No it doesn't, a properly designed turbo installation will give a good wide spread of power, though it won't start as low as a positive displacement supercharger. My car pulls well from 2500 up to 7000RPM; it's certainly not delivered in "one blob".
My MX-5 Supercharging Project
- Thread starter Peter Diffey
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No it doesn't, a properly designed turbo installation will give a good wide spread of power, though it won't start as low as a positive displacement supercharger. My car pulls well from 2500 up to 7000RPM; it's certainly not delivered in "one blob".
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I guess he's thinking of highly strung turbos with a 3500-4000rpm spool up and a 6000rpm red line.
Can someone summarize what it would cost approximately to buy a decent example of an MX5 and then turbo/sc it to have around 200-250bhp. I'm talking total cost including the purchase of the car. Just a ball park so I can talk myself out of even thinking it 
Man of Honour
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I bought my MX5 for about 4.5k
I then spent about £3k on it getting it to just shy of 240bhp.
That included all the tuning, parts, and although I did 70% of the physical installation, it was only for my own edification rather than me taking credit for it, then there was a new clutch, and brakes.
I did it at the time when buying stuff from the USA was cheap. Now I'd probably expect to pay a bit more.
I then spent about £3k on it getting it to just shy of 240bhp.
That included all the tuning, parts, and although I did 70% of the physical installation, it was only for my own edification rather than me taking credit for it, then there was a new clutch, and brakes.
I did it at the time when buying stuff from the USA was cheap. Now I'd probably expect to pay a bit more.
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I cant find the dyno results but im 99% sure I saw someone on MX5Nutz post dyno results which were slightly over 220BHP. Bear in mind that this SC is not the same as the JRSC M45, it is newer and later generations produce more boost aparently.
If I had bought a cheap turbo kit, I wouldnt get decent engine management or an intercooler or a wideband O2.
If I thought I needed to spend upwards of 4K (which you can very easily) to get a decent turbo/SC setup with management and a good tune then I would go out and buy a Lotus Elise or some other car, the journey of this project was as good as the destination
Can someone summarize what it would cost approximately to buy a decent example of an MX5 and then turbo/sc it to have around 200-250bhp. I'm talking total cost including the purchase of the car. Just a ball park so I can talk myself out of even thinking it
From what I've seen you can buy car already rocking a Turbo for little more than £3k. Heck, there is one with 250BHP for sale on Nutz for £3.5k.
Damn tempting...
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my next door neighbours chucking a 3.5 litre V8 into his MX5!
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What, using a cross over pipe NA that will be perfect for when the SC goes on?
That heat wrap does wonders you know, my intake temperatures were hardly anything above ambient temperature in the engine bay.
What, using a cross over pipe NA that will be perfect for when the SC goes on?
That heat wrap does wonders you know, my intake temperatures were hardly anything above ambient temperature in the engine bay.
aftermarket air filter placement kits, hmm where shall we place the CAI, hmm, lets look in the engine bay, where whould be a good COOL place for our CAI, i know just above the manifold..... just lol
and I'm well aware how good heat wrap is, its not good enough to prevent heat soak from a CAI filter sitting directly above a manifold, not remotely!
love your project, your air filter placement is spot on, your previous choice for placement, was not
eh, drive around with an air filter directly above the manifold, for 6 months!
excuse my awful paint skills but surely this is infinitely better and just as acheivable with exactly the same kit?
or even directly behind the radiator? where there is possibly even some air flow!
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I agree Will.
This was my MX5:
Much better protection from heatsoak.
This was my MX5:
Much better protection from heatsoak.
A properly turbo'ed MX5 is fantastic though, very little lag if any (depending on the power an the size of the turbo of course).
Personally I prefer the driving characteristics of a turbo, I tried both s/c and turbo mx5 before deciding the turbo route. Still 236bhp and a 0-60 time of just about 5s (I remember taking Conanius out in it - he couldn't believe it!) was more than acceptable to me!
I REALLY want one again though
Haha I remember that !
What felt like absolutely no lag, instant power, great noise, and probably one of the tidiest aftermarket installs I have ever seen (how good was that intercooler piping !?)
Incredible to think how much go that car had, definately makes you realise when people go 'I have an MX5 thats actually lol fast' that they might actually be telling the truth !
Yours was on the stock clutch at the time, and slipping IIRC? 5.6 ish second I think we managed with quite honestly, 'significant' slip?
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Yeah it was on stock and slipping some when giving it some beans - shame you never experienced it in it's "final" iteration! 5.6 with 2 of us in the car and a slipping clutch was pretty nifty I thought!
Will, mon frere, I know what you mean!
Will, mon frere, I know what you mean!
I agree Will.
This was my MX5:
Much better protection from heatsoak.
That looks incredibly set up and tidy. Which Turbo and ECU did you use to get such a decent spool up?
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eh, drive around with an air filter directly above the manifold, for 6 months!
excuse my awful paint skills but surely this is infinitely better and just as acheivable with exactly the same kit?
or even directly behind the radiator? where there is possibly even some air flow!
Air actually enters the engine bay from the gap between the bonnet and the windscreen, the filter is in just the right space, even more so now he's got the supercharger in place.
This won't stop the heat-soak when stationary, but he's alleviated that by wrapping the exhausts, you'll be able to touch those right after running the car.
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Man of Honour
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Short pipework was the cause behind the short/quick spool up. I'm pretty sure it was a GT25 of some kind (can't remember the exact part) - so not too big either. Intercooler was a TDR intercooler.
It was an E-manage Greddy piggy back ECU rather than a complete new ECU. I got to the limit of what the car could do without new injectors (bigger) and a new ECU. Still more than happy with it... so so tempted to do it again!
it was a PARLUX 3500 Super Compact Ionic affair, really nice unit....
Since my french sibling started taking steroids I probably shouldn't post things like this
Oi! None of that talk - just because you're my older twin don't think you can give me a hard time! xx