Hey there folks, my name's Steve and I just wanted to introduce myself to the forum and give a little background about how I got here.

So, I live and work in Boston, and I picked up a '96 Miata last summer as a toy for running around the city, but ended up loving it more than my VW daily driver. As a result, my MK4 GLI basically became a driveway pollen collector, so I decided to sell it. It was bitter sweet, but the Miata was just so much fun to drive that I had to. That said, what was to be a toy is now my daily driver for half of the year, and despite the amazing driving experience of the Miata I would love to add some power. After exploring the options out there a turbo system seems like the way to go. I'm not looking to race it or get crazy HP gains, just some added power to make people go "that's a ******* Miata???".

At the moment the car is bone stock except for a set of coilovers and wheels that I installed shortly after buying the car. I'm a weekend "driveway mechanic" and love a challenge. I hoping to learn a lot from this place and hope that I can find a logical order of operation for my future turbo build.

Here's a couple pics of my Miata. Not the shiniest on the block, but I hope to bring it back to it's former glory, with some added ***** under the hood.

Party on Waynes. -Steve

 

Welcome to the site.

That big air blocker in the mouth can't be good.

 

Thanks!

That was to pass MASS inspection. I just zip-tied the plate in to get the passing sticker then snip snip.

 

Thanks for joining, StevisBeavis!

 

Thanks man!

So, after reading a good amount I know that for me a turbo kit is certainly the rout that I'm going to go with for my build, and I've also determined that one of the FM kits seems like the best option for me. My biggest unknown is which direction to go for the EMS. Right now based on my budget, I've been looking into both the MS2 (DIYPNP or MS2PNP) or the FM Voodoo II. I know this has been covered in depth that the MS is far superior to the Voodoo piggy back, but I guess my main issue is that I am pretty awful behind a computer (hence the appeal of the Voodoo system for me). That said, I'm concerned that my lack of tech savvy could make a megasquirt more of a hindrance than a benefit given my current computer prowess; in the end making the Voodoo II a better option for "me".

Can anyone give their insight into, how user friendly tunerstudio is for a novice? Is Voodoo II a good option for the non tech savvy? And finally, if I do go with the Megasquirt, how difficult is the DIYPNP kit to construct (my pretty good with the old soldering iron from building guitars etc, and I can follow directions).

Note: If I did go with the MS I would install that into the N/A 1.8 and try to get used to tuning it before going turbo.

Any input would be greatly appreciated!

 

I figured it out and had little clue what I was doing when I started. Tuner Studio is easy and intuitive. There is good help here if you get in trouble. I learned a lot from doing it myself.

 

Thanks for the feedback Sixshooter! That's what I was hoping to hear.

After corresponding with a DIYautotune.com tech, I think I'm going to jump in for the DIYPNP and go for it based on his assement of the build. There's something about trying to put it together myself that's really exciting to me. We'll see how it goes....

I'll keep you all posted for better or worse.

 

DIYPNP is ordered.

 

Well, I received the DIYPNP kit on Thursday night and I've now completed the mainboard construction per the DIYPNP build instruction and just need to connect up the adaptor board and jumpers to finish up the job. The build was really straight forward and actually a lot of fun. It took a Saturday afternoon, and half a Sunday at a lazy pace. I only ran into one issue which was totally my fault. I soldered the #7 transistor in the wrong location (#17) after getting a little over confident. It was a fairly painless (yet slow) desoldering, and the transistor took a bit of abuse to get it out due to the fact that all 3 prongs that needed to be heated in order to remove the transistor. The leads got a little bent up from the clumsy removal process, but after I straightened the prongs and reinforced the weakened bends with additional solder I think it should he ok. I then relocated the transistor into the correct location and got back on track.

Most of the jumper connections to the adaptor seem like they make sense. I'm a little confused about the path of the "I/O Circuits" to get the Radiator Fan and A/C Relay and Fan hooked up, but I'm sure someone could walk me through it or I'll just figure it out.

I have yet to power the unit up and load up the base maps, so at this point I can't 100% say that I did this build correctly, but overall I've found it to be an awesome experience for anyone who has never done this (assuming it works…). It's fun and very "paint by numbers" intuitive. If it works I'm going to be very happy I went this rout even aside from the money saved.