***I have a stock miata and 2k+ in my pocket help me blow it***
#22
Cpt. Slow
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I'm surprised no one has mentions a MegaSquirt. Cheap, within his budget, and good for down the road when he does have money for a turbo. If it were me, it'd be wheels, tires, MS, and roll bar. Might have to find a few deals on used equipment to get all that for $2k though.
#23
Want fries with that?
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I'm with faeflora though; if this isn't a track car just buy a turbo kit and have fun with it, do the suspension and tires later. And spend whatever you have left from your turbo on a rollbar, that's the first thing I did to my car.
#25
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I'm with rider. I planned on doing suspension and everything first, but after getting the car, the stock suspension is damn good, and it's slow. I put together the whole turbo setup for a little under 2k, but i made everything myself, including mani and dp and charge piping. If you really plan on tracking it, do the suspension stuff. If you want it faster, and basically can romp on it in the hills in your area (like i can in the bay area) then turbo it.
#31
Tour de Franzia
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I'm probably going to run anywhere from 0-2seconds faster than Johnwag who has 200lb less and more skill in a couple months at Hallett which of 1.8-miles nad 10-corners...the power helps you on 3-straights. We have very similar suspension, almost identical suspension tuning, and he's 200lb skinny, I'm double the power. It will be interesting to swap cars back and forth on the open track day.
I could go to a track like TWS and murder every NA car on the track my first time out becuase there's lots of places to put down the power.
In hindsight, after all the time and money, sometimes I wish I had a 140whp 2100lb track car and a nice, modest turbo street car. I'm really enjoying the car now that its dead-nuts reliable on the track, but my lap times aren't as good as they were in comparison to the slow days in a shitty car. This 10% wieght penalty is RUINING my times, but its fun on the street 2 or 3 days per month. Its definitely the weight and not the driver. Definitely not the driver. Right now a voice is telling me to pull the soft top, pull the unused wiring, remaining AC parts, remaining airbag parts, and see how much faster I can go from 2335lb down to 2275lb.
#36
Tour de Franzia
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I don't know, its pretty refreshing to drive the car 10-days per month in the fall, winter, and spring here with the top dropped. Although I guess I could do that with the other miata...be-it slow, ugly, and gay; its not a ticket to jail every time I get in the daily.
#37
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I don't know when the budget will allow me to think about a track car, but my plan is a beater NA, stripped as far as it can be, all tires and suspension and whatever silly, inexpensive bolt-on mods we all make fun of (cowl intake and the like). I just missed an $800 1992 in Huntsville...it was reasonably clean with super-minor mechanical issues (cracked radiator, etc) and it had a hardtop. Frickin' pissed that I missed it.
#39
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This was the first thing that came to mind for me as well. Best money spent.
Then rollbar, some sport/MSM brakes with good pads (I like HP+), and save for some decent suspension. Those will cover your bases for when you decide to go turbo. Somewhere in there I'd pick up some decent 15" or 16" wheels with some kind of decent tire...you can find people selling used wheels/tires on the cheap.