Hey guys I am new to the board so I wanted to say hey. Well I have a 97 RS with 112k on the engine, the engine died at 65k due to a bad oil filter, now I am looking to put a stage 1 on my car and I am a little scared to begin, I keep seeing posts from people who have blown head gaskets etc. Can anyone tell me what exactly I need to do in order to do some safe boosting?!?!? Prices would also be greatly accepted. I brought the car in the garage for the summer in order to strip out the interior and begin the summer project, By the way I am looking to do most of the work myself so I can undertsand fully how everything works. Thanx Guys!

welcome to the board... if you are considering boosting... check out the things ive seen before, or try a search... there is so much valuable information there its ridiculous... but just to start you off, do a compression test, that will at least tell you a little bit of whats going on under your hood. since you are closing in on 120k, i would check all the 60k maintenance things (your belts, tensioners, waterpump, sparks, wires, etc...). and for the future, maybe a rebuild kit. good luck and happy modding!

Thanx, I am really nersous because it will be my first turbo install! I am in no hurry so I plan to take things very VERY slow. I plan to go out this thursday and purchase a large assortment of tools for the surgery... I figure a large metric set and plenty of rags.. anythig else I need??