Mods, is this thread serving any useful purpose to the OP or the community?

It's making me happy I pieced together my own kit from used parts.

I love this thread.

http://operationshellshock.files.wor...ng?w=294&h=318

So much so it makes you want to lick some eggplant aye? Weird reaction...but whatever floats your boat good sir.:rofl:

Very nice too know :bigtu: , just kinda feelin this forum out ;)

I understand keeping the forum trimmed with informative posts cuts the bs and provides a rich informative source. :party:

I made the mistake of adding up all the receipts when I started driving my car after installing my kit. I won't say completed the install, because its never complete. I found the total to be just over $5K. That total includes me making a lot of the parts and overbuilding the kit to make it reliable on the track AND I still have to spend more to keep it that way. I'm currently racing it at 23PSI and will have to dyno it again to re-tune to make sure it's safe at that power level.

To add something constructive, the <$16k figure is very accurate. I'm quickly approaching that figure(factoring in the original owners modifications) and still need an oil cooler, hood vents, and quite possibly a larger radiator.

And then you need to spend money on yourself in regards to drivers instruction & HPDE to learn how to properly handle your now scary fast car.

I knew this place felt like home ;)

From would I can piece together from researching what direction I want to take with my car, it's looking like real world cost to boost at 200whp is going to be around 5k to do it correctly and reliably. Anything shy of that would be a win, but would make me think I missed something and will have something blow up soonish.

Gist is, the dude who ordered the first one got screwed over when none of it worked (surprise) and its never going to happen (bigger surprise).

Yes, the post you did is useful. Too bad there's too much bs in this thread lol

Yikes! This thread really went off topic from my original question.

I have been prepping for the turbo and picked up a newer engine from a 2002 miata, 6 speed to match and a 99 intake manifold. Original car was a 94.

Also, I didn't fully disclose how I will be using it. I am starting to build an Exocet so the turbo would be going in that car. It will be tracked, autocrossed and driven on the street every now and then.

I do want to thank Emilio for the detailed response! I wasn't very specific on what complete meant but he nailed it. Track reliability for the power levels desired with the consideration of the wear and tear involved.

The purpose of pre-fab is that I would rather be driving than tinkering.

Corky, thanks for chiming in and creating a list for what 350whp takes:)

FM is the only company IIRC that offers a 1. Complete 2. Comprehensive 3. True bolt-on Install. FM also has the best support, every time I've ordered without fail, I've gotten follow up calls asking if the part was what I needed, installed right, follow up questions. It feels like dealing with family that really cares.

This is also the first time I've seen someone try to defend a vendor by bashing EFR turbos. Weird place!

The underpaying issue for me is to justify putting 5 to 7k into a car that is worth on a good day 4k. I have an 95. Every time I am about to pull the trigger come back to the same spot. Besides the turbo then you have the clutch, the brakes, and the snow ball starts. How do you guys justified in your head?

You put it in an Exocet! If it was really about resale then we would all buy Accords or a Tacoma. Would a 300hp miata be as much fun as a boxter? Would it be less expensive?

Its what I want, if I measured everything compared to the value of the car it would stay stock. Its hard to put a pricetag on enjoyment.

Basically I look at the TOTAL dollars spent, the TOTAL performance you get from that investment, and then see how much a car of comparable performance would cost. I've got over 15k in parts into a 15k MSM, not counting labor. It was so worth it

This is how I see it. I want to build a track/weekend toy for say about $15k. I could either buy a performance sports car for $12k ish (say s2000 or wrx or something) and just do tires and brakes to get it there. Or I can buy a $1000 mazda miata and put $14k into mods :party:

For me, I enjoy the modification part of this hobby just as much as the driving.

Other benefits include lower insurance for your cheap miata vs a more expensive sports car. If you were to total your car, all the money would be in mods. Just buy another $1000 shell, swap over all parts, and your up and running again.

Just echoing what those above said. You can build a Miata that'll run away from nearly anything else on the track for less than $15k, and you can buy one for much, much less than that due to what you've posted above. It's an investment in fun, not an investment in a financial return.

The car is the starting point. The value is in what you build on top of the base vehicle. Many of us have cars that cost orders of magnitude more than the original cost of the chassis, but the value is in the end result.

If you are concerned about recouping your investment in aftermarket auto parts, this is not the hobby for you.

Any money, ANY MONEY, spent on car modifications should be considered as having been thrown in the fireplace and burned for the warm glow.

Your question of "in what context does it make sense to spend as much or more of a cars purchase value on modifications to the car" is irrelevant.

What is relevant is "can I afford what I want to do to the car, and will it bring enjoyment to me or do what I want it to do?" The modifications for making a miata go faster are, comparatively speaking, cheaper than the mods required to make almost any other car platform go faster.

You shouldn't compare the expense of modifications to the expense of the car purchase.

You should either:

a) not care, because modifying the car is fun
b) not care, because you want it to go faster
c) not care, because the sum total you will spend to achieve the result you want with this car is cheaper than any other alternative.

TL;DR: don't modify the car if you care about spending money.

FTFY.

Modifying any car is a poor financial ROI. At least with the miata you paid so little for it in the first place and you can make excuses to upgrade things. "Oh, my bushings are getting old? Better put poly ones in. Tires worn out? Why buy new tires for these ratty wheels? Jongaladingdongs and sticky tires on the way. Need new brake pads? Why buy them for these old leaky calipers? Hello wilwoods. Burn a little oil on startup? Better build the motor and add EFR."

ONE OTHER THING.

You wreck your miata and you can typically re-shell and break even or even profit a bit (from selling old parts). Wreck a car where the value is in the car and not the parts and you're hosed, especially if it is wrecked on track without an insurance payout.

You should not be in the track if you are not financially able or willing to walk away from a total loss of your investment.
Not that it will hapen but it may and you need to be able to recover from it without loosing your job (if it is your only car) or marriage (if you are married to a b*%€¥)

I absolutely get the point, I have had the car since 97 and already has a bunch of suspension upgrades, upgraded radiator, and lately a blown head gasket led to prepping the head for a turbo with new valve springs and seats, thicker gasket, and ARP studs. But then I started to look at cross shopping with a 135I convertible 08 to 10', they are in the low 20K range. Only maybe 7K more than the final cost of an upgraded Miata with 240whp including the car. With a chip the bimmer will go to 380hp in no sweat and does not need the clutch, brakes, etc. Now maintenance and insurance is another matter. Just thinking out loud...

For every single car that you modify, there is a more expensive car that is better.

They're also fat heavy pigs.

True story... On one of my trips to Germany I rented a 1 series. On the way back to the airport I got caught up in one of the frequent Autobahn traffic jams (everything comes to a halt for many minutes while they clean up the wrecks). We're all standing around talking when a guy asks me how I like the car. I shrug 'it's OK'... He proceeds to tell me how the German male views the car as a "girls car like the Mazda Miata". On all my later visits I took care to rent at least a 3 series or an Audi.

I never mentioned having a Miata...

I drove a new 2015 WRX last night and absolutely fell in love. Drove several 2014's before and they did nothing for me, but the new car has a level of refinement that wasn't there before. Great torque, power, great steering... absolutely fantastic car. As I was heading back to the dealer (went out solo, we have a Subaru dealer in our network so I just took it out to see what it was like) I had quick thoughts about parting out all my stuff and just buying one of those.

Then I realized: If I have a 135i, or a WRX, or whatever, and I stuff it into a wall on the track, I'm out $20k plus. I stuff the Miata and I'll lose out on a bit but I can re-shell for low cost. I'm not taking a car worth that much money on the track.

If I ever lose my dealer demo though..........

Pretty sure you just need to request to transfer to that dealer. WRX dealer demo = tits. :)

Lol I'd never get that for a demo. I actually somewhat requested to transfer from that dealer over to the Mazda side about a year ago.

ANYWAY...

Cheap cars FTW.

Seconded.

I just remembered what Jeremy Clarkson said about BMW drivers....COCKS. My coworker has a 128i auto that he swears up and down is a sports car and that everyone tries to race him and he ALWAYS wins...:jerkit: Same goes for another buddy with a V10 M5 who daily drives a Saturn POS, barely takes his BMW out, and acts like a snob. He wasn't like that until he got his 135i and then graduated to the uber douche-canoe, the M5

Don't be associated with those kind of people. I'd rather be around happy homosexuals than BMW drivers.

I completely disagree.
...though you're comparing stock vs stock and that's hard for me to remember since I almost never drove a stock one lol (I custom tuned mine within days of ownership)

While I can agree with you that most BMW drivers are terrible people not all are.

I hate doing BMW auto-x events, and I don't really like hanging out with most of the BMW people in the BMWCCA (had to for the Baltimore Grand Pre)....No dude I will not pay 26k for a e30 m3 that looks like it was just pulled out of a swamp and has 260k miles on it...sigh.

Anyway the cars have nothing to do with the people driving them. My wife has a 07 335i Sedan, stick. Has a few mods on it, it's a quick car that will outrun most sports cars on the road and handles well. The car has like 126k on now, and is rock solid after some normal maintenance.

Not sure where the hate is coming from.

Do you know what those little light-up circles around a BMW's headlights are called?
Cock rings.

Most people who have them on their cars are absolute cocks. It makes them easy to spot.

People who drive OLD Bmw's generally are cool, into cars, do a lot or all of their maintenance on their BMW.

People who drive NEW Bmw's generally are douchebags or are not "car people" as we generally define them on this board.

Edit: most of the people I track with who are tracking a BMW are good people. We Miata owners have somewhat adopted BMW CCA track days as our unofficial Miata track days. Early 2000's is about the newest among that group.

Aw man... Sixshooter's sig quote didn't last long. :laugh: Mazdaspeeder

You're welcome to disagree with me, but you're wrong :giggle:

EVERYONE says the new car is more refined than the older one.

Remember too, I'm not talking at all about the STi, but the regular WRX. So far ahead of the old car stock vs. stock.

It is probably a surprise to most, but the comments on this forum do have a considerable affect on me. Sometimes it takes some effort to distinguish between a sincere suggestion by a knowledgeable fellow and some dork that just has fun repeating negative crap while knowing nothing about much of anything.

I think it is fair to clearly state that my efforts to configure the Alpha stuff came in large part from this forum. Many expressed a wish for a cast iron 4 into 1 manifold with remote gate and (optional) V-band turbo clamp. So I built it. Patterns are done and at the foundry.

Several items have been deleted at the suggestion of this forum. S4......

I do find it somewhat curious that this forum doesn't push tech stuff with great effort. Rather than the ongoing oneupmanship of snide stuff by 50% of you, why not try the details of, say, configuring a good intercooler inlet cap. If half of you that could easily do that proceeded to do so the snide half would both benefit and eventually decide to contribute rather than remain butt heads.

This group has the savvy to push new stuff, create some interesting concepts, and push the technology of making more power on less boost, better driveability, more mpgs and have great fun doing it all. Why not?

Some bh disses my "tiny facility.' Is 6,000 square feet tiny, and what difference does it make? As a group, we made some real progress there......

I give it my best shot to not respond to stupid comments, save the above. Will the response be in kind to my own stupid comments? Or does the bh half need more raw meat?

Regardless, its all still fun,

corky

I sincerely have great difficulty following exactly who and what you are referring to at times or else I would be better able to participate in this discussion. The non-sequitur about the intercooler inlet caps, for instance, has me baffled.

I've not ever heard anyone say that Corky Bell wasn't a nice guy with wonderful intentions. The only criticisms I have ever heard (and I have none myself) have been regarding the operation and management of the day to day operations.

I think he just randomly drunk-posts in various threads every couple months, in response to a conversation in his head, cause I went back like a whole page and still can't comprehend who he's even talking to, or responding to, or......

I'm so confused.

^^^^^ Yeah, like, where did Corky's comment come from?

Someone mixed their margarita a little too strong this morning.

Truly puzzling indeed.

Corky sometimes reminds me of Ron Paul, yea he's got some wise things to say, but who's really listening anymore?

Fellow bh's,

Pages 1, 2, & 3.

I admit to being a bit slow on timing. Probably a few other areas as well.

So, the answer I get about why this group doesn't do something more useful than pissing on my leg and many others too ( and I gave an example) is that I have too much Tequila for breakfast.

Gotta tell you, Quaker Oats with Jose is a real treat. Get real.

corky

Cuervo is not tequila in my book.

+1

Bidding starts at Patron Silver

+2.

It was while doing shots of Patron that I hit a 5 wood from the fairway to within 4 feet of the hole at Pumpkin Ridge.

It all tastes the same if you drink enough of it :)

And its a pretty cheap time machine once you hit a certain point you wake up 2 days later in a dumpster behind a pool hall with a sore bum, but hey, you time traveled to the future.

It also all tastes the same coming back up.

1000th post is about tequila puke. Quality.

At the last Miata Challenge / SuperMiata BBQ at Buttonwillow, I was making margaritas with Patron silver, fresh limes, Grand Marnier and agave nectar for everyone. My those were good. Worth the hangover most of us had after draining a few beers in between margaritas.

You got to have those beers. For balance. Without them the hangover is much worse.

Drink the good stuff first, and after you have a good buzz going switch to the cheap shit since your taste buds are numb by now anyway...

Keith

I gotta say, a lot of stuff makes sense now

Quite an impressive shot. Which club did you use to hit the 5-wood?