Looking for some modification guideance. Options

[Bluelightning]

Hello everyone,

I'm a newb here so, I apologize if I ask any stupid questions up front.

My wife and I just recntly purchesed her a Bone Stock 1996 AT200 5-speed to use as a daily driver in place of the 2003 Dodge Durango she was driving. Fuel costs where getting to much for us, so we needed something a bit more economical, plus she wanted something fun to drive.

We where supprised at how well the car responds with only 108 HP. Now we are looking at our options for increasing that.

I have been doing a bit of research here on the site and understand that the 3S-GTE swap is the hands down prefered option for all out power, but I also want to keep an eye on overall cost of ownership as well. IE Mantinece cost, and fuel costs after modification. I need to keep these costs reasonable for a daily driver.

What I am looking for is something that will fit the following requirements post modification.

1: Run well on Regular Unleaded gas.
2: Pass Texas emissions testing
3: I can get replacement parts, and normal maintenance items at a reasonable cost.

My understanding is this pretry much rules out a JDM engine swap.

What about a swap for a 5S-FE from a USDM GT? Is this a reasonable option? Will it meet my requirements above?

Would I just be better off sticking with my 7A-FE and working with it?

I would not be opposed to a turbo kit for the existing engine, but I belive that would require me to run a higher grade of gas. Is that correct?

If that is the case what performance mods would be recommended for a NA 7A-FE to get a few more HP out of it? Would I be pretty much limited to an intake upgrade, and exhaust upgrades? Would that net me much HP gain on the 7A-FE?

Thanks in advance for any recommendations you can make.


This post has been edited by Bluelightning: Sep 23, 2005 - 10:24 AM

[blu94gt]

I think the biggest question comes to how much of a budget do you have to spend to make this car faster? The 3sgte swap is definitely the preferred method (and one of the easier ones) to get a lot of power. Swapping a 5sfe will meet your requirements of gas, emissions, and maintenance but will only get you to 130-135 HP.

Just about anything you do to the 7afe like a turbo, new pistons/head etc would probably require you to run a higher grade fuel. And someone correct me if I'm wrong but don't the 3sge and 3sgte require premium?