90LowNSlo

No point in moar power if you can't use it. (i know you know this, figured might as well add it in)

This can be cut down some though with good patience and searching. You can get deals on the MS and turbos by watching the classifieds religiously.

borka

iTrader: (1)

I gave up trying to google what is a MHI turbo?, educate me

andyfloyd

Mitsubishi heavy industries. Td04 13t from a WRX can be had for 100 bucks

borka

iTrader: (1)

Thanks, had no ideal what MHI stands for, i do know of TD04 turbos though. and read that 13t is quite comparable to a sr20 t25 and works rather well.

thats true, td04 is a choice as well. but to my knowledge Kraken is the only one who makes TD04 manifolds and downpipes for it.

T25 is a much more common platform though with a wide range of turbo choices.

90LowNSlo

I got an ebay mani for my TD04

(think its the same price as kraken though $260)

burdickjp

Sorry for the confusion. I wasn't trying to be cryptic.

There are turbine housings to use MHI CHRAs with other manifolds, like T25, T3, or T4. Greddy's turbochargers are MHI CHRAs, for example.
Here's a vendor selling turbine housings for MHI turbos to T25 flanges: Kinugawa Turbo Turbine Housing TD04HL T25 Flange / 6cm Internal Gate

atotalpro

Well, hopping back on here this morning I have drawn some conclusions.

• Chinese turbos are a gamble and will always under perform. Maybe ISR's specs are more consistent, but there is no evidence to prove this.
• EFR is the the way to go if you have $$$. I say this because even though a new EFR is only $1,300, the compatible manifold and down pipe will really kick the cost up over that of the Garrett.
• GT2560r is still a good option, although old tech. Best bang for the buck is to source a used one from an s14 or an s15.
• MHI turbos are cheap, but would require more work

My plan currently is to go fourth with my garret type setup plans. I think I want to buy a GT2560r, hopefully used, as well as possibly an ISR turbo for the sake of curiosity. I would like to run both and publish my build log and results somewhere.

Thanks for all the info, everyone!

andyfloyd

dont even bother with wasting money on an ISR turbo, just get the garrett and be done with it. Some folks have great luck with ISR and some dont.

borka

iTrader: (1)

Not true, Kraken EFR and T25 manifold/DP setups are identically priced. so only thing that sets apart the cost of a Garrett and EFR is the cost of the actual turbo.

18psi

iTrader: (76)

doesn't kraken make a td04 setup? in which case the mhi route is a really tempting option
*edit: and also agreed with borka.

I think you should just take more time and do more research. you're jumping the gun and making conclusions here that aren't exactly on point

borka

iTrader: (1)

kraken does make a td04 setup as well, I think an mhi is the most affordable option that is solid.

best solid setups on a budget are:
kraken td04 and mhi turbo
used begi/fm mani/dp and t25 or t28 sr20 turbos.

that's I all I got for budget oriented folks, that want quality parts.

18psi

iTrader: (76)

To whoever reads this thread in the future:

sit down and add up all the costs. Just make 2 lists, and include e-v-e-r-y-thing. what you'll conclude is that no matter which way you go, if you don't cut corners and ghetto rig it, you're into it for a LOT of money. You'll then realize that to get a much better setup, you're only about 25-50% away. If that's a deal breaker for you, proceed with "budget" setup. If you know the difference between expense and investment, you'll know that in the end you'll be out a very similar amount of money.

Make your own decisions from there
And with that, I'm out.

(PS: if at any point the thought "I only paid XXX for this car, I can't justify XXX on a turbo setup, the parts must never exceed the price of car" enters your mind, stop, and don't modify a miata at all. in fact, don't modify any car, ever. Just go buy a prius and move on. these cars are considered consumables, and these turbo setups are not, never forget that)

andyfloyd

the td04 route actually makes a LOT of sense because subaru turbos are plentiful and upgrading down the road from a td04 to maybe an IHI STI turbo is easy and all the flanges still match, etc.

burdickjp

There's a cornucopia of parts available for MHIs as well, so playing with different housings and wheels isn't expensive or difficult. They're easy to rebuild and rebuild parts are easily available.

huesmann

iTrader: (1)

So what's the issue with churbos, exactly? I could see how you probably wouldn't want to boost one to 20+ psi, but do they blow up at even low-moderate boost, like 5-10psi?

AlwaysBroken

The problem is that they are just randomly out of spec in unpredictable ways. They might blow up, spool slowly, blow hot air at high rpm or any combination of the above. The Chinese manufacturers are completely indifferent to quality or whether stuff even works. If your car blows up, you'll just get mad at some shell company that is three steps removed from the ******* who cut corners and made the product bad. The only way to avoid this is to not buy Chinese.

If I was doing my build today instead of 15 years ago, I'd probably just save up for a TSE kit, since the whole stainless equal length cast manifold really appeals to me and EFRs are head and shoulders above everything else in terms of spoolup and power. That being said, I'm way richer today than I was 15 years ago. If I was poor today and trying to build a turbo miata, I would probably not build the engine and for a turbo/mani, I'd probably just go for a log and a junkyard turbo and have someone local fab up an exhaust for me. More than enough for mid-low 200s at the wheel. People **** on logs for being inefficient and not very blingy, but they can make plenty of power and they are extremely reliable and compact.

deadlock23

Well said.

It's always interesting how a suspension/turbo build can cost more than the entire car! This hobby is definitely not cheap.

I agree with the TD04 13t/SR20 option. They are not fancy but they are reliable and get the job done. Also keep an eye out locally (craigslist) there are deals out there form the 240SX/WRX guys all the time. I was able to pickup a clean low mileage sr20 turbo for $100 locally from a Facebook ad.

Remember with the sr20 turbo (depending on how it's clocked) you will have to get a bit creative on how the wastegate actuator will be mounted. Not sure if the same is try with the TD04 13t turbos. Good luck with the build.

ridethecliche

iTrader: (2)

Read what savington wrote earlier in this thread.

They're 'fine' for a low budget option, but you shouldn't really delude yourself into thinking that they're the same thing as an actual garrett turbo or whatnot. The specs are often not as advertised, spool is slower, and dimensions are off relative to the 'real' version of the same turbo. That said, they work and if all you want is something that works, then have at it. Folks would consider a used/rebuilt SR20 turbo or such a more reliable offering. Plenty of folks have had good luck with Lars' MKTURBO kit which uses the churbos but he kinda went through all the work of vetting them.

2jz_mickey

If you have to go china go with a isr performance or cxracing. They are some what quality controlled. I personally got a cx turbo and replaced internals with garret products! 1k in and working great!

1RMDave

If you are looking for a good inexpensive turbo that you can build off of I would look at a GT2554R, it comes stock on the Mazdaspeed Protege and can be found quite cheap. Also since the turbine side is the same as the gt2560r and gt2860rs you could upgrade extremely easily later if you want more power. Or you could just spend the money on an EFR.