Ryan57596

I recently purchased a Miata with 199k miles on it. I have since put 2k miles on it and it runs excellent. Only owned by 2 people prior to me and was maintained to a T. (only reason I bought such a high mileage car) I had thoughts of building a turbo Miata once I purchased the car but it was more so a back burner thought, that is until my friend's engine blew in his Volvo and hes giving me all his turbo components. Now a diy turbo kit doesn't sound too bad. Is this too dangerous? Is 201k too much? Should I rebuild? How can I check to see if the engine won't blow right after I put the turbo in?
I forgot to mention its a 1994 1.8l.
Woo! First post!!

Schuyler

iTrader: (1)

A compression test would be a good place to start, imo.

sixshooter

iTrader: (12)

Basing any build around a free or cheap turbo isn't usually a great idea. Picking a turbo related to the goals of your build is a great idea. Turbos are cheap. Choose correctly and you will be happy. Choose incorrectly and it wastes time and money on the wrong parts for inferior results that will require being upgraded later anyway.

That being said, it may be a good turbo for the application. Do you even know what the model and specifications for the turbo are?

thirdgen

iTrader: (26)

Compression/ leakdown. Post the numbers and we will tell you to turbo it or not.
I'm not included in "we", because I'd turbo it regardless!

Stealth97

iTrader: (5)

Regardless of how the numbers look, I'd plan for a replacement engine once you turbo it.

Monk

iTrader: (3)

I disagree with this^. New timing belt and clutch? Yes, absolutely.
OP, what is your budget and what are your power goals?

Ryan57596

Timing belt just replaced about 3k ago. Don't really have a budget as of now, not looking for massive amounts of power, maybe 180-200. Just want to get my feet wet with a turboed car.

thirdgen

iTrader: (26)

Do it, but do it right. By right, I mean no bandaids. Run that turbo, run stock injectors, but get a better fuel pump and definately get a megasquirt. The most important thing you need is good air fuel/ timing control.

Monk

iTrader: (3)

I agree with most of that, but does he really need a different fuel pump for stock injectors? Also, why not upgrade to some rx8 injectors for cheap?

Erat

iTrader: (5)

You're going to kick yourself in the *** if you spend all this time and money slapping some horrible bullshit together only to realize 6 months later that it all sucks and you need to upgrade it all.

Do it right the first time, do some research, figure out what is good and what isn't.

With that being said, you can totally DIY it and i'm sure if the compression numbers are good that engine should hold out for a little while.

Ryan57596

I'm aware of that. I don't have the money to do a full turbo setup right now with new injectors, ecu, pump, intercooler etc. Any ideas of something I could start out small with low boost and work up? example stock injectors, small boost new ecu, then later add an intercooler bigger injectors etc. I'm fairly new to building a turbo setup. I've worked on turbo cars but have never had to build a setup all on my own. I'm just thankfully this community is available!

momotaro

You probably don't want to hear this, but don't turbo when you really can't afford to do it right.

What is the rush anyways? I have all my turbo parts for over half a year ready to be installed, but I am enjoying the car so much NA, I don't feel the need to TC at the moment.

Monk

iTrader: (3)

If you don't have the money right now for a good setup, just maximize its NA potential with things that you'll need down the road anyway. Invest in a lightweight flywheel and a good clutch, upgrade to some decent injectors, a megasquirt, and maybe a cat-back exhaust.
The flywheel and megasquirt alone will make a huge difference in how your car feels.
You don't necessarily need boost to be fast in a miata. Hornetball is proof of that.

Erat

iTrader: (5)

I feel like you didn't read what i wrote at all.

If you don't have the money, sell the miata, buy a shitbox civic and put an ebay turbo kit on it.

Rome wasn't built overnight and i can assure you, it wasn't cheap.

sixshooter

iTrader: (12)

^This. Install a Megasquirt and learn to tune it before the turbo is added. You can pick up quite a few horses just by changing to a Megasquirt and eliminating the intake metering obstructions. You will need a stronger clutch before the turbo and changing to a lightweight flywheel while you are in there makes a notable improvement in acceleration.

Girz0r

iTrader: (1)

I 2nd this...

I just recently picked up a FM supersize Happy Meal with lvl 2 clutch. First initial thoughts were "Wow, this is a mountain to move.... but the new pickup is nice!"

2.5 weeks later I'm starting to love it after breaking it in, the speed increase and no tax on my fuel econ is very desirable