1992 Miata: Turbo Build vol. 1
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
I realize that this post is a little backwards, since I've already posted photos and videos of the end result. Call this a "flashback" :-)After driving my Miata around for awhile, it didn't take long for me to realize that I needed more power. I'm pretty sure this realization occurred at the exact moment that a new Toyota Camry pulled buslengths on me from a stoplight. This would never happen again. I will never own a car that gets beat up that bad by a Camry of all things.
I had been doing tons of research on turbo Miatas, preparing for the day that I would finally take the leap. After much deliberation, I decided to pick up a Greddy turbo kit, as seen above. The kit is very affordable, but as you can see, pretty basic out of the box. In fact it lacks an intercooler, blow off valve, etc. So "while I was in there" I decided to do a few upgrades that would allow me to turn up the horsepower knob later on.
First step was removing the header that the previous owner installed. It was welded directly to the exhaust system, which gave me a pretty good excuse to build an all-new exhaust system for the car. You can also see the Greddy oil feed line for the turbo. Gotta love a block that already has a port for this!
Here's a shot of that old header that I ripped off. How much horsepower can these things really make? Can't be more than a couple on an otherwise stock engine.
The Greddy kit uses a Mitsubishi 15g turbo. This was a big selling point of the kit given the great success I've had with Mitsubishi turbochargers on DSMs. this little sucker can support 250+ horsepower.
Progress! Here the turbo is mounted to the stout Greddy manifold. I clocked the turbo to allow for the custom piping that I would create later. Also, I ditched the Greddy oil drain line setup (that drains back into the block, on the other side of the motor) in favor of a shorter route directly into the oil pan. This required drilling and tapping the oil pan, but was done on the car with no drama.
The downpipe that comes with the kit was made to bolt to the puny stock exhaust, and since the original owner modified it, I decided to modify the downpipe to bolt up to a 2.5" exhaust. Here's a shot of the downpipe in progress. I will most likely take another shot at this someday, and fabricate it in full 2.5" piping with its own divorced wastegate pipe.
Here's a shot of the finished end of the downpipe, mounted on the car. Hard to see from the picture, but the fit is nice, with plenty of room all around.
Here are some of the parts used to make the 2.5" exhaust. The pipe on the left is part of the stock exhaust from my old Evo. I chose the Magnaflow muffler since I've been so happy with the sounds that came from the Talon and Mirage exhaust systems I built using the same style muffler.
I really enjoy welding. I've had my Lincoln welder for a few years now, and always look forward to any project that requires its use. In fact, I've been known to weld things to other things just for giggles.
Here's the exhaust all finished and ready for its coat of paint. It uses all of the stock hanger positions.
And here's the end result in my favorite color, high heat low gloss black. This paint also has ceramic in it and I've found it to be pretty durable stuff.
Here's the finished product! The removable rear suspension brace makes life MUCH easier. Thank you Mazda engineer, I owe you one. Removing that brace allows you to install/remove the exhaust as one part!
No flashy exhaust tip here! Just a chunk of 2.5" pipe sticking out.
More to come! Stay tuned!Labels: miata
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posted by Tom T. @ 5:45 AM,
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1992 Miata: Acceleration Run Video
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
I've been driving the wheels off of this thing lately. The "fun to drive" quotient has gone up 150% when compared to the non-turbo days. I knew I was in for a surprise, but the turbo (even at these low boost levels) has completely transformed this car.
In this video, boost is set at the factory Greddy preset of 5 psi. I can't imagine how much fun 10 or 15 psi will be!
Labels: miata
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posted by Tom T. @ 5:47 AM,
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