boosting an old motor?
 

well i picked up a 92 the other day that was supposed to be for parts but its actually in great shape so im gonna fix the little things wrong with it and want to slap a small turbo on it.

the car has 190k on it and i was only thinking of slapping a used greddy kit on it for about 200whp(obviously with supporting mods)

but my question is should i boost the motor in the car till it blows then swap motors or should i just put my 1.6 that came out of my 91 which has 80k miles???
i personally dont care that much about blowing the motor the only thing that will get me mad is the towing bill home lol

First I would do a compression check. If that turns out well then try a leakdown test. If both are alright then there is no reason no to.

There is a member here (Paul) that has successfully boosted motors into the 250K+ mileage range.

Boost it.

Chris

do it, but start getting parts together for a proper build.

Go for it. When(if, becuase I think it will be just fine) it pops, just buy a belfab HP kit and make stupid amounts of power:laugh:

I boosted my '93 at 115k miles... and ran it at 15psi for about 30k until it blew a head-gasket. I bought a used 1.6 with 258k miles on it, and boosted it 15psi for about 10k miles until I sold it.

Do a compression/leakdown test. If the numbers are good, you should be able to make 200whp with no problem for a very long time. Use good oil, and do some heat management for insurance.

Heat management mods are usually a properly located FILTER, Coolant-Reroute, Oil Cooler, Larger Radiator. If I had to pick any single cooling mod for budget purposes, it would be a reroute.

The stock radiator/fans are fine for street use at 200whp, even in hot/humid locations, but Godspeed/Mishimoto radiators are cheap and the build quality has come up dramatically since the first units shipped... they allow for more coolant capacity, but have the drawback of stock fans may not fit if you've got a fat front swaybar... most guys swap to dual 10-12" ebay fans, which aren't as good as the stock shrouded setup, but better than nothing.

There is a thread now about oil-coolers that you need to read. You can do a junkyard oil-cooler setup with a Mocal sandwich plate, brass barbs, and rubber hose for about $75 total which will add about a quart to your oil capacity and dramatically reduce oil temps (that's my plan if I ever decide I need one).

Oh yah, and anybody who has toy cars and doesn't have AAA is a fool.

i'm seriously considering AAA. How much is that shit per year?

Around $100 a year or less (sometimes a lot less) depending on the package you get.

You have a turboed Miata and you don't have AAA? Mine has paid for itself multiple times in the last 2 years.