Well. I used to drive a 1990 240sx. It is dead and until I get another one I thought a miata would be a good car. Next summer I plan on starting another 240sx project on the side but I want the miata for a street car.

So I am about to buy a 1991 NA Miata. It's in great condition, but there is one thing I am worried about. It has almost 200,000 miles. Now, I hear that Miata engines are bullet proof but every engine dies some day, right? I was wondering if the stock 1.6l could handle the small Greddy turbo kit with that many miles? I'm not shooting for a lot of hp, maybe 175 to 200 when I'm finally done with it all. I just wanna get a start somewhere. Let me know what you think, thanks guys.
Glad to be a part of this community now!

 

Welcome to the forum. Get a compression and leak down test performed on it and make sure it's in spec.

 

Welcome.

Miles won't tell you much about how sturdy a motor is for forced induction. Do a regular compression test, and if good then move on to a leakdown test. The latter will tell you a lot about how much blow-by you're going to get with boost, which will have an effect on both power and durability.

Everything on the car except for the tiny 6" diff found on the 1.6L cars is MADE for up to 250whp.

With decent engine management the only difference between a 180whp build and a 250whp build is turning up the boost, and having big enough injectors. If you absolutely have to do it on the cheap a bandaid setup can get you to the lower end of your goals. Either way you'll need a stronger clutch.

If you want to make power, and want your engine to last though, you'll start reading up on MegaSquirt.

 

Thanks! Yeah I am pretty excited to get into the Miata world. Some of my less educated car friends complain because its "girly" but you can make them look so sick with just a little bit of work and they are great to drive. It seems like a tighter, more fine tuned version of my 240sx, granted that my 240 was a pile :P

 

Welcome to here.

That rod knock is a bitch huh?

 

So you want a miata as a street car and a 240 as your race car?
that makes sense...

 

Oh...btw...I used to drive a 240SX. I thought it was cool then.

I've grown up.

 

240 wouldnt be a race car lol itd be a drift project lol

 

Welcome aboard matey.

 

miata as a track platform > 240 track platform imo.....but drifting? idk lololol

 

list the reasons why or get the **** out.
your "advice" in the past 5 threads is getting gayer by the minute.

 

ok dude you win, im not handing out advice, but here: ive witnessed in following redline time attack the past two years, more miatas eat high end cars, 240's, hondas, and most other things with very little if anything done to the engine (reason why i bought mine) please stop attacking me, its really annoying

 

further more, if you have a problem with me, pm me and ill do what i can to resolve

 

I'm not attacking you. I'm just telling you to stop talking out of your ***.
This is nowhere NEAR an attack.

 

Like I said, 240 as a DRIFT car. Not time attack lol I like the miata for a DD and its something you can make quick and at some point bring it on the track but still have it as a DD. I like that about the miata. The 240 was awesome as a DD too, but for building a serious drift car it kind of turns into something you don't want to drive every day. And I hear it's alot tougher to drift the miata with such little weight. The Miata so far has proved to handle amazing for road driving, the 240 is always itching to slide out. My miata might turn into something more than what i had planned originally xP

 

hahaha come on marcmannugget.. you ARE talking outta yer ***. 18psi makes a point, basically put up or shut up.

there are a lot of great cars out there, sometimes it takes time to get acquainted and learn a car's potential. being that i own a few cars, but own both, s13 and NB.. i cannot say that the miata is superior in anyway. and after years of owning them both, i can only say that they are very different.

people even try to compare the s2000 with the miata, and again.. being that ive driven that too, i think they cannot be compared. a miata will always be a small car with a short wheel base. the s2000 is a notch bigger, stronger and faster. the s13 is also bigger than the s2000, and with its sr20det i personally prefer the power that the s13 produces over the s2000.. but thats just preference. the s2000 powerplant, as we all know, is great as long as you dont care so much about low-end torque

i've got plenty of gripes with the miata, especially since the engineers made so many variations of things you'de think they would culminate it all together into what? the NC? nope. all the parts that were shared and if you can say... perfected... were all ditched for a completely new platform which i personally dont care about.

anyway... im off topic now