Which turbo kit should I get?

[jnorion]

I have an 03 LX, almost completely stock, but with a CAI system coming soon. I want to turbo it, but I don't want to spend too much money on it. My goal is to break 200hp, but after that I'll be more concerned with saving money than getting every last bit of power out of it. Anybody have suggestions about what brand/size turbo to buy, or where to get them? I don't know much about them.

[midnightblue97]

Re: Which turbo kit should I get?

Originally posted by jnorion
I don't want to spend too much money on it. My goal is to break 200hp,

That probably won't happen.
Essential Speed apparently has a quality turbo kit.
As does Flyin' Miata.
Have heard a couple bad things about the workmanship of the Spool kit.

[jnorion]

Probably won't do what, break 200hp or break that without putting too much money in?

What's the difference between the stage 1 and 2 turbo kits?

[midnightblue97]

I meant you probably won't break 200 hp without spending a fair chunk of money.

I'm not sure the difference between stage 1 and 2.
One of them probably has more boost and some different/better parts than the other.

[r2di2dc2do]

i think stage 2 gives you an intercooler.

[jnorion]

I looked on essentialspeed, and the kits they have are $3200 and $4500 Canadian -- is this cheap or expensive for turbos? As I said, I really know nothing about them. It seems like this is a fairly standard price range on the sites I've been to, but all the ones I've looked at seemed like fairly basic kits.

[StuttersC]

Read Corky's book before you think about getting a turbo...

[jnorion]

Corky's book?

[StuttersC]

Corky Bell, "Maximum Boost"

http://www.bellengineering.net/maximumboost.html

[Lil Freek]

my question here is:
Flyin' Miata's turbo is only 6psi... the one from essentialspeed (stage 2) is 10...
i'm also not 100% litterate when it comes to turbos.. i have a pretty good idea of how they work but i'm not sure the % difference from a 6 to a 10 psi turbo kit. (i'm assuming there'd be a 60% increase, no?)

although the flyin' miata turbo looks A LOT nicer than the essential speed one, and sounds more complete

[jnorion]

I'm curious about Flyin Miata's numbers, too. They say there's a 77% power increase -- are we talking about 77% more horsepower? That would put it up somewhere around 240. Seems awfully high for 6psi boost.

[StuttersC]

Originally posted by jnorion
I'm curious about Flyin Miata's numbers, too. They say there's a 77% power increase -- are we talking about 77% more horsepower? That would put it up somewhere around 240. Seems awfully high for 6psi boost.

Read the site, look at stock numbers, look at the turbo numbers.

They are correct!

[Lil Freek]

yeah.. i see the increase in whp numbers...
but wouldn't the whp with a 10psi be ~125% increase in whp?!

i'm just guessing from a mathimatical standpoint.. if 6psi = 77%, then 10psi would = ~125%

so whp would = ~200, give or take a dozen.

[Lil Freek]

is it just me, or is this BS?

http://www.importperformanceparts.net/imports/turbospec_mazda.html

[jnorion]

OK, so here's a new question. I've been looking at the jspec engines on corksport's site. The FS_ZE engine is the same size as mine but has 170hp. The cost of this seems pretty close to the cost of a basic turbo setup. Would it make more sense to spend the money on the engine first, and get somewhere near the same power gain, because then it would leave the option open to turbo that later for even more gain?

Also, the corksport site says this engine fits 99+ ES/5/MP3 models, but that there's a separate engine type for 99+ LX and DX. Does it really matter? I thought the LX,DX,ES,and 5 all had the same engine and nothing changed until you got into the mp3 or msp.