To everyone lurking wondering "Do I Turbo"?
 

Got my car back from BEGI 2 weeks ago. Had never driven an FI miata before. Wasn't sure what to expect...

YOU HAVE TO DO THIS!!!!

More power is exactly what these cars need! Holy crap. 200+ hp is fantastic. It doesn't ruin the balance, handling, etc that we love about these cars. It just makes MORE of everything.

This car is more exciting and fun in every way. Power delivery is smooth. Off boost drives pretty much the way it did before. On boost - hoo-weee that's fun.

If you are on the fence. Wondering is it worth the effort or expense. Haven't been in or driven an FI Miata. Stop quibbling! This is a MUST do if you are any kind of enthusiast. I feel like stopping every other Miata guy on the road and telling them to go FI. I've owned other factory FI cars, they weren't like this. It is amazing.

So how do you really feel?:)

Congrats. Doing mine this winter when I take it off the road.

Amen brother cueball

Did you get a 8 ball shift knob or what?

torque is overrated. buy a SC with a pc-pro, enjoy the flat and LOW torque output. as long as you can reach the same HP at peak you're much better off.

Damn, I tought this was gonna be another Braineack video.
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more videos from me will be tomorrow.

no shit?

Braineack, you convinced me. Anyone have a FFS system to trade for my new S4 system? Guess I won't need the big exhaust, big injectors and MSpnp either. It's coldside and PC-Pro for me. Can't wait to put the MAF back in!

Seriously though. I had never been in an FI miata before. I'm sure lot's of other people perusing the site here haven't either. If you are an enthusiast at all - FI Miata is just about auto enthusiast Nirvahna. (affordable Nirvahna anyway)

Do it.

Any A-hole wants to claim a Miata isn't a real sports car needs to drive mine or any of the other 200+ hp cars here. Take that AMC Hornet forum!

Saml,

If I was younger and a little more gay, I'd put a big "8" on the hood of my black hardtop.

nah, just make it look like "mach 5" when you're 40 and married.

I'm 43 and married. Never was much of a speed racer fan though. I'm going with the fastback kit for my hard top and make mine look like the Bullitt Mustang! Wait- doesn't someone make an 3/4 size mustang body for the Miata?!?

so wait you want me to to put a turbo on my miata?

Boost or get in the slow lane so I can pass!:fawk:

No downshift out of 5th while doing a 4 car pass over a double solid yellow FTMFW :bigtu:

<--speaks from experience

lolol


I finally rode in a turbo miata for the first time yesterday. I'm pretty fucking motivated. It made 184whp which felt pretty quick. I bet 250whp is going to be awesome.

Oh yeah I forgot I'm in a Miata and I can fit between the slow cars in the fast lane and the center divider....:bang:.....:bowrofl:

be sure to post back here in two weeks when you've got the bug to make more power ;)

More power is always the goal! I'm taking up everyone's time at the Megasquirt section with my NEWB MS questions. Always have to make things better even if they are pretty good to start with.

Ben,

With the 2300+ mile drive home from BEGI you are dead on. Passing in 5th, up long high altitude steep grades in 5th, etc. It's like a Christmas miracle! Santa came early this year and turned my little Miata into a real car! No more "I think I can, I think I can" situations. Now it's "holy crap, holy crap!"

It's still a fun, light, agile car. Now it just goes like stink too!

I finally managed to convert my supercharged friend...

Even after we swapped out with a fresh engine.. The M45 @ 8psi manifold, crappy ass powercard and o2 clamp, header, full exhaust.. He still gets pulled by a stock S2k. Added meth injection and it made a bit of a difference but not all that. He was convinced he wanted an MP62 with that powercard pro crap but I finally got him to buy a MSPnP we just haven't installed it yet. The belt is as tight as physically possible and it still slips above 6psi.

He finally called me the other night, "Dude.. I was looking on FM's website and I could just buy one of their kits for $2800.00 and forget about this gay belt shit.. Id be making nearly twice the power I am now.."

Score! :cool:

2 years after pulling my JRSC I'm STILL cleaning rubber dust out of my engine bay.

hey that's my car lol

hustler motivated?

so you might unwrap a turbo part in <6 mo?

I had a JRSC for three years. what a PITA! Belt dust, slipping belts, shredding belts, Dump-truck powerband... idle issues... the suck.

What actually started me on the "boost my miata" idea, was my friend had a 96 Acura Integra. We bolted a JRSC on one saturday night, and took the car for a beat. I was really impressed, mainly cause I knew what the car felt like before, and then the after effect was a total shocker. Time went by and he wanted to make serious power, so he got rid of the JRSC and went turbo. I never rode in it with the turbo, cause he hit a deer and totalled the car shortly after the turbo swap; but he said it was a major difference over the JRSC. I bought my miata last year, it was bone stock and SLOW. I went turbo, cause there are way more combinations you can do, it's less costly, and it's more efficient. I took my friend who had that Acura for a ride in my car the other week, and his response was, "this thing fuckin moves." I am running a T25, at 7psi. I am interested in finding out what would happen if I lined my car up with a similar miata that was running a JRSC at like 8psi? I used to be a supercharger guy, but I was young and didn't know better. Guess that's why you hear people say, "did you see that SRT-4 go 12's last night?" But you never hear anybody say the same thing about a Cobalt SS.

Hustler - You having just recently taken a ride in an FI Miata explains alot about why you've taken so long. If you had just driven one 2 years ago you'd have gotten this done in 2 months and 4 zillion posts ago!!!!

Supers are great in the right applications. They are made for low & mid range grunt. As aftermarket they are perfect for trucks or big engines. Obviously it's different when the motor was designed for super - RE/ ZR1. They don't fit the character of our light rev happy cars. Just look at the vastly larger honda aftermarket. It's primarily turbo too.

Corky Bell sells and designs supers, not because he likes them but because they work and there is a market. He says that turbo's fit the character of our cars better. I agree. I would guess my Dyno curve doesn't look much different now than it did before, there's just a whole lot more.

Regardless. This wasn't meant to be a super vs. turbo thread. I just want the people here like me - who had never been in an FI and researching...

this is not just fun or recommended but an absolute MUST DO!

Best his car dynoed with honestly undersized exhaust and no intercooler or proper fuel management was 160rwhp. Not too bad, but I'd bet a turbo @ 8psi would likely do better. As for SRT/Colbalt.. Theres tons of Sac riders for every car out there, fast or slow. I have a very good friend with a supercharged colbalt that'd blow the doors off that 12 second neon. You can make almost anything fast, with enough motivation engineering and money.

Sorry, I didn't mean to turn it into that.. My first boosted miata ride was a completely stock miata with a stock AFPR / Boost timing retard M45. It felt a LOT faster than mine, but wasn't really all that.. After I rode in an Greddy 1.6 that made 200rwhp... HOLY SHIT. <--- Addicted. :cool:

ithe 184whp car felt quick. Will 250whp feel like a rocket ship? My old VW felt like a time warp in 3rd gear.

I just want to go home man. Right now I'm toying with the idea of canceling my next wine-trip to Washington and using a week to build my car and get it tuned, so I can make it to Hallett in September...but I'm so worried about cooling that I feel I'll break something and be stuck in Tulsa.

You could always add water injection.

For a while until you get used to it.

Priorities. Driving a turbo Miata at the track is more manly than drinking wine in washington.

You have to get your head around this. You WILL break something eventually, turbo or not. If you are that worried about it, maybe you should stick to drinking wine. Besides cooling isn't really going to be the killer, sure it might be an issue but if you are paying attention to the car cooling problems should not leave you stranded. If the temp starts to get scary lift and limp it back in. Address the issue and move on.

With a 250whp Miata that you are driving to the track your worry should be brakes, unless you are changing rotors and pads at the track. I can't imagine many streetable pads are going to be too happy with that kind of power for very long on the track.

I know I'll probably break a trans after a while. I really do not want to deal with what I had to with the VW...it was constant.

I have hawk blues for the sport rotors in the front, ht-10 in the rear, and a wilwood valve. Ducting from the r-pack lip too.

I just sent my $$$ in for the track day in September, so now I'm committed. I don't know how long I'm going to be out of town, but I might just have to fly home for 10 days or so before the trip to get the car running and somewhat tested. Is my destiny.

You are going to give yourself 10 days to install the setup, tune it and get all the bugs out of it. Then do a track day? I think you are being optimistic. And I'd want more shake down time, and wouldn't want that time to be on the race track. You might want to get used to the car a bit too.

With the track record BEGI has (just being honest) you'll likely have some fit issues that will slow you down, further fucking you to make it with in those 10 days.

I stand firm on the belief that most projects will take twice as long as you budget for.

cueball; boring ride back to Oregon from Texas!

I guess you wouldn't do it again; right?

Glad to see you're enjoying your car! :)

I know and expect difficulties. However, I don't have any other options. If I must, I'll take the ugly car.

I'm still toying with the idea of taking the first week in august to build the car, then drive it back up to chicago to put miles on daily...but that's asking for trouble I think. I could probably build it and get johnwag to drive it...but he'd probably wreck it on the way to the gay club.

That's funny.

Anyway about some of these guys saying they installed their turbo in 2 1/2 hrs.....

These guys have got to already have the ground down wrenches and tools already layed out. And new studs to boot.
That or a setup with more clearance and tolerances than mine. Plus the car had to already been turbo'ed once.

If not, yall have glowing MOJO.

If you make it down we should try to schedule a dyno time.

Rafa,

Have to say I enjoyed the drive more than I thought. Put 2400 miles on the car in 3 full days of driving. Thought I would see more flat scrubby desert than I saw. Lot's of interesting and pretty country out there - plenty of scrub too.

I work 7 days a week - and long hours too. Having a few days just driving was a nice break. Put the car on cruise at 80mph and just go...

Have you done the laps around your island yet?!? LOL

Thanks for checking back in!

help me out for a second:

After its all over and done with, and all the work and shit, and even considering the dead-nuts reliability I've had in stock form, will 250whp will be worth it in the long-run? With the way my work schedule is, one of my most important, simple joys in life is to fly home, drive the miata at the track, and drive it home. I don't want to deal with it being broken all the time, or constantly needing something...and not being able to make it to the track.

I am getting a buddy to pull the stock motor out for me, so I can save a day, fly home, and put the new motor in.

I would say the turbo is worth it. And it should be pretty set and forget once it is dialed in and you aren't tweaking it and upgrading all the time.

Shit I forgot you planed to do a motorswap, turbo install and tune in 10 days before a track day. You're golden.

I learned a lot from my turbo vw experience. I'm getting Ron Popeil on this one, considering I've bought everything I want for it, and plan on adding nothing to it. Set it, and forget it.

OMG!!!! Hustler, you didn't just waffle on going turbo did you? WTF?

You've got a built motor and a quality turbo system. 250hp is cake for your set up. If it can't be reliable you've gone way wrong somewhere. I picked my car up with it's tired 100k mile motor from BEGI and drove it home 2400 miles in 100+ degree heat, had the AC on the whole time, not an issue. If you were going for some exotic install, some ghetto parts or mega hp you would have a reason to be concerned.

Man up already!!!!

My 1st track day is the 29th. It'll be interesting to see if anything bad happens. Figure the 1st session or two will be pretty conservative, faster than pre-turbo certainly, but conservative.

oh man, I'm $8k in on the motor and turbo alone, its going in. I'm just wondering if I'm going to end up selling it in a year because it never ran right.
I had these problems with the 'rado and the TT, which never ran right, and I wanted to get rid of them.

After the amount of money I've spent, I just hope its worth it. I might just go ahead and say "fuck it," and order slim fans today.

What do you have for a radiator? I bought one of the Godspeed cheapies. It's huge! Still using stock fans, shroud, AC, Intercooler, etc all still fit. The slim fans certainly give you more working room but aren't a necessity!

I'm guessing after all this time and thousands of posts, being this close to actually installing is like getting married - and you're getting cold feet. You know it's the right thing. GET R DONE!!!

I have a coolradiator aluminum 2" aluminum rad. I was planning on using the stock fans, but its probably easier in the long-run to just buy the slim ones so I don't have to hack the shroud because not only do I have a fat sway bar, but I have the sway bar brace too. IT would be a breeze to just get some acrylic shit, cut it, seal it, and drive.

I've always had the cold feet, but I'm sooooooooooooooooooo fucking close, I have a deadline with a track day, and the weather is perfect up here. Also, there are 2 people in particular who i want to battle with at hallett.

FWIW, I'm 54 (very close to 55 fuck!) and taking a long trip on the Miata is one of my dreams.

And doing laps around this island doesn't qualify as a long trip! :giggle:

I wish I could drive the NW coast of the US someday. I was in SF many years ago and I found that city and its surroundings out of this world. I'd like to drive from SF to Seattle one day for sure :)

At least I can say I drove 12,000 miles in 1 1/2 months all over Europe when I was 30 years old. I've never gotten over that one! Even with my wife sitting next to me bitchin all the way because she thought we were going to fast and no one was waiting for us. :giggle:

looks like the work has already begun:
http://i36.tinypic.com/iwujvr.jpg
poor car has been driven roughly 4 times this year.
http://i35.tinypic.com/e7kuv9.jpg

Rafa,

Miata isn't the most comfy car for the long trip. Particularly since I removed about 1 1/2" of foam out of the seat. You should fly into LA or San Diego and rent an MX-5. Drive the coast highway all the way to Victoria Canada. Lot of variety and some beautiful country, the redwoods etc. Take the wife, let her complain you are driving to fast again.

Hustler,

With your tight schedule I say get the slim fans, plexi and add to your list of things to do!!!

Hey hustler. As a friendly tip I'd have a grinder (or Dremel) handy for the install. You will most likely need to slim down a wrench or two.

thanks.


Paging toddcodd, please hook me up.

Thanks for the tip. I'll check on that route. And btw, after 29 years of marriage I wouldn't even consider going to the corner store without my wife! :giggle:

...well?

Rafa, 54 years old and 29 married. I'm at 43 with 21 years in. We must like the abuse!

Jeez I hope she doesn't see that....

excuse a noob question, any extra required engine work prepping for turbo? limitation of boost can stock engine take?

oh, and the thread was going so well... ;)

KJR 50,

Stock Miata motors with 100K miles or more can easily take 24 to 28 psi, 350 to 400hp. Build your car and crank up the boost. Come back when your motors busted and learn how to do a search before posting.

after joining this forum...I'm definitely going to turbo the miata now...

good for you......

go buy a gun and kill yourself..do it now..go go go

Hey jizzdragon I'm starting to get sick and tired of this fucking shit. Day in and day out, I warn you to keep your fucking mouth shut, and day after day you keep amazing me by opening it again. Next time you get the stupid fucking idea of opening it again, I'm gonna break your fucking teeth and rip your bottom jaw right off of your fucking skull. how the fuck do you think thats going to feel? I'm not taking a few days off of work to hunt you down. Learn to listen you fucking douchebag.

Cueball, I'm in the area. You have got to show me the awesomeness! I sent you a PM.

yeah i've not looked back since charging

I'll add to this. With only 8psi, no EBC, a rich map and conservative spark map the car is a totally different animal than stock, actually feels like a sports car now. 12psi, EBC and a good tune is going to be insane.