Hello everybody. Just wanted to introduce myself. My name is Ryan, I live in north Jersey and im 22. Currently working in a small machine shop, and going to school full time as a mechanical engineering student.
Anyway, I just bought a red 1990 miata with 147k in great shape with the 1.6, manual trans, and I love it already. I bought a book on turbo chargers a year ago and I have been wanting to turbo something for a while, but I haven't had the right car for it. This is definitely the one though! I'll be doing a lot more reading up before coming to bother you guys with questions. So far the car has the following mods:
stage 1 racing clutch
Cheap-o CAI
OBX 2.5" cat-back
NRG removable steering wheel
15" Enkei Apache II's
advanced timing (guy forgot how much)

Looking to do a very modest build using stock internals. It will continue to be a daily driver, just looking for about 150 to the wheels. I have a welder, lathe, and milling machine at my disposal. I'll be doing this on a college student budget so I will just be searching craigslist and the forums for turbo parts and a MS on the cheap when they pop up. I look forward to learning from all of you here, and reading through your builds. Thanks guys!

 

Decent intro, check.
No stupid questions, check.
No club ricer mods, check.
Reasonable expectations, check.
Picture, check.

Yup, you'll fit in just fine.

 

I spent enough time on the Jeep forums in the past 5 years to know what gets you scolded

 

We're going to build you a NA ripper.

 

That's what I like to hear!

 

Check out the fabulous fab section for info on building your own log manifold. You can build them for sub $200 if you can weld. Everything you need to build one has been linked to in that section.

 

Awesome, thanks! I am a beginner with welding, but I love it so far and don't mind putting in the practice time so I can build my own parts in the near future.

 

If you do things right, you're probably going to hit 150 by mistake on the way to 200.

 

Indeed. However if your planning to spend a';lot, learning the trade, and working to being a mechanic. Put a bloody 1.8 in it -> it will save you heaps in the end. and teach a few things.

This also applies to the exhaust and every thing between it and the turbo.

 

Right now I am only saying 150 because of budget, but next semester I will be taking out some loans for school as I can't keep up with the payment plan I currently have. That will free up some money, so who knows, maybe the 150 rwhp will turn to 200.

I don't plan on spending too much, and my power goals are very do-able on a 1.6. If it blows up, I would likely put a 1.8 in through. I know a turbo setup will be pricey no matter what, but I would like to stay on the low side, at least for now.