"Muscle" Miata
 

Hello, I'm new to this forum and as a Miata owner, driving a Miata is so fun, but it lacks power & acceleration, so I set myself a goal to increase my Miata's Power to 300Ponies, just enough to keep up with stock muscle cars. I own a 1997 1.8L Miata M-Edition, I know in order to acquire that goal I have to modify most of my engine, & the biggest challenge is to make it CARB/California legal, we all know CA is REALLY PICKY with its Emissions demands, I know i can get an illegal turbo then just switch it out when I renew my plates but I rather just keep it legal & save myself going through all the trouble every year, So to cut to the chase, what do i need?
What turbo? How much psi?
What level fuel injectors?
Do I need a new ECU?
I already bought fortified connecting rods, are the stock piston heads enough to handle the power?

What turbo? GT-30

How much psi? @24

What level fuel injectors? Level 4

Do I need a new ECU? Not necessarily. You could "stack" 4 powercards with a VooDoo Box and make it work.

I already bought fortified connecting rods, are the stock piston heads enough to handle the power? While the piston heads might be strong enough...the skirts tend to be weak at those power levels.

Hope this helps.

This thread is destined for failure. People on here tend to get touchy when new guys ask questions before doing their own research. A 300 hp miata will do more than "keep up" with stock muscle cars, especially when traveling in anything other than a perfectly straight line. Give us some more details, such as budget and timeframe. Read Soviet's build thread for realtimatepower. We really want to help, but you need to do a lot of reading first. There is a lot of information to be found in the build threads.

LMFAO x'D Epic

I've actually did a lot of research already, but to explain all the things i already know would make my question super long & so i just wanted it to keep it short & simple, my timeframe? Well my goal is to ateast have it running by August, my budget? Well lets say roughly 3,000 for the turbo, turbo manifold, piping, intercooler, bov, etc.

Do you know of any CARB legal twin scroll turbos?
& about the fuel injectors i meant like ???cc, i read that rx-7 turbo (550cc) fuel injectors will do correct?

I don't live in Ca anymore, so I don't know about the carb stuff, but rx7 injectors ain't gonna cut it. Rx8 injectors will get you closer on a budget. We don't need you to explain what you already know, that is not what I meant.

Many of us will doubt the validity of this statement.

I'll give you a little help: $3000 isn't enough to make 300whp. A frugal build put together by someone with a welder and an eye for what parts to purchase at what prices in the classifieds can do it for about double that, including the requisite built shortblock. Someone who's never done it before and wants to purchase nice parts at near-retail prices will spend about triple that. If you're paying someone to install, quadruple it. 300whp from a CARB-legal setup is an impossibility.

You Californians and your carburetors LOLZZZ

Well then lets not put a limit to how much I can spend, I just want like a general idea of what i would need to make this possible, I understand its like impossible specially here in CA cause it demands so much, but im just curious if there's a way to do it & how, & I plan to do this myself, learn as I go, I may not know a lot as all of you here but that's why i came here for help

It cannot be be done and be CARB legal. As Savington said you like likely spend closer to $8k-$10k if you can't fabricate but still do almost all of the labor yourself. Thats all you need to know for now because there is no single answer for the rest of your questions. You have not done very much research at all. Reading for 5 hours is not a lot of research. I am in the middle of putting together a built engine and incredibly capable turbo setup and I have been on this site nearly daily reading almost every technical thread I could since 2011 and I still feel like I haveca lot to learn.

If you haven't gotten any of these answers, and you've actually put your mind and effort as well as you can into searching here, you likely don't have the mind or effort to turbo your own car.

OP is a lost cause. :(

How about if I decide to make this an illegal turbo kit? Im sure that'll be easier to figure out right? & I know there's lots & lots to read about this, almost endless, if there's a threat you want me to read before asking more please do show me

The best way to get help here would be to research the topic yourself, by researching turbo theory and designing your own setup. My preference is physical literature written about the subject. A quick search of amazon will turn up plenty of hits on that. An easier but far less inclusive way would be to go to FM's website and look at the kit they have setup for that hp goal. Fairly simple and acheivable in under five hours I'd say.

^Thats the issue. The general consensus is that you should easily be able to find this thread on your own. Asking for an easy link tends to lead to the Newb Trollers showin up.

Trust me, they are already circling, just waiting for the OP to cop an attitude.
Now, an illegal setup is doable, but it will still cost you more than $3000. Again, there is no single answer to what setup will get you there. Is there a specific reason you need 300 hp? That is a lot in a street driven miata.

I was talking about an illegal setup. My first sentence is telling you that there is no way to make 300hpand be CARB legal, period. CARB legal kits for that power level simply do not exist. There is no specific thread I could link you to. Start with some build threads and the stickies.

In order of questions,
Move out of California
Gt30
All of it
Level who knows...at least 600cc
Yes
What are fortified connecting rods? What are stock piston heads?