Well, this motor is struggling to make 100whp so I shouldn't base an opinion on it. I'm going to do the swap I think, it's not permanent. the AF stuff is not for sale by any means. All the turbo shit is going into a corner for the future.

Yeah for the track a super low power bone stock motor is about as dead nuts reliable as it gets.

Put the ABSURDness onto a daily and floss on suckaz on the street like a boss

170whp NA is not "low power". If I have the money, I may even send a VVT head to Endyne, lol. That could be awesome.

I'm one of the stubborn old farts that thinks that figure is highly inflated and mostly bs.

Show me a basic setup like that put down 170....maybe I'm wrong.

I say get the 170-180whp NA setup and track that for everything it's worth and don't ever compliment it so it knows it's place as a whore.

Big power daily for floss status. I'd love to see your white shit box run 300whp.

Sell 170WHP setup and get Rotrex?

Why sell it? Put a rotrex on it.

No.

Hmmmm . . . . Crusher anyone? With green paint?

Crusher makes 180whp and that is no basic set-up so I'm doubting the 170whp here too.

As for going NA for the track, you're right where I was after I popped my last motor. Fuck all that pain in the ass prep that comes with a high power turbo motor, keep things simple and have fun. Once you get bored with it (which you might not) boost it again.

stuff breaking still pisses you off when you have a truck, trailer, and house. Ask me how i know. TBH, if it were me I'd fix the weld and keep tracking the turbo car. That sounds like the easiest thing here.

I'm curious though, is there something particularly hot about your setup that makes it higher maintenance? you and I know a couple guys that seem to have never had issues with very hard driving on boosted miatas. I'm wondering what Ken and Keith do/did to keep their stuff working. Maybe it did break and they just have the budget that it wasnt a big deal?

In all seriousness, for all you track guys, how do all these stories NOT make you want to go V8? Yes, you gain some weight, but I'd easily give that up for reliability+power.

Bummer on the crack, but don't give up. To me it looks like the biggest stressor you have on this car is still attempting to make a reliable double duty car, being able to comfortably drive it to the track, beat the piss out of it, and drive it back.

Seems like time could be better spent on turning it into a more serious track car and saving pennies for a proper truck/trailer as you mentioned. Every time you spend money on the beater you're bringing it closer and closer to becoming a beater version of the green machine. Keep money, buy truck, DD beater, track green car.

This is all just one man's opinion.

11.5:1 compression, RB header, square-top, knifed crank, MS intake cam, and other stuff I don't know about.

A well prepped high compression VVT NA would be great IMHO. I just wonder how cost effective it is. Crusher levels of power won't be cheap.

You have one of those low-maintenance turbo set-ups, how's it working for you?

Money, speed, weight. I don't want to track a SBC miata.
How is putting a cage in the car going to make manifolds and turbos last longer than 4-years?
I have a one-bedroom apartment with a 1-car garage and don't care to own a racecar, daily, truck, trailer, store all that shit, and still work out of a one-car garage.

Fixed.

The motor is sitting in the garage.

Stop being delusional: if you want an n/a track car by all means build one, but don't kid yourself about basic bolt ons netting 180whp. It takes a fully built motor and tons of trick parts. Otherwise you end up with like 130-140 tops.
Emilio himself admitted in Crushers thread that this was no ordinary run of the mill motor iirc. That it was very 'spensive.
I mean if you want reliability and 180whp just throw a failtrex on there. But I've a feeling that you won't be able to do 130whp after doing 2xx for so long. Torque is addicting. At least to me.

One good reason: maybe you'll start having fun again and stop posting depressing shit that makes me never want to track my car.