I agree with roll bar and suspension upgrade.

You can have a lot of fun going slow with a nice suspension.

 

I'm surprised no one has mentions a MegaSquirt. Cheap, within his budget, and good for down the road when he does have money for a turbo. If it were me, it'd be wheels, tires, MS, and roll bar. Might have to find a few deals on used equipment to get all that for $2k though.

 

FWIW, I pieced together my own turbo kit (intercooled, 2560, brain-built MS and FM mani/BEGI dp) for only 1,700-some.

I'm with faeflora though; if this isn't a track car just buy a turbo kit and have fun with it, do the suspension and tires later. And spend whatever you have left from your turbo on a rollbar, that's the first thing I did to my car.

 

Just because you spent $20k to get your car fast enough to play with those types of cars doesn't mean that's the only way.

I had less than 10k into mine and could keep up with most cars on track.

 

I'm with rider. I planned on doing suspension and everything first, but after getting the car, the stock suspension is damn good, and it's slow. I put together the whole turbo setup for a little under 2k, but i made everything myself, including mani and dp and charge piping. If you really plan on tracking it, do the suspension stuff. If you want it faster, and basically can romp on it in the hills in your area (like i can in the bay area) then turbo it.

 

Did no one mention a torsen? That would definitely be my first purchase.

 

My Miata with crap tires in the rain was handful at times. I can only imagine the trouble you can get into with a stock car outputting 200hp with the stock tires and suspension but hey your car will be fast going straight

 

Throttle modulations, brudda.

 

lol you got me there.

 

buy my old begi manifold and DP in like new condition for $500 shipped. Talk fast before I break the pair apart.

 

We've had this debate endlessly. A 2200lb car with 120whp is not as fast on any given track as a 2200lb car with 250whp. If the same driver is not going faster in this scenario, there is a problem.

I'm probably going to run anywhere from 0-2seconds faster than Johnwag who has 200lb less and more skill in a couple months at Hallett which of 1.8-miles nad 10-corners...the power helps you on 3-straights. We have very similar suspension, almost identical suspension tuning, and he's 200lb skinny, I'm double the power. It will be interesting to swap cars back and forth on the open track day.

I could go to a track like TWS and murder every NA car on the track my first time out becuase there's lots of places to put down the power.

In hindsight, after all the time and money, sometimes I wish I had a 140whp 2100lb track car and a nice, modest turbo street car. I'm really enjoying the car now that its dead-nuts reliable on the track, but my lap times aren't as good as they were in comparison to the slow days in a shitty car. This 10% wieght penalty is RUINING my times, but its fun on the street 2 or 3 days per month. Its definitely the weight and not the driver. Definitely not the driver. Right now a voice is telling me to pull the soft top, pull the unused wiring, remaining AC parts, remaining airbag parts, and see how much faster I can go from 2335lb down to 2275lb.

 

Listen to the voice. Which do you really care about more: The lap time or the 2-3 days per month on the street? You are way past the point of "I should have a fun DD for the street."

 

Buy it! so he can buy my pistons.

 

corner scales and alignment plates are next.

 

 

I don't know, its pretty refreshing to drive the car 10-days per month in the fall, winter, and spring here with the top dropped. Although I guess I could do that with the other miata...be-it slow, ugly, and gay; its not a ticket to jail every time I get in the daily.

 

This.

I don't know when the budget will allow me to think about a track car, but my plan is a beater NA, stripped as far as it can be, all tires and suspension and whatever silly, inexpensive bolt-on mods we all make fun of (cowl intake and the like). I just missed an $800 1992 in Huntsville...it was reasonably clean with super-minor mechanical issues (cracked radiator, etc) and it had a hardtop. Frickin' pissed that I missed it.

 

I would love to have a 90 NA with a JDM VVT, looking at 1950 wet without driver and 155 whp. That would be a fun car.

 

This was the first thing that came to mind for me as well. Best money spent.
Then rollbar, some sport/MSM brakes with good pads (I like HP+), and save for some decent suspension. Those will cover your bases for when you decide to go turbo. Somewhere in there I'd pick up some decent 15" or 16" wheels with some kind of decent tire...you can find people selling used wheels/tires on the cheap.

 

I took off my Torsen. Did not like it at all. Broke traction and got sideways like a dorifto faggortWAY too often for my liking..
Its a 100% street car though.