SC or turbo?
 

I admit I haven't researched this a lot, but it seems there are a lot more SCs in use. It appears at first glance that the prices for kits are similar. I've owned several turbos but never an SC. I've looked on them as requiring more TLC Just curious what others think. If I do go FI it will be a mild boost.

If you want to be able to tweak and play with it more, go turbo. If you want to install and forget about it (well, as much as you can forget about it after adding FI to a NA platform), go for supercharger. Obviously the supercharger takes power to run whereas a turbo does not, so turbos are always going to be better in that regard.

That's kinda what I thought. My Miata was a Mazdaspeed which was factory

turbo but not very efficient. I gave it significant upgrades.

An SC with a mild tune will need less supporting mods for DD and likely be more reliable with proper maintenance.

The turbo will get better gains but needs supporting mods because of heat generated. So it will cost you more for more performance.

Plenty of blown motors going FI so expect reliability to go down. But of course the tune and how you drive matter greatly.

The turbo vs. supercharger debate is also a preference of power delivery. Positive displacement chargers like the Edelbrock, Harrop, or Sprintex kits will feel like driving around with a bigger motor with more low end torque. Centrifugal kits like the Vortech or Jackson Racing kit will feel like a very linear turbo, with almost OEM like feel down low, and all the boost up top. Turbos, as you probably know since you've owned a few, can build power pretty early and hold it all the way up.

From my observations, good kits and good tunes, on either side of the line, perform more reliably than bad kits and bad tunes. There are many local club members running a JDL turbo kit with absolutely no problems. There are other club members running knock off kits that have had oil gasket leaks, cracked headers, dumb hardware design, etc. Not to say vice versa doesn't happen, but from observation and experience, good kits and good tunes hold up much better and are more enjoyable to work on.

Just for some other examples of things you might want to think about, I'll list out my preferences towards superchargers. I'm personally biased towards positive displacement superchargers, specifically the Harrop kit. I don't want to mess with plumbing my oil or radiator lines to a turbo. I also don't want to drive with any kind of boost kick; I want linear power. I already have an exhaust setup I like that does not support a turbo. The Harrop kit looks almost OEM, and I'm very much an OEM+ kind of person. I want more torque down low because that's where I'm driving it 85% of the time. I love bombing down empty freeways at the top of 5th, which I imagine will still feel great with a PD charger, but I'll give up the optimization of power up top with a centrifugal unit because I'm not there all the time.

If you just want a mild boost, an ESC works great. With the least amount of hassle.
If you can find one.

I've been looking for one of those. You're right, It would be perfirct for what I want.

The less-than-bulletproof nature of that motor is my main concern when I think about going FI. I'm running E85 now and have a Borla header on order. I'll see what I get With that.

The Torqamp https://torqamp.com/ is still around. It costs a bit more than the Phantom. But it has a bit more boost too. And I think you could be the guinea pig. (first 86 owner to try it)

I just emailed them for more info.

All but one turbo kit are illegal. If you live in a city this will likely cause problems. If you don’t you might not get caught. Most supercharger kits come with a boxed tune that likely won’t blow your engine up. Most turbo kits don’t. A turbo kit with the same quality as the 50 state legal supercharger kits will cost you 50% to 100% more.

That being said turbos are cool (although not in the temperature sense) and efficient.

OP is from FL not CA.
No CARB needed.

You are correct. Florida used to have emissions check twice yearly, but someone sued the state and won! I'm not sure what the grounds for the suit were, but the result was the shops rolled their $25,000 test machines into a corner where they gathered dust. I used to see them once in a while but that was 20 years ago and nobody remembered how to run thee by then.

I just scored an ESC online. Can't wait. I have a Borla header

ordered but it may not have shjpped yet. I may cancel because the ESC may give me as much as I want on its own.