PreFab for $2k? (Noob)
 

Hello,
I am very new to turbocharging.
I want to turbocharge my Miata but I dont know where to look!
I am looking to spend about $2k on a kit that has every thing I need.
Is that possible?

oh boy

The short answer is no.

Nope. The price of admission is about 50 hours of research+30 hours of labor+$3000 or no research+20 hours of labor+$6000.

I can't wait for the likes of Techsalvager to come in here and claim that its totally possible and post up their abominations or piss poor setups as proof lol

can it be done, yes. is it smart to cut all of the corners to get in under that budget and have a piss poor setup no. do it right the first time or dont do it plain and simple.

Sure it's "possible". The setup I'm installing now has cost me about $2000, maybe a little less.

But I've been accumulating the parts and doing research for over 2 1/2 years. If you have that kind of time and patience, and know where and what to look for it can be done.

But something tells me you don't.

I am just new to turbocharging, I wouldnt know what parts to look for!

Less post, more read. ALL the answers are here.


No, you will not get spoon fed.

pay for a quality kit and get good engine management not the rrfpr or vodoo box a real programmable ecu megasquirt or similar. now use the search bar, it all has been covered hundreds of times.

OP: be sure to use Wiggins clamps.

You can do it. All you have to do is be the first picker find a totaled miata that was turbocharged and is now at a salvage yard where the cashiers don't know what car parts look like.

Good luck!!

To be fair, he could get *started* for about $2k with one of the non-intercooled entry level "Shanghai" systems from Bell:

http://www.bellengineering.net/produ...roducts_id=395

This is about the most minimalistic system I could imagine recommending, and while it's not going to make huge power, it at least gets you a solid base to work from, with a decent future upgrade path.

I would also factor in an hour or two of dyno time with a local shop, as your budget does not allow for a wideband O2 sensor and a decent ECU. The system which I linked to above is extremely bare-bones, and you'll want the monitoring services of a dyno available the first time you get into boost with it, in order to adjust the AFPR properly.

Also, what year is the car? It matters a lot in this context. '90-'97 vehicles are cheaper to deal with when we're talking about AFPR-based fueling, as the '99-'05 cars require more extensive modification to the fuel system.

I'm impressed this thread isn't full of people screaming "READ/SEARCH!!"

N00b must have caught people on a good day.....

Well when a noob asks a question that is easily answered by 'no' we can all save a lot of time.

Try doing these for a start:

1 - read the sticky "EBay Turbo Kit" at the top of this forum -- that should answer your question about the $2k kit.
2 - go to the Flyin' Miata website and read through the descriptions of all the turbo system kits that will fit your Miata (they are divided up by years), and go through all the options for each kit. Reread them until you have a pretty good sense of what parts are needed and what parts are often upgraded (these are the options), and why someone might want to upgrade them
3 - go to the BEGi (Bell Engineering) website and repeat the process; I like to also check Good-Win racing's website, since it is often clearer in listing the major parts of the BEGi kits
4 - return to the Flyin' Miata website and read the instruction manual on installing their turbo kits. Reread it until you have a pretty good sense of what is installed, why they are installed, and how they are installed (even if you plan to have someone else actually install your parts). Pay attention to all of the "little" parts needed that are included in the kits but not listed in the kit descriptions.
5 - come back to MiataTurbo and read at least several of the accounts of folks installing their (often custom) turbo systems; the more accounts you read the better. Try to understand all the discussions and debates you will see in the accounts (you don't need to decide who is right, only understand why there is a debate at all)
6 - Determine whether in your state you need to be OBDII/OBD2 compliant (assuming your Miata has OBDII) and how that affects what kits and options will work for you.
7 - if after doing the above you still wonder what some of the parts are or why they are needed, use the SEARCh function to read the forum discussions about those parts.
8 - Even though you are looking for a kit, also read the discussions in the DIY section, since those guys are really just assembling their own kits.

After all that you won't be anywhere near an expert, but you will at least have a good idea what questions to ask and how to understand the answers.

If the -- hmm -- sharpness of the responses you get on MiataTurbo bothers you, you can ask questions on some of the other Miata websites, such as the "Performance & Tuning" section of Miata.net (aka M.net). The folks there (actually, many of the same folks here, but in a less edgy mode) will be more polite, but you will also be told that the critical mass of real experts is here, which is true.

Once you have done all that, you will be where I am now -- still a turbo noob, but less like a deer in the headlights of a pickup full of hungry hunters.

Good luck!

Bill

He's disappeard off the face of the internet

There is a god :party:

Techsalvager is still around. He comes on this site, reads the threads, then sends emails to the posters 'cause he can't post anymore. Annoying.

It can be done with a used kit and maybe some new stuff but kinda depends on the years of your car and a little luck. When I turboed my 1.6 i picked up a greddy turbo, ETD mani, 2.5in downpipe, bov, heatshield, MSD BOX, 1.8 injectors, ss oil feed, and the greddy piping to allow everything to run with stock intake pipes for $850. I then bought gauges, a BEGI FMU, and a few odd and end pieces and was up around $1400 for a good reliable 5psi tuned miata. Then after that I added a Cxracing intercooler for i believe $250 and bought a link ecu for $300 and 430 injectors for $50 and upped the boost to 12psi for right at $2,000. So it can be done but it will take a little luck, research, and time to do it correctly. But thats just turboing it I had to pick up a clutch from flyin miata pretty quick which wasnt cheap and i grabbed my torsen swap from a 2001 for $500

Thank you for posting this, I have been looking for "prefab" options since I have nowhere near the technical aptitude to do the turbo myself. I assume however, that since the projected horsepower is the same with this turbo for both the 1.6L and 1.8L engine that a 1.6L may not make 140 rwhp with this turbo.