90 miata. is turbo worth it?
 

I've had my 90 miata 1.6 for about 2 years now and I love it. This summer I feel the need to give it a little kick. I was interested in getting a Begi turbo probably the shanghai starter or the S1.The only thing im worried about is that the car is old and it has 170 000 kms on it. I just wanted to know if this is a good way to go to get more hp or if I should do an engine swap first before I do anything else?

Turbo it.

Your answer depends on whether or not you want to stay with a 1.6. I vote 1.8 swap.

What Dustin said. Good friend's running 13 pounds on his 155k mile stock block with no major problems.

Turbos are stupid

^this

You should supercharge it. You'll make less power -> Less stress on the motor.

thanks for the advice. I talked to 2 mechs, one that only does miatas and he suggested a supercharger, but then again he told me to get the greddy..not really sure which way to go.

...I was being facetious.

If you are concerned: Do a compression test, if the numbers are nice and even across the board, the rings are in good shape. If you are concerned about the bearings and whatnot, get an oil analysis done.

If everything checks out, smack on that s/s1 you are looking at and enjoy it. Be prepared to change out the clutch, but as far as the engine goes, as long as it is healthy there is no reason not to turbocharge it.

Keep in mind though, at that kind of mileage, there may be other things that could use some attention, like the cooling system.

Hehehe.

Supercharger = more heat, more stress, and less power.

Seriously, you could do the Greddy kit, though in all honesty, most of the stuff it comes with is garbage.

If you're really looking for low budget boost, and yet don't want a pile o' crap: http://www.bellengineering.net/produ...roducts_id=396


170,000 Km is nothing. My '90 has close to 340,000 Km and still going strong.

That's ridiculous Joe. There is SO MUCH LESS underhood heat because you don't have a "big glowing thing" strapped to the block. Plus high IATs don't mean anything when you have an e-cool to drop the temps down to the low 200s Fahrenheit . You can make 200whp at 15psi on a 1.8l with near stock EGTs. It's awesome.

[/socal pat]

Plus the lag of the turbo means that it will be slower on an autox (especially with all the weight). Unless you get a Hyper reroute, then it will about the same overall as stock.

Was there just a shift in the Matrix?

The whole forum is around just to shine people on about how great turbos are. It's a bunch of faked stuff. Everyone runs a M45 based blower setup.

greddy dont make there kits anymore. its discontinued as of 11/1/09.

You made me lol jeff. EGT instead of wideband FTW.

Do a compression check on your motor, if the numbers come back good then your good to go on one of the kits you mentioned.

Fair warning, you'll want more power once you get your feet wet!


The S/C responses made me lol as well

My 90 had 180K when I put my fm kit on. So far so good.

+1 on the compression checks. If your motor is healthy, do it.

Dooo it..
Good compression, good oil pressure. Good for turbo.

Once you do it you will kick yourself in the ass for waiting so long ;)

I installed an electric turbocharger. I make super power now.

^That only works so well due to the DEI though.

I've got 240,000km on mine (1.8l) with no problems yet.
I just turned the boost up to 10psi (from 6) and this...

thanks for the input guys, still exploring other options,dont want to go into this without thinking about it for a while. My friend was telling me about two other options, he said I could get an rx-7 rotary engine or get a squires turbo, what do you guys think about a 13b engine swap?

lulz.

I'd start by reading some threads in here and looking at what setups perform well in the dyno and build sections. You are dead-on about thinking it over for awhile.

They don't make shift keys anymore either. And they apparently don't graduate literate children from high school anymore either. It's a damn shame.

I think the 13B question has been beaten into the ground. It is a poor choice for our cars and requires copious fabrication and alteration. We are blessed with cheap, reliable, and relatively robust engines. You should not spend countless hours installing an expensive, unreliable, delicate engine. Our engines can already be built very inexpensively to handle more power than the rest of the drivetrain or platform can readily handle. You already have in your car much of what you will need. The rest of what you need is listed in the FAQ and will install neatly between your ears.

The Squires kit is a joke and contains none of the Miata specific parts you will need for $500 more than the well-engineered and easily upgradeable BEGi Shanghai kit. You will know all about this if you study a bit more before going shopping. Don't make a mistake. Read the many build threads of our members and see how others built success and power, and learn from their mistakes as well.

Good luck.

squires turbo ftw

:facepalm:

full metal jacket!!
 

get a greddy at least! TDO4...ebay china chargers mmmm. i am enjoyin the hell out of mine. 5 psi and the capability of plenty more power..squidbillies rule

+1

anyone who wants to do things reasonably simply yet still have LOTS of headroom, shouldn't look further than something like a begi shanghai basic kit + megasquirt. do anything else, and you might as well just set a stack of $100 bills on fire and go outside to smash yourself repeatedly in the genitalia.

+1 Keep the motor stock, run till it dies and replace with used one.

OR build for 250+ and enjoy spending money

My 90 had 150K miles when I turbo'd it up to 15psi ....woo hoo

Watch out though as said earlier on in this thread ....power and HP is addictive ;) Now I am engine swapping (to a 1.8L)

Short answer. Yes. I'd love to have a race-built, naturally aspirated car, but that's a lot of money. My $1000 Greddy gets me by the slowpokes on the twisties--the reason I installed it, and I still get good gas mileage.

At this point, I'd look to the BEGI's. A bit more money, but a bit better built and not in need of the tweaks the Greddy required.

swap the engine, your engine is going to have to work harder it needs to be in tip top condition rebuild is an option however it would be cheaper to replace your engine with a quality replacement from a firm that specializes in refurbishing engines.

I would strongly suggest not listening to this advice.

We can safely say that 50% of your posts at this time are crap. Also, the same 50% are semi-necro-crap.

:facepalm: The rotary guys swap to V8s since the Ford 5.0 fits relatively easily and cheaply, at least in the older gens. 13Bs are more trouble than they're worth, and they're not exactly light either.