Newbie!
 

Hello,
I just started getting into road racing. I'm in Houston, and go to MSR and TWS road courses.

I have been looking into the miata because they seem to impress me at the track. The turbo miatas really haul! I'm assuming it is because they are so light? Just how light are they?

I had some questions about the Greddy kit. I understand it comes with the basics. I'm assuming I will need upgraded injectors, a downpipe and a full exhaust. Do you all run external wastegates? Or does the 15g come with an internal?

Is it simple to slap a garret turbo on this kit with no extra modification? I'm basically wondering what all is needed for a reliable track turbo kit. Any help is very much appreciated. Not sure what to search..

Patrick

What about stock internals? How much boost or power can they hold efficiently or what needs to be swapped for what?

I also need to know of a tuner in Houston that could tune the Miata. What type of EMS should I use?

miatas do haul ass around the corners at tracks. they'll haul ass down the straights too once you put on a turbo.

the weight of them is anywhere from 2000-2500lbs approx. depending on how much factory equipment (cruise control, power windows, power steering, AC) you have installed and/or removed. a stripped miata (no PS, AC, soft top, carpet) can get down towards 2000lbs. probably only around 2200lbs if you wanna remain street legal.

the greedy kits does come with the basics: turbo, manifold, small dia. dp, auxilary fuel pressure regulator, and an external wastegate. with that, you'll be jumping from the stock 90hp to anywhere between 120hp and 140hp, depending on how healthy your car/engine is. this is a fairly reliable kit out of the box, although to be safe you'd probably want some timing control and maybe an intercooler to keep cool (+$225 for bipes ACU, and around $400 for intercooler & pipes) that's all preference, some have run a stock miata on a stock greddy kit at the track.

although if you're like most, you'll want more power, in that case you'd be upgrading the fuel pressure regulator, the down pipe, injectors, fuel pump, you'll definet get rid of the greddy intake/charge pipes to go the intercooler route (there's also water injection) and by the end you'll be left with the greddy turbo and manifold. lesson to be learned: technically easier to do a DIY project, since you'll most likely be replacing all the greddy components anyways. if you've gotten a second car (WRXrick, coincedence?) I'd highly suggest this. especially if you do have a wrx, which would mean you'd hopefully know a little bit about turbos.

hope this helped a little, others will chime in to flame my response and give more valuable advise/knowledge.

there's much better kits available from bellengineering

I understand people will flame, thank you very much for your post. I'm glad you told me about the DIY kits.

I will most likely want about 250whp-300whp. I actually have an STi right now, and it's my daily driver. Are there any years I should stay away from?

What are some good websites that can help me out with aftermarket modifications and performance modifications so that I can look into the parts for a DIY kit?

Thanks for your help once again,

Patrick

the '90-mid '91 had a short nose crankshaft issue, so I'd stay away from those, unless they've been replaced/upgraded. your only other option is '92 or '93 if you go for a greddy kit, which only works with a 1.6 liter miata (the '90-'93). The '94-'97 had a 1.8 liter, and you'd have to get a different type of kit. if you've got the money, as Al Hounos said, the bell engineering kits are great, as well as the www.flyinmiata.com kits. they also have the option of coming with an intercooler.

250-270 is apparently all the greddy turbo is capable of.

I think around 200-220, lightened to the limits of street legaity, and sticky race rubbers would alow you to beat your STI. probably around $10,000 and a hell of a lot of work to beat your $30,000 car.

well first you need to clarify if you want a 1.8 or 1.6. Greddy kit only comes for 1.6 and is limited to about a 250 whp limit, with some major tweaking. WI is where it is at for cooling the intake charges. The ebay megan racing kits like i have can get you 300 whp on a 16g of your choice but you will still need to fuel and cool all that air. There are also alot of t3 and t25/28 setups through begi etc that can be peiced together very nicely for either 1.6 or 1.8. Also remember the stock dif on the 1.6 is rather weak and should be replaced with the bigger 1.8 modle. the good news is this is a simple swap and everything bolts together easily provided you have the halfshafts driveshaft rear end etc. All our trannys are the same so pick your pleasure the 5 speed starts to have issues past 250 lb/ft so be carefull there the 6 speed has alot closer gearing and is a good bit tougher. Fill us in abit more on your prospectus and preferences and we can point you to a build where something similiar has been done in the past. :bigtu: BTW we only flame stupid shit your questions while they get old are not stupid and where presented very well. we just need abit more info man. :D Also look to rnmcwellee for info on how much wieght we can lose last i checked he was around 1900 lbs with a full tank of gas on the road

also, keep in mind a miata at 220whp will easily beat an STi from a roll.

I stand corrected and now have a new goal. :bowdown:

That is what you get for having such a low post count :gay:

i'd personally go for a '94; Bigger Brakes, Rear, Clutch & Displacement

most of my budget went into upgrading to 1.8L brakes & diff.

going to replace the clutch anyways, so it's nice to have an extra 200cc

lightweightmiata.com

blasphemy Scot the 1.6 shall strike down the mighty 1.8 on the dyno yet agian :pitlab: :bigtu:

yeah you might be able to, but a 1.8 could do it ever so easier....without the need to upgrade the rear and rotors.

who has upgraded rotors :dunno: i run Goodwin racing 1.6 rotors in the front and stockers in the back work just fine with some pottterfiel r4 pads i believe not sure on the pad number though i know it is alot better than stock for 105 in the front plus pads at 75$ rear still hasnt givne me any trouble i do love my slotted and indiviauly balanced rotors though. :p

Once again, thank you all for your posts. Looks like I will try my best to find a 1993 miata 5spd. Like I said, I am looking for 250whp and you all are telling me that the Greddy 15g kit is capable :)

I plan to also go with:
1) Electronic Boost Controller
2) FMIC (not sure about how the pipes from the greddy kit interfere with this?)
3) Big MAF?
4) Greddy kit EWG rerouted to the downpipe, or is it an atmospheric wastegate?
4) Internals. What internals seem to break easily with the 93' model miata with boost?
5) Not sure if the Greddy kit comes with adequate fuel injectors or fuel pump.
6) Tune. What unit to use? I don't want to spend an arm and a leg, but 250whp would be nice.



Thank you so much!

Patrick

The greddy kit is capable but it's reaching it's limits at that power level. Your internals will be fine but your rearend won't be. You don't need a bigger maf because the 1.6 uses an AFM not a MAF and they are big enough as is it. The greddy kit doesn't come with and IC nor IC pipes you have to buy them aftermarket from someone like mx5projects.com. You don't need an electronic boost controller, get a cheap manual one. The greddy kit doesn't come with fuel injectors or fuel pump. You'll need much bigger injectors than the stock 1.6 injectors and you'll need a Walbro 190 to reach that power goal.
If you want to tune and not spend much then go Megasquirt but it sounds like you still need to read the Miata Turbo FAQ which is available as a sticky in the DIY turbo forum.

for 250whp, you must have a standalone. others have done it without, but they've since converted to standalone.
your options are, in order of increasing awesomeness, Emanage Ultimate, Link, Hydra, AEM, Megasquirt. you don't need an AFM with any of these. the EMU is the only one that can't run boost control, it's also not technically a standalone, but it can run big injectors like one.

where should I buy a megasquirt, Hydra, Emanage? Apexi power fc?

Can stock internals hold 15psi just fine?

you need to do your research to find out which one is best for you. 15psi is ok on stock internals.

It is best to buy a 1.8... the 1.6 guys use so many parts from that car that it would be cheaper to buy a 94 + (94-95.5 are obd 1, and the most wanted...)
Search on the classified section for a t3 manifold and go with a garrett super 60.
The gt2560r should take you there...but not without big mods...

Go with the t3 and anything below the 300rwhp can be achieved.
Above 250 hp trannies start to break.. but they are cheap enough...

you try some 10" rotors with the same pads and report back.....untill then, enough said.

come out to the autoX next weekend. Should be plenty of miatas for you to sample :)

=> houston

Hmmm where is it and and what time?


By the way, what is the most common part that breaks as far as internals go?

I'm assuming a GT28 can hold up to 19psi or so and is good for probably 350whp. Any thoughts?

Yeah but the GT28 is expensive. You can get a T3-60 for less and have a ceiling of 300 which is high enough to destroy your trans and rearend without a problem if driven very abusively.
It's not the internals of the miata that fail, it's the tune that fails causing detonation. Detonation kills motors not weak internals. Though some say the rods are the weakest link though. There are many people that make big power on fully stock motors.

If I had to do it over again, I would have started with a 94. I certainly don't lose sleep over it though. Buy a really low mileage car, they really aren't much more expensive and you will appreciate that all the little things have less use on them.

I would go for the 94-95 were I to do it again myself, basically just for the differential and brakes, which I upgraded later ... but i did it for free because I bought a 97 as a daily driver and did a lil swaparoo.

get a t3 -60 and run it with a stand alone. On a bone stock engine @ 15psi it will be able to reach your goals...
The gt2560 is topping out @ this hp level... The gt3071r (t2) is also a good option.

For stand alone: Link ecu is the easiest...Hydra expensive and powerfull...
lots of ecu's to get it to run.

Whats the budget (without miata)

$3500

you could do a lot with that.....

go to http://bellengineering.net , hell even http://flyinmiata.com

FWIW my 1.6 setup initial 200 whp only 1800 dollars including new clutch.