Sadly many people will take a shitty running car ready to pop at any moment just so they dont have to do an hr of extra work per year or 2.

Maybe that's true of some people, I wouldn't know. If it's only a couple hours of work per year to revert back to an emissions-passable condition, then I'll run a standalone. Let the research continue . . . I'll make a decision soon. My car's due for re-registration in March, so I'll pull the trigger the day after I renew.

If you do everything right, it really is no more than about a couple hours

My car passes yearly emissions and mechanical inspections (and very strict inspections at that) with no problems.
Exhaust gas values are excellent, and brake testing is a joke with my larger brakes.
As for the supercharged engine, my saving grace is the fact that there are very few MX-5s over here, and the techs usually think everything under the hood is stock. I do not have brand names on anything I have installed under the hood.
The only "warning" I have received to date is about my Bi-Xenon headlight conversion. They are miffed about the fact that the headlights do not have automatic height compensation.

Put it this way.... would you rather endure 1 day of annoyance in order to enjoy 364 days of driving bliss?

Or enjoy 1 day of easy smog testing as a payoff for 364 days of annoyance?

After doing it for whatever time it takes me roughly an hr to switch back and forth.

30-40 mins on the injectors + the maf, 2-3 mins on the bov, 10 seconds on the wastegate, 10 mins to fuck around under the dash switching ecu plugs, and thats about an hr.

Not to thread-jack any more than I already did, but I'll give an update on my decision: I pulled the trigger on a Voodoo II, WBO2 and Happy Meal from clutch from FM. Should have it on Thursday and will start the install in a few weeks when I can take some time off work, and after I've registered the car for another year.

I figure I'll get comfortable with this "simple" setup and then move up to better engine management, bigger injectors, more boost etc, as I gain experience. I know this isn't the cheapest way to do it, but that's how I'm doing it.

Hopefully u dont pop the motor on the voodoo running 13 afr at 8 psi.

Yeah you'll be the first one I tell when I do :)

If you're running 13 AFR, you're running too much boost. It's simple. The ability of the stock injectors to deliver fuel is your boost limit. The actual PSI varies depending on things like the exhaust being used, the year of the engine and the turbo size.

I ran the Voodoo on my street (and occasional track) Miata for years. Worked fine, no hassles. It's a good option if you just want to install and forget, which is what it's intended for. Not everyone wants to deal with things like being in charge of cold start, for example. In a normal install, it should have lots of margin for error. It's not a good option if you're trying to build a beast.

If people are popping engines with the Voodoo, we're not hearing about it. I can't think of one offhand. The nice thing about most Miata owners is that if you tell them to only run X psi, they'll run X psi. When we sold parts for Proteges, if we said X psi they'd just keep turning it up until one of the rods made a break for freedom...

That was about... 4psi, right? You guys were doing stuff for the FS-DE powered cars? ;)

They seemed to be safe up to 6. But 6.1 would take 'em out. Not a great turbo engine.

Which is about 6 psi +- 1/2psi. I know the voodoo is well designed but 180WHP at 6 psi?

It all depends on what year the car is. The injectors peak out at 180 rwhp on an NA8, you can run whatever boost it takes to get there. If you're seeing 13:1, you're trying to push past 180 rwhp.

You mean 180 crank?

Fuel Injector Calculator from WitchHunter Performance

Mine and everybody elses numbers confirm the stock 245cc injectors run out of fuel at 160whp which also agrees with the above calculator.

My personal results showed steady 11.8 till 6.2k rpm and then started increasing going up to 12.3 by redline at 6 psi.

Hard to argue with "everybody else" and random websites. Boost and power are not the same thing, you can't use them interchangeably unless you're keeping everything else constant.

Most importantly, it's been our experience that the cars are running safely, both on our dyno and in the real world. As I said, I don't know of any engine failures with Voodoo turbos despite the gloom here. We know it's not for everyone, which is why we offer the Hydra-powered FM II and the no-electronics options for people who want to use a different engine management. I talk to Miata owners of all sorts every day, and the Voodoo fills a very important role for a lot of owners.

Eh, You aren't going to hear from people that run the voodoo box now because the majority don't want to erupt the whiney backlash. Everyone knows by not it's not the most optimum due to it's limitations, but it is simple and it works... Not everyone is trying to squeeze every nag out of their motor. Some people simply just want their turbo car on the road, are transitioning from a basic setup, are on a budget, or don't enjoy spending hours dealing with tuning and are complacent with stupid simplicity. If you are running low boost I don't see what the big deal is. Some people seem to forget that not too long ago, options weren't as prophetic as they are now.

That's mainly it, really. When compared to the dinasour tuning solutions of the early 2000's, this is a very capable little gadget.

Problem is, now its '14 and the 1337 regulars that are MT will always tell you to get the latest and greatest, because why not ;)

I agree wholeheartedly.

It's just like cellphones. I have a friend that has had all the new stuff and chooses to go back to a blackberry because it's simple. People make fun of him because he likes buttons, avoids touch screens, and pays $40 a month.

*Tucks away blackberry*

:giggle:

Dont get me wrong, i'd be glad to not have to mess around with my standalone.. Especially messin around with cold start at 2F however i've yet to see a graph of a piggy back that keeps the afrs at 11.7 +-.2 tolerance.