TalkingPie

I think that buying a <$10k E39 M5 is an excellent financial decision sure never to incur such a princely sum of $2,000 to get/keep it on the road.

Ds1

iTrader: (2)

Come on, its German, German cars NEVER break or need maintenance...

soviet

iTrader: (10)

If you read my build thread then from the beginning I started with a "used everything T25" setup. It was cheaper than dirt ($500 for turbo, manifold and downpipe) and worked wonders. Then I got $$$ and went EFR/built motor.

The key to a reliable setup not blowing up your engine is a running a standalone ECU from the beginning.

- Used begi manifold can be had for less than $200 if you wait. They fit in a flat-rate USPS box for cheap shipping
- Any T25 turbo will work, from Saabs, Nissans, whatever. Just be aware that you will spend ~2 days trying to rotate it because the giant circlip will be rusted solid.
- Downpipe can be had used, too, and you can use 1.6/1.8 downpipes interchangeably, as long as you can bolt it to your exhaust and turbo.
- Intercooler piping your best bet is to buy "bag-o-couplers" - I literally bought a massive garbage bag of piping and couplers for $50. Sure I had to buy some things but it saved me $$$.

Chinese turbos are a hit or miss and there are threads on here about which ones are hits and which ones suck.

Hell no. There are some ballers, but most are cheapskates. See viperormiata - he brags about how cheap he got XYZ. Classifieds are your friend, so is craigslist. Used parts are win. Even in my current setup, about half the parts are used.

The consensus here is buy quality parts used or new and run a standalone ECU. Also coolant reroute and feed/drain your turbo properly (aka drill the pan)

soviet

iTrader: (10)

Just for fun, a list of used parts in my car (or rather, not new, second-hand)
- Pistons, rods, main bolts
- Head
- Exhaust manifold
- Exhaust
- Turbo (technically I got a new one since)
- Intercooler
- Intercooler piping
- Injectors
- Clutch, flywheel
- Transmission
- Rear end
- Fuel regulator

New shiney parts
- Hoses, gaskets, headgasket (lol)
- Head bolts
- Brakes
- ECU
- Wheels, tires

Leafy

iTrader: (1)

If you can weld you can do it on the super cheap. A mild steel log manifold should cost you just over $100 to make, stainless DP another $100. Snag a td04 out of a wrx or something similar, they practically give em away. Use all reinforced silicone hose from mcmaster for water and oil. Buy a couple aluminum bends, a straight piece and couplers from silicone intakes or a friend because you've decided to start non-intercooled. You're looking at ~$500 at this point Then spend another $500 on a DIY PNPMS and some 300something cc injectors and BAM. You've got a safe ~160hp turbo miata just a little over grand. And the first thing you'll then want to do is buy a box of IC pipes from CX racing and an intercooler from them so you can turn the boost up because 160hp in a miata is cool for about 2 weeks.

soviet

iTrader: (10)

^ that, basically

A lot of skill + a little of $$$ = turbo miata
or
a little of skill and a lot of$$$$$$ = turbo miata

so, little skill and little $$$ = fail and aids.

thenuge26

iTrader: (2)

OP, if this thread is an indication of the time you are willing to put into this build, quit now.

You need to take your time, and that includes research. Instead of throwing ideas out for us to shoot us down like we are skeet shooting, go read. There are plenty of people who have done this for cheap. See the DIY manifold thread, I already saw one of Sturvo's threads linked (that guy is a genius when it comes to being cheap. Read up and take notes).

To turbo your car, you need money or time and skill. You can trade money for time and skill and visa versa, but you will need one of the above.

tl;dr stfu and start reading, you are not doing anything new.

shuiend

iTrader: (24)

1. Buy cocaine.
2. Make crack.
3. Sell crack.
4. PROFIT!

Savington

iTrader: (31)

This thread is awful.

z31maniac

This has to be some of the worst trolling in the history of the internetz. That is has been allowed to go on so long bizarre.

Joe Perez

iTrader: (8)

Business Plan

$5120.00 in raised capital is required. $5000.00 of which is to purchase cats. The extra $120.00 will go towards purchasing a metal briefcase to put the cats in. Like the ones you see in movies. I have not decided on what kind of cats yet but whatever young people are doing these days. I will then sell the cats at a profit and investors will be offered the profits back.

I once drove two hours to buy cats for fifty dollars that turned out to be parsley which I could have purchased from my local supermarket for around two dollars. This indicates not only a ready and willing market, but a markup of 2400% on the initial investment.

I also once paid twenty dollars for cats which had almost no effect. Many years later, I was told by the person who sold it to me that it was actually a dried up raisin they had found under the couch and had needed the money for cigarettes.

Return on Investment

Using the above formula of 2400% return, investors can expect a minimum $1200.00 return on a $50.00 initial investment.




Purchase and Testing

Once the capital has been raised, I will advertise that I am in the market for a large amount of cats and have the funds to cover such. The small country village where I live, Adelaide, is rather barren at the moment and recent efforts to obtain cats have proven futile. As such, I may have to travel to Singapore or Thailand to purchase them.

I will test all cats offered prior to purchase.

I once purchased several cats that looked suspiciously like Pez. After testing one and feeling nothing despite waiting at least five minutes, I ate the remainder. A short time later, I found myself at an all night outdoor rave dancing to Paul Oakenfold and hugging what appeared to be animatronic Goodwill store manikins flagging down aircraft. At some point during the night I had my face painted with what I assume was meant to depict a dragon in full flight breathing fire but looked more like a child's drawing of a duck vomiting blood. Awakening somehow at home the next day, inside a fort I had constructed from seat cushions and a shower curtain, it took a four hour bath to remove the smell of damp arts-degree students and patchouli oil.

triple88a

iTrader: (2)

Giving up a small ***** and getting back an enlarged ***** is not a good investment Joe.

FRT_Fun

iTrader: (19)

nitrodann

Putting myself on the line a bit here but OP, read this thread here, this is basically the right way of doing it on the cheap. Its very in depth and has a lot of the info you are after. The build will skip a few things that can be done cheaply but because Im building this on a customers car, and he would have to pay for my time, some things are not being done yet, like an intercooler, if you wanted to could clamour one together for 150 bucks extra.

"How to turbo your NA for $2000"

http://mx5cartalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=81&t=58863

Dann

Ds1

iTrader: (2)

Soviet: Thank you for offering some helpful advice! Since I don't have too much time every summer to have fun and work on cars the way I would like to, I do need to do things somewhat quickly. I also don't have the fabrication skills necessary to weld up a manifold and downpipe and if I pay a friend to do it I might as well just buy a new Begi.

At this point I'm trying to get somewhere in the happy medium of $$$-to-skills ratio.

Also, the time issue. Since the car is my DD, it needs to be a weekend project (or close to it). So that means I need to be able to have everything come together at once.

Here is where I'm going with this...

First, get a MS built by Branieak. Cheaper than PNP, I don't have to screw up the soldering, and its not FMU. $590.

Get a Begi Shanghai starter kit. This means I've got a nice new manifold, DP, and at least a new Chinese turbo. Everything is going to match up so I don't have to worry about that hassle. $1000

Used RX7 injectors (460's?): $100

Cheap stainless lines send/returns and tap: $50 (ebay?)

Intake piping: $50

Aaaand thats it. Anything I'm forgetting? I recon this setup will let me save cash on the initial investment, and really just leave the intercooler upgrade with wideband O2 and a wahlbro fuel pump as the only thing separating me from 200whp. The total price would be about $1800 - just slightly more than BEGI's Shanghai-S system after shipping - plus has nice electronics, and nice injectors already.

(Hopefully I'll stopped being called an idiot after this, haha!)

Ds1

iTrader: (2)

P.S. Does anyone have experience with the BEGI starter kit? They're website is a little sparse about what it includes and I still have not got an email back from them...

18psi

iTrader: (76)

Not a bad plan.
Except you need wideband o2. Its not optional unless you're an idiot

Ds1

iTrader: (2)

DAMMIT!!

Hahahahahaha. You got me. And you agree with me for once... looks like we're on the right track.

So add wideband for hopefully around $100 used and we are all good. Nice. Now if I can just get some input on BEGI's kit I'll start buying stuff.

....maybe this can be the best troll turn-around thread ever.

triple88a

iTrader: (2)

So for him its optional?

Ds1

iTrader: (2)