Allo

[HondaMandu]

Hello Everyone,

 

I do not own a Honda nor have I ever owned an Import. My entire family has been domestic oriented and I am ready to be the one that branches out into the Import world. I am aiming to purchase my first vehicle by the end of this fall or early next spring. I am not sure which I would be best suited for, for a first time car. I am not into the big wings, goddy body kits and all that stuff. I am basically looking for a car that would be cheap to purchase but would be somewhat cheap to upgrade under the hood if I felt the urge but to get a good idea of a car I could purchase down the road that I can easily get 400hp out of Yes, I like to go fast. Want to show me what a Honda can do? Take me for a ride! -laughs-.

 

So, I am basically coming to this forum to learn more about the world of imports, find new friends and hopefully get some good information and advice as to what import would be the best to purchase as a first time buyer. Also, if you are around the area, I'd LOVE to meet for drinks some time to really talk it up. I am a major gear head and I love cars in general. I want to be a tuner, get to know local tuners and go to local car shows with my own car, or with a bunch of friends and there tuned cars.

 

Nice to meet you all.

 

Sincerely,

Mandu

[Ben.]

No Honda is easily getting 400hp. Harhar.

 

Something like what I have will, but..yea.

 

Welcome to hell.

[HondaMandu]

Ahhh good ol' weight reduction and bondo! lol.

[Ben.]

Even still.

 

Torque-less four cylinder motors only get you so far so fast.

[Xeryon]

400hp domestics are not equivalent to 400hp imports. You put the two side by side and the import should usually win, damn 1000 pound weight differences make up for a lot of differences in the poor torque and lower HP you get out of a honda.

 

Trouble is, if you buy a car that is easily upgradable you might hate the car in the meantime, as it will be slow and gutless until you get some work done to it. Many of the faster stock hondas are nicer initially, but the upgrade path is more expensive/difficult. As in, buy a gutless old civic cx/dx, save up for a little while then swap the motor and you have decent machine for little money. Buy something nicer like an SI and you will pay alot more for the car, you can still swap the motor and do bolt ons, but since you blew your load on buying the more expensive car now you can't blow as much on parts.

[Ben.]

400hp domestics are not equivalent to 400hp imports. You put the two side by side and the import should usually win, damn 1000 pound weight differences make up for a lot of differences in the poor torque and lower HP you get out of a honda.

 

Trouble is, if you buy a car that is easily upgradable you might hate the car in the meantime, as it will be slow and gutless until you get some work done to it. Many of the faster stock hondas are nicer initially, but the upgrade path is more expensive/difficult. As in, buy a gutless old civic cx/dx, save up for a little while then swap the motor and you have decent machine for little money. Buy something nicer like an SI and you will pay alot more for the car, you can still swap the motor and do bolt ons, but since you blew your load on buying the more expensive car now you can't blow as much on parts.

 

This made me laugh.

[HondaMandu]

Okay, so I am looking for good reliable information that I can count on. Not information that others are going to battle and laugh at eachother's idea's and/or opinions. Oops, wrong forum once again

[Xeryon]

bustedls1 was laughing at my choice of words, not at my comment.

 

what info do you need? Google has provided me with oodles of answers to my questions, and this place makes a great resource for checking to make sure the answer I found on some other random website is not incorrect. BTW, for technical articles honda-tech is a great place to search, trouble is that the forum is so huge that you really are just a number there, unless you are a long-term veteran. At least here you are someone, even with all the bickering and so on these guys are still good people.

[lceah]

welcome

 

information: imports are usually lighter, more reliable, easier AND cheaper to upgrade...cheaper to buy and you put money into it every time you get a chance and fix it up...

 

do you not agree that when both cars are the same hp, the lighter one usually wins, assuming the drivers know what they are doing! lol

[compuvision02]

As x3772 said, 400whp imports are not equivalent to 400whp domestics, guessing from your "roots" that you are a muscle car family. A 400whp Supra, 3000GT VR-4, Dodge Stealth, and the like, will be closer to a 400whp Mustang, Trans Am, Camaro, or the like. They are all ranging in the 3200lbs and up range. Put a 400whp Civic next to a 400whp Trans Am and you got yourself a race against a mid to low 11 second car against a high 11 second car; that power to weight ratio is completely different; 400whp:2200lbs to 400whp:3500lbs.

 

Coming from an ex-domestic owner, if you are just looking for the horsepower number of 400, I would get a domestic. A 1998-2002 LS1 Trans Am or Camaro can reach 400hp very quickly. Stock dyno will be around 300rwhp; Headers and exhaust will dyno around 330rwhp; a decently sized camshaft will run you around 390whp; a 125 wet shot of nitrous will get you are 500whp. Granted you will need to do little work, such as a 12 bolt or 9" rear end, slicks or atleast a set of Mickey Thompson Drag Radials, a clutch if you are 6-speed or a torque converter probably around 3000-3500 if you are automatic, and a good tune. But you won't have to do anything to the motor besides the camshaft, unless you choose to. All that will run you around $4,000.

 

Coming from a current import owner, I've dumped over $10,000 into my car, granted it is not all performance, but around $8,000 of it is, I am only sitting at 180/190fwhp. Granted I am running low 13's in the quarter mile and it is a fun car, especially since I turned it from a 19 second car into that. I enjoy this car a lot, just because it has gone through so much. I will be around 400fwhp if I get this loan out for turbo, but that is going to be a $7,000 build. Sure it will be fast as hell, but I could have done it much cheaper through a domestic and still been able to rip doughnuts and sick ass burnouts. I guess it all depends on what you really want.

[Ben.]

^ end thread plz.

 

Not to mention..a majority of the Honda family is torque less. You may get it to 400hp but uh ..your torque is still lacking severely LOL.

[compuvision02]

That is true, but then this is were a huge arguement could occur. A lot of people will argue that turbo is a very good competition for torque. I guess this is a bad example, but you know how domestic owners say that "there is no replacement for displacement"? Well, import owners usually go by "boost > displacement."

[Ben.]

I'm very well aware of that.

 

But, even still. Boost is only gonna' go so far.

 

Especially when you get controller happy with it and go a little too far.. LOL.

[compuvision02]

Well, I know if and when I go turbo, I am going to be 100% confident with my car. Right now, I am semi-confident, I can roll on 4.6/5.0L Mustangs, but big deal. I can probably hang with LS1's from a stop, not from a roll, LT1's I can probably take no problem, but torque is the scary part from a roll. Having a low 13 second naturally aspirated import is something you can't be confident with, because there are so many cars, even stock ones, that will roll on you.

[Ben.]

Even SRT8 Jeep Cherokee's..LOL.

 

I'll put it like this. You're gonna' end up decimating a lot of 2v 4.6 Mustang GT's, quite a few (not ALL) 3v 4.6 GT's..you'll have trouble with the 4v Cobra's (depending on year) and you know better than to try and run the 03/04 Cobra cars..

 

LS1 cars..yea..they're bad from a dig, even more lethal from a roll..

 

LT1..yea. You've got that beat.

 

To the OP -- ask any SRT4 owner you meet how that torque is. Those cars are a pain in the ass to launch.

[compuvision02]

I'm not up to par with the versions of Mustangs, but I am guessing you mean 2v as in the 1995-1998 I believe, the 3v the 1999-2004 I believe? Then the 4v being the 2005 and up?

 

I know 03/04 Cobras are rediculous, f*ck that!

 

LS1's from a stop, I'd be hoping for more of the fact that they can't launch and spin like crazy.

 

I've seen some low 13 second stock LT1's, so I'm still a bit unsure about them, but I'd feel pretty damn confident next to one.

[Ben.]

LT1's are getting old in their age..remember the last one rolled off of the line approximately 10 years ago..not ALL of them are spring chickens.

 

As for the 4.6 modular motors --

 

2v 4.6 Mustang GT = 1996/2004. (Modifications were made after 1998 to up the power and ante in them a little bit for the bodystyle change. '96/'98 models were turds. Besting mid and high 14 second passes.

 

3v 4.6 Mustang GT = 2005+. Power was upped a little more, making it easier for the GT to hit 13's..really important due to the fact it'd been three years since they could rival the slowest LS1 car with a naturally aspirated setup. Mid and high 13's are common with these cars, although some have gone even lower with certain track temps/air temps/sea level.

 

4v Cars = 1996/2004 Cobra's/Marauders. The '03/'04 Sported an Eaton M112 blower and was capable of making mid 12 second passes all day long if you could launch. IRS was a bitch to control in those cars.

 

The NEWWW GT500 Cobra is simply a supercharged 5.4L triton truck engine aka the F150 Lightning's powerplant, paired up to a six-speed gearbox that barely propels the 4000 pound Cobra down the quarter in low/mid 12 second form.

[compuvision02]

Whoops, 1995 is still the 5.0L. So you are talking about "v" in terms of the motor changes, gotcha!

[Ben.]

Yea I meant Valves. My bad LOL.

 

And I'll take pushrod over modular, anyday.

[compuvision02]

Haha.

[Ben.]

i r n00blar.