Should I buy this car, or just start from stock?
 

Can't decide if I wanna spend the money on this car already setup with the Greddy turbo setup, tuned by a reputable tuner at 187whp. In the future if I want a better setup could I just swap a bigger turbo or would I need an entire new setup? (manifold etc)


It's turbo setup is the following:

Engine:
Greddy Turbo/Manifold
BEGI downpipe and full exhaust
Custom intercooler and piping
RX7 injectors
Megasquirt plug and play ECU tuned by UMS tuning 186 rwhp at 11 psi
LCI wideband 02 sensor
Koyo radiator





https://www.miataturbo.net/cars-sale-trade-6/1990-mazda-miata-turbo-%245750-45597/


There is the sale thread... ^



Also has the clutch just done etc.





Honest opinions wanted.



Regards


J

Can you afford to pay a private shop to maintain it?

Can you afford to have it sit for multiple days broken down while you wait on parts or figure out how to fix it yourself?


If the answer to both of those questions is no, start with a stock car. Prebuilt cars are an awesome deal if you know what you are getting into - if you buy someone else's project and have no idea how to to work on the car or how it was built or how it works, you are in for a world of hurt.

I built my car from stock. After building one, I can look at pretty much any car and identify the problems and fix them. There's no way in hell I would have started with a pre-turboed car 4 years ago, though.

I wouldn't have someone else work on it, but I do have many friends who would help, and this will not be my only car. I can easily afford it to be down, as it isn't my "main" car. If my Audi breaks, it can cost thousands. If the miata breaks I can more than likely fix it for hundreds.




(Not arguing your point, just stating what I thnk)



Thanks for your input, and any other is welcome.


Also, your car is sexy.

Well you couldn't buy all the shit for less than 7.5k so why not?

Go look at the car for yourself and see what level of work/effort were put in. It is usually pretty obvious.

Edit: Exhaust mani fail

As far as the manifold goes I will use it till it goes. Seems owner has had good luck with it. How tough of a job would it to be to switch out the manifold with the ETD one?


Also, what all turbos are compatible with these manifolds? AKA what bigger turbos work with it? Any?


I searched but could not find anything...


Thanks

I'm with Sav. If you know your way around cars, buying a prebuilt is a cheap way to get the platform you want. I actually did that with my current ex FMII car, as I've had LS1's for years and after driving a stock 01+ NB, I couldn't deal with stock power at all...... even the test drive made me bored.

If you don't know your way around cars very well, getting a stock car and starting from scratch is a good way to learn, plus you know everything that is "rigged" on the car, and trust me, everyone who mods has a part on their car they considered "rigged". Example- The PO of my car was a seat belt engineer. The reinforcements he made to the car made this very apparent, but his total lack of grace in wiring had me crying every time the hood was opened. The stereo and gauges were also installed using Scotch lock and Butt connectors.

All that being said, it looks like a clean car, and if you can get it for 5700 with the seats and top, it'd be a great deal. Also in your favor- It is a Miata. You can't get much more basic to work on as far as cars go.

Since hindsight is 20/20, I'll give you mine.

I say start from scratch. Buy a car with a hard top, a 1.8 that's been well maintained, and bilsteins that can be revalved. Building a car using stock motor can be very cost effective.

I'd go diypnp to get a lot of features as close to pnp as possible: ~ $550

Go purple top 550cc injectors cleaned flowed: ~ 150

Ebay intercooler setup ~250

china turbo ~ 300

used turbo mani and dp: 350 - 550

exhaust: 300 - 400

Suspension can also be reasonable with QA springs, and revalved shocks that come on car (Stewart Development gives us the hookup), bigger front sway.

Be smart with how you treat the stock motor and trans and I think you can run 250HP pretty reliably.

I've basically redone everything on the turbo car that I bought. Fortunately it was all done with quality components so I was able to sell what I had and upgrade with very little out of pocket. Buy crap and you've wasted your money when we it comes time to upgrade.

Went and checked out the car today. Thing is immaculate. I couldn't believe it was a 20 year old car. Pretty much have decided on it. Thank you everyone for your opinion, but after seeing this car and driving it I am in love.

If you haven't already bought it, fucking wait. I almost did, I almost bought some SHITTY ASS CARS because I was excited to get them. Wait a couple days, look at the situation, plan out your options and go from there.

Personaly I say go for it.

If stock is wonderful, sell of the parts, take it to stock, then go from there. Better yet, sell them for the hardware you want.

These engines are cheap, the 5 speeds can be had for under 200 bucks. If it blows up it blows up.

Miata engines and transmissions are dirt cheap.

Miata LSD rear ends are ridiculously expensive.

This is the complete opposite of Audis, where engines and transmissions are expensive but rear diffs are practically free, because they don't break.

I like my '90 but if I had known how hard it would be to find the later 1.8 torsen I would have held out longer to find a 94 or 95.

One thing to keep in mind when deciding between 1.6 and 1.8 is your local smog regs.

Here in Mass they give my 90 the ball joint shake down and that's pretty much it. So long as my wipers work and my bulbs aren't fried I'm on my way.

My friends 1.8 gets plugged and looked over fairly carefully.

Obviously there's ways around as the Cali crowd proves, but there's something to be said about convenience.

-Zach

What savington said is very very good advice.

That's why 94/95 is the sweet spot- 1.8l and OBD-I. Starting in 96, they're OBD-II... the cars and their owners both get body cavity searches as part of the inspection process.

+1 no doubt.