Hi, I'm in the market for my first V8 project after building about 8 Hondas (some turbo) in the past. And no, I'm not a ricer I currently own a 94 Acura Integra GSR with a built turbo motor and an 03 ZR2 S10. Anyway, I'm new to this side of the road and figured I'd join in hopes to learn more about these cars before I start purchasing junk I cant use.

My goal is to have a streetable car, but can make some respectful straight line times. As of right now, I figured I would buy a V6 car and do a V8 swap to save some money unless I can find a good deal on a low mileage Z28. I'm looking for a 93-97 body style.

A few things I have questions about are as follows. If you could point me in the right direction it'd be much appreciated, despite my brief searching and reading on here so far.

- Auto or Manual? What are the pros/cons? I'm a Honda guy and autos have always been out of the question. How hard/costly would it be to convert?
- V6 to V8 Swap. Looking for a how-to thread, or more importantly a list of required parts...
- Turbo. I know some may argue this, however I am still hooked on boost and would like to apply it to this project. A stock motor (which one is yet to be determined as I dont yet know which would be best) is the desired route. 500whp is the goal at the moment, so learning which stock motor I should be looking for would be great.

 

You definitely want a 6-speed! and a engine swap will cost you just as much, if not more than buying a z28 in the first place (you would have to swap not only the engine, but the transmission, computer, rear end, suspension, ect...) So look into a 6-speed Z28. You can find pretty nice ones for around $5000 depending on your location. I know you want a 93-97 but I'm thinking they all had a LT1 and the newer ones had a LS1. LS1's make more power and are overall a better engine. So as a recommendation, look into a 98+ Or at least I think 1998 was the first year for the LS1 (someone please correct me if I'm wrong!)... Not sure exactly what year they switched to LS1 but that's the engine I would recommend.... As for the turbo/supercharger/boost question, I'm not sure what all is involved in that. I'm sure someone here has done it. Do a little searching on it here. If you can't find it, I'm sure someone here can help put you in the right direction for that. Good luck and welcome to the forum!

 

Ah see, I didnt realize I would need to swap the rear end and suspension with a V8 swap. The reason I asked about an auto trans is because I've seen a ton of high hp cars with autos. I'm not sure on the technical pros/cons between the LT1 and LS1, but I really just prefer the body of the 93-97, and growing up I thought that was just the greatest car haha, now I'm 25 and finally looking for one! As for the turbo, I'm not really concerned about the kit itself, as I've built a few kits in the past...I'm more concerned about the technical side of the motor. But thanks for your input, I will keep an eye out for a Z28, its just hard to find a low mile Z28 and I dont wanna worry about the motor after boosting. Whats considered "high mileage" on these things?!

 

craigslist is always a good place to search. I got my little 6er there for $1250. And as you can see, it's a pretty nice little car lol. But yeah. Look into an LS1 with a 6-speed. That is probably your best bet for power and ease of modification from what I hear. And I want to say the engine wont have to be modded too much to run some boost on it. Depends on how much you're going to push.

 

Cool, thanks man.

 

Yeah anytime. I'm sure when daylight comes around, other people will post on your thread and give you some more helpful info on boost and what not. Good luck.

 

Maybe I should make a post in the Turbo Forum

 

That would probably do you some good. Might want to just look around on here and see if you can't find someone who's done it already.

 

ok so ive done my fair share of research here.... the ls1 responds to boost the best of the 3rd-4thgen (82?-02) engines on a completly factory block you can run 5 lbs of boost safely all day long and never worry.... Factory ls1 in 315hp at crank... on 5 lbs youre looking at 415 WHP and if you at least do rods and springs, the little stuff, you can run 8 very safley and pull 500 WHP all day long.... Kits you would want to use... STS Rearmount or the APS... ive seen people run other ones and blow stuff up... the guys around me running those are putting down those numbers MIND YOU that is factory engine... not even headers or intake

 

1) are you planning on boring the block out
2) boost pressure on a high compression engine cant go too high so you would actually be better off spending the money on heads or gears in the rear
3) the 4l60e(auto tranny) is actually a really great tranny with a shift kit but the t56 is one of the best if not the best manual tranny
4) buy a v8 dont do the swap its very involved
5)welcome to the forum