[n_aditya]

Congrats on the DIY turbo biuld Ananth.

Your post is very well written and inspiring to all those DIY guys out there.

Hats off to your passion and your efforts to make this dream a reality.

[balenopower]

Very good stuff here for a DIY job.detailed post as well.Good job mate.

[v1p3r]

Sex bomb of a car, maga! I've always thought the Miata is a beautiful car, and this must take it to a new level.

Great work on the install, looks very neat. What clutch and ECU, BTW?

[ananthkamath]

Thanks for the kind words everyone.

To answer some queries:

@vid6639: Brakes are adequate for street use. I have upgraded to OE-type Brembo brake rotors, and am running Axxis semi-race pads. As I feel the need to go larger, I might install bigger rotors and pads at some point.

@mclaren: The chicks think I'm a gay guy when they see me driving an open-top miata. The sleeper look (both mine and the car's LOLLOL) dont help either. I'm thinking of buying an H1 Hummer next year to compensate

@redrage: I didn't use the denso intercooler (its from a Mazdaspeed Miata) because of packaging reasons. The MX6 intercooler was around the same size, and from my calculations, a perfect match for the setup.

@V16: I dont have an ac in the car. The heater at full blast doesnt seem to bother the boost gauge.

ECU is my own standalone, based on megasquirt. I built it during the winter and tested it this spring before installing the turbo. It is packaged in the stock factory ECU case. Not a single wire in the original wiring is cut up. Most of the OE sensors are used as well. It can do launch control, water injection, closed-loop boost control, idle control in addition to all the standard ECU stuff. Here are some pics of that phase:

Shoehorning the board into the stock Denso case:



During bench-testing:



Finished:



The MAP sensor box:


@kutlee: Filter is some kind of cheap chinese knock-off of K&N. Does the job but I will go for a proper ITG setup in the winter.

@HPP: The intercooler is off of a first gen Ford Probe that was pulled off at the junkyard. Same as the one in the Mazda MX6.

@iraghava: I think I have reached the point of "mentally ill" :-D

@phamily guy: I put only 4k miles since I've had the car for a year now. Why is it scary again?
@v1p3r: maga clutch is stock. I know. But it sure is going out in style. I'm giving it the best days of its life.


In the one year I've had the car it has gone through a few cosmetic changes as well. Nothing too big, just some wheels:

Last September (on ebay BTW):






Two months after I got it:




Summer 08:






2009+ ????

[hkanitkar]

holy christ ! thats DIY top to bottom.
Really kewl job there, ananth. Congratulations and Kudos !!

[viper]

Hey Ananth,

Congrats man Welcome to the turbo club. Thats a real neat DIY job. Sure must be having tons of fun wiping the smiles of the exotics and other ricers.

Drive safe.

Viper

[Ford Rocam]

The feeling of successful install you get when you build something on your own is simply outta this world! Nothing... & Nothing.... is comparable to that..

Great job Mate.
Cheers cheers:

[abhik]

Excellent write-up, very informative, classic roadster.....Enjoy the BOOST!!

[paras211]

damn the whole thing DIY and cheap.well sweat isnt cheap

[archerdyal]

Thats one fine job there dude, nothing just smoothly done stuff hhehheeh seems like a piece of cake for you and the work on the ECU Hats off to you lolz....simply outstanding i can understand people thinking you gay lolz its a girls car heheheh.....all in all the best DIY till now hehehe Mind it..keep it up

[ananthkamath]

Thank you all. The amount of sweat and blood that has gone into this can only be gauged by people who have gone through a similar build-test-tune cycle. As they say, if you want something done right, you gotta do it yourself.

[Rehaan]

Brilliant writeup Ananth, pretty funny too!!

Youre really fortunate to have a track car and ability to play around with it so much!

Hope to see some vids and maybe even a dyno run when you have some moolah.

Awesome job once again,
cya
R

[crazydiablo]

Brilliant, awesome. Being stateside is a good advantage in terms of cars, parts and the like but a huge disadvantage in terms of labour costs. But you have done the improbable. Very neat install. Its not crude at all. May god bless you with more power.

[Jaggu]

Brilliant and for a DIY job i give it a ***** rating, you put shame to most of the professional installations seen here in India.

Great job, keep us posted and wishing you all the very best at the tracks!

[ananthkamath]

Thank you for the kind words. Oh one thing I had forgotten to post. My ECU runs in closed loop off of wideband lambda sensor since day one: