Work involved in a bottom end build
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Haha, oh I agree that it causes less headaches, but if you are in it for the learning experience then its different. If someone shows up and says I want a painless 300hp turbo setup that I don't have to work on ever, its different that if someone asks I wan't to learn as much as I can and want to do everything myself.
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Haha, oh I agree that it causes less headaches, but if you are in it for the learning experience then its different. If someone shows up and says I want a painless 300hp turbo setup that I don't have to work on ever, its different that if someone asks I wan't to learn as much as I can and want to do everything myself.
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For me, I think it comes down to deciding what I want to learn on and when. There are loads of stuff on my to do list at the moment, all of which are great learning experiences. Given all the quality advice in this thread, building an engine is not going to get added to that list. Same goes for fabbing up my own manifold and DP, which I had originally considered. Maybe the next build if it isn't my daily.
Thanks for setting me straight folks!
Thanks for setting me straight folks!
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What I try and do is budget at least 1.5 times if not twice as much when doing something for the first time. Keeps me from getting too pissed off when I screw something up because I had already budgeted for that.
#27
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Agree with that, unless you want to learn. Lars, if you had always just sent a check to Artech when you wanted a manifold, would we have MKTurbo? A lot of people come here to ask where to send a check, but other (me included) want to do everything they can themselves, for fun. I know that I will build my own motor, and maybe it blows up, maybe it doesn't. But for me the learning process and new skills are worth it more than anything.
I'm sure there will come a time in my life when an off the shelf 949 engine makes more sense but for now I'm more interested in the learning experience.
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Same! For me, that's for body work though. Gives me access to a frame rack, all the body work tools, and a painting booth. Pretty good value for $100/semester.
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#29
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If you want to build the bottom end, by all means do it. I've done it a couple times now (second time after motor died due to throttle body screw breakage -- nothing wrong with my first build), and it's fun. Most recent build in my build thread here: Ian's 99 post-TB screw re-rebuild. - Miata Turbo Forum - Turbo Kitten is watching you test compression.
Don't do it to save money, because even if you don't have to buy parts again you'll probably eat up all of the assembly labor savings buying new tools. Don't do it to save time either, because even if a shop's delivery times seem enormous it'll probably take you twice as long doing it on the weekends. Do it because you enjoy wrenching on cars, want to take it to the next level, and don't mind investing some time and risk into learning to build the bottom end.
I like Carrillo A-beams, 25% lighter than the Eagles! Not cheap though.![](https://www.miataturbo.net/images/smilies/smile.gif)
--Ian
Don't do it to save money, because even if you don't have to buy parts again you'll probably eat up all of the assembly labor savings buying new tools. Don't do it to save time either, because even if a shop's delivery times seem enormous it'll probably take you twice as long doing it on the weekends. Do it because you enjoy wrenching on cars, want to take it to the next level, and don't mind investing some time and risk into learning to build the bottom end.
I like Carrillo A-beams, 25% lighter than the Eagles! Not cheap though.
![](https://www.miataturbo.net/images/smilies/smile.gif)
--Ian
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