I recently purchased a 99' Miata w/ a custom turbo installation for recreational track use. I have removed the Turbonetics turbo and custom manifold from the car in order to make some repairs to the manifold and noticed that the turbo has ports for water cooling. Turbonetics recommends connecting them in order to extend the life of the bearings.

What would be the best way to connect the turbo to the existing cooling system? The car appears to have factory coolant routing and Koyo racing radiator.

I'm reasonably new to this, so any information would be appreciated. Pictures, parts suggestions, instructions are all welcome. I wasn't able to find much information in searching the forum.

Many thanks!

 

This is how I ran mine.

 

Yep, the thermostat housing's small nipple and the mixing manifold's small nipple that have a hose between them already.

 

Great! Appreciate for the information.

Ok, so the flow is Mixing Manifold --> Turbo --> Thermostat Housing?

Flounder, the connections ont he turno look nice. Do you recall the brand or where they were sourced from?

Thanks!

 

Look at the turbo install instructions at Flyin Miata and Begi.

 

Yeah, came with the begi shanghai kit. I'm overdue for some new hose though.

 

Technically the flow will go the other way round, but essentially you've got the connections correct.

I know it's hard to do in practice, but inasmuch as it is possible, you will want to route the lines such that you retain the essential "downwardness" of the flow from the thermostat housing, through the turbo, and to the mixing manifold. In other words, avoid coiling the lines or making needless humps.

The idea here is that after the engine is shut off, convection will cause coolant to continue circulating in the reverse direction- upwards from the mixing manifold, through the turbo, and into the head. Unfortunately, there will be a much increased propensity for the now-stagnant coolant to boil within the turbo center section, and while this is not harmful to the turbo (boiling is actually good, as it means that heat transfer is taking place), you want to try and engineer the system such that coolant can keep flowing without the resultant bubbles causing blockage of the line.

 

I don't know what you have for a turbo, but if it's a garrett, you can probably use the same fittings I am using.

sells these. The barbs are the same size as the thermostat housing and water pump. (3/8")