Looking for some suggestions for more power before a turbo upgrade

[Animal25RS]

single best way to pep up a 2.5 is to leave motor alone and swap in tranny and limited slip rear diff with 4.44 final drive, It'll be buzzy on the highway but a holy terror on the back roads. That's what all the built Open Light rally cars do. We had a 2.5RS spec rally car with a well-used SOHC Fozzy motor in it that beat many many STIS and Evos.

Did you mean swap in a different tranny like a 6spd? Or jus swap out something else?

 

[Matt]

A 6spd gear ratio is higher than the stock rs ratio. 3.90 to 4.11. If you bump the ratio to a higher number. The 4.44, it'll be a faster revving machine. It's like old muscle cars. They came stock with crappy economy ratios. Slap in a 3:73 and there an entirely new machine. Basically saying you can't do much to bump the hp but you can modify other things to make it better.