how much boost can a stock 1.6 handle? I've heard of 13psi being the limit, safely. is this about accurate?

 

Could be perfectly fine given a good tune, or perfectly deadly.

I think the 250rwhp range is where people stop pushing it....don't look at it in PSI levels.

 

so i'f im staying around or under 200whp i dont have to be too worried as long as i dont have poor tuning?

 

the key to any engine is tuning... back when i had a z and would hang around on the 350z forums there were people blowing their motors with stock greddy twin turbo kits 5.5 psi. Then there were people with 450whp and a AWESOME tune that were daily driving it and raping the **** out of the car with no problems (except for the dreaded POS Viscous LSD's they come with)

 

Is this going to be a street car or track car? 12-13 psi for the street is plenty of fun and will suffice for most all accelleration issues that you will need. Rule of thumb is also that if tuned properly, it will give you near the same lifespan of an N/A engine.

KMag

 

That thumb must get hit with a lot of hammers... I don't believe that in the least. More power means more force and every component will fatigue at a faster rate. The lifespan will be reduced, just not to a degree that makes it worth driving NA forever.

 

I believe that Corky said that on average, the life span is reduced 25% for a boosted car, can't remember where I saw that, but I read it somewhere.

 

The life span is definitely decreased, but IMO who cares. Who wants to live long if life is shitty?

I'm going to be using whatever miata I purchase mostly for DD use, but also monthly autocrosses.

 

engines are a dime a dozen for 80 - 120k miles. blow one up and throw another in.

 

1.8 being rebuilt in my garage waiting for the 1.6 to let go

 

I think Andy had his 1.6L at or over 300whp for several years. Not many go over the 250 mark without new internals. I think around 300 is probably about as much as i'd want to run without new stuff internally.
-Michael-

 

Don't forget, that it's not just the engine that you have to consider. North of 200hp is where you have to start worrying about the tranny, diff, overheating, bigger brakes, etc...

Granted there are a few who have taken the stock 1.6 to great heights such as Ric at RM, but then again he blew that engine shooting for over 400hp as he was testing the limits of a junkyard motor, but I don't think many of us are in the same boat as him.

 

brgracer.... what you have right now is what im shooting for. That is WAY MORE than enough. 250whp on a car that weighs 2200 lbs is ridiculously fast. My Z had 255whp with a couple bolt ons and that thing weighed 3200 lbs. Boy was it fast now I can only imagine that power with 1000lbs less weight.

 

im shooting for 215 anything in particular i should change other than the stock 1.6 diff?

 

brakes. radiator. suspension.

 

HAVING BEEN in a 270RWHP 1990 MIATA that was very easily doing 5.2 second 0-60 times ON THE STREET i can vouch that 250+RWHP is a FAST FAST CAR. I have to make do with my 200rwhp.

 

i dont know how much power i'm making, i'm hanging with a stock c5 vette at 11psi. and i run 15psi on 100octane with my 16g turbo. hopefully i can get some numbers soon. my motor is a stock 170k mile 1.6, no problems so far.

 

yeah i wanna see how that 16g holds up the manifolds arent horrible for the money, you are running an IC though so you might be abit different than mine at 11-15psi. what are you running for ECU agian?

 

thats pretty fast