Dollar for dollar; no motor can make as much power as the 4g63.
If your only looking for a straight line car, maybe consider an Eclipse GSX. Oooo... a GSX on $23 grand will be one bad ass machine.
1997 Eclipse GSX, 130K miles, good condition, KBB = $6000
Stage 1 SBR motor = $7000
Stage 3 Sheppard Trans (rebuild) = $2000
That takes care of some serious stuff and still leaves you with $8000 for anything else and go fast bits. Damn.
