Considering going turbo in San Jose, CA
 

So I've been messing with my 91 miata for a couple of years as a project and weekend car. This is the first car for me that isn't a DD and I don't only turn a wrench on it so I can make it to work the next day.

I bought the car on my Spec Miata racing friend's recommendation as a cheap car I could work on myself and take to the track. Here's a quick clip of me turning laps at Laguna Seca YouTube - 2-25-2010-Laguna_Seca.mov Yes I know I have to work on the mounting location and why I slid on Rainey Curve (that was a scary moment!)

I've done alot of bolt on upgrades so my confidance is growing and a lot of what I have done will help if I decide to turbo (1.8L brakes, drive shaft, torsen diff, axels, and clutch.

I'm hoping to find a couple of experianced turbo miata owners in the local area to learn from and maybe be able get a drive to see what it would be like to have a boosted miata.

The 2 biggest things holding me back are keeping CARB legal and cash. I guess you could throw time in there too but I'm sure I'd get it done eventually.

Thanks for reading, I'll go back to lurking around the forum in hopes of learning more and maybe finding a deal on some good used parts.

if it's not a daily driver, what's your obsession with CARB?

I guess the biggest reason I care about CARB is that I don't want to have pull things off and retune so I can pass smog. Also, my wife drives the car and it would be bad news if she got pulled over without CARB stickers.

I know as soon as you start adding things like intercoolers, piggy back ECUs etc that you are no longer covered under your original CARB cert. but most smog shops and cops don't know what they are looking at. It just feels like a little protection even if it is not fool proof.

there was a greddy kit that was carb legal. it's at least a first step.

Yes, the cheapest solution seems to be Greddy. BEGi is the other choice but their cheapest version (Shanghai Kit) is not CARB. None of the FM systems are CARB to my knowledge.

You also have the option of getting an EO number for your car (with whatever mods you do to it) but that is pretty pricey and time consuming.