Ryan_G

iTrader: (8)

There will be no OTS suspension worth a **** in that price range. You would have about 230/250 rwtq depending on the turbo and tune. I would keep it closer to 230 because you're approaching the limit of the stock rods.

shuiend

iTrader: (24)

To give you a bit of perspective about power and torque in a miata. Back in 08 a very good friend had an AP1 S2k with a supercharger on it, it made 300whp and about 180ft/lbs of torque. It was a blast to drive on track and above 5k rpms. Actually driving it on the street in normal northern VA traffic sucked and was no fun. My 94 miata with a 2554 and a Begi S1 setup made something like 220ft/lbs of toque and 205whp. All the torque was midrange and made darting in and out of traffic fun and entertaining.

A 250whp will have between 220-240ft/lbs of torque depending on the turbo, and how much boost you are making.

BTMiata

iTrader: (5)

Flyin Miata Classic coilover's are a great choice if you can save a little more... I have them on my 91' and couldn't be happier for what I spent on them.

Flyin' Miata : Chassis : Suspension components : FM V-Maxx Classic coil overs

pdexta

iTrader: (17)

I switched over from S2000s to Miatas several years ago. The cost of quality parts is about half, and the community support is infinitely better. Parts are also easy to find and motors are cheap. While I love an s2000, I personally prefer the miatas handling. They're much more predictable and easier to drive. I used to loop my s2000 all the time at autocross and I honestly can't even remember loosing it in a miata.

If you want an NA, as others mentioned, look for a 94-97. In the $5000 range you can find an NB pretty easily (99+), they're much more refined inside and feel less like a tin can. Personally I wouldn't bother looking for an overpriced 30k mile car. Save some money and find something in the 100k range and it should be fine. The biggest thing to look for is a torsen lsd rearend. The miata.net faq has breakdowns of packages/options that will help you identify what rearend the car will have as long as nobody has molested it.

shuiend

iTrader: (24)

If he is going NA then 94 to 95.5 for OBDI compatibility and the oil feed spot on the driver side of the motor. If he is going to spend a bit more and go with a NB then I would only start looking at 01+ with a 6 speed and LSD. This way you already have the goodies you want later on when the power bug hits you.

shlammed

iTrader: (8)

keep the sk2 and have a much better car.

mlev

iTrader: (5)

Your suspension: https://www.miataturbo.net/miata-par...0%24%24-78826/

pdexta

iTrader: (17)

Probably a stupid question, but is there any benefit to OBD1 other than states that have emissions testing?

I definitely agree with the 6sp/LSD for an NB, and a lot of times they're priced similarly to the 5 speed models because the average person doesn't even realize there's a difference. I'm personally fond of the '99 AE and '00 SE cars though, they might not make quite as much power but being someone who's prone to screwing everything up, I like the idea of slightly lower compression and the simplicity of tuning.

bnag0

I would love to keep the s2k but I am house shopping so trying to find something just as if not more fun for less money

mlev

iTrader: (5)

ooof.

If you're doing this to "save money" because you're house shopping, close your browser now, go give your better half a big smooch and take her for a cruise in your s2k, and go out for a cheap dinner.

You're talking about selling your car, buying a different car--which you'll have to spend probably $5k or so on to get a nice clean one (at least, that's how it works around here. I spent $7k on my base '99, wisconsin winters are hard on miatas so rust free ones are rare and spendy), you'll eat your hat with tax title and license, then you want to swap out the whole suspension, getting new wheels and tires, and _then_ turboing it...

You can turbo a miata for cheap. But you can't turbo a miata _well_ for cheap. $800 or so for mani and dp, another $300-$1200 for the turbo itself, fittings and intercooler and all that, $500 or so for the ECU, $100 at least for injectors, and all the while you're trying to keep up with house shopping (which is a full time job in of itself) and trying to save money while you make countless trips back to the auto parts store because you can't find that one ******* fitting that you're positive you had but maybe you just forgot it and who knows.

I personally chose to turbo my miata, and I made that choice over and above an S2K, and I'm not knocking the decision in general.. but if it's part of your plan to save up for house shopping, forget it. You _will_ come out behind, in time and money--both of which are crucial when house shopping.

My recommendation would be to sell the S2K, buy a clean NB, throw some toyos on the stock wheels, and have a metric fuckton of fun for roughly $5500.

edit: and then after the house thing is all settled you can go buck-wild with modifying your car, but by that point you'll come to realize just how awesome this car is, even stock. It's not a rocket ship in a straight line, but it's well over 500 lbs lighter than the s2k and parts, wheels, tires, etc. will be about 1/2 what you're used to paying.

mlev

iTrader: (5)

That being said, if buying a house is just something that's on the radar over the next few years and you're not really in the process of it right now, it may not be a terrible thing to boost your miata...

But speaking from personal experience here, I bought a house about 14 months ago, I started turboing my miata about a month ago.. They are NOT two things I would EVER want to do at the same time.

bnag0

Your saying with 10k I couldn't find a rust free NA.. drop it. Wheel it. tire it. And turbo it all "well" ? It really depends on what i pay for the car. As some have said I should probably buy a car with higher miles. And I might just buy one built just need to familiarize myself with the cost of everything first.

bnag0

If I buy a stock car I will take everyone's early advice and do the wheels suspension And what not and hold off on the boost until I know what the heck I am even doing lol.

mlev

iTrader: (5)

I'm saying if you're doing it as part of a plan to save money for house shopping it's a bad idea.

Is your budget about right? probably. I'd say you'll look at spending a bit over $10k all told, but you're not *that* far off.

Let's call the car $6k after purchase price, tax, title, license, and any goofy maintenance things you'll want to take care of after getting it. An all around suspension setup from Flyin Miata is about $900. You can do it cheaper, definitely. You can also end up spending more. Are you doing the labor yourself? Let's be generous and call it $600 because that's your budget.

For a decent set of wheels in the size you'll want, plan to spend about $150/corner. So $600. A bit less for tires, we can get good rubber pretty cheap, so about $120/corner, so another $500 for ease of math.

We're at $6k car, $6,600 with suspension, $7,700 with wheels and tires, another $60 for mount and balance and a few bucks in gas there and back and valve stems and disposal and taxes and shipping on all the aforementioned items, we'll call it $7,800.

To keep it under $10k you need to turbo your car for $2k. Entirely possible if you take a lot of time and shop around for the parts and all that, but your megasquirt will be $500 of that, injectors are another $100, a cheap intercooler and pipes is another $150, which leaves you just over $1k for your turbo.

Oh wait, you want a hardtop. Good luck finding a nice one for less than a grand. We can call it $800 to stay in your original budget, but that still leaves you right around $400 to turbo your car.

Start out with a cheaper car, and you'll be fine. Skip the suspension and you'll be fine. Cheap out on wheels or rubber and you'll be fine. Go with an ebay kit and you'll be fine. It's all up to you.

---

My biggest advice is to figure out what your real goals are, and then plan out what you're going to do from there.

Like I said, I think turboing a miata is a wonderful idea, and I think I'd rather have a turbo miata than an S2K... but turboing a miata to save money so you can buy a house is not a good idea.

bnag0

I understand I am trying to budget everything and there are things I wont realize I need/want until I am at a certain point. I can most likely do without a hardtop. All the labor I will do myself. The only thing I need to read up on is installing the turbo which I have no experience doing but I can read at a 3rd grade level and turn a wrench so i think I am okay

The plan was to get maybe 17k out of my s2k So if I can keep the miata around 10k that's saving/making money.

Amy and I's plan was to either take that extra money and dump it into the house or buy a small pickup winter beater or a four door.

concealer404

iTrader: (3)

Is your S2k the world's nicest S2k?

bnag0

Sure is why would you like to buy it?

From a little research that is the rough number that I have come up with. May need to pull off parts put stock parts back on yada yada

concealer404

iTrader: (3)

Don't really want to buy it, but i wouldn't mind selling you a turbo miata.

bnag0

Aw come on!

By the way I am really amazed with the help I have received thus far. Everyone has given truthful straight forward answers and I haven't had one flame? This isnt s2ki at all....

mlev

iTrader: (5)

This is purely anecdotal, and at the end of the day you should just do what makes you happy.. what is it the kids are saying these days? Yolo?

---

Clean S2Ks around here go for 10-12k for similar year and miles as what you described. Miatas go for anywhere from $3,500 - $8k for a clean, 80-120k miles, rust free 1991-2001.

I'll reiterate again: figure out what your goals are, and then build a reasonable plan from there. I think you'll have an absolute blast in a Miata after just throwing some toyos/rivals on the wheels it comes with (or a cheap set of 15s).

Granted, this thread isn't about financial or life advice--you're looking for boosted miata advice.

therefore: https://www.miataturbo.net/diy-turbo...8/#post1124623