It's the nature of a "discussion board" or forum. You go where the conversation leads you.

If this was merely a Question & Answer Session, then we would have to re-define or institute new rules to the board. However, being that it is a forum, merely asking a question doesn't necessarily mean that you'll only get, or be limited to, conversation or thoughts from individuals pertaining specifically to your question. Moreover, and I'm sure this is the case more than not, if people, like Ryan, have interesting facts to offer that do not necessarily answer your question, but peripherally relate to the flow of the conversation at hand, most people are more than happy to hear it.

So please understand, this is the way it goes here at 2GNT Forum.

On the topic at hand, you can extricate from what Ryan has said, that although the original poster was looking for ways to maximize his NT potential, besides obvious upgrades that have already been posted and replied to by other posters, that you will be limited in the performance that you attain through n/a modifications, at least when compared to turbo upgrades. I think the merits of a turbo upgrade versus n/a upgrades are entirely approropriate, given the poster's orginal premise: "(Turbocharging) seems like too much risk, aggravation, and constant mainanance, which conflict seriously with my reliability requirement for the car (reliability is #1, fun to drive #2--I will not be racing it)." Hence, going too far, or modifying heavily, with n/a upgrades ALSO will effect the reliability, and fun-factor of your 2GNT.

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Jason ESi-T

04' BMW 325Ci
91' Nissan 240SX
98' Eagle Talon ESi (sold)