Jmanwork

Hey guys, I am about to start my build and I want to thank everyone for the help so far. I am fairly new and have just been reading all the useful information I can on here seeing the limits of what I can do and trying to learn from everyone else's builds. Starting off, I have a 95 Miata I bought already turboed from the previous owner. For anyone who hasn't read my introduction post (which I would assume would be most of you) I picked it up for $4200 with pretty much everything I need to run. The only down side being it burned oil. lots of oil, and had a broken 2nd gear syncro on a stock 5 speed. I am not going to list everything that was done to the car but I will list why I picked this up instead of starting from scratch. It came with MS2, 650cc injectors, BC coilovers, Artech 3" exhaust with ewg, and a lot more.




What started as me wanting to fix the oil burning issue quickly turned into a slippery slope as most of you have also experienced. I originally was just going to replace piston rings, but then once I went through all the trouble of pulling the motor out I was going to do a "rods only build." However, then after asking you guys about my OEM pistons I decided on going for Supertech 8.6 83.5mm for the extra insurance. Well one thing led to another and now I have this pile of goodies, a 6 speed that should be getting here tomorrow, and I'll get my engine block back from the shop next week



Goals:
I want this to be a daily driver first. This means I'm keeping ac and ps and I want the inside to be as clean as possible. I want to make 300whp reliably and not have to worry about anything blowing up. The plans for this car are to drive it every day to work and school then take it to the autocross once a month. I'm not trying to do anything that's never been done before, I am just trying to build a car that'g going to be reliable and fun.

Progress.
I ordered the coolant reroute hardware from TheBandit here on the forum. Once I get everything in the mail and my block back from the shop next week I plan to start putting everything back together. The only thing that's still up in the air at this point is my oil pump. I pulled the cover off the back today and the gears look great. But I've seen people say if you are making 250+ to get billet gears, also I've seen people say they've done 300 reliably on just rods. Does anyone have a opinion on this? Also, billet gears are $200 from boundary, is this the go-to option? I saw you can also get the whole pump with gears from fab9 for $300? I have already invested a lot of money in this motor and I would hate to see it blow up due to oil pump failure, especially since I have a stock damper. At the same time, my money supply is dwindling. Thanks for everything so far everyone!

astral

I can't quite comment on the questions as I am still learning myself. Just wanted to let you know the car looks great. Good luck on the build!

Jmanwork

Thanks Astral! Also today I painted the valve cover. A small thing I know, but it definitely needed it.




Shrek green, I know. Next is the IM

mmmjesse

what turbo are you running?

this actually sounds like what i am planning. 300whp daily with all the things like AC and PS still on it.

Jmanwork

Mmmjesse right now im still unsure about the turbo. The car came turboed with a China turbo and I'm unsure which brand. It's very similar in spec to a gt2554. Obviously I'm not going to be making 300whp from that so I'm selling it (no shaft play so I think I can sell it.) I'm thinking about a gt2860 right now.

Jmanwork

Painted the intake manifold and water pump pulley Shrek green as well





You can kind of see the contrast of the green in my blue engine bay. I can't wait to put the engine back in this thing it's going to look so mint.

shuiend

iTrader: (24)

A GT2871 is a much better choice then a GT2860 for what it is worth. You will give up no spool, but breath better on the top end.

mmmjesse

i am actually selling my gt2876r in favor of a 2871. i will never be able to fully use the 2876 unfortunately. Good to know that there is no spool difference between the 60 and 71.

Jmanwork

Thanks guys I'm going to do some more research on the Gt2871 now

Savington

iTrader: (31)

Having driven both turbos on 1.8L motors, I can say that you'll absolutely see a spool and response difference between a 2860RS and a 2871R.

shuiend

iTrader: (24)

How much of a difference was it? Way back when I was picking out my turbo for my Absurdflow setup the spool difference was marginal with all the dyno's that I compared. Now really he should be going with an EFR instead if he really wants to be a man.

timemachine89

Garret < BorgWarner EFR

All that daily driven torque sex...

Jmanwork

I want a BorgWarner EFR... I also want to eat tomorrow xD

Just got my 6 speed from UPS!



Also painted my subframe with truck bed liner

Jmanwork

Update: I went ahead and bought billet oil pump gears. I've already spent enough money in my engine that it seems dumb to skimp on the component that keeps everything lubricated. Plus since I have the engine apart right now it's obviously the best time to do it. I don't want to have to remove the oil pan later down the line.

psyber_0ptix

iTrader: (4)

You fools are lucky with your power steering and creature comforts.

Jmanwork

Not about that sweaty butt crack life... for now

psyber_0ptix

iTrader: (4)

Some of us unprivileged plebs started from the bottom. With a 1.6 at that!

What I'd give to have A/C in this weather. I'm just to lazy to get the system vacuumed and charged.

More car pictures!

hi_im_sean

iTrader: (3)

If you are going to steal my color, you at least need to call it by its proper name. That, sir, is Kawi green.

Jmanwork

Holy crap I did steal your green lol. Your build looks sick though I bought this paint from O'Reilly it's the engine paint "Grabber green" high class I know. I spent a whole $5.50 (it was on sale.)

hi_im_sean

iTrader: (3)

I bought the exact same paint from the exact same retailer AFAIK and understand from spending years on kawasaki forums, "grabber" is the term originally used by kawi since forever (70s?).

good luck with build, I really wish i had AC.