i donno.. my 20g spools way too fast.. Im running outa first gear way too soon for my liking.

But again... This isnt about whats the only way to go... Its about.... You .. Im only .. Again.... Answering the question the OP had asked. With my opinion.. And again its a valid opinion. And you run it into the ground like its stupid.

Bud.. You can stay with the 16g that spools at an aclaimed 3000rpms... Which is giving it alot of credit. I would upgrade the turbo to really enjoy the car. Holsets will spool up at 3500rpms. Gt30rs spool real fast aswell. When you run the 1/4 you never see under 4000anyway. Its up to you.. If you own your dsm for a long time and do alot of modding.. You will upgrade eventually.
Its just a suggestion... You asked ... Didnt you.

Well it depends on what your ultimate goal is Terry?

The HTA68 is a killer turbo and spools just as fast as a regular 16g with more top end. You can't go wrong with it. But honestly I would atleast get that 16g to minimum 26 psi and have some fun with it. If your goals are bigger than this, then sure go bigger.

I got used to my mid-high 11 second 16g car and wanted more power. I'm even used to my turbo now and still want more. I'm always looking at ways to make the car more faster yet still fun on the street. It's a never ending battle for me

Top end killer power, so I can pump Supras and bikes on the highway is my goal

I know the meth world is pretty solid.. But keep in mind thatvif something goes wrong with your meth at 32 psi in a very high revving 16g... And bad things WILL happen. But making the same power on a hx35 with out meth.. And you can worry about whats next. Even at 32 psi with the hx35 .. It will be running way cooler then the 32psi 16g. Add meth to that and see if you ever go back to a little turbo again.

Jay, if you read Chris's original post, he was looking at maxing out his current setup, not what turbo he should get. I'm just telling him how to do it by cranking up the boost and making the headgasket setup bulletproof. Keepin it simple my man!

...and your 20g doesn't hit 20 psi by 3,000 rpm. Any DSMer with any turbo claims 1st gear goes by too fast. You're not the only one

Not saying it does Reza... Im sayingmy slower spooling 20g spools fast enough . That if the only reason he shys away from bigger turbos is the spool factor.. Then he needs to understand that bigger turbos spool just fine for the street. And that if he is going to upgrade his car.. A larger turbo may be the best bang for the buck... He has the sapporting mods for a biger turbo... Why not.

Sure he will have fun with the 16g.. But i see it as old school.. Turbos have come along way since then.

Head studs/Good head gasket, upgrade to V3 run SD and if you are planing on pump gas, meth would be a good idea.

And yet another thread turned into a argument about pointless sh!t!

says the guy who is running a BR20g. If that ain't old school, I don't know what is

A 20g is more old school than the evoIII 16g. Maybe you should upgrade

I plan on it.. But i was biulding the car first. He is way past that point.

All you guys have it wrong, a 2.3 AND a bigger turbo is the answer.

No complaints on thread jacking from my end guys, I haven't looked at this thread since last night so I was surprised at the amount of posts, keep the debate going!

On a side note, my excitement over this winter is because this is the first time I will have owned a DSM that isn't my DD, I'm picking up my winter car on Saturday so finally I will be able to tear deep into this car without having to worry about getting it back on the road for Monday morning.

The E3 16g just seems to keep building power all the way up to 20psi and I feel like I'm cutting the boost off way too low. I would like to see what this turbo is capable of and as I mentioned before, I will be happier to spend my money on even greater supporting mods than to strap a new snail in there.

Very excited for the spring results!

So correct me if I'm wrong but it seems like the felpro gasket that Reza recommended will require me to machine the head and block surface prior kt installation, is that right. If so Is there an option that doesn't require this additional work? I wasn't planning on pulling the motor.

You are correct: it is highly recommended that you deck the block and head prior to running a metal headgasket.

If you would prefer to avoid this, many people have had great success with the OEM composite headgasket, found here, when coupled with ARP L19s or the A1s. It is the setup I'm currently using (with L19s), and have had no problems. It should outlast your 16g.

OEM composite gasket with a set of L19's will likely hold anything you are ready to throw at it. I've run up to 30psi on a $26 Felpro composite and regular ARP studs with no issues to date.

As Jeremy stated. Composite gaskets are more forgiving. There is a certain Ra value that the head and block need to machined to. Any good engine builder will tell you that.

Although some people just clean it up and throw a MLS gasket in and it has worked for them.

You should have the head checked for straightness and milled either way, The block I would just clean up with a scothbright pad and some air intake cleaner. Some guy's like sandpaper but I am a non believer.

I agree there, no sandpaper on my block!

When I swapped heads in August, I just cleaned up my block with a scotch brite pad and brake cleaner. You just want to make sure all the old gasket material is off. The scotch brite pads are plastic so they won't take off ANY metal; the sandpaper might.

and leave grit in your sh!t.....

I hear that becomes more of a problem as you get older.

Wait what are talking about again?

sandpaper... and who you calling old?

Ryan Laliberte has a set of brand new L19s for a 7bolt up in the for sale section for a very good price. You'll just have to call up ARP for the missing stud. I've heard they are very hassle-free, and as Ryan says in his ad they will likely send you a new stud free of charge.

Okay, so my plan would be to have just the head machined flat, clean the block surface with a scotch brite and then use the composite mitsu gasket in combination with A1's or L19's.

All-in-all this setup should work well for an e316g at ~30 psi?

No need to have it machined for a composite gasket if everything checks out reasonably flat.

Yeah agreed, your other option is just replace the head studs. There are guides on how to do it without replacing the gasket, generally you remove and replace one stud at a time.

Thats what I said.. Im gonna replace the studs in my 1g before the snow hits. I need to seal the vc anyway.

If you do the one by one method, I'd advise you find out how many turns it takes to get the stud turned down all the way, I've seen more than one stud bottom out prematurely on some oil down in the hole and only end up grabbing about half the length of threads.

hmm, interesting option. Jason, do you know where I could get that information about how many turns each stud will go down?

Has anyone done the one-by-one method themselves? Would each stud be installed and then fully torqued before moving on to the next one or do you torque them to the first spec, proceed to the next stud, and then after they are all installed you torque them to the final spec in order?

I think that I'll do a compression test on the motor since I haven't checked it in 40,000km. If the numbers look good I'll assume the current HG is in decent shape and I'll go ahead with just doing the studs.

I don't know off hand but I would check with my spare block to see how many turns would be a safe approximate value, every block is slightly different. One or 2 turns difference wouldn't be an issue but if one went in 15 turns and the next only 8, you'd know that you hadn't reached the proper depth.

I haven't done the one by one method personally but I'm pretty sure you go the 3 step torque sequence on each stud then once you get them all done, you just go over them all in the proper sequence at the final torque value. There's a guide floating around somewhere.

I changer the studs that way once.. Replaced and torqued each one before removing the next. I did it in sequence like installing new studs. Dont know if that mattered. I measured the stud hole depth and premeasured the studs so I knew they were installed deep enough. I also used long Qtips to remove the oil.

Only problem is I could not chase the threads so i gave the studs alittle more torque incase the warn threads were effecting my torque readings. I dont remember any of the measurements.. Sorry.

Should the studs not go as deep as the old head bolts? Pretty easy measurement it they do.

I dont know if the stock bolts would go in as deep as studs do. Never checked.

Every Head bolt hole on a 6 bolt block is only 1.5" deep and are all blind holes.

Now keep in mid that he will be measuring with the head on.. And a 7bolt.

The L19s use all of their threads on the block side. Count your threads; that's how many turns you'll need to bottom them. If you get within 1-2 turns of what you counted you should be fine.

I've never used the method of just replacing one stud at a time. I'm not sure I would trust an old, weathered head gasket that you just squish a bit harder to hang on to all that boost. I know you're tempted by the idea of not having to remove the head, but if you've got the time... trust me it's nowhere near as hard as you think it is. You'll learn a lot about wrenching as well as the current state of your engine by pulling it apart.

I have never just replaced the headstuds one at a time, but it is worth a shot like the guys mentioned above. Worst case scenario if the head ever lifts is that you'll just get on with the original deal with changing the headgasket.

Once the head bolt is out of each hole, you'll need to clean out all the oil properly so that the new stud can go all the way in. No point in doing this job half assed. Once each stud bottoms out, back it off a 1/4 turn. Do this for all the studs. This will ensure the torque is applied evenly accross the threads. If all the studs are not level, remove the stud and clean the hole up of all oil.

I believe it's a much more common thing on Evo's to do the one by one method because they already have an MLS gasket from the factory and just need the extra clamping force.

Ifvyou only change 1 stud at a time.. I really dont think you will bother the headgasket.

But again it depends on yer budget. If yer gonna replace the head gasket. Then might aswell do a timing belt change. Balance shaft..replace the intake manifold gasket with one of those plastic gaskets. have your TB rebiult.

Or spend some money on a spare motor and spend the winter rebiulding it. Then in the spring you can have a stronger .. Fresher motor and a day or two down time to swap it in. It may be better then ripping into your running motor and finding out its too much work and then not having a running dsm.

Well, there's been a turn of events. I just did a compression test and the results were not good

Dry Wet
95 psi 180 psi
85 psi 85 psi
40 psi 120 psi
135 psi 120 psi

Looks like she's coming out!

I'm going to redo the test tomorrow night after the battery has been on the trickle charge for 24 hours as the car has been sitting for two weeks now but for this test I let it run for half an hour before starting so I'm not sure how much difference that will make.

Now for the next question, rebuild, or drop in a 6-bolt? Thoughts?

If you can score a good 6 bolt for less than a rebuild, do that, if not rebuild the 7 bolt, either will handle your goals easily.

You should redo the test. Your last results dont make sense. How are you doing you compression test?