Greetings
 

Hi all. I've been lurking around for the past month or two and thought I should say hello. I have a pair of Miatas, a '90 N/A that I use as my CSP autocrosser and another turbocharged '90 that I built for about $1900 (including the car) for the $2006/$2007 Grassroots Motorsports Challenge. I can easily say I'm addicted to boost :)

A couple pics of my turbo Miater can be found HERE and HERE

I've already implemented Megasquirt as a full standalone in my CSP car and will be doing so in the turbo car soon.

Anyway, enough rambling. I look forward to reading the continued influx of good info here :bigtu:

-Kevin

dope

oh, and "greeting earthlings."

Nicely done; that's what I love to see...cheap fun

Am I missing something here, HUSTLER? :confused:
Can you please expand on your comment?
Thank You,
LOLA

dope = teh kewlness.

welcome aboard kcbhiw. :)

damn, give a breakdown on the 1900 turbo build please, thats pretty amazing. The car looks in excellent shape for that cheap.

indeed. i'm particularly interested in what you did with that radiator/intercooler setup. :)

Wow, both cars are very clean. But I'm particularly impressed with the turbo car. What's up with the intercooler? Hard to see in the pic, but it looks like it's on the engine side of the radiator? And then is that plastic tank the radiator overfill or for water injection?

Anyway, I'm NE of Atlanta. Maybe I'll get to check out your car in person one day. (I live pretty near Road Atlanta)

my god im jealous...your engine bay is soo clean. I think if i post up pix of my underhood people would throw up. And I love how you painted the A pillars and the top of the windshield, looks very clean

Always good to have another MSer here. :)

welcome:bigtu:

Looks to me like the top panels are black and the sides are a grey.

there's some good stuff going on in that turbo car- let's see a thread with info and pics! All those in favor- say "aye"!

Dang that engine bay almost looks factory turbo, eh?

intercooler reminds me of WOTs, love the setup, need more pics!!!

Wow, thats amazing..

Breakdown and more pics please!

Yet another Georgia person!

I saw your car in the GRM write up on the challenge. I was wondering how you built a turbo miata for under 2k... seeing the engine bay makes me wonder even more!

A write up and a cost break down would be great for those of us with limited budgets!

Gotta see the breakdown on parts/ pricing. $1900 including the car? Unreal if true.:bowdown: Can't fathom it's possible. :dunno:

Definetely looks like the I/C is in front of the radiator...althought the radiator definetely isn't a miata radiator....and you can see antifreeze in the bottom of the plastic jug...so radiator overfill.

makes me want to build a GSM challenge car so bad....I'm sure I could easily make it a top 10, just have no time.

well, it looks like he used a greddy manifold, turbo, afpr, and probably downpipe too. The intercooler and radiator are held up by a custom bracket and the intercooler is definitely in front. Really clean setup, im just surprised he didnt do the coolant reroute with all that other work he did. For $1900 wow, you got hoked up on parts and must have access to lots of fabrication equipment.

Hey guys, sorry for the delayed response.

Beleive it or not, quite a few of the parts I used are from the junkyard. I spent many hours poking around the yards, looking at different cars and measuring various components. I purchased the Miata for $750 a few years ago. It's still using the original 115k mile engine that it came with :D. Lots of cleaning and a bit of paint go a long way in making things look clean. The car was originally white. I have completely painted under the hood, all of the sills, and basically anything that I could get to. That said, many of you know how badly most of the '90's white Miata's paint is/was. All of the fabrication was done by myself, with exception of the LSD.

The break down on the car is as follows:

ENGINE
-GReddy manifold replica -- Ebay
-Hybrid IHI Turbo (VJ14 bearing housing, VJ11 hot side, T-bird compressor wheel and housing) -- Junkyard parts and donor Capri XR2 that I purchased for $100
-Homebrew adaptor plate to attach the above two compoents
-Turbo Volvo Intercooler (I forget the actual model of the car, 740? More details on this found in the link below) -- Junkyard
-Turbo Volvo Brass Radiator - Junkyard
-Turbo Volvo Overflow (Since the volvo uses a pressurized overflow bottle, I had to replace the stocker with this) -- Junkyard
-Homebrew bracketry to mount the I/C, radiator, overflow bottle, and VAM
-Homebrew steel I/C piping -- "U-bends" from Ebay
-1st Gen 626/Probe upper T-stat housing (to point the upper hose in the proper direction to align with the upper radiator port) -- Junkyard
-MSM bypass valve - salvaged from a friend who was tossing it.
-'88 Ford Econoline 3" rubber intake tubing (only a portion, the eblow was used to connect the turbo to the VAM) -- Junkyard
-Centerforce Dual Friction Clutch (I got about 100 miles out of it before it began to slip) -- Mazdaspeed Motorsports
-Auxillary external fuel pump from some breed of a VW or Audi -- Junkyard
-230cc BP injectors -- Junkyard
-Cartech RRFPR -- Purchased from a friend
-Homebrew solid engine mounts (welded plate steel between the upper and lower halfs of the mount, essentially bypassing the rubber portion)
-Homebrew downpipe that ends at the firewall (sounds rather awesome).

Drivetrain
-Phantom-Grip replica LSD installed into stock diff.
-Powder coated hollow spoke stockers (PC'd them myself) -- Randy Stocker
-Hoosier 225/55/14 tires -- Take off's
-Stock rotors and pads (ugh!)

Suspention
-KYB AGX struts -- Ebay
-Ford Escort DropZone adjustable coilover springs and perches -- Junkyard
-Removed rear sway bar
-OE front sway bar

Misc
-BSP Roll Bar -- Purchased online from somone converting to a Spec Miata
-Homebrew radio delete panel
-Super cheap Boost Gauge (JDM, y0!)-- Ebay
-PPG Aerospace Paint -- Discarded/deemed unusable (this stuff sucks to sand, but is tough as nails. The gray is leftover paint from one of BMW's corporate jets)
-"Properly" De-powered steering rack.

I know I'm missing a thing or two, but this is the general run down of the "big" things. I have a build-progress thread with pictures that details most of the construction process HERE.

Another underhood shot nearing the end of the build

Craptacular Phantom-Grip knockoff (that works great)

Intercooler modification to make the Volvo I/C work with the Miata

Overall, I placed 6/62 in this year's challenge, up from 18/54 in the $2005 challenge. With the Megasquirt and a few minor adjustments, I'll be taking the win this year :D.

6/62 that's freaking sweet! The whole car is a junkyard build, and that's cool.


:cool:

Doh! I forgot to post the budget. As I said, I knew I was forgetting something: Budget

your build thread is pretty neat, I think ill join up on your forum and see how I like it. It would be pretty tough to beat this forum for knowlege and a good attitude to people really into performance (as opposed to appearance, they get shat on here)

neato mosquito!

thanks for the breakdown!

I need to hit the salvage yards...

man I love your engine bay. you've done it. you've inspired me, Im thinking about cleaning my engine bay now...

I love the junkyard build, Im planning a junkyard parts list for my friends car (non miata) and your list will really help!

hook up that breather! :)