18psi

iTrader: (76)

lol

Better you know what you're getting into, than find out 10k later that I know what I'm talking about.

There are a bunch of them sold with all those things addressed though. So there is hope

sixshooter

iTrader: (12)

A good NB with a homebrew turbo kit is a better option in a lot of ways, depending upon its options.

Nagase

iTrader: (6)

A better option in a lot of ways, but the MSM is the way to go.

Not a mechanic, not used to working on cars.

Swapping out parts /while driving/ is dipping your toe in. Great feeling results, little worry for car going down.

Buying an NB to put a turbo kit on to learn cars, is like learning to swim by jumping off a cliff.

Little mods feel awesome, are easy. Great risk to reward.

18psi

iTrader: (76)

Both above statements are true actually.

I guess the final decision depends on your level of knowledge and comfort working on cars.

paqman

Yeah while I would enjoy the challenge of installing a turbo in a N/A NB :-D, I agree with you. I am more of a strong DIY'er than a mechanic, and right now I think the MSM would be the better choice for me. And then make small mods/improvements as time goes on.

18psi

iTrader: (76)

I love the colors on MSM's. The gray is excellent, pretty much can't go wrong with that color ever, and the red...well I fell in love with the red this weekend at MRLS where there were dozens of really well kept red MSM's, the pearl looks amazing.

can't go wrong with either

paqman

Lol I was thinking the same thing. As I was researching them I was really drawn to the titanium, and the one I saw in person was that velocity red mica, and man that looked good too. Honestly all the colors look good and will probably be around the the last factor in finding a good MSM, but I sure wouldn't complain with either one of those. But lower mileage and condition will have to take precedence over color sadly. :-(

Twodoor

iTrader: (2)

If you are not that confident in doing your work yourself starting off with a "factory turbo" setup is a good way to ease into it. It starts with little things, boost controler, exhaust system, BOV, intake... what have you... and then you end up going to a full aftermarket turbo setup and FMIC At this point you think to yourself "I wasted so much $$$ getting the MSM and then a Flyin' Miata / BEGi system, wish I had started with a non-turbo NB"...

In reality if you are not confident in doing your own work to start with you would never pull the trigger on a full turbo kit for a regular NB, and you would end up with it staying near stock for life.

You are better off starting with the MSM and building up to doing major engine work over time

Keith

paqman

It's not that I'm not confident, I'm pretty sure given the time I could probably do an ok job installing a FM turbo kit, but the time and probably issues I'm going to run into don't really fit into my lifestyle right now. A turnkey car is a better option for me right now.
That is not to say that I am not still keeping my eyes on a good deal for a regular NB with maybe plans of installing a turbo years down the road. But the MSM is more tempting. :-)

Monk

iTrader: (3)

Keith, I still can't believe how quickly yours came together even after all of the issues you had with your "kit".

Twodoor

iTrader: (2)

Really? Seemed like it took forever to me! A well engineered kit with good instructions and someone mechanically competent doing the installation should take about 2 days if you don't break a stud or something like that. This is how long it took me to install my M45 supercharger... and that was a used unit that I had to get a bracket re-welded on!

Having to source parts locally that were either wrong, or missing from the kit combined with zero instructions on my kit on my car added huge delays. I started my build on the 19th of Aug and was in "running but not complete" condition by the 29th. Car is still not complete. Intake pipe is wrong, heat shield is wrong, bunch of incorrect sized bolts, the supplied radiator cap leaks bad, using the one from my stock radiator.

A bunch of the parts are simply poorly engineered, like the replacement mixing manifold. It is designed wrong, and the answer from Stephanie is "hmmm, looks like yours was built wrong"... this is 100% bullshit, mine looks identical to all the pictures I have seen of them, it is designed for a car without power steering, and if you have power steering you have to cobble together a solution on your own... BEGi sure as **** isn't going to re-design the parts to actually work correctly. I think Stephanie just drops the ball on things like this and Corky never hears about the poor fitment issues. The question is, does Corky like it that way?

As far as I know Corky lets Stephanie run roughshod over the customers, and I am amazed they stay in business. For all my troubles and delays I have received jack **** in consideration. I knew about the customer service issues and part production delays going in, but when you add to that the fact the S6 system is poorly engineered and has boost creep issues I am totally disgusted with BEGi.

Corky needs to put Stephanie on the back burner since he can't fire his daughter, put someone competent in charge, and hire a ******* welder. If you have someone on staff as a welder, and a jig made up for manifolds and downpipes, they can knock out at least one a day... put finished parts on a shelf and have zero delay on a kit going out the door on it's way to the customer rather than 4 months delay.

Keith

PS: Dyno session Friday and drag strip this weekend!

18psi

iTrader: (76)

amen

Chiburbian

iTrader: (1)

After visiting Flyin' Miata a month ago I am very impressed with their stuff. I used to have a thing for BEGI but no longer.

If I were to do it all over again I'd be using mostly FM parts. That said, I did mine "jumping off a cliff" and I built my MS3x ECU and wiring harness myself. All parts except turbo and a few small parts were bought off of craigslist over several turbo kit buys (keeping the good, selling the bad). Most of my issues were related to ECU stuff. To me, easy mode is FM kit plus model specific reverent built megasquirt. I over paid for my NB three years ago ($9,200, but only 40k miles, LS with big brakes and 6 speed, and MINT) and since then I have put about $5k into it including clutch and suspension.

Even with all the random parts, my turbo install took a 4 day weekend working by myself, not including ECU stuff. The ECU stuff I did over several months and always had the option of switching back to the stock ECU if something didn't work right.