[Tom F2]

I would try to find out exactly what happened with the motor by talking to the tech who did the work. The Nikasil style of cylinder, which is standard in the Turbo, is not easy to hone, and I think that the experts recommend against rehoning them. From my limited experience with Nikasils, I would agree that rehoning is not a good idea. A new set is VERY expensive.

The SC cams are supposed to help with torque at lower rpm. I don't have data or enough experience to back that up - I'm just repeating what I've heard. I don't know anything about K-28 turbos.

As I understand it, the turbo lag is the time that the engine spends getting to an rpm range where the turbo is operating efficiently. This happens around 3,000 rpm in my car. Below that engine speed, the car feels sluggish. Over that speed, it's really quick. The time that the car spends getting to an engne speed where the turbo kicks in depends to a large extent on the gearing. Most of the problem in day to day use is that the gearing is poorly matched to stop and go driving. Once you're underway on an open road, it's okay, though at highway cruising speeds you'll find yourself switching between 3rd and 4th gears, or just driving over 80 all the time to feel comfortable in 4th. The best fix seems to be a ring and pinion change. A change to a different transmission (915 or G50) also seems to be effective. This, again, is word of mouth. I will have a better idea after I finish this project on my car. The K-27 and SC cams are also supposed to help by lowering the engine speed at which real torque becomes available.

John Walker, if you check in on this post again, I'd like to hear about the K-27 installation on the Turbo 3.0 motor. I had thought that this would require an intercooler. True? How would you describe the benefits?

To sum up, I would say don't let the "wild animal" reputation of the early Turbos scare you away, but don't buy one as an investment, either. These are expensive cars to maintain, and the best that you could reasonably hope for is that rising prices might some day get you back a small percentage of the money you spent to keep the beast running. Look on it as an investment in fun, and you won't regret it. Also, it's not a terrible value compared with the cost of depreciation, etc. of a new high performance car. I passed on a Mitsu Evo to buy my car, and I think that the Evo's going to be a high depreciation vehicle.