The 6 simple steps to reliably turbo your NA/NB Miata.
 

Follow the following 6 steps to properly and reliably turbo your stock NA/NB miata.

1. Standalone ECU and wideband. Budget $800-$2000. I highly suggest a MS3 of some sort with an Innovate MXT-L or AEM UEGO. Hydra, Aem, Haltech, Adaptronic also make stand alones, but there is less forum support. Install this on the stock motor and learn how to tune.

2. Buy larger injectors and install them. Retune. Budget $300-$1000. You want to get get EV14 injectors. I suggest FlowForce injectors as they are the best bang for the buck EV14's. Anything also from Injector Dynamics is good. Generally higher hp guys on here run ID1000's. You don't want older RX8 or RX7 or etc... injectors. Most RX8 injectors on the market now are fake chines knockoffs and who knows how well they flow, and RX7 injectors have shitty control at low pulse widths so idle control can be hard to get good.

3. Stronger clutch. SuperMiata, FM, ACT are the only brands you want to be looking at. Budget $300-$1000 for this. This is another place not to try to cheap out on due to how much of a pita it is to change a clutch when your shitty ebay one fails.

4. Figure out your IC setup and BOV. Budget between $350-$1000 for this. Generally run 2.5" aluminum pipe on the cold side, and 2" aluminum pipe on the hot side.

5. Buy quality turbo hardware. TSE/MKTurbo/FM/Artech/BellTuning/Fab9 is where you should be buying from. Budget $1500-$5000 for all this. Install all this and tune your fuel and spark table in boost.

6. Enjoy the stock motor and be between 220whp-250whp. At this point you will have a reliable setup that you should not have to do any major work to as far as the turbo setup goes. Now you will start spending money on engine cooling, and suspension and such to catch up to your new found horse power.

I finally got tired of typing this all out repeatably and posting it to newbs. So I made it a sticky so I can just start linking or quoting from it.

Finnaly. Now I can find and link this easilly.

I've been wondering when you would do this.

Interesting info about the injectors. Is there a good way to tell if eBay RX-8 injectors are real, or should I just avoid them all?

Unless you pay too much to have them flow tested, you'll never know until you crack your piston.

I'm running Yellows (RX-8), but installed them before FF existed.

By the time you buy used Yellow Tops, have them properly flow tested and supplied with new rubber parts, you are at $150.

With what others have experienced with new Yellows, I would forgo them.

I would recommend going with the FF for $300.

This guy knows his stuff, he made my turbo kit and I have been happy with it for a while now. I followed the instructions and am happy. :)

I wish I had found these steps 3 months ago, before I started my blind journey into the turbo miata world.!
These steps really make sense!

Thanks,
Mike Mohr

These steps presume the car is not for road use?
 

I've been reading (and preparing to turbo a 10AE), but I can't figure out if
a) most states don't have emissions testing like mine (MD)
b) every one on these forums uses their turbo miatas only on the track
c) you just slap the OEM ECU back in when its testing time.
I love this post though; very informative!

A. No emissions testing in Florida.
B. I daily mine and do autox/track
C. If need emissions, find a hookup or revert back to stock ecu/afm/injectors once a year.

You found a good starting place, but your question is a little off topic. This thread is actually really important for pointing noobs on the right path. Why don't you start an intro thread in the meet & greet section, and we can tackle your unique situation there?

​​​​​​

Early model. 1990 - no OBD2 port.
 

We do have testing, but 1995 and older cars don't have an OBD2 port, and must be tested out the tailpipe. (At idle) So, as long as there is a cataletic converter, I'm good.
I also have a 2004 Mazdaspeed, that needs an ecu. I'll be sure to get a plug-n-play for easy swapping once a year.
Mike Mohr

I'm a noob, looking to get on the right path to turbo an NB1. Can you explain why I'm off topic? I would say step 1 (add a new ECU) should include "make sure your car is grandfathered, or you live in a state w/out emissions testings". Either that, or state 'this thread is not for noobs'. Sorry, but you really lost me...

There are many basic assumptions made in the original post, and knowledge of your state's emissions would appear to be one of them. I'm just trying to keep this thread from getting too cluttered up with questions that distract from the intent of the original post. We use this post to get people set on the right track.


It's helpful for us and for you if you start your own thread in the meet and greet section where you can detail out questions unique to your car, state, build plan, budget, skill level, cat, etc, etc.

This is exactly right. I am going off the assumption you know what to do to deal with emissions where you live. If you want to know how people deal with emissions, then create a new thread and ask.

Thank you for making this thread, it's very helpful, especially for a noob like myself.

I've been doing some research on turboing a 1.8, and was wondering about cast manifold and matching downpipe options. It looks like the BEGI components are a popular recommendation, but are there options for "matching sets" from other companies? I would like to do a mild T25, T28, or T3 setup, and want to avoid the headache of getting a custom downpipe fabricated, and would rather buy a matching manifold and downpipe that I know will fit. The BEGI combo comes out to about $800, which isn't terrible, but I'd like to explore other options, if any. Thanks in advance!

plenty of matched sets are available on the market. just make sure you buy manifold and downpipe from the same company and you're golden.

here are some of the more popular choices.

Flyin Miata $869 T25 manifold, elbow and downpipe
Bell Engeneering: $? T25 manifold and downpipe
Kraken $~750 T25 manifold, elbow and downpipe.

out of the 3, Kraken has the best design parts and most affordable.

Also MKTURBO is a great value kit, comes with T3 manifold, turbo, downpipe, AND 3" exhaust, all for $1500

Wow, thank you, this is very helpful! I have come across FM and Kraken, but not MK Turbo. They don't sell their manifold and downpipe separately, do they? Their oil line kit looks awesome and seems like a no-brainer at $125 shipped. I would gladly pay that instead of figuring all the little pieces out, acquiring them, and assembling them myself.

Doing some more research, and I'm starting to not shy away from custom fabrication.

I could build the foundation of the setup (cheap, ~200WHP, but spend the big bucks on the really important things (MS3, injectors, oil lines, etc.)) off these parts:

- eBay T3 cast manifold, $120 shipped (https://www.ebay.com/itm/1994-2005-Mazda-Miata-MX5-1-8L-T3-Cast-Turbo-Manifold-w-Heat-Shield-WG-Block/263328132618?_trkparms=aid%3D111001%26algo%3DREC.S EED%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20160908105057%26meid%3Da2f73 014757644d589a7f1347cd79339%26pid%3D100675%26rk%3D 5%26rkt%3D15%26sd%3D182989550345%26itm%3D263328132 618&_trksid=p2481888.c100675.m4236&_trkparms=pagec i%3Ab0807214-6a6c-11e8-9eaa-74dbd180e3e3%7Cparentrq%3Adaff83561630aca4755f154e fff6b0f1%7Ciid%3A1)
- I like that it has relief cuts, and an external WG block-off plate pictured. Also, the "heat shield" is a nice little extra.

- eBay T3 turbo, $116 shipped (https://www.ebay.com/itm/EMUSA-T3-T4...UAAMXQMXRQ613a)
- Trying to find the Godspeed T3 Super 60 that this guy (https://www.miataturbo.net/diy-turbo...ep-info-73004/) has had success with, but can't. EMUSA is a name that I recognized after searching "t3 turbo" on eBay. Gotta continue researching which eBay T3 is the one to get, or if this one will suffice.

- eBay T3 2.5 " downpipe flange and pipe, $36 shipped (https://www.ebay.com/itm/Turbo-Exhau...QAAOSwAHtaRwXS)
- I'm pretty sure I could take this to my local fabricator (he's done an axle-back and resonator delete for me in the past) and have him weld up the rest of the system. I'd probably have him weld up a straight pipe in place of the cat and maybe replace the resonator and muffler.

- MK Turbo oil line kit $125 shipped (https://mkturbo.com/oilline.html)

That comes out to about $400 for the manifold, turbo, the beginnings of a custom downpipe, and a rock-solid oil line kit. I like that.

MS3 PNP ECU, intercooler kit with piping and BOV (Apparently the CXRacing kit is made for T25/28 systems, so I guess I'll have to mess with the hot side to make things fit. I like the routing method that the guy used in the thread I linked. I also need to research whether the BOVs in these kits are worth using.), injectors (FF 640CC (It seems like the risk of getting fake RX-8 yellows and also their lesser performance, even with legit ones, isn't worth it.), and then the small other things. Not bad.

I love the wealth of information available for turboing these cars, as well as how affordable it can be. It's also awesome that you guys don't flame other for considering using eBay turbos and other parts, lol.

Why ask the questions and still go all ebay?

manifold is fine. old school begi knockoff, its not great, but will work.
Turbo is wrong, you want internal wastegate.
downpipe flange is junk, thin metal, will likely crack, and wrong angle, will need to be chopped off, and re aimed and added onto.
no such thing as T25 intercooler, its all just bent pipes, as long at they connect to the turbo that all that matters.
you need a BOV, ive had good luck with ebay greddy ssqv knockoff, worked fine.
good choice on FF640 injectors and ms3.