N/ALude,
I was reading what you've put so far and was going to give you some really good info (and still will) but first you have to realize something about your budget...
I was once like you with a smaller budget. In fact, I was all the way up until I was 25 and deployed in Iraq where I was seeing some real cash flow and had the money "to do everything right." The money to do everything right will not even come close to $2500 I'm sorry to say. Although the amount is of course impressive, what you're asking for can't be done on that budget.
There will be some hard-core tuners out there that will argue this to death, claiming DSM turbo manifolds and 16G turbos can be had and built on the cheap (as well as the magazine Project Car polluting your mind it can be done that way), you used my favorite word... "reliable."
Because once you tune a car and add on all the goodies you can possibly want, I tell you from personal experience, a part of you will always be a little disappointed when you turn the key, take off down the street and your body is reading every little thing wrong with the car that never used to be with stock settings. A small rattle in the engine, a high pitched whistle at a certain RPM, a strange vibration in a place you can't identify, we've all had these problems. Even the cosmetic faults like a blacker bumper due to a too-rich mixture or a difference in the way your car used to purrr now sounds like a slightly skewed hum.
Please know that I support your decision fully to build up a tuner to your liking, but it is not an easy street. And with that, I will start with your questions:
First of all, I have an ATTS on my car as well. And yes, it is still on my car. When you install any type of standalone engine computer, you are going to lose ATTS, I'm sorry, but that's the facts. Initially with my build, I tried everything in the world to keep it and in the end, I knew I could not. But it is not really as missed as you would think. You're just going to have 40 pounds or so heavier weighing down the front of your car, but maybe in the future you can do something about that (I will talk about that later). The ATTS has it's own computer which looks like a car with an automatic transmission, the automatic transmission computer. I removed it to put the new P28 chipped Hondata S300 ECU in its place. The ATTS light doesn't even come on on the dash and the car accelerates like it used to.
As for wanting 300whp daily, yeah, you can probably do it on your setup I'm pretty sure of. That might be it though until you actually make more improvements down the road. But get an exhaust anywhere from 2.5" to 3" (most will recommend the 3") and make sure the intercooler piping is as short as you can make it and you should be okay. I say okay because there are alot of variables that you'll also need to consider when doing this as well. Such as your block. Your FRM sleeves in the H22 will not handle the amount of boost it takes to make 300whp, case closed. You are going to need to rebuild the block.
I wrote a terribly long reply to this guy who probably learned more than he wanted on the nature of tuning and the nature of the H22 motor (in particular the FRM sleeves). I would suggest to read it as well.
JRSC on a JDM H22A Lude?
And with the head destroyed, this only straps your cash even more... You will be able to rebuild the head, but I would suggest looking around online for 2 weeks or so for somebody selling their head. There is a good deal that you might be able to find one with aftermarket parts already in that you want for a price that'd be equal to the labor it would cost to reassemble your current head. That's how I found mine.
Your idea of cams is sound as is your idea of valve springs too (get double valve springs to rev higher). However, all standard valve jobs are 3 angle, just to let you know. Only the more exotic valve jobs climb up in numbers and get retarded expensive (mainly used for purpose built engines like NASCAR or the fasted drag cars).
If there was any way to skimp on certain areas in order to save a little bit of money, I would strongly recommend to not port and polish your head. I'm not saying it's a bad idea at all, but your Honda Head already flows extremely well from the factory and pressurizing it will be fine up to probably your 300whp level or maybe a little more.
I want to see you get this project done just as much as you. Building cars is extremely fun and a very rewarding hobby. But if you have not done them much before, I must caution you that behind every build are problems galore and it's the unexpected ones that'll eat up your budget in a heartbeat.
You don't have to take my word on it, but I highly encourage you to read my thread
The Best Prelude in the World
It's all about my adventures in my entire buildup. You'll probably like it and it's filled with lots of pictures too.
Best of luck!
Linear Mode
