Hi all, My name is James. I'm kind of new to the forum. I decided to join after countless hours of reading and finding so many useful posts about turboing Miatas. I'm currently on my second Miata. It is a fully loaded 40k original mile red 1990 (my first, which is now sold was a 85k original mile red 1991).

I absolutely love my Miata. As for my intentions, I have no desire to track or race the car but given the fact that it is my second car (weekends and have fun in the sun car), I would like to pep it up a bit with a turbo and personalize the car a bit. Being that the car is all original and has so few miles, I'd like to perform the least molesting modifications possible or at least be able to put the car back as close to 100% original if possible. Any advice or suggestions are more than welcome as I look forward to my first Miata turbo build.

 

Hello James.

Pictures?

 

hi james. what part of NY are you from?

 

 

I'm on Long Island. Garden City border.

 

God damn red is so sexy. I'll trade you.

 

Thanks for joining, 90MiataNY!

 

Wow, that is a clean car! Welcome to the forum. You should be able to turbo without doing any cutting or molesting of the car itself. Just about everything can be done as bolt on or plug in if your power goals are modest

You will likely need to upgrade the diff at some point though. The 90-93 ones are not known for their strength.

 

And for Pete's sake replace the 1.6l with a 1.8l before you turbo. Best $500 investment you will ever have made.

 

Molest it on the inside.

You can get an MK Turbo kit to fit your 1.6 until you cave and swap in a 1.8. It's a slippery slope!

That's a beautiful example though. Where did you find such a well maintained low mileage car?

 

Welcome to the forum. Pretty clean example.

 

I love my car but my ears are always open.

 

Great. Thanks for the advice. I had read that it will probably be necessary. You have a recommendation on the best gear ratio for a modestly turboed car? 3.9/4.1/4.3?

 

Craigslist. I searched multiple times a day for three months til I found it in central jersey a few hours away from me. Third owner but always garaged and meticulously maintained. I even have the original window sticker!

 

The 1.6 cars are 4.3. The 94-97 diffs will be 4.10, which is good for boost and performance.

 

Thank you all for your help this far. I've been reading meticulously for months now on turbo charging my Miata.

Thus far I've done the following:
-Researched
-Researched
-Researched
-Researched
-Purchsed and Installed Hard Dog Roll Bar, R-Package Front and Rear Lips (for safety... and looks )
-Purchased 90-93 MSPNP2, Innovate MTX-L AFR, Innovate Water Temp, and Innovate Boost Gauge (accompanied by my revlimiter gauge cups )
-Purchased Mishimoto Aluminum Radiator and Cooling Fans, M-Tuned Coolant Reroute Kit and Track Dog Racing Cooling Panel
-Researched some more
-Purchased 2002 Miata 3.9 Torsen Differential, Axles, Driveshaft

My question (one of many) is how do I protect my oil pump when I turbo charge? I see many guys using the ATI Super Damper which from what I read appears to be an excellent product, but everywhere I read it says it cannot be installed on a pre-1991.5 1.6 Miata (My car is a 90 with the infamous "short nose crank").

Any advice or suggestions as to precautions I should take or parts I need to acquire given my "SNC" situation would be very appreciated as I begin this project.