Some key information to take a note of before continuing:

-Your tranny will take a shit before your engine does.
-180 whp is completely possible without even touching internals.
-Your short ram and header are useless if you turbo.
-Your friend at Autozone is a tard.
-Trying to pass an aftermarket turbo car in California is insanely difficult. Trust me, I had to deal with it.

I would say scrap the turbo idea because of your location and tranny situation and go n/a. Ls vtec gets an unreliable reputation because of idiots that can't properly build a motor and/or idiots that think that slapping on a vtec head allows them to rev to 8200 rpm. When done properly, it is very potent.

All of your questions have been covered numerous times. I recommend becoming familar with the search engine and also check out the FAQ at the top of the forum page.