Just thinking about creating a track rat from my Miata. For $1000, and my own wrench time, how much horsepower could I have, and how? V8? Junkyard turbo system? Modify the stock engine?
Just thinking about creating a track rat from my Miata. For $1000, and my own wrench time, how much horsepower could I have, and how? V8? Junkyard turbo system? Modify the stock engine?
Not much, unless you don't care about it being reliable.
I'll bet for 1K you could get a 2nd hand turbo system pretty reliable. Hell, look at the motoiq guys miata.
http://www.motoiq.com/MagazineArticles/ID/1803/Frankenmiata-Dyno-Secrets-Revealed.aspx
+1 for junkyard boost.
Saw a 665 HP engine last nite. Only $15K.
Do you know anything about jet turbines?
A used but healthy 302 w/t5 should fit that budget.
pinchvalve wrote: Do you know anything about jet turbines?
Just opened this and started laughing. Turbines never entered my head. Do you think the guys in the Vettes at a track day would notice the different exhaust sound? I was kind of thinking I'd like more power, but leave it fairly stealthy.
NOS?
Power delivery with NOS might be a little abrupt on a road course, I think.I wonder how laps a bottle would last, or the motor for that matter.
Gearheadotaku wrote: A used but healthy 302 w/t5 should fit that budget.
Maybe finding a wrecked Fox body would be the easiest thing.
DeadSkunk wrote: Power delivery with NOS might be a little abrupt on a road course, I think.I wonder how laps a bottle would last, or the motor for that matter.
Wasn't serious, of course. The best option is junkyard parts. I'd imagine that there are lots of good Subaru bits in the boneyards these days.
In reply to nderwater:
No, they're still recycling those into toyota's 
gotta factor in a few things:
V8 swap- the cost of the parts to do that then what is left over to make more than 225hp.
vs.
turbo install.
I would lean toward the turbo, myself. And mooch off of the fuel article that was recently in GRM. If you can swing a dedicated E85 car, I bet the stock compression will work. And getting north of 225hp wouldn't be all that hard.
But I do remember seeing the Challenge V8 Miata, and the tales that Keith talks about- V8 would be a fun one.
So that post was generally useless.... 
I could be wrong but I don't think it is possible to do a turbo E85 build for $1000. Even a junkyard turbo build would be tough to do for $1k if you want to keep it cool and reliable on track.
I'd say alot of it depends on fabrication skills and willingness to part out cars and use junkyard sourced parts.
Off the shelf $1K (even wrenching yourself) won't do much for power.
That said... engine swaps cost anywhere from free.50 to thousands and thousands of dollars.
If you do it right though... buy a sub $1000 wrecked car. Part it out, keep driventrain, scrap rest = free drivetrain.
Engine mounts + trans mounts, etc. = scrap steel and home fab'd stuff.
ECU utilize stock from donor car. Cooling = junkyard parts, etc.
You'll still be nickel and dimed though. There's plenty of $1,000 LS based complete swaps out there on the internet to read. I'd be inclined to think you'd theoretically get the farthest with a V8 swap of cheap available vintage if you could pilfer a complete donor and make your money back parting/scrapping the rest out.
I have a local friend with a turbo miata that traps 119 mph in the 1/4 mile on a $129 ebay turbo and it's been holding up for 6 or 7 years now. I highly doubt he had more than 1k in putting it together and he hasnt spent a whole lot more over time to improve it (or fix it, since it's NEVER blown up). The only thing that would break the 1k budget for a reliable turbo build would be engine management, in my opinion.
eBay turbo exhaust manifold $125 Microsquirt engine management 200 Map sensor $15 Junkyard turbo - 100? Plumbing bits for turbo $100 New clutch? How far will stock injectors go? Can you cheat with higher fuel pressure?
All the engine management you need in a 200 microsquirt and 15 map sensor
Can you weld?
If you can weld you can do it on the super cheap. A mild steel log manifold should cost you just over $100 to make, stainless DP another $100. Snag a td04 out of a wrx or some sr20 T25 or a dsm turbo, avoid saab, volvo, anything else in the junk yard with non-standard flanges. Use all reinforced silicone hose from mcmaster for water and oil. Buy a couple aluminum bends, a straight piece and couplers from silicone intakes or a friend because you've starting out non-intercooled to be this cheap. You're looking at ~$500 at this point Then spend another $500 on a DIY PNPMS and some 300something cc injectors and BAM. You've got a safe ~160hp turbo miata just a little over grand. And the first thing you'll then want to do is buy a box of IC pipes from CX racing and an intercooler from them so you can turn the boost up because 160hp in a miata is cool for about 2 weeks.
If you want to step up to spending around 1500 in this plan, do the intercooler right away and buy a set of RX8 injectors. And you should be able to top out a t25 or tdo4-13t at around 220.
To run this on the track you're going to want to spend another $150 on a coolant reroute, another 110 on an ebay radiator, and about 20 bucks making ducting for the IC and rad.
And if this is a 1.6 car you're starting with you'll want to budget another 600 for upgrading to at 1.8 torsen after you nuke the 1.6 diff on the first day out, and another 400 for upgrading the fw to a 1.8 unit and upgrading the clutch because the stock 1.6 proably wont hold even the wimpy setup for long, and even the 1.8 unit is going to struggle at 220.
Going fast, reliably is expensive.
Carbed small block Chevy, hands down. The only parts you need to buy new are wear items. Performance parts- cams, intakes, carbs, blah, blah, blah can all be bought off craigslist, ebay, or at swap meets, random trailer parks, etc, for generic beer money.
EvanB wrote: I could be wrong but I don't think it is possible to do a turbo E85 build for $1000. Even a junkyard turbo build would be tough to do for $1k if you want to keep it cool and reliable on track.
Why?
Here's why I think it would be cheaper- the engine gets to stay the same. All you need is the JY manifold and turbo.
I'm comparing to a gas turbo project, btw. IMHO, if one can do a gas turbo for less than $1k, then an E85 conversion would be less.
Both need injector upgrades anyway, what the E85 conversion means is that you don't have to lower the compression. So no pistons need to be changed.
Consensus seems to be swinging to junkyard turbo stuff. There's nothing hard and fast about the budget amount. I've been talking with a couple of guys in my local Miata club who have 300+hp and track their cars and my immediate reaction was to try and figure out how to join them for cheap. When you frequent a forum where people build Challenge cars for $2k I thought a $1K target would be a good exercise for the hive. Next time I'm at the local pick-n-pull I'll be looking for a variety of stuff.
Some details......Yes, I can weld...sort of..well enough to do a manifold........the car is a 1999 NB with some minor suspension modifications at this point. I have built a SpecMiata before and did everything but weld the cage and paint it, so I can manage the mechanical part.
What would he seek out for this idea for a turbo donor?
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