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Actually today I was driving an S15 which reportedly had about 220kw at the wheels. It was terrifying.

It's even more scary to think that my car will have similar power but less weight!! Just as a heads-up, if I suddenly stop posting here after my turbo build is completed, it's because I'm DEAD

Terrifyingly satisfying, I hope.

So, there's this '98 Maxima at a local Nissan dealer... might go check it out. Wouldn't be surprised in the least if it had over 100,000 on it and an automatic gearbox. If it's a manual, though, it may be party time...

I think they just got it today, actually. I was riding on the bus when what looked like '98 taillights caught my eye.

One more question... was it only the '06 WRX's with the sport bucket seats, because I haven't seen any '07s, and that was a big plus for me.

See? Simple question...

All WRX's came with the adjustable buckets as an option I believe, though the standard seats were pretty sporty anyway.

Some have the "standard bucket seats" that the 2.5i has, with the headrest being a separate piece.

Actually, as it appears, most are this way.

So it looks like it's down the the WRX if I decide to take the car route, or a Chevy Avalanche if I decide to get a truck, which I haven't posted on here because most people don't exactly get trucks for their mind-blowing speed performance.

What I want to know is why you were interested in a Maxima of all things....

For some add reason, I've always liked the Maxima. Decent list of moddifications available, slimple, clean interior.

What's not to love?

The '03 or later version with the same engine as the 350Z is a much better alternative.

Another semi-random car question, mainly pointed at Bogan since he turned me on to it.

So I'm looking at Civic Si's, right? They look decent enough, good ratings, mileage, all the stuff I needed/wanted, even down to a sunroof. Great horsepower, right around where I wanted... so now for the problem.

It's only got 140ft/lb torque. So say I wanted to raise this to around, say, ~200ft/lb without drastically changing the horsepower output and on a budget, what would I need and how much would it cost, do you think?

Thanks for your help, BTW.

(Yes, I know... I'm still an engine n00b.)

Example Car

Eww Civic...

If you want a significant increase in torque then you need forced induction. It's difficult to get more torque out of a highly-strung n/a motor, so that is basically your only option.

tbh I wouldn't worry about that anyway. Just get the thing first and enjoy having good fuel economy and reliabilty etc. for the time being.
Once you are used to the car, you can decide whether it's worth spending money on. You might decide that you don't like it and buy something else.

Also you need to understand that modifying cars is like a drug addiction: Once you start it's hard to stop, and the money you spend will never come back. What I mean is, even if you drop $5k of mods on a $10k car, the car is still only worth $10k. This is why you want to make sure it's the 'right' car before you start digging into your pockets.
Don't forget that regular servicing, insurance, and road taxes costs money too! I always seem to forget about those things until the bill comes in the mail

Further to whats been said, if you wanted to stick N/A you'd have to stroke it, or do throttle bodies. Both of which are extremely expensive. Smaller mods (cams, intake/exhaust, gas flowed heads, ect) make little to no difference.

As much as people say that they "mod on a budget" it's not really the thing to do. Better to buy higher quality and spend more if you really love cars

Thanks for the info...

One more question, again...

Why does the '07 Si get 32MPG HWY vs the '08's 29MPG? I haven't found a noticeable difference to cause it... =/

For the '08 model there might have been new emissions standards which made Honda alter the tune, or maybe the newer model weighs more, or maybe the governement changed the procedures for MPG testing . . . probably something like that.

A 3MPG difference doesn't really matter anyway, you'll be able to do much better or worse that those numbers depending on how you drive.

Yeah, I figured you'd be able to get a little more keeping it in the lower revs.

I am curious to see how it does when you get into the second overhead cam. (lol)

In general the average beginner can't even touch the MPG figures given by the manufacturers... not even close.

And reading everything you wrote down the last few weeks... I doubt you even reach the 10mpg after reading all things you want to do and how you want to drive.

I really don't understand why you even bother looking at the MPG figures...

Heh, can't say I blame you.

Yes, I'm looking at cars based partly off performance, but I'm not going to be flying down the road doing 90MPH for 30 miles to-and-from school. Actually, these questions are essentially meant for nothing more than the occasional track meet, in which I don't want to have to rip apart half the car just to get the performance I want from it, when if I had taken my time and asked the questions before-hand as I'm doing, I could've made a more-informed (and hopefully better overall,) decision.

Well now, this was unexpected.

Randomly driving through a local car lot, a Mazda caught my eye. They have a silver (my favorite color for a car,) 2007 Mazda 6i with a semi-automatic, 30,000 miles, for just under 13,000. It's got the 2.3l 4-cylinder, though, meaning it's a little lacking in power, but I would have a little bit to throw around after I got used to the car.

I'm thinking of a simple turbo application, (yeah right - like there was ever a "simple" turbo application,) but wondering how much it would cost overall. Also thinking about suspension, other so-called "small" things. Not trying to make a beast, 250hp is a very plenty.

So - if we got the car dropped to 12,000 (we know the owner of the dealer, are repeat buyers, and are going to pay up-front in cash,) is it a good car? Fairly tune-able?

I guess I'm just asking for overall thoughts, lol. ^_^

Isn't there a version of the Mazda 6 that comes with a turbo? Save yourself the headache and just buy that.

Not that I would recommend getting a turbo for your first car. Also the Civic will be more 'tune-able' due to larger aftermarket support. And I will reiterate what I said last time:

Just get the thing first and enjoy having good fuel economy and reliabilty etc. for the time being.
Once you are used to the car, you can decide whether it's worth spending money on. You might decide that you don't like it and buy something else.

It's nice to dream, but the reality of owning a car and modifying it is not a walk in the park (unless you have $$$$)

Hmm, I was going to tell him to keep a look out for the Civic. The thing with this is it was local, and seemed to be decently priced.

And no, there's only the V6 model above the base.

Are you sure about that? It might be labelled as a Mazdaspeed or something, over here it's called the Mazda 6 MPS - comes with turbo and 4WD.

A homebuilt turbo kit will cost at least $2000, and that's if you do all the fabrication (pipework for the intercooler & turbo, inlet manifold, exhaust manifold, mapping, mounts, oil lines and feeds ect) yourself. You'd be looking at upwards of $5k to get a kit with everything you need, and that's before you even get into the engine. For all you know, the pistons may be made of butter and the rods of jelly, so then you'd have to splash out another $2k getting custom pistons and rods made up because no-ones thought to do off-the-shelf ones for a Mazda 6 yet.

Then you've got fueling- injectors and pumps- pressure regulation, boost control, wastegates...and all that needs to be perfect before you dump the car on a dyno at $hundreds an hour and have it live mapped so the whole thing actually works.

There is no such thing as a "cheap turbo kit".

It's possible to do it simply and cheaply, but you need to know exactly what the stock parts are capable of. The Mazda 6 has a turbo variant, so all the important parts you need should be easily available from the dealership.
If you're lucky there may not be a huge difference between the turbo and non-turbo.

Obviously though, getting factory turbo parts would only take you to the stock turbo power levels (or slightly above) but that is more than 250hp already lol.

The last MazdaSpeed 6 year was 2007, but there is a 2009 year MazdaSpeed 3. I don't know if you're like Jop in that a brand new car is absolutely essential.

Yupyup, I wasn't even thinking of the MazdaSpeed.

And, Hazmat, it's not essential - it's just that most of the cars that fit my picky expectations happen to be 06 and above. The main being good gas mileage, and actually low mileage on the engine, as I could easily put 10k on it just driving to and from school. This isn't including after-school activities, sports (many sports, actually,) driving to other games that I don't play in, work, so-called 'road trips' with friends out to the beach or somewhere for a weekend, etc.

I could see putting close to 20-30k on it in a single school year. I'd also like to have something that I can ride until it dies (which it probably will from college-abuse, etc.)

It's obvious this car is probably going to be wrecked or damaged in the hands of a new driver, but I'd like a car that I can confidently have repaired and keep riding it with no shame/regret. ^_^