Hello, friends. I'm Bryan

I'm 30, play way too many video games and like turning bowls on my mini lathe.

A couple weeks ago I picked up a 1999 LS 5-speed. 75k miles, PO had all paperwork for timing belt, water pump, general tuneup, brakes, etc. Petty much everything needed to make the car "good to go" and "worry free" for the foreseeable future.

So far I've only installed a few comfort mods as this is my new DD and it's pretty important to me to have a good balance of fun/comfort in the car. I put ~50ft^2 of b-quiet extreme + b-quiet vcomp and a little reflectix on top of/in between that just for good measure. That and the moss miata knee pad is all I've done so far. I love the car. Everything works great, the ride is excellent, it slays corners and being able to drop the top in 4.4 seconds is cool too.

My last car was a 2003 BMW 540 M-sport 6MT. I loved it dearly, but after many expensive repairs (almost 1k to replace the alternator in that rude boy, just the parts) I decided I would rather something that wouldn't be such a stressful money pit but still be lots of fun. Enter miata. After having the car for a few weeks now, I'm sure I made the right decision.

That being said, I DO miss the power/torque of the cammed 4.4L and plan to do some power mods in the near future.

In the past I've always preferred naturally aspirated/supercharged motors for their low end responsiveness. I had a 07' mazdaspeed 3 with a bigger turbo for a while and sort of hated it? Granted, the FWD aspect probably didn't help. I guess I just don't prefer a set up mainly oriented around top end power.

Any who, this is probably quite long enough for an intro post (I tend to ramble). I'm doing my best to be a good noob and read all the stickies + actually use the search function.

Thanks for taking a look . Happy miata'ing!

1999 mx5 ls after a fresh clay/wet sand and Polish

 

Follow the following 5 steps to properly turbo your car.

1. Standalone ECU and Wideband. Megasquirt 3 is the most common standalone used in the miata world. They run $800-1200 depending on which exact one you get. A wideband should run you less then $175. Install this on the stock car before anything else. Learn to tune. There is a steep learning curve.
2. Buy flow force injectors and install them. Retune your MS3 for the bigger injectors. Budget $300 for those.
3. Buy and install a stronger clutch. 949Racing/FM/ACT are the only brands you should be looking at. $300-$450 for this.
4. Buy and figure out your IC mounting and pipe routing. Budget between $250-450 for this.
5. Buy quality turbo hardware. TSE/MKTurbo/FM/Begi/Artech are the brands you should be looking at. Budget between $1500 to $5000 for these parts. Install them and then enjoy the 220whp.

 

Pics of turning work?

 

^What he said.

Welcome to the forum.

 

I LOVE information formatted this way heh. Thank you . Will be picking up the wideband and standalone next week probably. I'm looking forward to learning myself how to tune a bit


Imgur: The most awesome images on the Internet - Some turning pics. I'm still learning a bit. It's an addictive hobby though

 

Thanks!

 

Very nice. I haven't had much success with bowls, but I've been making pens for years.

 

I've yet to turn a pen, but want to sometime soon! Have you a 4-jaw chuck? I picked up a nova g3 with the little woodworm screw from woodcraft while it was on sale. It makes the whole bowl turning process way easier/more fun.

 

Welcome. If you're DDing the car & looking for ways to make it more comfortable, consider swapping seats. The NB2 (01-05) are plug & play, and generally considered way more comfortable than the 99-00 seats.

Also, post a pic of the radiator. The upper & lower plastic end caps turn brown & become a time bomb if you're still rocking the OE.

 

Yeah the seats ARE a bit meh in this car.
Imgur: The most awesome images on the Internet engine bay shot. New radiator also ^_^

 

Yup. Got the same chuck (ebay) just before it went on sale at Woodcraft. Cheaper, too.
My biggest problem with bowls is I'm too cheap to buy a chunk of wood big enough for anything useful. So I make bowl shaped cups.

Gotta remember to put that wideband kit in the for sale section.