Want to go turbo - what do I need at which stage?
 

I am looking at the Greddy kit for my entry into turbochargers. I've never had one before and I want more power out of my 1.6L miata.

I've looked a lot of things over so far, and have a few more questions.

First, I plan to get the basic turbo kit first and install it and get it all working properly at the 4.5-5 psi that it comes at, nothing fancy to start since this will be my first experience with turbocharging. I do have a pretty free flowing exhaust and I've heard that a free exhaust bumps the boost up a bit so maybe I will be at 5.5-6 psi. I'm not sure.

Once I have that all working, I plan to get an intercooler (undecided which), BEGi AFPR, 1.8L injectors, and some sort of timing control and go to 7-7.5 psi.

Ultimately, I want to be in the 9-10 psi range, but that won't be for atleast a year since money is limited and I want to move in slow steps.

So first question is: can I get away with my ultimate goal of 10 psi without having to get some fancy piggyback or ECU replacement? If I go with a high quality AFPR and properly sized injectors and fuel pump, can I run 10 psi without a Link or E-manage, etc? It seems like I've heard that you need the standalone or piggyback to even be able to run different injectors and such, but I also seem to remember hearing about people just plugging in a larger pump and injectors and controlling hte fuel flow with the AFPR and that being fine....

If so, the only thing I'm not certain about is timing control.... I've heard that when you put the Greddy kit, if you have no timing control, you have to set it to ~6* - and that causes a drop in power output, hence the need to have a timing control device. What needs to be done to allow the timing to stay at a proper setting and retard if necessary?

Money is a big issue here - hence why I have to start small and work my way up, so please don't just suggest to me to get a Link or AEM EMS... thanks for understanding.

Thanks so much in advance and I'm sure I will have 141 more questions!
-Ryan

Yes, you can tune to 10 psi without an Emanage or other piggyback or link. You can run your timing retard with a Bipes, boost control with a relatively cheap MBC and upgrade your fuel pump. Your Vortech will probably suffice with the right selection of injectors and messing with your AFM spring.

Get your GReddy running, add your intercooler, and do a lot of research to see which way you want to go from there.