Just another boring intro... please feel free to ignore.
 

I've been lurking for a few days now and figured I might as well post up an intro. I'm 34 y/o in Houston, Texas. I finally managed to blow the rings out of my stock '00 and since I'm going to have to tear the motor apart I might as well build it to take some extra power and add a turbo.

My goal is to eventually get to ~350whp and add a 75 shot of nitrous just for fun. This will be my DD so, I plan on putting the money into the top and bottom end so that it stays reliable. I've got decent fab skills from working on aircraft and other random crap. Where there's a will, there's a way...

Don't worry. I'm not about to start asking stupid ass questions about what turbo should I buy or any other crap like that. I'm a grown-ass man and am fully capable of making my own decisions. I'm just here to start doing some research to see what problems others have had so that I may be able to avoid some of them myself.

Have a great day and let the thrashing commence...

350whp and 75 shot.

should be fun lol.

As long as you don't deviate from this plan, I don't think you'll get too much grief from us.

350whp, 75 shot, daily driver, miata.

What could possibly go wrong? :bowrofl:


Welcome!

That's my thought... It's all about the fun factor, right? If it ain't fun to drive you might as well buy a minivan...

As for the "don't ask stupid questions" plan. No deviation. Though it is taking me some time to figure out some of the acronyms... LOL. But I'm getting there.

Thanks for the welcome! Looks like there is a veritable wealth of knowledge here, I just have to find the parts that are relevant to my desires...

When you're spinning at 80mph trying to not fly off the road and crash, HIT THE NOS!!! :party:

Welcome!!! im sure you dont need to be told this... but start small after the build, and work your way up. Tuning has to be priority #1

I say this... because 350whp AND a 75 shot is pretty nuts.... i dont doubt it will be fun, but damn.... hahaha

I think you will be VERY pleasantly surprised with what a miata can do with 250-300whp ESPECIALLY compared to how your car drove in stock form. Its seriously like a whole new car.

Keep going! but make sure to make a build thread... im sure im not the only one here who wants to see this go down. haha

LOL... just have to wait until I'm pointed into oncoming traffic first... timing is EVERYTHING!!

Oh, I'm sure there are lots of things that can go wrong. I'm thinking about trying to do a set up where I'd keep it down around 200-250whp most of the time, but turn it up on nice days when I just want to open up and play... kinda considering an EBC set-up but I don't have any experiece with turbo or engine management yet. I've done a ton of stuff with programming and plc set-ups, I just don't know how to cross that over for this application yet.

As for nitrous, I think it'll be fun to play with, and I don't know that I really trust the water/meth injection stuff... seems like more trouble than I really need to get into...

Thanks, Super... you're suggestion is right along with what I'm thinking anyway. Start with the build... forged rods/pistons, stroke the 1.8, port/polish, maybe ARTech mani/exhaust, SS lines, heat shielding, and a small turbo to get me around the 200 mark, tune it in, then step it up. It's going to be a long process as I plan to do the research and buy quality parts. Probably just make it a long term project and drag it out over the next several years. In the end, I'll be happier with it if I take my time with it.

That's what Need For Speed taught me.

yeah, i wouldnt mess with water/meth.... Go for E85.... that will get you into the power range you wanna be reliably, and safely. burns alot cooler. You can tune accordingly based on how available E85 is near where you are/will be.

LOL concealer... that's how I practice my driving style too...
Just say Frak it and punch it!

Yeah, I saw the conversion kit FM has for sale to run E85... it is definitely a consideration. I'm trying to budget around 30K for the whole build. I know I might come in under that and I might go over, we'll just have to wait and see.

lol 30k

How did you blow the rings out of your stock engine without N2O or boost?

Keith

:drama:

2 big ones from Harry. Overnighted from japan.
He was racing for pinks against dom, now he owes Dom a 10 second car.

I'm pretty sure for 30k you could just do an lsx swap... Or buy one from someone... Or buy a used corvette

Or buy Dom a 10 second supra

Just watch out for Johnny Tran. He needs an engine for his Honda two thousand and he doesn't care what it takes to get it.

I heard he will disrespect your famiry

Shit. Thats grounds for blowing up your car with Nawss.

Make sure and bring it to Race Wars for pinks.

Deviant Dante, congrats on signing up at the best site on the web!

Honestly? Not really sure... I drive pretty hard most of the time. This is my second Miata (I had a 91 before this one). Problems seemed to start after dropping to third at around 75 on the freeway, but I've done that before... either way, compression is now crap, I now have pressure back-feeding into the oil pan, and it's definitely going to need a valve job. I'm figuring on full engine rebuild, full exhaust, while I'm at it, upgrade full drivetrain and suspension. Pretty much gut everything but the chassis. Basically, overkill to fix my problem, but I've always wanted to modify the car. This is just my excuse... The wife told me to just buy a new car. My response was: How about I just use new car money to rebuild the car I already love...

Thank you, Brain. I have already found a lot of good information on here. You guys have been doing this for a while and have already worked out a lot of the kinks that I know I'll run into. I just hope that I can learn from the issues posted here to complete a successful build.

$30k? Just read Soviet's build thread. Do all of that.

I'll check it out, concealer... I've been stuck reading Faeflora's build... LOL... that guy's got heart, I'll give him that!

That's a good thread to read, too. Mostly as a guide for what NOT to do. If you read FaeFae's thread and Soviet's thread as a guide of "Don't do this, do THIS," you should be set.

LOL, I'll keep that in mind... I know that I'm probably budgeting more than I probably need to make my car fun, but the point is to build it to the point that it would be difficult for me to break it.

I'm lucky in that I have access to some of the best machine shops in the oil industry. They are familiar with exotic metals and have some truly awesome equipment. If inconel wasn't so damned heavy and expensive, I'd make a block out of it! :idea:

With $30k, I'd buy someone's lsx conversion if you want the power you have indicated. You could pick one up for $15-18K and then spend the rest on learning to handle the power. Or find an rx7 conversion which has a better wheelbase for the NOS.

Honestly, I have no interest in the LS conversions. If I wanted a V8, I'd buy a Camaro... The RX7 conversions look pretty interesting and I do like the rotary engines... but ultimately, I want to build it myself. There is so much more pride in your ride when you put in the work. The fact that it will be fun to drive when it is all completed is just a bonus, the real sense of accomplishment is in getting it to that point...

FE3 swap.

If you have the money, and you're into fabbing and stuff... Hop on the K24 swap bandwagon. Add boozt. Profit.

NA K24 I would think could hit 350 easily with NAWWZZZZ

I love love love love love how we nut swing on crap that no one even has yet on this site:laugh:

TSE turbo kit?
HOP ON THAT BRO, EVERYONE HAS ONE, ITS BEEN TESTED FOR YEARS, BASICALLY TEH BEST THING UNDER THE SUN

k24 swap?
TOTALLY BRO, ITS BASICALLY THE PROVEN RECIPE FOR MIATA'S SINCE LIKE, FOREVER.

I'm just making an observation :giggle:

well, Mr. K24 has his car up and running, and IIRC has released pricing on his kit, no?

lol @ TSE turbo kit

yes, but who else?

like no one.

I'm just saying, its hilarious how we all tend to blindly do that. Myself included :giggle:

When all you have is 70s truck engines, throw a Civic engine into the mix and suddenly everyone loses their minds.

^ :laugh:

Can we get a nut swing smiley?

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1399417625

for anti-nut-swingers or

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1399417625

Honestly, after concealer suggested checking out Soviet's build, I'm really liking the direction he's taken. That BW turbo is putting out some awesome numbers! I'm only about half-way through reading his build, but.... DAMN! I'd be happy as hell if I could get those kinds of results!

I'd be all.... :fawk:NAWWWS! Don't need it now!

What are you going to do about a transmission?

Haven't quite gotten that figured out yet. I'm hoping that I could get a 6-speed out of a junkyard or something and rebuild it. Not sure if it'll take the power though... Haven't really gotten far enough into my research to figure out the transmission/rear end yet. One of the main reasons I'm here is to see what the rest of you guys are running at high hp/tq. I figured what better way is there than to learn from the experience of others...

He's got a 30k budget, he can get a 5 speed made out of Inconel.

We're running 6 speeds. And destroying them constantly.

Just tearing up the internals of the transmission? Or is there also a problem with the diff holding up on the other end?

Congrats Clif, you now have 15 posts. Thanks for spamming.

^LOL Maybe he should post again... I'm catchin' up!
(Thanks to this useless post anyway)

There's really no perfect transmission option yet, you're looking at $1500-$6000 for a gearset that will (hopefully) reliably hold over 300ft-lbs or some custom fabrication for a T5 or rx7 TII gearbox. If you treat it nice you can get some time out of a 6-speed but it won't last.

I really wonder what the cost would be to have a gearset machined out of inconel... also wonder how that would perform, cause that $h1T is heavy... I may have to check with one of my machine shop guys to get a buddy quote.

You're quite the dreamer aren't you?

That was a joke, for so many reasons that I won't even bother explaining.

And even 30k would likely not be enough for something like that.

Yes, I am... and every time I dream up another hair-brained idea, a kitten dies.

LOL... don't get me wrong. I'm fully aware that it is likely not an option for many reasons.

But I do have access to scrap inconel and have buddies in machine shops that work with it... so cost for me may be less than expected.

Then you should without a doubt make a manifold out of the stuff

:bowrofl: LMAO! That would be awesome! Log style, of course, right? I mean OEM style, then just tap off the side with an extra pipe for the Cessna aircraft turbo... maybe modify the undercarriage to run a 5" straight pipe?

Okay, enough of my Dr. Evil dream rambling..... LOL

Seriously, though. It does seem a shame that there are no really good options out there for transmissions... definitely going to have to research that part and see what I can come up with...

get straight cut gears. they are available, but most of us consider 2k-3k too much to spend on gears, but with your 30k budget should be chump change.

Hell with your budget you could get a baller sequential gearbox.

Well, I'm not trying to blow the whole load if I don't have to.... I'm just kinda counting on spending an obscene amount of money if I have to in order to get the reliability for a DD. Besides, whatever money I spend is money the wife doesn't get to spend on curtains, furniture, food.... etc...

I think you should be talking about getting a MS and tuning NA before Inconel diamond studded unobtainium gears. But that's just me.

^LMAO @ "Inconel diamond studded unobtainium gears"

Damn... I shouldn't even be talking about MS.... I still need to figure out which rods/pistons I'm gonna use... whether or not I'm going to stroke out to 2.0...

:laugh: