I got a letter back from Flyin' Miata. They'll pull the engine, rebuild it, re-install it for just over $8100. Not sure if that includes $2000 in deluxe pistons and connecting rods or not. Turbo is extra. Wah, waaaaah.
I re-did the leak test on the "bad" cylinder and got results similar to the others. I also go to see the pressure turn the engine a hair, opening a valve and releasing the pressure. Very cool. My neighbor was chatting, so I wasn't paying as close attention as I should have. I'm fairly certain I saw 185, and wondered if it was 184. That would jibe with the consistency I saw from the compression test: 165 +/- 3 across the board.
So what to do? A turn-key turbo from FM would run over $10000 and require a new clutch (maybe the $6800 + 15 hours at $130) includes that. New brakes, wheels, tires? And the car would still have a rough body and interior? Restrictive stock exhaust? It would make for an interesting sleeper.
I really like the car as a daily driver, and what I've read about getting into racing suggests staying normally aspirated for the time being is the way to go. I could get a fairly well built (but not "built") engine installed for about half of what FM wants. Then I could do thinks like better brake pads (not sure about 4-pots), steel brake lines, a butterfly brace, maybe a lighter flywheel, the anti-sway bar upgrade I didn't do with the springs. Stuff like that.
I could also build and install it myself, have the experience and save as much as $2000. I'd spend up to $1000 at the machine shop and up to another $1000 on tools (engine stand, hoist, impact wrench?).
....or say "screw it" and go buy a WRX.
No comments:
Post a Comment