That's not a 323 manifold unless it's been really hacked up.

Nah - i dont have the car, so these were the pictures he sent me..
Maybe i can get some more next week... Im going for another test drive.

Concealer: What does it look like then?

I don't know.

But a 323 manifold is well... set up for FWD. And bottom mount.

The Bosch recirculation valve is oriented incorrectly. Using a stock radiator which sucks. It's only using one radiator fan which sucks. It's using a stock ECU which sucks. It's using a MAF sensor which sucks. I really wouldn't pay any more for this than any other naturally aspirated 1.8 car of similar quality. The aftermarket bits are marginal.

Also not a T4, which is a good thing. That DP looks scary bad. Stock heater lines with no shielding and they dont seem to be affected. That tells me the DP makes the hardest 90 in the history of down pipes.

Still think a clean n/a car would be better and far more reliable

Can you see all of this from the pictures?? I guess you can't say anything about the ECU from the pictures??
The other stuff, radiator and such - are minor fixes aren't it?
There are no others like it, with the same quality. You can find cars with less miles on the chassis, but not less miles on the engine, and its very rare to find any without rust at all, like this one.. Whats most important? Miles or rust or something else?

HI_im_Sean - can u tell which turbo it is then?? Does the downpibe usually have a certain angle? Does it matter?

I'm not a good turbo identifier, and that one has some weird shapes ive never seen. I just know its not a t4 because of it physical size. Yes downpipe should have certain angles, preferably 0 angles. But you are limited with the plumbing route available to you so there will be some bends. Must of us have a nice smooth 90 at the turbo, then a few 45s to get it down past the trans. Yours looks extreme and like the radius was cheated severely.

IMO, the car is worth market value of a stock car. The rest of the turbo stuff is.....not good. Buy it priced as a stock vehicle, return it to stock and enjoy it for a year or two while you learn more about how to turbo. That turbo set up has almost zero value.

If the price is right to you then buy it and drive it and start reading and learning about ways to improve the drive ability and reliability of the car. If you have no interest in studying and learning about it then it will be a difficult path forward.

I would love to learn, but is it possible to easily improve stuff?
And which things should i fix first?

Cheap, easy, good....... if those are your picks get a mk turbo or other turnkey bolt on and buy a stock un molested Miata and put it on that.
The cost will end up being much much lower in the long run. The parts on that car are being identified as questionable at best buy guys on here that know their shit. There is a difference between taking advice with a grain of salt and don't confuse me with the facts my minds made up.

The hacked intake off who knows what with twin injectors is a no go. The funky downpipe is unseemly and a poor execution in Turbo exhaust. Strange turbo makes me wonder how it even feels once it boosts. Old methods of turbocharging are apparent, do you know how is boost controlled on this car? Do you even know by what means you CAN control boost in general? Is this thing going to blow up the first time you miss a sign of trouble and keep hammering the throttle? What's even going to happen to that turbo when you take your foot off the gas?

Have you ever owned a Miata?

​​​​​​​ If not let me let you in on a little secret...... the cars are great even without a turbo. You will have more fun buying a car that is stock without rust and getting it to a baseline of 100% reliable. There is not an easy, quick, and cheap way of getting a turbo Miata that's not going to shit on your chest because you have no idea what is going on under the hood. Like everyone has said with out knowledge about what your getting into your just buying a money pit, unlike everyone else that pit isn't going to have a sweet turbocharged Miata at the bottom it's going to have a hunk of garbage. I know and I'm sure many others know what it's like to just have to have something, ask yourself if you making a mistake up front.

There is good reason people are passionate about the Miata, and some of the most knowledgeable of those people who have dropped a lot of blood, tears and money are telling you to think twice. Think about it.

These are questions you will be able to answer yourself, in about a year if you try. An all out info dump with a road-map to success is not likely to happen here, especially based on some of your early comments. Start reading around here man, shit.

Here is where you start learning. Know that it will take a great deal of learning. that learning does not come by "spoon feed me plz."

Newish member posts on point. Cats awarded.

Okay guys.
As i see it, i have two choices.

Buy a stock one, and turbo it myself - using a bunch of time and money, but knowing that everything is done right and is will be as reliable as can be?
Or
Buy this one, and using a lot of time and money to get it up to date, and knowing that everything is done right and will be sort of reliable.

SO is the real question if i can get a stock one without any rust, and with low miles cheaper than this turbo one? If not - does it make sense to pay more for a stock one, than this turbo one?
I guess i can use a few of the things from this turbo one, even if i were to do a lot of things over?

Does my question make sense? I would rather do it from the bottom up - but i dont wanna pay a lot more than this it would cost to make the turbo one up to date.

I have looked at a stock one for import in Holland, but im not sure what this "box" is - in the pictures? Haven't seen that before?https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...01ed871d2d.jpg
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...c1479ee48d.jpg

The amount of people who will know exactly what is going on in a stock Miata is huge, the amount of people knowing what is going on in that custom job MIGHT be one...might.

You want to go on a cheap date with a skanky hooker who has been all over the place and pay tons of money for treatment of some unknown super std till you finally get rid of it.
Or do you want to go out with a clean classy gal to a nice restaurant and enjoy a wonderful relationship for the foreseeable future?

Both of the ladies are going to drain your bank account, only one is going to be fun the whole time she's doing it.
​​​​​​​Pay the money now

:laugh: