Tony makes some good points, although I think it just depends on what you want with it, and if you can drive an auto. I personally cannot. The only auto I had was my first, and I don't plan on driving an auto any time soon (although a paddle shifter would not be too bad at all ). So, if you are fine with driving an auto, keep it. If not, find a donor car as Tony mentioned. It certainly is a lot of work, but something that has been done tons of times by other members.

As far as horsepower, that really is an open ended question to say the least. There is an old blue RWD Talon auto that easily makes over 1000hp, or you can make as little as say 200whp. It's all in what YOU want with it. Typically, the best thing you can do if you are new to the scene is work your way up. Start off with smaller mods, but also keep in mind that if you are planning on being a trailer queen someday, plan your mods accordingly now (i.e. don't buy 550 injectors if you plan on running a GT42R sometime in the future). When I first got my '95 GSX I pulled the engine, replaced the head, new turbo (Evo 3 16g), FMIC and all piping, Fluidyne radiator, 3" exhaust, Walbro 255, DSMLink, ACT 2600 with lightened flywheel, 750 injectors (which I may be upgrading this season), etc, etc. Doing all of this took forever (not only just to pay for everything, but I was in school so I had little time to dedicate), but I made sure I had every supporting mod before I ran the new setup. What might be a better way, is just to upgrade one thing at a time (such as start with intercooler piping or FMIC, new exhaust, DSMLink, fuel pump, injectors, etc. Then after you have the supporting mods, install the turbo of choice and be ready to rock and roll. Anyways, the point of all this is to start small and work your way up. The people who go all out with a stroker motor with a gt42r as soon as they get the cars are the ones who can't run any better than a 13 second 1/4 mile. Hope this helps!

'95 GSX - New motor/turbo going in...
'95 TSi AWD - For sale...buy me!
'03.5 MazdaSpeed Protege - Stock daily driver
'97 CBR 600 - Purple is a real man's color