$5k well spent???
 

Hello all I have a 1990 miata. Bought it with plans to build track/street car. 116k miles new water pump, timing belt,plugs wires.all fluids ect. This winter I will be turbo charging it. But I need to set a financial limit somewhere so I plan to make this years number under 6k. So the question is if you had 5-6k to put into your car where do you start?

I was thinking of a voodo kit, clutch, radiator,1.8 rear. But I eventualy want a standalone and that seems like a wasted step but would be a good start

Or
Go for a full fm2 and clutch wait on the radiator and rear to a later date ( if I break the diff I could justufy buying it as I would need it at this point)
Any other thoughts
Car is stock now what woud you do with 5k

There's two ways to go through the process:

1) You spend more money buying a kit

2) You save money piecing a set up on your own.

I would advise for No. 2. There is always good deals in the FS section. You could end up with a well put together system for about 3k. I strongly recommend that you stay away from band-aids. They limit the potential of the system and they are no match for real engine management. With that said you could have a Megasquirt built to your liking for about $500 and even for less if you take on the task of building your own.

Anyhooters is up to you where you want to dump your money. If I were you I'll start the with the MS>Wideband>Injectors>Research>boost.

Also read the FAQ and the All You Need to Know thread.

Buffon1 hit the nail on the head. Read a shit ton until you understand everything and start piecing together a turbo kit, you'll save a good bit and have a bit more pride knowing you sourced it all yourself.

Nope thats a terrible idea. What is your track experience? What mods are on your car now? List all your mods, all of them. If your not running artech, absurdflow, rotrex, you are going to have big problems. Lets not even talk about teething problems running a new FI build on track.

4.3 torsen rear end $850
coilover/sways/endlinks/r tierods $2500
tires/wheels/pads/lines $1500
hardtop $800
rollbar/seat/qr wheel/belts $1200

Thats the basic track setup $6850

No real track experience yet..couple of hpde classes. just getting into this style of racing..I've been drag racing a while and always moded and built my own cars. I enjoy wrenching and driving . I sold my11 second fox body and bought the miata. Im having allot of fun working ok driving tecknieks (heel toe shifting ect) but I also want more power for better exit speeds and the white knuckle feeling on the straights. I'm used to much faster cars. And I love when you can surprise people on the street with a sleeper.

No Current mods for incresed performance except bread pads
I have a beltronics accelermoiter I hard mounted
Clutch switch delete
Sun visors removed
Custom dome light
Headrest speakers
Trunk relese
Remove spare
Removed toe hooks
Rewired fans to turn on together
Other small things and a lot of prementive maintnance ect

just do safety, wheels, tires, brakes and suspension. track it N/A. turbo it later.
you can also look up on ThePass and Genesplicer's posts - both track their cars, have plain jane 1.6 turbo setups and and went from noob to pro :)

You will get white knuckled taking corners at 100mph with the tail sliding I promise...NA

A miata is just "perfect" in stock form for a little track work.

Do nothing but double the power, and you'll over cook the brakes (even with race pads) over heat (even with a large number of aftermarket radiators) blow up the diff, blow up the transmission, and half your power will be wasted with any tire you could fit on stock wheels. And that's ignoring the stock suspension, which is "fine", but isn't exactly confidence inspiring.

Hence our suggestion to spend $$$ on things like safety (that's a no brainer), brakes, suspension, wheels/tires, and your cooling system first. After that, an aftermarket ecu, diff, clutch, and a few others bits and pieces will give you a bit more power and reliability, and make you turbo ready.

The turbo itself is a whole other issue. Above and beyond the normal street setup, you'll need a manifold strong enough to live up to sustained heat and vibration, ~$200 in turbo hardware, and an oil cooler of some sort.

Go to 949racing.com and drop coin.

Thank you all for the advice....I'm ref going to get some kind of standalone..of course oil be droping money into safety and tires that was a given. I have the factory wheels and like them does anyone have experience with keeping these our will I need different wheels to have a good tire combo.
Stock ones I have are the 14x6 spoke design they are light too.

Also john I see your in miami..I'm new to florida as of a couple years ago where do you race? Is love to get some track time before dropping coin. Other than thinking I want more power and needing sticky tires I really know what kind of set up I want.

One more thing the rollbar. I've had mixed feelings about it. Being the car is not only for the track I aril want to be able to put top up and down with ease. I've also heard its more likly to be in a rear end collision on the street then flip on the track..and as I don't drive to the 7 11 with my full face helmet on, seems dangerous to smash head on the large metal bar??
However unless I have one I can't track the car at all os that right?

Sort to sound like such a newb just new to this world coming from building v8 cars and drag racing ect. I used to carve canyons in midcoast maine with my 150hp crotch rocket (r1) moved to florida got ran over by a old guy who tab a stop sighn and broke leg. Having 3 young ones wife says no bike til later and the roads here are boring. Hence wanting a miata and some turns:-) but having a car with less power then my bike...thought would be boring lol. Need a track to see for myself

Just read that post myself..sorry for the grammor issues.. I'm using a cellphone with a spider cracked screen. Reading while typing is not easly done:-(

Wheels are fine, but there's a huge selection of 205 or 225 tires on a 15" wheel, and an even larger selection of 7-10" wheels of varying prices and weights. These 15" wheels also fit over larger brakes. Not only for stopping power and fade resistance (depending on compound of course) but the stock calipers wear pads on a taper, wasting half the pad and therefore half your money. Not to mention wilwood pads are cheaper :)

+1

You will learn a lot with stock power and it will help you later, when you add the power. It takes a lot of money to keep a turbo car going because you will have minor problems. Some of the hidden costs are things I've done to my car like $300 of heat sheilding, melted wires and stuffs, the liklihood of you blowing up that 5-speed, a couple hundred bucks to build the heat exchanger ducting, a couple hundred for the oil cooler...and let's not forget that I have over $500 of SS lines in my car.

It's true what Jacob said. I got a little carried away on the "how to boost" and I left out the fact that you want to track. Do all the suspension and safety upgrades first, then take it to the track.

I see that you come from straight-line fast. Miatas, although they can be made straight-line fast, are design for handling. You will have a blast tracking a well put together N/A. Look at Emilio's cars (949 Racing) to get an idea.

I do not track my car. However, I know there are some Miata folks that go to Homestead, PBIR, and sometimes Sebring. There is this guy called Apexscalpel he posts mainly in miata.net and CR.net, but his car is very well put together (N/A). I remember he mentioned being part of a club and getting a good deal on tracks. You may want to talk to him about that.

All verry good advice......only reason I want the turbo is not because I think I need it at the track but rather the street...getting cut off and out accelerated on onnramps by priuses and mini vans is embarrassing lol. Maine I'll get a ms that way I can fine tune the ignition maps and optimize fuel mayo for n/a first meantime get tires radiator roll bar suspension and torson lsd....than maybe turbo and exhaust next year.....any one know place near me to start track events

You don't really need a radiator at the moment, unless of course the one you have now is damaged. I would do a re-route instead and optimize the coolant flow. $0.02

Good to see another local on the forum. Sebring and PBIR seem to be the 2 big tracks to go in the area but they're a bit of a drive. There's a really good autocross (www.gulfcoastautocrossers.com) close by if that does anything for you.

Lol yeah I plan to go to the gulf coast autocross this upcoming season. I was told about those events by one of the instructors..who happens to work for the music company who fixes audio equiptment, at my restaurant. Can't remember his name but he races a 350z.
I'm thinking I'll stick with the factory brakes for now but get some ss lines. Also going to get a set of coilovers, new sway bars ,Sticky tires. Still can't decide about roll bar. But I will be getting a ms soon to start getting familiar with tuning
Scott I am also excited to see someone thats not 100 miles away lol
mods do you have for your car?

I think you're going to have a nice bbq with your stock pads...

No I have aftermarket pads (hawk) just ment stock rotors
and calipers lol

Ahh, yeah sounds like you're talking about Mike. My big mods are in my signature. It's a daily driver/streetcar, I doubt I'd make half a lap on a track before my tires/brakes/cooling gave up on me.

Impressive numbers...but seems like your quarter is slow for your power to weight ratio..hows your 60 foot?
Also you should totally take me for a ride sometime.still never between in a turbo miata. But I did build a lt1 rx7 that was badass. Lol

Utah I think his name was mike. Has a blue 350 and His wife races too. And his brother has a mini cooper. He was showing me youtube videos of the events. I met him when I had my mustang still

Am I the only one reacting to the fact that you're building a track car and planning to boost it, and the first thing you do is to remove the tow hooks? :P

It depends on the track but most HPDE events specifically require Miatas to have aftermarket roll bars. It also considerably stiffens your cars floppy body.

And watch this:

Lol I have a car dolly and a expedition.... I would just use that when I break down...but its more of a street car. But ot will be tracked and autocross sometimes. I would not classify it as a track car. Wasn't my first mod and I understand out possibly didn't help much (6 pounds if I remember right) but hey sometimes I just look for excuses to work on my cars.
But yeah I do think I'll get the roll bar lol. I hope I can still put up my to from driver seat. I like how all I got to do is slow down to 30 or 40 and reach back to pull the to up.

I think both Bossfrog and Harddog have double hoop rollbars, that allows you to reach back for the roof while you're driving.
If I remember correctly, they also come with a harness bar, either as standard or as an option.

Thanks I think I'll make that my first high dollar mod. I do like the look of a double hoop bar..the one in the video seems allot more substantial thow. Wonder how the double hoop would have held up in a 100+ mph crash. Seems like the hoops would be the best of both works though Can't have it all.

Like these guy said if you want to track the car with turbo you need a serous turbo manifold and hardware to do it. I spent $3000.00 on just this manifold and turbo alone.

Pretty sure the big hoops provide more protection and strength, don't quote me on that though. Less bends, more bar, more triangles, etc.

lol @ the logic of driving a car on the track without a roll bar because you're worried about getting rear-ended on the street. Please, come the fuck on. If you're going to get rear ended, get out of the way. If you roll the car, you will fucking die. Get one of the low roll bars if you're worried about it. I have a low-bar in my track car for some reason, I'd like to get rid of it.

??? Not worried about being rear ended... Was just a factor I was weighing into justifying cost. But upon further research even if I only do a few a year its worth the $500 just in case. No need to be all hostile and swear at me just looking for advice from experance. Thank you soviet for the video this was helpfull.

hey dont get hard Peter; you are a squid=limp
the hustler hassles e1
his way of showing himself he can still get a hard on
then he stumbles off and pees on his wheels

Lol I have no idea what you just typed...but ok

If you're willing to forget about track driving - anything more aggressive than autox - then putting on just a power system will make you quite happy. If you're thinking even just a little bit about the track - then you absolutely must heed the warnings of all of the track guys that have posted above.

So: street only? Put 5k into power adders and beat the shit out of mini-vans and SUVs
any track? forget the power adders until you've taken care of everything else.

Ok I think I made up my mind on what I want...
I'm thinking like like in this order
1. Roll bar
2. Sticky tires
3.coil overs (maybe used if I find a good set cheap)
4. Sway bar end links (clean up and paint factory roll bars)
5.mspnp and bigger injectors (possibly used ms)
6.flyin miata happy meal clutch kit (new trans fluid same time)
7. Aluminum radiator and coolant re-direct mod.
8.Start sorcing turbo parts as im driving and tuning it na
9.once I have turbo hardware piled up in the garage put it on and tune for boost
10. All the while keeping a eye out for a torsin for decent price

I'm thinking I can get to step 6 and be around $3-$4k or so depending on what I find used ect.
Then I'll just need turbo, manifold, exhaust, intercooler, piping, oil plumbing ect.
might be a little over budget but I'm spacing it out rather than tarring it down and doing it all at once.

I'm going to do auto cross this year maybe track next year.....I can always turn down the boost for a manageable car at the track.

Ftfy:

The major issue I had with your list is:
A. not replacing stock bars
B. wasting your time painting the bars.

Brand new front/rear set from FM is $200, I don't see why you shouldn't budget them it. They make just a big a difference as coil overs in terms of drivability, and you'll be wasting half the potential of most coilover setups if they're used with stock sways.

O wow I didn't realize they where that cheap....lol ill just replace them then. Thought the set would run me another $600 or somthing.

Nope, cheapest ones I've seen for any car. My DD lancer is something like $200+ a piece.

Don't think FM is your only option though, you can piece together different sets for varying prices, all about $100 a bar, although the FM package works very well together, less thinking required.

Looks like you're figuring it out. I'm selling some shit you might be interested in.

https://www.miataturbo.net/miata-parts-sale-trade-5/greddy-kit-ms-diypnp-braineack-i-c-bov-h4-hellas-more-61855/

go to Fat Cat Motorsport [FCM]

http://fatcatmotorsports.com/FRC_TUT...S_TUTORIAL.htm

and play with their suspension calculator before you make suspension commitments

Plenty of good knowledge on here