A real look at a turbo build cost
 

So I know we have a few threads talking about the true cost to turbo a car, but I think this one is a pretty realistic/complete look at it for a nice EFR car setup.

I officially have my turbo build up and running, and I kept track of most everything I bought (including the car) in a spreadsheet.

Trust me, if you are not frugal (I was not) it will be a LOT more than you assumed. I am all in for a dual duty EFR build at about $26,287.00, which does include a $3,500.00 NB Miata platform to start with. I still have about 2-3k to spend before I feel the car is "completed".

I would consider this list a pretty standard list for a reliable dual duty high horsepower (350-400WHP) build.
All work on the car was done by myself besides alignments/machining block/head.
This list includes all of the original suspension/chassis/safety parts I purchased before going turbo to be safe/make the car more fun.

I hope this helps some people. Please feel free to use the google doc spreadsheet any way you would like.

And newbs/broke college kids. LOOK AT THIS LIST. No, you CAN NOT build a (reliable) dual duty 350 WHP Miata for Under about $15,000

Make a copy of this version to edit.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...it?usp=sharing

Here is a quick view.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...wqJmPA/pubhtml

I'll bite. I've spent ~$20k for my EFR setup. More street oriented, driven when it's nice out. Might Auto X a bit but no plans for track yet. No built engine, started with a pretty clean car, payed more than most but it was in good shape. Next major step will be building the engine and upgrading to a 6-spd with 3.6 rear end, when I decide I want to put the time/money into the car.

Here's my summary doc:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...68&single=true

Thanks for sharing your list. What is with the engine ground straps?

Another data point here.

My build and budget falls right in line with OP. After my initial budgeting and planning, I estimated 15k but am now sitting at ~25k for an EFR build I feel confident using as dual-purpose. This was without cutting any corners, but costs could be brought down a little bit by leaving out some parts unrelated to the engine/hotside.

Heres the parts doc:
bit.ly/apexmiata

wow thats alot - even more in US! (im au). great list of parts - thanks for the effort

so you have an oil temp reading from the drain plug? does this go straight to the gauge? does oil pressure have a guage? no oil cooler???

Don't have a perfect list like you have, but I tried to keep track of costs.

I have a car that was pretty much for free, because it was just shitty. Ended up being 150€ for the car itself :bigtu:

It got new paint and extensive rust repair, both done by friends. With a rods only engine and new bearings, head, valves - my built cost me around 15-16.000€ (18-19.000$).

I think 15k$ plus a car is what you need to build a reliable machine

Now I have a low budget, low boost car. Car started as a 2001 SE in great shape with some suspension done. MK turbo, full kit, FM clutch, Mishimoto rad with FM fan and shroud. I replaced the tired original engine with a stock UK one, with 80k in it. Misc. gauges, catch can etc. I never tallied up the total costs, but I would estimate it to be between 5 & 6k.
I have thoughts of a rods only rebuild, to turn up the boost, but the cheapass in me says stay at 200whp. Lots of respect for you people going all out building killer high hp Miatas.

Yes, we should fix that: 15k$ plus is what you need to build a reliable 300whp+ machine...

I’m afraid to add it up lol

I just want to know how you scored a 3.6 diff for $600, they are 1000 now anywhere I lok and I sure would like one with my 6speed and 4.1 rear end hahah

FA56: I don't see an oil cooler on the list.

I actually still need to install the oil temp drain plug, but yes, that is the plan and I hope it works out well. Gauge is in car, but not reading anything yet. It will go straight to gauge, electronic sender and 12V power at gauge.

Oil pressure also has a gauge, I have a 3 gauge holder in lieu of my stereo, and I have my boost gauge mounted in one of round vent holes. I have my oil pressure sender teed into my turbo feed line (AN6 line)

No oil cooler. I am interested to see what oil temp readings are at once I get the sender installed (installing at next oil change). Hoping to get by without a cooler, but may have to change that.

I messed that breakout up.

It was from Yossi on these forums. Just looked back at the PM's and it broke down like this.

$650 shipped - 6 speed tranny
$800 shipped - 3.6 diff.

Both came out of the same car that had 56k miles (he originally thought it was 87k mile car, so I think I got a bit lucky there)

Half that is doable if you do all the work yourself. Shitty $800 NA. Body work and paint, rods only engine, MS3X, manifold and exhaust, all of it was DIY including tuning. Dirt cheap used 6 speed, used torsen, used 6258, ebay intercooler.

If you can't do those things yourself then yeah 15k is probably right.

Proper rollbar, wheels/tires, everything serviced, brakes, suspension, roof/hardtop, fuel pump, injectors, regulators, soo much stuff. I did all the work myself, paint job was dirt cheap, car was for free, I'm a cheap ***hole.
Okay, I had to buy a very expensive cat, Tüv certificates, that's all stuff, that adds up here, but under 10k is a stretch including a car, if you want a nice street toy.

Sure, you can MK Turbo your shitbox, search for cheap transmission/diff and end up at 7500$, but the world isn't always perfect. The truth lies somewhere in the middle I think

Rollbar, wheels, brakes, suspension, hardtop. All things that contribute nothing to making a reliable 300 whp street miata.

​​​​​ If you remove those costs from your total where does that put you?

Your version of a miata is 15k. That doesn't mean it's the minimum cost to make 300 whp reliably.

As a broke college student, my build started as cheap as possible. I'm talking not-a-single-new-part with fake rx8 injectors cheap. I've now worked my way up to a built motor with a non-efr (precision 4828) turbo and made a lot of mistakes on the way. I would guess I'm in about 8-10k in parts now, plus 5k for the car initially, and that's including many mistakes (eBay turbos, shitty injectors, etc etc). I've got most of the bells and whistles with an MS3, BEGi manifold, FM intercooler and piping, full 3 inch exhaust, ls coils, so on. I think with plenty of experience and some savviness right off the bat it could be done surprisingly cheap, like 5-7.5k?

This thread actually got me interested in how cheap I could have gone, so I went back to my priced-out build list and totaled only the parts that were absolutely necessary. Im talking no boundary oil pump, no superdamper, no headwork, switched the EFR for a china T3, fred flintstone style brakes, no chassis upgrades, etc...

Even using some used part pricing, I only could get the price down to 11k plus the car. 15k+ seems like a pretty reasonable expectation for a basic reliable 300hp+ miata unless you've got some crazy hookups. If you tried to go cheaper I would expect it to cause more headaches than it's worth.

Im all ears if someones satisfied with a build they've done for less, but the numbers say 15k+ in relation to my build, prices I could find, and fab work I'm capable of.

Show your list and I'll tell you where you spent money you didn't need to.

My original rods only chinese 2871 combination was on the road for less than 8 including the car with fresh paint and a new glass robins soft top.

I did some research and put together a real list here:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...it?usp=sharing

A lot of it is hunting for good deals. It's clearly nowhere near perfectly accurate but that is everything directly pertinent to the engine and drivetrain that has been done. This also doesn't include things like small hardware bits, random fluids, cleaning supplies, tools, and many of the other things necessary to complete the project. Those probably tally close to $1400 on their own. It also lacks 2 things necessary to be considered a fully capable 300-400whp car: a capable transmission and a proper ethanol tune. A 6 speed can be had for 650 and a good tune for 300-500 depending on location. That does indeed put me right near my $10000 estimate.

In all reality, the answer to OPs question will probably vary depending on a particular persons definition. I didn't count things like roll bars, brakes, brake lines, wheels/tires, and suspension. Others will. What even counts as 350-400 capable? Does only the engine have to handle it? Driveline? Do the tires need to be able to make it useable and the brakes able to stop it? Regardless, I think it's certainly possible with enough effort to put it together for quite a bit less than 15, maybe even less than 10.

I agree it depends. Do you want a street car that overheats if you drive aggressively and is a death trap but has 350whp?

Are you willing to wait for 2 or 3 years to collect everything on special deals/used?

Sure, you can do it for under 10k.

I still think for a truly reliable, safe, dual duty car you are not spending less than 15-20k all in to build it as a standard shade tree mechanic that does not have industry connections and wants some of the “nicer” branded parts.

I was putting a list together for critique, but yall went ahead and nailed it. I feel 15k is what it would LIKELY take to build something generally agreed to be reliable.

Less than that and "reliability" is subjective to usage and owners preferences but definitely can be done.

Props for that build. Makes me cry a little thinking about bank statements.

Rocking 350whp with a style bar? With 15x6 195 all seasons, blown shocks? Sure, you CAN do that, but if you love your life, you wouldn't do that.

Okay, lets say you pay 4k for an MK turbo complete kit, 2k car, 1k wheels/tires, but that is NOT the end. You don't even have a fuel pump or regulator, no built engine, no 6 speed, no torsen, nothing...

THIS.

If your build stops at "Now I've got all the power!", then good luck with that. The car is a whole system that goes beyond the HP numbers. You've got to put that power to the ground, stop yourself when you get up to speed and protect yourself when/if things get hairy.

FWIW - If I totaled up all of the dollars I've put into my "build" over the years (not including the car itself, which was bought new in 1999) I'm sure that I have at least $20-30K all-in. But that includes multiple iterations of FI setups, several wheel/tire setups, at least 3 full rebuilds and 2 (unnecessary) DIY paint jobs. I stopped keeping records 10 years ago.

​​​​​​Every motorcycle ever made is more dangerous than a miata on the street. I also wonder how many people are killed by bashing their head on a roll bar on the street.

If you have access to a welder, chop saw, and a soldering iron you can mimic the mkturbo kit for half that. Any kit you buy you're paying for someone else's labor and r and d.

You don't need wheels and tires to make 300 whp. Any 300 whp miata is going to be traction limited on the street anyway. My 6 speed was less than $400 shipped to my door. My torsen was less than $400. A rods only engine can be done for the cost of rods and a head gasket. What do you need a regulator for?

Your version of a 300whp is not everyone's version. Saying it can't be done cheaper is plain wrong.

I don't think that anyone was saying that it CAN'T be done for less, but rather "Here's what I spent, use it for reference". Any example list can be picked apart, and just about anything can be done less expensively based on someone's preferences and priorities (To each his/her own).

True; wheels, tires, suspension, rollbars, paint, instrumentation, etc are not needed to MAKE 300HP. Those are "supporting mods" that could make 300HP easier to transmit to the ground, manage and control, monitor and survive. It's all about what a person's goals are, and what they're willing to tolerate in an end product.

(PS - I used to ride bikes. My last one was a Suzuki TL1000S. I always rode wearing a helmet, gloves, proper boots and a jacket. My only concession was wearing jeans - although earlier I did have a set of full leathers. Bikes ARE more dangerous than any Miata, I respected that and took what I thought were adequate protections.)

It was said that you can't do it for under $15k. That's false and it's the point I'm trying to make.

Point made. Duly noted.

Some of you guys are so pedantic with this shit... prices are different all around the world, availability of parts (new and used) fluctuates, values of the "dollar" changes, and so much changed in the COVID world with demand for cars and parts. Sheesh.

Focusing on the *can* instead of the *should*

Seems like we can reasonably say building a 300whp costs somewhere between 1000-40,000 depending on all of those variables that took 28 replies to look at; good talk.

It's a forum. The whole point is to discuss, share, and learn. Isn't that what's happening in this thread? No one is making you read this.

Idk man, idk

My whole point of this thread was just to post a realistic list of what my build totaled as I have not seen a lot of complete build price lists here, typically people are missing a LOT of the small parts that add up quickly, including safety gear etc. for track use if you are new to the sport (as I was).

I know I was really surprised once I added this all up and just had to keep buying shit to complete my build. It is amazing how much custom feed/drain -an lines cost, how much custom piping costs, random wiring components, pipe clamps, vbands, etc. I think people that are newer to buidling a turbo car do not realize you need to drop so much on these items.

And again, you CAN do it for cheaper, but I still believe to have it truly reliable it costs about 15-25K minimum for a car you can take to the track and feel it should be reliable.

Anyone who says they are going to spend 7K for a 300-350WHP car and bring their car to the track and not worry it will break/kill them when driving it at 90-100% for a full day is a fucking liar.

And of course, most guys have to pay for the car itself. A good base LHD Miata is 3000€+ here in Europe (NA's more like 5000€+).

I know one can do it cheaper, but 90% of the guys can't, fact. I'm out of this discussion

Awesome thread idea! Here is my price breakdown (ARTech, 2560, ID1000, MS3x, but OEM long block). You can see that if I bought a bolt, it went on the sheet. All of those prices include shipping costs where applicable. Also, this is a dual duty car but 90% of its use has been on track since I completed the build. I have had no breakdowns so far...

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...cca0a52c9d.png
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...01e2c6d227.png
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...5dd80ebc9d.png
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...67295880f5.png

15k and that's not even in the 300whp+ club... And I don't even see a built engine, torsen or 6 speed!

That sounded bad, sorry! I'm sure you have an awesome car, but it manifests itself, that 15k is the lower limit for a really good car

Several thousand of that was spent on track specific stuff that most people would not be buying (seats, harnesses, very expensive pads, brofab hubs, $1k on diy bilsteins when I should have just bought used Xidas lol, etc).

But trust me, I understand your point. I have looked in the garage countless times and thought to myself "I can't believe I have $15k in an old Miata". At the same time though, I think I would have a hard time getting something as fast, reliable, and safe on track as my car is for $15k. The only cars I really have trouble keeping up with are the newer track prepped Camaros and Corvettes, and they really only pull away from me on faster tracks that have long straights.

Also, forgot to add, but it does have a torsen (OEM) and a 6-speed (I blew up the 5-speed pretty quickly). I will make sure those are on the sheet, I can't believe I forgot to add the 6-speed!

Built engine adds up, too!

Hoot Hoot. Some awesome info in here guys. Really cool to see different peoples specific price breakdowns/build sheets.

Mods. Sticky this shit so people can stop asking how much a turbo build/track car costs.

Cool thread. If I was honest with my wife, I'm a shade past 20k for my build. However, that includes a few iterations of the car (at least 2x engines and suspension setups); bought and sold parts along the way. Regardless, I have a fully built motor capable of 300+, FM turbo kit, 6spd, MSM rear/3.6, fully rebuilt suspension on Xidas, refurbished interior that is comfy, and relatively cheap paint job that looks great at 10ft. Hard top to boot. Car makes very solid power that can hold up to 20 minutes of hot lapping.

Like this thread idea. Ill add mine, ended up spending more than I expected as usual.

Looking at just the turbo stuff, stock engine with 2554 turbo set up cost me around $5,400 total. Thats including a new diff, clutch, and required cooling mods.
Its been super reliable, think its making HP in the low 200s. Havent tracked it yet since the turbo went on.


https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...aee5e2e35d.png
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...8cf92c0f2c.png

I no longer own my turbo NB, but I believe that I was about <15k for a 330hp NB1 with a built motor. Price includes purchase price of the car .

I do think I got fairly lucky though and found a lot of good deals and spent a fair amount of time flipping parts which helped lower costs a fair amount. I bought a lot of things used or NOS from folks that bought parts and ended up not using them and such.

I understand your point, but in most applications it's assumed that coming anywhere close to being able to use 300hp in a Miata that wheels and tires do in fact help. With you saying "going to be traction limited on the street anyway", so since it's a complete lost cause we should all just be running 800TW all seasons on Daises? I do get your point of just checking the box of 300hp that almost nothing else is (technically) required though. In that same sense you could say brakes, seats, seat belts, etc are all completely optional (ignoring laws).

Just don't keep track of what you're spending. That's how I sleep like a baby at night.

This guy gets it.

QFT