Budget Build Ideas?
 

So badicaly I am 18 years old and in my senior year of high school. I somehow managed to pick up a MINT 2000 Miata LS with 46k miles for $5,000 over the summer.

I figured before I go off to college I go out with a bang. During summer break I plan on going turbo. This is 100% funded by me so budget and reliability are my main concerns. I don't want a drag sleeper beast miata. I just need a little more pep.

Here is my idea:
MK turbo kit & oil like kit
new injectors
cx racing intercooler
ebat bov
some cheap wideband and boost gauge
clutch (would probably wait until my current slips)
for an ecu I was considering either buying a used ms2 or getting the diy ms3 kit as I do have experience soldering

Obviously I have lots of research left to do and a long time until any part is ordered, but I just wanted to know what you guys think. I'm looking for 200whp. Do you think it could be done reliably for ~$3000-$3500?

Sounds like a good plan. Make it FlowForce injectors and you are good to go.

Get the ECU and wideband (AEM UEGO is what I reccomend) and learn to tune before putting anything else in.

cheap wideband is a terrible idea.

Man, i would hate to build this all summer than slip the clutch before it exits the driveway.

Edit* I was smart though. I used my extra college loan money to build my car. :party: thatinterestratetho

You should probably add money else where assuming its a bone stock car. A nice set of fm or megan coils will be "better than stock" without breaking the bank. Then look into getting a new set of rubber and maybe a roll bar and enjoy life. I'm still in high school and I'll admit that I've failed many times on my build, I would NOT turbo it as your only mode of transportation, my car has left me stranded more than once. Some one on here said that the key to making a reliable turbo miata is to get it to work good enough and then stop fucking with it. Don't let me scare you though, just be weary of what your getting into.

Bad idea to skip the clutch. Just watch out for a deal. I found a used FM happy meal for pretty cheap on CL and it works great.

I have a ACT XT 6 puck for sale in the classifieds if OP needs a clutch that won't slip.

Kid sounds poor. May be out of his budget.

the clutch on my NB is good for 220hp, and around 12psi. after that it slips. no idea what kind of clutch is in there, i am assuming original or oem replacement 180k miles on car.

so for his 200hp goal, the current clutch might hold just fine.

I also have a 99-00 mslabs MS2 enhanced for sale if you are interested. 6 months old, works perfectly.

You are lucky on your clutch. My stock 1.8 clutch started slipping between 4-6psi.

Overall OP your its sounds pretty good. You just need to work on the order of it all. Follow these steps to win.

1. MS and Wideband. MS3 is what you want to go with. For the woodbine Innovative or AEM. Install these on the bone stock car and learn to tune.
2. FlowForce injectors. Get these and install them and retune fuel and such.
3. Clutch. FM, ACT, 949Racing are the only brands you should be looking at.
4. Intercooler setup, get this figured out before you add turbo hardware. Cold side piping and IC can be mounted while naturally aspirated, then just have to worry about the hot side parts once you have your turbo stuff.
5. Turbo hardware. MKTurbo/Fm/TSE/Artech/Begi are where you should be looking.

I also happen to have all that you need in your list for sale.
https://www.miataturbo.net/miata-par...xh-more-91286/

Borka, you might have an aftermarket clutch on there. How many miles did the car have when you got it?

Are you suggesting running the car NA with an intercooler or just mounting everything and mocking up the piping?



Thanks!

Depends on how early you decide to mock up stuff. There is no reason you can't run the cold side pipes, and IC, and then put a filter on the other side of the IC. Won't help with cooling of air or anything, but will make the day where you install everything else a bit easier. I wouldn't suggest doing this like 6+ months before the other turbo hardware.

I see, so it's more of a convenience thing than a 'you should tune it this way' thing.

Thanks man!

It might be aftermarket, no idea, i bought the car with 170k and now its at 180k. so maybe the clutch was replaced at some point.

I built my first turbo setup in the same time frame. Really helps if you can weld or fabricate at all. I took a welding class at the local community college and learned a great deal. The machinist instructor was super supportive and let me use his shop when the course ended. Drove the car all through college (commuted ~50 miles a day). Sometimes I miss the stupid simpleness of the FM voodoo box and small turbo on a few psi. Car was my daily its totally do able but I spent the vast majority of my time tinkering on it. Pulling the header off, test fitting, putting it all back together to go somewhere, etc.