David_LB

Id first like to say that im by no means new to cars or turbos but am very unfamilar with miats. I think ive found one i wand to pick up but have a few questions. To make things simpler i link the car in question.

http://fresno.craigslist.org/car/697758384.html

How good is the hks turbo kit? Better/worse than the greddy/ hybrids?
How much boost/horsepower will the Garrett GT25r turbo put out in the 1.8?
Thoughts on the jackson racing water to air intercooler kit ?
How usefull is the f-con on a miata?
Is the megasquirt one of the better tuning options for miatas?
Abount how much power can be made before internals are needed?
Anything thing else you would look for?(minus the incredibly obvious like miles, damage,cleanliness ect)

Im a bit concered if he was tuning without a wideband. I will ask him these same question but i figure none will have better answers than the people on this forum. I will continue to troll and may even answer my ow questions pretty soon but I look forward to any and all advice. I cant wait to become an active part of this comunity. thank you very much,
-David

jobambo

How good is the hks turbo kit? Better/worse than the greddy/ hybrids?
Its okay, not great but not as "basic" as the greddy.

How much boost/horsepower will the Garrett GT25r turbo put out in the 1.8?
~250

Thoughts on the jackson racing water to air intercooler kit?
To lazy to look it up but you dont need it. Either buy a full kit from a respectable source or build your own, like many others have.

How usefull is the f-con on a miata?
Useless. I believe it only controls fuel while in boost. If your going to keep it, you will need other "bandaids" (search it) to get its full potential.

is the megasquirt one of the better tuning options for miatas?
Probably the best. Although his asking 800 when its 700 new. Ask if he will include addons.

Abount how much power can be made before internals are needed?
More than other components on the car. Ive read somewhere ~350hp, although you will probably never see that.

Anything thing else you would look for? His trading for a car that came a turbo stock. Although he claims he never races, i believe he is not satisfied with the speed of the miata.

BTW Im in Socal if your willing to drive, i have a 94 M edition with 90k miles. Rollbar, coilovers, swaybar, ect + ill include a Begi Manifold, injectors and a 2560gt turbo for that price.

Joe Perez

iTrader: (8)

Welcome to the group, Dave.

I'll put it this way- there's a reason it's rare.

In all seriousness, the GT2554 (which I assume is what they mean) is a very popular turbo on this car, and easily good for 225+ HP with proper engine management. Sadly, F-con is not proper engine management. It's a relatively old piggyback device, and not one that you see much of these days. To get really serious about power, you need some properly sized injectors and an ECU capable of dealing with them, plus a better approach to timing management than just a static retard.

Whether MS is "one of the better options" will spark a debate, but in my opinion it's just about the best ECU available for under $2,000. Loads of people here are running them, myself included, so you've got a great support base to dip into.

How much power? Depends on the condition of the engine and your expectations for longevity I suppose. The 1.8 in stock form will probably make 200 HP with just about zero impact on longevity. Plenty of folks doing 225-250 in their daily drivers, and we're not rebuilding our engines annually. Once you get above that point, things start to get dicey. I've seen a couple of folks claiming 300 HP, but at that level you need to think about keeping spare transmissions on hand.


Not really. The '95 was a pretty good year, no chronic problems to speak of.

On the other hand, no matter what condition that car is in, I'd consider it a project vehicle based soley upon the description of the turbo and engine management system. You can do a lot better, and $5k isn't a particularly good bargain on an NA these days.

Doesn't surprise me, really. As you know, affordable wideband sensors are a faily recent innovation, and that setup is anything but recent.

It sounds to me like you know a thing or two about how a turbo system works, and you're probably not afraid to get your hands dirty. If you really want a killer Miata (and I highly suggest it) I'd keep looking for something in the '94 to '95 range that is unmodified, and install a new turbo package yourself. You can get a basic kit from Bell for well under $2k, and a smog-legal kit with a CARB sticker for just under $3k. Once you've got that sticker, and assuming you stick with a pre-'96 car, you can start to get serious about "enhancements".

A few links to the better suppliers of Miata go-fast bits:
http://www.bellengineering.net/index.php?cPath=5_11_49
http://flyinmiata.com/
http://www.diyautotune.com/catalog/

samnavy

iTrader: (7)

The biggest turn-off to me would be the FCON. It's a very limited piece and requires you to hack the factory wiring harness. Removing it (and you WILL want to) would mean re-splicing the harness... not a huge job, but some people (like me) will never again cut the factory ECU harness.

The JR intercooler was designed to be used with superchargers. I've actually never seen it with a turbocharger but INSTANT HEAT SOAK comes to mind.

It also looks like the engine bay has never been cleaned... which always concerns me with a highly modified car. The other huge warning sign is that he doesn't say the mileage. BE VERY WARY of somebody who doesn't post mileage in an classified vehicle ad. Having high mileage isn't a big deal... but the fact that he's trying to hide it would turn me off immediately. WHAT ELSE IS HE HIDING? Some people don't put very much effort into for-sale ads, but forgetting the mileage in a car ad???

David_LB

If had 5 grand cash i probly wouldnt buy this car. If i could have my way id buy a shell and build the whole thingfrom the ground up( which will eventually happen), but my current money/space is very limited. The main reason reason I want a miata is to build a spec miata. However I LOVE boost so i will have my built spec motor and a build turbo motor for the non racing times of the year. The thing that make this car appealing is the simplicity. The only way im going to get my miata is if i sell my Dodge Stealth RT/TT(http://sacramento.craigslist.org/car/730344932.html) and he is willing to trade. I may lose out on a bit but if those mods are worth 3kish then i wont feel so bad. Ill be very thorough when i look at the car but the more i know the better.

David_LB

I know how garbage the f-con is, i just wasnt sure if its something miatas use well. I like the idea of the megasquirt cuz ive never used it before. If i dont like it i have an emanage ultimate sitting here. I was probly going to build a frount mount just because it looks better but i know that usually: water to air > air to air tho it is very tiny. What fuel pumps do you guys run? will a walbro 255 drop in to the miati fp assembly?

I thought about the mileage thing as wel but its going to be a race car so as long as the fram is straight ill be happy. I just like the fact that i can get it a drive it for a while before tearing apart to do it the right way but more threads on that later.

jobambo

Sorry for thread jacking would "infernalfox55" pm me again, as your email does not work.

IcantDo55

iTrader: (11)

DAID LB, please put your location in your profile.

Please at least try to spell some things correctly and some punctuation will go far for you in life. You posts are killing me!

Ok, on to your car issues. You admit to and you want to build So your going to build a boosted motor and a SPEC Miata motor that your going to "swap" out depending on what time of year it is? Sounds very affordable.

Have you ever seen a SPEC miata car? There not exactly street legal in most places but you might live in Zimbabwe so who knows what the laws are there.

Think you should stop typing and read. You will learn a lot here. The search function is a great tool. So is Google to find things out like the price of a megasquirt...for example. BTW for $800 I'll sell you mine

Welcome

18psi

iTrader: (76)

isnt the car posted in thread #1 the same peice of **** I was curious about a couple weeks ago? hmmm, oh wait: YES IT IS!!!!
https://www.miataturbo.net/forum/showthread.php?t=22466
let me just say this: theres a REASON he didnt sell it yet after 5 attempts and like 2 months of advertisements
id advise against it, but its your call...good luck

David_LB

Did you ever go look at the car?

David_LB

Bah, I've been in a hurry all day.

As I stated before I am new to this platform, but please dont think im some ricer punk . I will eventually be able to strip the car down. Right now I have 6 cars at my shop and no room for a not running car. I don't plan on having the miata race ready till the 09 season and may not buy one for a while. However if I can trade one of the cars taking up space for the miata i could kil 2 birds with one stone, hence this thread. Yes i will have 2 engines for this car. A motor swap takes a nights worth of work. whoop de friggin do.

Oh yeah. Ive been planning my spec miata for about 8 months now. Ive already done all my reasearch on that area. I never said this car would be street legal, it will be VERY far from that.


Nah typing's more fun. Damn this thread got further then I thought it would before getting the 'ol "search button". LOL. Its kinda weird because im usually the one being a dick to the nub. Ive been on alot of car forums, but Ive never had someone be such a hard *** and only be running high 13s.

miatamania

iTrader: (9)

lol. Its also says Cone Killer, which is an auto-x term...= not a drag car. Hell its a miata too, just because its not a 10second car doesn't mean he can't be a dick when its needed.

Seriously though, we haze noobs here because there are a shitload of threads that one can easily find that have useful info in them...most notably the FAQ, or the "How to do xxxx" threads.

IcantDo55

iTrader: (11)

Want to line up with my other car, its not a Mazda.

Here a teaser pic for ya.

BenR

iTrader: (2)

If can't afford to spend 5k on the miata, why are you going to race spec?

You really don't need two different motors. If you build it with dual purpose in mind you can easily just swap manifolds, computer and intake over during race season.

If I was going with two different motors I'd plan on two different transmissions as well. It would make the swaps easier if swapped as a whole assembled unit.

David_LB

What motor is that ls1? Big Block? Those Prochargers are no joke. What pound pulley are you running? Is that thing fuel injected? More pics PLEASE. Were almost done building a procharged '70 Chalenger. 500cu stroked 440, Indy heads retarted cam. How much HP are you looking for in that thing? Were shooting for 2000 whp with the Challenger. I think my 18g Stealth Would be enough for that thing tho. Unless your running Slicks them I'm fucked lol.

I have the spec stuff all taken care of for the most part. I will have plenty of money I just right now don't have $5000 in my pocket. It's not that this car is worth 5k to me, it's that I can trade a car that I'm trying to get rid of. I may even get some cash out of it but we'll see. I could very easily just get a shell and build the whole car but like I said it will be a few month before I will have the room for non-running Car. I'm having my engine builder build me a spec motor and I'm going to tear apart and rebuild a transmission. Eventually I want to have my engine builder build me a forged motor, balanced, blueprinted, ported, cams ect. And really see what this motor can put out. That's next winter


I don't really want to boost on my spec motor and my boosted motor will eventually not be a spec motor. And the Turbo is going to be the fun stuff so I deff wont have my spec trans in the car. I plan on going through alot of transmissions. I could swap manis ect, but its so much faster when its separate units. I honestly cant see it taking more than an hour to swap motors.

BenR

iTrader: (2)

I'd look at building it for ita/s or ite. That way you could choose better rear gearing for the turbo and not have to swap the diff over as well when you go racing again.

elesjuan

iTrader: (11)

357?

IcantDo55

iTrader: (11)

89 Notchback:.
A4 Race block, 349 Stroker, Eagle 5.315" rods, Ross Custom pistons, Novi 2000, Victor 5.0, AFR 205, 60's, Aeromotive sumped tank & A-1000 fuel system, Probe SMR, Custom Cam, PA K-member, Mac Long tubes and cat back, Turbo Coupe rear disks out back Lincoln brakes up front. AEM standalone. Should be good for 800whp

Toddcod

iTrader: (8)

Jobambo can I have a picture pm'ed to me of that miata? Thanks

David_LB

His miata is bad *** i was just being a dick ;p
I had a few questions about that car and figured id just ask a bunch that were on the top of my head before I went looking for them. I have no problem searching, and have already found tons of info. Trust me I know exactly where you are coming form being a mod on my other forums.

Back to topic LOL. Im not getting that car. My buddy is selling a stock 94 with 84k on it and i may have my car sold so i may be picking it up very soon.

Oh and heres a teaser pic of that 440(i told him to get indy heads but he ended up going with the edlebrocks)

<a href="http://imageshack.us"><img src="http://img395.imageshack.us/img395/2494/dscn0859nu8.jpg" border="0" alt="Image Hosted by ImageShack.us"/></a><br/><a href="http://g.imageshack.us/g.php?h=395&i=dscn0859nu8.jpg"><img src="http://img395.imageshack.us/img395/2494/dscn0859nu8.a7c31af4b0.jpg" border="0"></a>