Thinking about getting a DSM...confused..

[jnet]

Well, I'm completely new to dsm's and im only in the market to get one. I currently have a turbo honda prelude...and I just want out from the honda crowd because im finding i dont want to build my engine for $3k to just get 350whp and spin all over with a FWD car.

I've been looking at getting a GSX. I love the appeal of awd. But anyway, I have some questions after talking to a few people.

There are advantages and disadvantages to saying with a honda or going dsm. From what I've gathered, the biggest issues i might have with a dsm are:

1) they break a lot? one person i talked to said they aren't very reliable, and are really bad in the transmission area. i've heard of this "crankwalk", but all the gsx's ive been looking at have 6-bolt swaps and apparently these are less prone to crankwalk?

2) parts hard to find - apparently the parts are hard to find, expensive, and sometimes you cant find them at all?

3) tuning / setups - i understand i can put parts on there, but tuning and dyno tuning would be hard to find because of the awd and not many people tune them. what are the options for this?

basically i just want the lowdown. i'm not a track person, never have been, i just want an awd car and around 350whp, I'm not shooting big.

 

[FreStylMotoX01]

ill try to help the best i can.

1. they will break alot if they are abused just like any other car will. they can be reliable but not if you are beating the hell out of it. also depends on the mods, that will also determine how reliable it will be. Crankwalk is in like 5% of dsm's and most are 7 bolts. 6 bolts are easily swappable. so the 7 bolt is more prone to crankwalk, but don't let that scare you away from dsm's it is a pretty rare occurrence. transmissions are weak but there are many options for making them stronger.

2. parts are definitely not hard to find if you can't find them in the classifieds on this board then try DSMtrader, and ebay. with these three sites you could build ton's of dsm's from spare parts.

3. you can use a SAFC for some tuning, but I'm not sure how much.

which generation DSM are you looking at?
1st generation A (90-92.5) have the six bolt engine
1st generation B (92.5-94) have seven bolt engines
all 2nd gens have the sevenbolt as well
hope that helps you out.

-Jon

 

[jnet]

Thanks man. I meant the 6-bolt motor in my original post...sorry about that. BUt to answer your question, i've been looking at 2g's...the 1g's aren't really up my ally with the styling.

 

['96_Talon_TSi]

1) Like said above, Most DSMs break because they get beat on a lot. This is true for any car. With that said, DSMs are getting old. Even the newest ones are going on 6 and 7 years old. Crankwalk isn't an issue. I would imagine even less than 5% of the 7 bolt motors have crankwalk. If the car has 90K or more, and hasnt walked yet, 99.9% chance it wont start doing it now.

2) I dont know who told you that prts are hard to find, but they obviously didnt look very hard. Like said above, between tuners classifieds, dsmtrader, and ebay.. you could practcally build a DSM form random spare parts. Dont worry about finding replacements parts. Parts are really only super expensive if you go to the stealership to buy them. We try to stay away from satan as much as possible.

3)You will need to do some tuning to get the most out of your turbo. I'm surprised you havent done any tuning on your honda. You have a few options here.a logger and Apexi S-AFC, or DSMlink. To run a DSMlink you will need an Eprom ECU, this only came on a few 95's. You can run an OBD-II logger (most guys use a palm and pocketlogger software) and the S-AFC on any ECU setup. For your goals, a logger and an S-AFC would probably be a better choice, based on price. As for tuning, most guys just find a backroad somewhere and log a pull down the road, then adjust fuel trims according to timing curves, EGTs, volts or knock count on the 1Gs.


Hope I helped a lil.