De-Noobing
 

Hey guys, I'm Chris. I just bought a 2001 Miata Special edition; British racing green with tan top, tan leather and wood detailing inside. The car only has 49,000 miles and I'm already in love with it. It also came with a 6-speed and a Bose sound system!

My future plans include a hardtop with a lip spoiler on the back, a 20g turbo, reeeemz, coils and a lip kit :)

Welcome to the forum! Make sure you do a ton of research and plan out the entire turbo build. These cars are so much fun with 200hp.

This isnt my first build (it'll be my 3rd actually). The first was a V6 Mustang and the second was an 2005 Cobalt SS which both had pretty good outcomes! Thanks for the tip though.

How hard is it to make 225-250hp on these 1.8L motors? I wouldn't want to put a turbo kit on and only make like 60hp more than stock!

225-250 whp on these motors is TOO EASY. If you had a V6 mustang and a Cobalt SS, I can tell you that if you build your miata to put down between 225-250 whp; it'll be the fastest car you have ever owned.

Well the V6 Stang was a pretty ridiculous build that my father and I undertook. It put down 378hp (pretty hard to do on that crap 3.8L, 165hp motor) on a dynojet before the tranny went. I had a rather bad and unlucky accident involving a deer with the Cobalt but that one put down 301hp on the same dynojet.

This is definitely the lightest car I've had and by far the most fun to drive and I hope the build doesnt come out to be too expensive. What size turbo should I be in the market for with the goal I've set out for? I was thinking 20g but I don't know anyone who's built a miata so I have nothing to compare to!

I don't know how fast a 300whp cobalt is, but I showed a new SI that was turbo'd tail lights the other day. If you want 225-250 look at my set up.. Hell, look at alot of set ups. Go to the media section and look at dynos. DVCN runs 12's for pretty cheap. His car is a beast for what he has in it. But really, a basic turbo kit and fmic with standalone and injectors will get you there. Of course you would need to do a clutch and exhaust with the other supporting mods, but you knew that already, right? Good luck, and search before asking something that has been asked, and read the stickies, just not the how to fail one. I think a 20g would be great if you wanted 400 hp, but if you're a mitsu turbo guy, i think a 16g would be optimal. We all use the t25/28 series for the 250whp level.

Not even Mitsu guys like 20g turbos anymore, and people are making 400+whp with 16g's on 2.0L DSMs. A 16g will spool quickly and move plenty of air on a 1.8. I'm shooting for the same numbers on my 1.6 and I have an Evo3 16g for the build.

welcome
there are tons of turbos aside from "20g".
also there are tons of "20g" turbos with different sizes and specs.

you'll have to do your research and ask more specific questions.
a garrett 2554 will get you to low 200's, 2560 to mid 200's, 2860 to upper 200's, and 2871 to 300+
All are excellent turbos and very common on this forum

I think the 20g you want is the mhi tdo5h 20g, it has the 16g hotside but the 20g compressor wheel. It will spool a couple hundred rpms later than a 16g. If you plan on going <300 hp stick with a 16g since its efficiency will be right around that ball park with some room for more boost.