Okay, here's the advantages and disadvantages of SR20DET vs. SR20DE:
Cost: You can get an SR20DE for a few hundred bucks, plus if you have an SE-R you already have one sitting in your engine bay. A DET will cost you will over $1500.
Turbo-friendliness: All right, to be perfectly clear about this: The SR20DE and the SR20DET are the exact same engine. There are differences, and they're mostly confined to pistons (different compression ratio), piston coolers, lifters and a bunch of other little things - but the blocks are the same and the heads are mostly the same. That being said, the lower compression and the other goodies in the DET do make it friendlier for turbos, and of course they come with the turbo and the turbo manifold included, as well as the oil return lines.
However - the DE can take a turbo system just as well as a DET can. The main tangible differences will be that the DET will be able to take more boost on pump gas without detonating. Reliability shouldn't be an issue with either SR20 variation. If you want more than 250 HP, you will still have to upgrade the turbo, injectors, MAF and ECU even on a DET.
So what you need to do is this: Define specifically what you want from a turbo system. Define how much power you want, how much boost you want to run on pump gas, how much on race gas, what the car will mostly be used for, and how much money you have to spend on the project. Define all the little parameters
BEFORE you decide which engine and/or turbo kit you want to build.
There is no right answer to this question, there are only different outcomes. You need to decide beforehand how you want the car to behave, and once you do that you can decide the best way to go about making it happen. Sometimes the DET is the best way to go and sometimes it's not. It totally depends on what you want out of it.
For example, if you want more than 300 HP, a DET is probably not the way to go, because of price. In addition to the $1500-$2000 DET you'll have to get the ECU, injectors, MAF, front mount intercooler and piping and the full exhaust system AND you'll have to buy a bigger turbo as well. Or, you can buy a DE for $250 or $300, get some low compression forged pistons for $600 (I think), the MAF, injectors, intercooler and piping and exhaust system and ECU, and the turbo. See, the list is almost the same either way, but the DET is 8 times more expensive to start with.
But if you're planning on staying under 260 HP, a DET might be the way to go because you'll only need injectors and ECU pretty much.
So - decide what your goals are, and then decide the best way to implement them.
Forgot to add - you'll want a full 3" exhaust system no matter which way you go - including downpipe if possible. Turbo systems like it best if there's no exhaust at all but of course that's very loud and super illegal.
