Stuck in a moral dilema

ASSISTANCE Hybrids & Advanced Aftermarket Engine Performance
1

hey fellow G2 owners,

I am currently driving a 93 LS special and I am looking for some good advice on what road would be the best choice for the car’s future. Let me first say that I have invested much money in all areas of the car, so I really do not want to let the car go. My issue is mostly performance. I currently have the 1.8 non vtec ls motor with a little over 207K on the original engine and 5 speed tranny. I am just not getting the performance I desire from it. Currently done to the engine is:

 AEM short ram intake
 Ractive header and cat back exhaust
 Hollow cat
 Spoon Sports ECU
 MSD modified cap with blaster SS external coil
 ACT heavy duty clutch with lightweight flywheel
 Accel spark wires and NGK iridium plugs

However doing more bolt on mods to this engine to me seems like trying to condition a senior citized to compete in a triathalon. And i fear that even with some high dollar bolt ons such ar a new intake manifold, and fuel rail, injectors and such will still not return the desired performance. I have considered other options such as installing a turbo kit, however i do not have the needed money for that level of mod and even if i could somehow get a hold of it, it would seem to be useless because to boost an engine with that many miles on it doesn’t seem like a good idea and so i would be looking at doing a complete engine rebuild to go along with the turbo. I have looked at also doing an LS VTEC conversion, good since the amount of parts i would need to do it can possibly be scrapyarded or found on ebay, however all the needed machine work to get the job done will put me in the same boat as the turbo install. And to try and find a complete engine worth wile of swapping to for a good price weather b16a, b18c, or b18c5 is almost impossible, people know what they are worth and prices are set accordingly, no surprise. The last and final option I have considered is selling my car and just getting a faster car with lower miles to work with, but i really love my G2 and don’t want to see it go.

If you guys have any ideas on any better options I may be facing, please let me know, and help will be great, thanks.

2

the age old debate of LSVTEC, turbo, or B16/GSR motor has gone on for ever.

With you saying machine shop for LSVTEC I guess you can’t do the work yourself (which also is why a turbo would be so much money for you to come up with). If you have the skill, a basic home garage can perform a vtec head upgrade for pretty cheap. If you can fabricate it up you could even build your own turbo kit.

If your motor runs strong but has high miles I would just consider freshening it up. If it doesn’t burn any oil then your cylinder walls might still be in good condition. When you have it apart you can choose low compression pistons for suitable for boost or get some higher compression pistons for n/a vtec application.

If it were me I’d swap in a temporary motor and have your existing motor that runs good rebuilt for whatever route you wish to take.