i got a wild hair and called yesterday to bug BEGI and see when the system was going to be finished. the gentleman on the other end [older guy, very nice, may have been corky himself] proceeded to tell me that the system was complete and in testing. he said that, other than some slippage by the clutch, everything was working as expected and that pics and dynoes would be available soon.

the pricing has been set at $2950 for the first run of 10 of which 3 have already been pre-sold. after that, i was told the price would be going up.

for those that don't know, BEGI [and more importantly, corky bell] is the mastermind behind the very successful, very high-performance Flying Miata kits of SCC fame. if this Protege kit is built to the same caliber, it will be a god-send compared to the Mazdaspeed/Calloway kit and the Tripoint. [no dis intended to Tripoint, but that system does not exactly blow my kilt up.]

http://www.bellengineering.net/MP3.html

[btw, i do not work for BEGI. i'm just really anxious to see a good aftermarket turbo kit come out.]

 

if i read that right they think they can squeeze 300hp out the engine w/o any bottom end mods? My guess would be about 16-18lbs of boost for that ammount of hp. I don't know if that sounds realistic at all. I guess depending on the tuning anything is possible....

 

If they can do that then they know something that everyone else doesn't.

Think about all the Civic guys that can't get over 11 psi with stock internals. If it was possible to get 18psi out of little 4's on stock internals don't you think these Civic dudes somewhere along the line would have figured it out?

 

I think that is possible with the SR20 and 4G63 however. Extremely strong engines for stock.

 

i can assume then that you guys aren't familiar with their work with the flying miata kits. they have been able to get 290+ WHP [that's presumably 330+ HP at the crank] from the BP series miata engines running 15+ psi on 91 octane with only a well-engineered turbo kit and some knowledgable tuning... [read "the miata's stock internals have that capability. why wouldn't ours?"]

to quote the gentleman on the phone, they are running it [their prototype car] at 8 psi and haven't even needed to do any tuning what-so-ever.

i guess it all boils down to intelligent design. with what they're known to do with the miata engines' stock internals, i would NOT doubt their claimed successes with the FS engine.

don't get me wrong... i'm still waiting to see dynoes and pics before i plop down my $3K, but this is the system i have my eye most closely on and it will likely prove to be a better offering than the tripoint and ms/calloway kits.

 

read up on the "BP" miata engines. They are known for being "strong". Our engines are not. Read up on this some more on this board to see what I'm talking about.

 

I've talked to Mr. Bell over the phone several times in the last couple months and I'm confident that they know what they're talking about. They are initially going to do an 8 psi kit, but will be working on getting the boost levels up over the next year with extra fuel and better engine management. 8 psi is just with the stock computer and add-ons. They feel fairly confident that the engines will ultimately take 14-15 psi on the stock bottom end. They've got quite a history of R&D so this is the one I think I'd buy. No ding on tri-point but I don't trust their numbers. Also $3800 is a bit high and I don't like the turbo they are using.

 

corky was kind enough to send several pictures of their prototype car.....

i have an email in to him to ask if it's okay to post them here. [hate to **** him off a man i intend to give several thousand dollars to very soon...]

needless to say, from the pics, despite my limited knowledge of turbo systems, i have to say that it is still the most impressive LOOKING system for our cars.

 

Hi Patrick,

I'd be delighted to have the pictures on the Protege forum. The system is
due for first shipments in about 5 weeks.

Corky

------------------------------------------------

so here they are....
[image quality is not the best, but you can still make out the important parts.]

http://www.pkclark.com/car/turbo1.jpg
http://www.pkclark.com/car/turbo2.jpg
http://www.pkclark.com/car/turbo3.jpg
http://www.pkclark.com/car/turbo4.jpg

notice the CAST manifold, not tube fabricated. also, notice the new billet machined FMU that BEGI is known for.

 

So far that appears to be the best system, lets put it on the dyno.

 

Now I have to admit. That looks like an awesome kit. I'm very impressed.

 

I would agree that Maximum boost is a great book and I think the flyin' miata kits are great as well, I just think that for 14-15 lbs of boost you'll need to beef up the bottom end. I think that $2000 extra dollars would get you a set of forged lower compression pistons, forged pistons, and installation, plus you'd probably have some of the $2K left in your wallet. I may just be a pessimist and have to trust in Corky, and then yell at you guys when my engine frags.

 

I met this man and been to his shop (a friend had a MR2 Spyder he want a turbo for)...he understands turbos and lives for building them right. He simply will not over boost any engine. He will leave that to you...and then you can rebuild.

The shop is nice but certainly not a mass production facility. The pride is there and I would call it a fabrication shop more than a fast production shop.

Very nice guy...and amazingly intelligent. 3 grand is a hell of a deal!

 

It looks like a nice system...

 

Hey how could you tell the manifold is cast an not tubes that heat sheild seems to be blocking any type of view to the manifold