$2k really isn't much to work with. You'll spend that easily trying to do anything with your current engine along with a manual swap. A B-series swap could easily top that as well.

If you just have the urge to spend that money, upgrade suspension and brakes. Otherwise, just save up until you have about $5k to work with, because a turbo LS or GSR manual will probably be a lot more rewarding for you.

Also, unless you're very attached to that car, life will be much simpler for you down the road if you sell that one and buy a manual tranny car.

 

I would think a tranny oil-cooler would help.
-PHiZ

 

True that heat kills automatic transmissions, but there's only so much you can do to help when the bands slip to hell. You physically destroy the bands and clutches from overstress, whereas with an older domestic automatic, you loose pump pressure from overheated fluid which allows the bands and clutches to die. In a honda auto, destruction can come long before overheating the fluid.

 

The only reason I brought that up is because you said that our earlier replies were based on hearsay, and I'm saying it's not.

That's correct, the torque converted does multiply torque, but only off the line. Once the two halves of the donut get going at about the same rate the mechanical advantage depends primarily on gearing.

That's the point, you have to start moving from idle, and the turbo is not spooled up at idle.

I'm not saying it's a death blow either, just that it is kind of annoying, and that it is more a problem for the automatics than manual cars. And I am talking about from standstill.

From my experience, not being able to launch a car above the RPM where the turbo starts to spool up detracts from its performance. A manual allows you to start above that RPM, whereas an automatic requires you to begin from idle, so that issue is more prevalent with an automatic. I am not saying this makes the turbo ineffective.

 

And again, that's why you have two feet in an auto tranny car. Left foot brake, right foot gas, and you have boost. Most manual transmission'd cars need a load on them to make boost.

 

Appearently some of the poeple in this thread need to spend less time shooting off there mouths on the internet, unplug from the computer and visit a track or five. Ever see an auto Grand National, Supra or any other factory F/I car launch? Are they just sitting there at idle right before the light drops, NO. They have one foot on the gas and one foot on the brake. Is the car still at idle even tho they have the pedal matted, but it's not moving? NO. Tho the car is sitting still the RPM's are up and the load on the engine is enough to spool the turbo up much more effectively than what could be accomplished by just holding the revs up with the clutch in on a manual transmission vehical. Before the automatic car even gets moving off the line the turbo is already spooled up, if not producing a healthy amount of boost as well. Granted this is rather rough on the drivetrain, but hey whatever cuts those 1/10's off or wins the race right?

Most of the fastest Supra's have autotrannies, because they are easier to launch and much more consistant, thus being generally faster. Also auto's are geared longer has well than there 6-speed counterparts.

 

Well you're right if that's how you start your car up. I've never driven a car that way.

I was just coming from the perspective of driving around town, not holding two pedals down at once (since you probably wouldn't do that on the street).

 

Sheesh kid how long have you been driving? I had an auto tranny 91 hatch that I did that with all the time on the street. But I was intentionally trying to tear the tranny up just becuase I knew I was swapping it to 5-speed LS setup. Point comes down to the original poster questoins, not the pissing match this thread has degenerated down to.

Pro's:

~Much easier to luanch than a manual
~Easy to run consistant times since you don't have to worry about shifting
~Turbo will never fall out of boost b/t shifts like in a manual car
~Turbo can be spooled at the line by "power braking", giving you lots power if you can use it right out of the hole.

Con's

~Honda trannies aren't very strong and generally don't take well to more than 10~20% above factory power.
~Rebuilding/Bullet proofing the auto tranny is possible through a company known as Level 10(for one, others may be out there), but it's not cheap.
~Automatics are smooth but sluggish and rob a good amount of power on upshift/downshifts generally. This is done for drivability and user comfort. Unless they are rebuilt with agressive shift kits or manual valve bodies(IE manual shifting). The car will have the laggy feeling
~Auto tranny + an exhaust = annoying

 

I'm not a kid exactly, I'm 23. I don't have a tendency to rat on cars I don't own, so I drove my friend's automatic Passat 1.8T and test drove an automatic WRX like I would drive a normal car, and not hold down two pedals at once. And my whole point this whole time is the 2nd to last Con "The car will have a laggy feeling" so it looks like you agree after all. I also agree with the rest of your list, so maybe we'll just leave it at that.

I didn't mean for this to be a pissing contest, and I'm glad to be enlightened about how people drive automatics in races. But I was persistent in my posts because in my own personal experience that laggy feeling really annoyed me about turbo automatics. Again, my apologies.

 

wow, great thread IMO. keep it going.