what blows first?

[roadflare16]

ok so i'm new to the whole dsm scene (durr, newb section) and i'm on the edge of getting one. the thing that's holding me back from buying this kids 1g turbo awd manual is that everybody i know says all they're good for is literally blowing up. whenever i ask though, nobody seems to know what blows up, or how, or why. SO, i came to you guys. what's the first thing that "blows up", and is there any reason i shouldn't expect a reliable car if the first thing i do is rebuild the engine/trans and replace all belts/hoses? somebody mentioned the transmissions aren't made well, but i'd like to hear that from somebody that actually knows what they're talking about. thanks in advance.

 

[91talontsi1505]

it all depends on how hard u push it. my friend blew his 14g turbo and then blew his head gasket at the track.

 

[ROOKIE1]

The kid in the honda .

 

[nightspeed87]

well i think any sports car that is driven for speed is going have problems... Turbo charge a honda for 10 yrs and tell me how bad it runs if it wasnt taken care of , that is just the nature of a car.... If you want power for cheap a dsm is the best route to go... If you want reliability then get something else that old ladies drive to the grocery store and back, bottom line.... Ive fixed replaced many things on my car, many times but in my opinion its worth it, and the satisfaction to know its been replaced means thats one less problem for later on... Just hope you dont by a lemon car in the 1st place and you should just go thru regular maintence and be ok.

 

[roadflare16]

well i'll need a daily driver once i sell my srt-4(can't afford it anymore) and i'd like a project car. i was hoping the dsm would be reliable enough to be a good DD but the only thing i'm hearing from anybody else other than you guys is that a plastic kiddie trike is more reliable. so i'm torn between getting the dsm as a DD and keeping my stang as a project car(shooting for 9's, no joke, http://videos.streetfire.net/video/d19179b5-d93a-4e45-b2da-40831f9b63a8.htm , or getting the dsm as a project car, selling the stang and getting something like a honda for DD. any thoughts? hoping this isn't too far off the original topic.

 

[MyBeatGSX]

DSM project car and Honda daily driver sounds like a good idea to me. My car and many other peoples' cars on this board are DD. But I'll be honest and tell you I've missed my share of work this year because of my car, and there's been plenty of other times I've gotten rides to work.

Everyone else exaggerates the reliability problems because they really don't know. Its just a big rumor that will never die. Most people that talk trash about DSMs have never even ridden in one, much less owned one.

 

[brute]

The thing you have to remember is that these cars are not getting any younger. Parts wear out. Paint fades. Turbos die. Transmissions grind. The good news is that it's not terribly expensive to fix most of the parts on the car. Even with growing credit card debt and a DSM on jackstands, you'll still find that most DSM'ers will stick by their car till the end. And that's the difference between a DSMer and a person who merely drives a DSM.

Oh man. You're gonna make me cry. I read that and suddenly felt all proud... Like I belonged to something.... Oops... Couldn't control it. Here come the water works...

 

[MyBeatGSX]

You don't even have a DSM, you have a Galant.


Its ok, you can keep crying. You're a part of the 4G63 community and we all love you as if you really were one of us... even though you're not.

 

[SkinnyBAM]

These aren't RX-7s here, ya know.



Well, at least they're specific. "They" might be thinking of crankwalk, which usually only affects 2g's, but the occurances of CW have seemed to have dropped off recently, mostly because the cars are getting older. However, ANY car (except the RX7s, but they blow up for different reasons ) can theoretically crankwalk. It's just that 2g DSM's and MKIV Supras are more likely to do it than other cars.

As long as you do proper maintenance on your car, you shouldn't expect too much of an unreliability issue. The thing you have to remember, as someone mentioned, is that these cars are not getting any younger. Parts wear out. Paint fades. Turbos die. Transmissions grind. The good news is that it's not terribly expensive to fix most of the parts on the car. Even with growing credit card debt and a DSM on jackstands, you'll still find that most DSM'ers will stick by their car till the end. And that's the difference between a DSMer and a person who merely drives a DSM.

Edit: By the way, welcome to the site.

You dont know how true that is....ive had my gst for a year now and still have yet to drive her...i say two more weeks left to glory day

 

[20psi_GST]

Nice car and thats so true there just haters...... here some pics of mine...2nd gen = sexy Honda any gen = crap

Yea you just cant let it bother ya, theres always a few haters. I really dont personally like my car on the outside anymore. Wish i would of just done a 97-99 stock front bumper and kept my stock 95 rear bumper. In the near future will be gettin me some 97-99 bumpers but in the mean while ill just listen to the fiberglass scrape the ground. I just love the whole sleeper look, nothing looks better IMO. A huge 2 ft wide (mine 24x11x3)FMIC behind a bumper that has been cut out to make it fit. Ive spent thousands of dollars on the outside and wish i would of just bought a built tranny or block with it. If anyone thinks their car is fast enough and wants to make it look good, DONT. Just keep the car lookin clean, paint the whole thing if you want it to shine. But dont put a ####in bodykit on it, it looks good but wait til u scrape the shit out of it a few times, it gets old. Stock is the only way to go and after youve put different front bumpers on to change the look, stock never goes out of style.

BTW thanks for the props, your shit looks nice and clean also, post the money shot (under the hood)

 

[20psi_GST]

For the record, my friend went 14.1 with nothing but a stock B16 in his full street weight EG coupe. That's faster than these things are stock. The mint condition car cost him $4,000 5 year ago, the motor was $1,200.

Don't buy into this bullshit. I spent $6,000 on my car and another $7,000 in repairs and mods. That's what it took to build a RELIABLE 12 second daily driver. Spend $2k on a car and $3k in mods and that thing will make one pass and explode. These cars need attention to detail and an understanding of how the parts work together and effect each other. Its idiots with this "bolt shit on and hit 12s" attitude that create the pile of "blown up" cars and give DSM's a bad name. I can't tell you how many DSMers I've seen that think they have awsome fast cars, but IMO the things aren't even road worthy. I wouldn't take the thing to the corner store, but these guys will go to track and abuse it for an entire weekend, then beat the piss out of it the entire way home, and to work, and to shop, etc. And yet we all wonder why these cars have the reputation that they do.

Yes it is true that ppl have this bolt shit on attitude but just because you buy a car and dont spend as much money as the guy next to you and your faster doesnt mean you have this "win or blow it up" attitude either. Dude my car is NOT a daily drive but i do drive it around every other day. It runs good enough that it could be a daily driver. Had it about 16 months and only problem was the ignition coil goin out, thats it, and a thermostat but thats like 15 dollars. You could buy a 1g for around 2 grand and spend about 3 grand in parts and have a 12 second daily driver. Spend your money wisely is all im sayin. I spent 900 alone on my intercooler (horsepowerfreaks.com), and 1259 on my turbo and install kit (hahn racecraft), but that doesnt mean i have a better car then the guy next to me that bought his shit off Ebay. If you spent 7k in mods then good for you but ive spent more and that means nothing.