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Today i decided to go watch the miata club in my area run autox time trials... well they finally convinced me to instead of watch actually run the course... well needless to say i fell in love. I've wanted to try solo and auto x driving for a while but didn't have the chance now i really want to set my car up for it properly... i have an opprotunity to have my car used to create a turbo system for the mx-3 dohc for 2 grand and it will produce around 250 hp to the wheels.. but after driving this course i don't think for one i am ready to handle that much horse power and 2 i am not sure that will even help since i was only 8.5 seconds behind an evo 8 which is way out of my class... what i need to know is , is it a bad idea for me to go ahead and do this turbo or should i instead put my money into suspension and smaller engine upgrades until i'm a better driver and can handle so much power? I need some real advice here please cause i am very unsure of what do to cause i want to do what is best and what will help me the most. I want to grow in auto x and want to dedicate my car to that

Personally, I would day suspension and handeling mods. It's obviously that power doesn't make a huge difference, but what you need to do is be able to keep your speed up. Being able to take turns faster will lower your times, specifically on a a technical course as autox, where the underdogs always seem to perform best.

turbo is great dude, once you do it you will never regret it besides suspension is not that expensive compared to the turbo... i guess its up to you, do you want hard cornering or kickass straights

if my car can't corner the straights won't save me... the straights are a very small part of the course in fact i never went above second gear and none of the other guys i talked to did either

Since you are eventually considering replacing your engine anyway.. why not build your suspension for Auto X and then Bottle Feed your current 1.6L.. a 50 shot of NOS would give you a bit extra pickup when you need it and wouldnt be that expensive to install. You would likely be refilling the bottle every couple of meets.. but depending on where you are.. that might not be so bad.. consider it an expense of racing Auto X Just a thought

Tunes67

i was told you can't use nitrous .... but i didn't ask the coordinators .. maybe some groups won't let you use it and some will...
and as to the engine swap i'd rather spend 2 grand for 250 to the wheel and have pros doing the install and tuning then do the engine swap.. i wouldn't get the same hp per dollar spent

Now, one thing comes to mind about a turbo...lag. An autox course is, as i said, technical, with some braking and letting of the gas quite often i'm sure. The problem I see here is that turbo's require exaust for boost. I don't know how quick you can get a turbo to spool, but it'll take longer the more hp you want cause you'll need a bigger turbo. Although I've never AutoX'd (you have no idea how much I wanna try it), my guess is that power delivery should be as quick as possible. Sure, you've already demostrated that power doesn't matter, but what would be the point in investing in a turbo to better your times, if it spends more time spooling down than up.

(please, anyone don't be affraid to correct me if I'm wrong)

mazda78 wrote:i was told you can't use nitrous .... but i didn't ask the coordinators .. maybe some groups won't let you use it and some will...
and as to the engine swap i'd rather spend 2 grand for 250 to the wheel and have pros doing the install and tuning then do the engine swap.. i wouldn't get the same hp per dollar spent

The practical side of me says, go suspension and other small mods. But this opportunity for the turbo is something that should not be taken lightly or dismissed. Ya it's fair bit of change and if you ask babybluemx3 a professionally installed and tuned turbo for that price, he'd buy three of them in a heartbeat. I'd snap up this golden opportunity. The slalom racing/auto X stuff will always be there and it's not going to go away. You may be kicking yourself for letting the opportunity slip by. Who knows, once the turbo is in and you've had some time to "play" with it, perhaps your interests will change, but you'll still have your turbo. I'd even venture to say that it would be a worthwhile investment considering what you said - "2 grand for 250 to the wheel", can't match that anywhere. I believe babybluemx3's turbo bill is somewhere in the vicinty of 8 grand and climbing. Sometimes you just got to say "What the F*@k!" I don't believe I just said that.

You crack me up John

Tunes67

Focusing on suspension before turbo would most likely have a larger impact on your auto-x times, but personally I think the turbo would be more rewarding overall. Turbos are just plain fun on and off the track. Not to mention the great deal on the turbo and the possibility of a MX-3 turbo kit popping into existance this late in the game.

basically...if you go turbo you won't be competitive.

if you want to be competitive keep your car in a particular class. Looking at your mods it looks like you are in STS right now. Turbo would bump you up to SM which would mean you'd be running engine swapped civics and crazy a-- gutted cars.

Oh yeah, get some sticky tires! You'll be amazed how many seconds you can cut off your time with some decent tires. I was! I was running similar times to porsche's and BMW's last auto-x I went to...til i broke my axle

And honestly, i don't know where the majority of this advice is coming from.

It seems everyone who replied to this thread has NEVER autox'd in their life. NOS? wtf? Autox you never go out of 2nd gear unless its got a long straight. Having a broad powerband is ideal, and decent brakes/suspension are imperative.

A slow peice of s--- 1.5 liter civic can still kick some a-- if its set up properly. Having a lot of power isn't really necessary if you are in a lower class car like a MX3 (its H-stock if you remove a lot of your mods).

hell, MX3's are actually a pretty competitive car. If you look at the national SCCA champs you'll see a couple MX3's listed in there. I forget if they ran H-stock or STS. Now the mini cooper's dominate the H-stock class & STS is dominated by the 89' Civic Si's, but a MX-3 could still be damn competitive if set up properly.

Not to mention that you would have to learn to be comfortable with your turbo and get a feel for how it spools. You can lose a lot of powering through corners if you do not. It can actually be a handicap if you just slap it on and expect it to perform for you.

I would say hit the suspension, brakes, and all that first.