[offtopic]The SR20 versus the F20? There have been some minor oiling issues with the F20, worrying, especially considering it's a high revver.
I guess we'll never know which one is better, because the F20 was never offered in forced induction form, and Honda was never required to consider forced induction needs for it.
Nissan, on the other hand, overbuilt the SR20 to hell. Even your non-turbo SR20 has the forged internals to take a good amount of turbocharging. And that's offered in almost everything... Sentras, G20s, Japanese vans, etcetera... giving you a ton of sources for swap parts and spares. The F20, on the other hand, is only in the S2000, and parts are $$$. An SR20DET can hold between 400-500 hp (rumors of 600 hp from some tuners abound) on the stock bottom end. That's stock pistons, con-rods, crankshaft, etcetera. Replace the pistons and con-rods, and the crankshaft and aluminum block can hold up to 1000 hp. Even in non-dyno-queen street tunes, 400-500 hp (with built internals) SR20s are quite common.
And if it's high revving action you want, there's the SR20VE, which revs to kingdom come and makes 200 horses without a turbo. Granted, that's not as much as the F20, but it shows that the SR20 isn't just a one-trick pony. Good luck on the wiring for the 240, though... the VE was a front-drive engine, so the ECU may noot match up.
The only issues for SRs is how well Nissan's transmissions (typically crappy, like most Japanese trannies are) can hold up to the big power (mine broke a CV Joint on the dragstrip, and that was non-turbo) and oil starvation at high lateral Gs, especially if the oil pan is dented (a real issue if your motor came off the boat from Japan)... so you have to watch your oil temps on track. But oil starvation is a common problem for many street motors on the racetrack, and, as I've said, the F20 isn't immune.
It's a nifty engine, mind you, and the amount of horses Honda squeezed out of it are fantastic... and it can handle maybe 500-600 horses (with a built bottom end... the stock compression would give you a grenade under the hood if you tried to turbocharge it that much). But a lot of people swap SR20s into other cars for a reason: Easy power. They're everywhere. RX7s (an aluminum block SR20 actually isn't all that much heavier than a rotary), old Corollas, a 350Z (!!!... drift car, I believe...)... there's even S2000s with SR20s.
The only way to get more performance potential than an SR20DET in a 240 with a Japanese 2 liter mill is with the 4G63. Good luck finding a Mitsubishi rear-drive tranny that'll take the power, though.
Otherwise, you can go VQ or even do the funky V8 swap... or even an RB-engine... which fits perfectly into the 240 with little issue (you have to cut some off the front for clearance) and has more torque than an SR20DET.[/off-topic]
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mistamista: I still don't get where the FWD sucks argument came from.
Nobody in this thread mentioned it before you. And nobody mentioned Civcs, either.
A FWD car has one problem and one problem only. It can't steer and accelerate at the same time without some form of understeer or traction loss. Otherwise, they're perfectly fine.
In a straight line, a FWD dragster can (with incredibly expensive mods) match the best AWD dragsters. Neither car is in the big leagues when it comes to drag racing. FWD doesn't have the traction of RWD (yes, they can get close, spec for spec, but the top professional echelons are all RWD) and AWD is too heavy.
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If you really don't know anything about tuning or car-buying for that matter, repeat after me. Save up your money. Buy the car you want. Spend the next few months polishing out the dings, scrapes and whatnot. Buy new tires. Change out the old stereo for something that can play MP3s. Repair everything that needs repairing. Oh, and Pupik makes a good point. Girls love airconditioning.
Bad typing overload...ERROR!
No kidding.
