. so it'll be worth the poor gas mileage every weekend.
I'm not turboing anything besides an LS. I have a preference. i think turbo setups are generally not practical and do horrible damage and are a huge pain. i had a turbo ls in my old integra. and it was the worst experience of my life. yea, boost feels great, but it isnt worth the headaches and the blown motors. not to mention, i dont see too many stock gsr's with turbos around where i live doin much better then 13.5 with street tires and 5-6psi.
a turbo kit costs $4000 + the cost of engine management and then tuning time. Thats way more then the $1400 difference in price for the ITR swap. The itr swap will get me started with a decent NA build and wont break down on me. No intercooler couplings falling off, etc.
still, i feel that you are better off getting the GSR-- even if you want to upgrade either of the motors in the future the most logical decision would be to mill the head and install pistons with a taller dome height-- going with some stronger rod bolts and then pushing the compression up while increasing the redline by installing a set of more agressive cams.
note that you can have just as many problems with a NA setup, and if you are looking for a bargain beater that can go fast i would rather look into something more logical, do you know how many cars do 13's stock? more than just a few.
alot of the turbo gsr's on here are reliably pushing 10PSI and estimating times down in the 12's