Yet Another Newb in SoCal
 

I bought a 99 Miata about a year ago and love it. Just took it autocrossing for the first time and had a lot of fun.

Ideally, I'd like to find a 90-97 that's more track ready (suspension, roll bar) and possibly turbo to enjoy for the next year or so. I'd sell or trade the 99 if I can find something I like.

My daily driver is a 2005 Subaru Legacy GT wagon. I sure do miss the torque when I'm driving the Miata.

Meanwhile, I plan on finding another NA chassis to put a LS1 into using the Boss Frog kit. Goals for that car would be a fun street car, open track days, and ********.

What the heck, talking about sliding sideways is a no no here?

Yeap. Don't do it.

Interesting... I can live with that.

Your 99' has a better head for making power. Boost the 99'. It's awesome. Many hours of reading and learning on this forum and you will be able to do a DIY turbo setup. That's what I did. I'm around 270whp and it's great. Stock is 110whp.

Oh yeah, welcome to the forum. Post some pics of your car.

I definitely considered building a motor and going turbo, but the LS is a VERY attractive alternative. Definitely more costly, but much better power band.

Living in California, I'd like to stay as close as possible to smog legal. Are there any options? Do BEGI or Greddy make anything CARB approved?

With the exception of the header, it appears that the LS can be swapped in and end up very close to smog legal.

No idea about smog shit. It's probably not gonna pass with a turbo on it, but I dunno. We here in MS don't do emissions or any of that. Hell, I don't even have a catalytic converter, stock ECU is not being used, anything emissions related was removed two years ago.

If I had to guess though, you could probably turbo it and then un-turbo it for smog. Would suck though.

Post whoring to get your post count up is a serious no-no too. Make sure you're on good behavior until I forget you did it.

pics or die

welcome man, i've got a 99 too, and i agree with pat, just boost the 99, better flowing heads, better body style ;).


on a different note, i don't mean to thread-jack, but why exactly is sliding sideways talk a no no? or is that something i should be searching for too?

Search more. This is an elite, tight-knit society of turbo-centric miata enthusiast with uncontrollable knowledgabilities.

Kidding. But we hold ourselves to higher standards than most forums. We require newbs to do their own research to learn the basics. Kind of like reading the chapter before class. If you don't preread, you have no idea what's being covered and you wouldn't have any good questions to ask. Same thing here. If you don't know the basics, we can't help you. If you want someone to hold your hand, let me redirect you to The MX-5 Miata Pit Stop: MX-5 Miata.net

http://evangoss.smugmug.com/photos/4..._cXD7p-S-1.jpg http://evangoss.smugmug.com/photos/4..._hYWaV-S-1.jpg

Someone was nice enough to add a vent to my top:
http://evangoss.smugmug.com/photos/4..._aHsgE-S-1.jpg

I've now got a black hardtop on it (no pics yet) and some vynabond waiting for me to repair the soft top.

Full Size Photos Here

Turbo will pass, but only if it's a kit approved by the California Air Resources Board (CARB). I'm not sure if any kits exist that fit the bill. If I can find a good deal on a car that's already got a good turbo setup, I'll go that route. If I start from scratch, it'll be with a V8.

I believe greddy makes carb approved? not sure
you could also go to "one of those" smog places and they will smog you for a couple hundred bux no matter what;)

Looks like Greddy makes a non-intercooled kit for the 1.6:

GReddy Turbo Kit Mazda Miata 1.6l 1989-1993

You're absolutely right; the Greddy kit won't fit in your car. I seem to recall that BEGI had some kits that were Cali approved but I don't know if they had them for NBs. I think that setup was using an 02 sensor clamp, bipes and some kind of FMU; but don't take my word for it.

If I were in your shoes, I'd do a piggyback. I would keep my car's ECU and use an MS to control fuel and spark. That's how some NB owners do it.