Yo! from San Diego.
 

Yo! My name is Travis and I'm a 23 year old college student/worker bee. I moved down to San Diego about a year and a half ago to finish up school, and have been carless until recently. I'm sure you know how it is to be without a car, the feeling of being stranded combined with failing optimism towards free public transportation (for students); I got fed up with it! I am the type of person who likes to deal with my stress or wandering thoughts by hopping in my car turning the music up and just driving. So which car to choose? My first car that was more to me than just a "car" was a bb6 prelude, then I moved on to an s13, and my last car was an SRs14. Needless to say RWD>FWD regardless of the power being put to the wheels. My goal is a super budgeted fun daily driver, so I decided on a miata. More specifically an NA miata, on October first I found a '90 white one on craigslist and got a killer deal on it. It has around 200k miles and is in great working order the only bad part about it is a cracked rear finish, bummed soft top, and rough rear bumper. Today I picked up a snugtop hard top that needs work, and on Monday I am picking up replacements for the bad body parts I mentioned earlier. I'll post some before and after pics of the car on Tuesday when I am done installing everything. Okay enough about my boring car history time to get onto the good stuff, power goals. I think my miata is hands down the funnest car I have ever driven, it just lacks about 100 hp. I want to eventually make between 200 and 250 to the wheels and will get there by putting my car under a bit of pressure. I plan on running a holset hx30, MSII, 660's, lc-1, and possibly an arctech mani back (if he makes t3 flanges). Because this is to be a budget build I am taking my time and trying to source parts for cheap, that's why I decided on using the hx30 and dyi MS. After I get the body back to stock and squared away I'm gonna pick up the MS and injectors and get them running before I move forward on the turbo build. Once the car is set up I am going to shoot for around 150 initially and get acclimated before I swap out the clutch/rear to handle more power. The last thing I want to do is get all boost happy blow up my rear end and spin my matchbox off a cliff, plus I think 150 will keep me happy for some time. I'll keep you guys updated as the build progresses. I want to give you all a huge thanks for the information you have provided me so far and the questions of mine you will probably help with. I don't have much miata info to contribute, but I do have a nice general knowledge of hondas and 240's so maybe from time to time I can chime in and point out their flaws comparatively to the miata.
Cya 'round

PS. Who should I contact to inquire about a name change? I made this obnoxious account name to respond to a local build thread, and would like to have it changed to a name that is a bit more relevant to my car. Thanks!

Hey, Travis. Whereabouts in San Diego are you?

As for the name change, Braineack is the forum admin, and he can take care of this for you. I'll PM him.

Welcome to our forum. It seems that you have done your homework already and are on your way down a good path.

I sent for help for your name change problem. You are right about it being horrible.

Good luck.

Thanks for the help with the name change guys.

I am located in the University Town Center area of La Jolla, close to UCSD.
I've been lagging on the car photos because it is still dirty and I have a bit of pride. Should be cleaned up soon and I'll have some shots of it then.

Very nice intro post! Good luck with your plans, sounds like you know what you're getting into :)

tl;dr

SHIFT key please

I noticed it did seem a bit long, but I figured better long then cut up and nonsensical.

Just for you, a summary:

90 white miata with 200k miles.
Power goals are eventually a proper 250 WHP, staying away from band-aids.

If I opt for any I'm sure I'll have some questions for you. ;)

Or you can buy my bandaids before my shit explodes. LOL welcome to our automotive internet forum.

Terribly sorry to hear that. San Diego is such a nice area otherwise. :D

When in doubt run rich! haha that's what I've learned anyway. I recently stumbled upon an m45 JRSC, and I want to strap it to my car for a month while I save up for my turbo setup. Do you have an MSD/bipes unit for sale?


Yeah tell me about it, I work in the Mira Mesa area, and spend as much time in PB/Gas lamp as I can. I know I chose the socially retarded school to go to, but this way my parents can get off on their "prestige stories" and I can escape away to SDSU on occasion. It's like Kaiserslautern vs Berlin, enjoying the same beer in both places just isn't quite the same. When were you last on this side of the map?

Unnecessary diversion. Don't divide your focus.

Ignore the SC. It will only keep you from the real power longer.

^^This

What sixshooter said... ignore the supercharger and keep your focus on the turbo setup. Post some pics and welcome to the boards.

Avoid this. There are some folks making respectable power on the MP62, but the M45 is just a deadend. (And neither of them are terribly efficient. Lysholm superhcargers can turn out shocking power, but they remain relatively unpopular, for reasons which confound me.) Honestly, there's not one single part of an M45 system that you won't end up removing when you decide to shoot for 200 HP and above. Just start with a basic turbo system (a Bell "S" kit with a Megasquirt would be an excellent entry point) and as you gain experience and money, you can add intercooling and fuel system capacity as needed.

I re-read your original post again. I'm not intimately familiar with the Holset turbo line, but from the specs, the HX-30 seems oversized to me. I'd strongly urge you to look at either a Garrett 2560 or maybe a 2871. These two units are very popular in the Miata community, have good spool characteristics, and will easily be good for the sort of power levels your looking at.


They're both likely as not to be fucking pilsner lagers which deserve to be poured into the WC. The German people are still suffering the effects of the Reinheitsgebot- 500 years of consistent but boring beer. You must go to Belgium, at least, to enjoy an interesting ale.


About a week ago. Sunday, I think.

Big ups to Costa Verde... I have had some crazy times there. Oh, and welcome.

Haha you guys are pretty adamant about using turbos, something I completely understand and agree with. I think the 1.6 and even the 1.8 are a bit small for superchargers, except for maybe a finely tuned track car. The thing is I have an m45 sitting in my computer room waiting to be used. A friend of mine recently sold his NA and practically gave me this thing. I am most definitely going to build my turbo set up, but in the mean time I figure why not slap it on with an o2 clamp and 6° timing to test it out.

I don't have any personal experience with Holsets, but from what I read they spool up pretty fast for their size. I was initially going to use an HY25 or 27, but those are a bit harder to come by. I can get a used HX30 for around 50-100$ locally, where as either Garrett is going to run me 500$+ (I'm guessing a bit here). The only down side to the Holset is they are T3 flanged, and most of the DPs for the miata seem to be T2. As my build progresses I'll contact Arctech about a T3 set up, and hopefully get one made.


Is your location accurate? mega business travel, or just coincidence that you were down here so recently?

A friend of mine lives there, gotta love 5+ suite mate living situations. Makes for good parties imo.

Because as soon as you do this, you're going to run into problems with the install, which will cost you time and money, then when you get it installed, it wont idle right, which will cost you time and money. Once you get it idling right, you'll find that it is running lean at the top end, and you'll add a band-aid 5th injector because it's a lot cheaper than running an aftermarket ECU with a whole different set of injectors. You'll spend all of your money and effort into chasing down and fixing little issues here and there, and then you'll start to work on the weak points of the setup because "hey, its only a few bucks for a smaller pulley" - then you'll find a header for a few hundred and bolt it on etc. etc. etc.

In 2 years, you'll have a fully set-up m45 supercharger setup on band-aids, you'll have taken care of every conceivable weak point or problem and you'll be putting out around 180 hp. You'll have thousands of dollars into 'the little things' but you'll feel like you've run out of power. At this point, you will either live with what you've got, or you'll sell your supercharger setup, you'll sell your bandaids, you'll sell your headers and restrictive exhaust setup, all at a loss of several thousand dollars, to start over, and do it right, with a proper turbocharged setup - and two years late.

I thought it would be pretty much PnP if I used an MSD box and o2 clamp. If they are usually that much of a PITA to get running properly then I'll probably just sell the unit to expedite my turbo build. I figured if it worked decently I would have the patience to wait and find a 1.8l locally. Thanks for the reality check, and saving me the time.

Welcome to the site! I don't post much here, only because this site ANSWERS ALL my questions without a post!

After thinking about it and looking around I think I'll heed your advice and go with one of the Garretts. Mainly because there are a ton of good deals on used ones that pop up from time to time (one for a 2554 up right now). So hide your oil lines, hide your down pipes there's an m45 for sale in miataturbo.net :giggle:. Well it will be as soon as I get pics up!