Hi from sunny Phoenix!
 

Hey everyone. I've always liked miata's. Recently I've been looking at cars and thought hey why not a miata. There a lot of things that attracted me to them. One of them is obviously the handling. Anyway I thought they sound a little bit underpowered. A turbo would fix that ;)

So I've decided on a 90-93. I was thinking I'll replace the timing belt, water pump and give it a full service before doing a turbo. I'm still undecided about kits. I'm trying to keep the build at 2k and spend about 2k getting the car. So everything will probably be about 4k.

Anyone from Phoenix?

I don't regret getting my '93, but if I had to do it over again I might have started with a 1.8 car. You get a bit more displacement and the stronger rear end amongst other things.

Welcome!

If I had looked for a car (mine is family hand-me-down), I would have started with a 94-95, and looked for a Torsen. Stronger rear end (7" vs 6"), bigger brakes, more displacement. I love my 1.6L and all, but finding kits was a little harder as there are always 1.8L manifolds for sale in common turbo footprints. I would have preferred to assemble my own setup, but with the 1.6L it's easier to start with a whole kit.

Either way welcome, you'll certainly find everything you need to know here if you search.

Thanks guys. Theres not many 1.8s for sale locally. I'll definitely keep that in mind.

Also, whether you choose 90-93 or 94-95, we're talking about a 15-20 year old car. You might want to consider bumping up your budget + another $500 to change out the worn out shock absorbers. While the shock absorbers are out, may as well put some stiffer springs in too. IMHO this should always be the first mod, even if the car never sees forced induction.

DON'T DO IT!!!
For $4k, you can get a '99... you can even get a really nice '99 if you make friends with a guy who has a dealer's license and hit's the auctions. The only 90-93 you're gonna find for $2k is going to be beat to shit and will need work, a new top, tires, will never have had any maintenance, etc...

Hell, for $5k, you can find 1.8 cars with JSRC's, good turbo-kits, fully suspended, and in good shape.

I've really got about 5k for the total but I like to keep some spare just in case something breaks, i hit a deer ect. I've noticed if I spend a bit more i get a nicer car. Maybe I'll do that and put off the turbo. That way I wont rush into buying parts and getting it together.

If you've got 5k right now, and plan on a turbo upgrade in the future, then your best money is spent on a 94-95 that's already had some work done to it. Between SanD/LA/OC/Vegas/Phnx there are literally hundreds of Miatas for sale at any given time. Be patient and stay on top of Craigslist, Autotrader, CLUB Website Classified forums, etc... visit them once a day at least and when the right car comes along, JUMP ON IT!

Something less than 100k, with shocks/springs/sways/rollbar/brakes/some suspension/documented maint/good paint/ other misc performance mods will come along and you'll know the car when you see it.

When you do find it, feel free to start a thread here. If you're patient, I don't think you'll need to spend anywhere close to $5k... I'm thining the car you want is more like $4k, and you'll be that much closer to an entry-level turbo. Keep us up to speed on your search.

Welcome to the site.

Welcome! I'm not from Phoenix but I do travel to Scottsdale occasionally.

Do a compression check on the engine before buying so you're sure you've got something worthy of putting boost too.

Thanks everyone! You guys are great with advice. I really needed a car now so I bought a Lexus SC400 today. I still am on the look out for a miata. I'll start my search in the winter once the prices drop, it should still be nice here :)

Do prices drop in the "winter" in Phoenix? I would have guessed that they went up, as you can actually drive the car with the top down without being baked alive.

Hahaha, the heat out there isn't really too bad in the summer because it's dry heat. 100 there feels like 85 here in Pa.