umm ok guys liek i have my miata and my coworker in his 94 toyota mr2 n/a beat me on woodward sunday night and its totally lame and now it needs to go faster...

Or, not so much. Hi, I'm Paul and I own a 1991 Classic Red Miata A-package but with short throw shifter and LSD. Right now it only has additional center brake light brightness and a Randall DIY cowl intake (plus some weight savings).

A coworker of mine did in fact beat me at a light on Woodward here in the Greater Detroit Metro Area on Sunday night in his N/A and completely stock '94 MR2. My girlfriend asked why (she thinks the miata is fast) and I proceeded to tell her that her '07 stock Saab 9-3 Turbo is faster in a straight line. She loves turbo pull and so I told her I want to turbo my miata and her response was classic: "but maybe it doesn't need to be faster than my Saab?!?" ;-)

So anyway, here I am. I've been lurking your forum for several days and I've decided to take the plunge. I'm going to start with MS PNP (as recommended by a diff coworker) and some RX-7 stock injectors (which I hear work quite nicely if 165whp is my goal), and a wide-band O2 to get good at tuning while I try to con some of you out of used pa-I mean buy some used parts in the marketplace at reasonable prices.

A little about myself: I'm an engineer at a major international auto parts manufacturer based in Germany, I grew up near Indianapolis, IN and now live in SE MI. I enjoy basketball and soccer, Top Gear and MCM, and trying to determine how I can buy parts for my miata while saving money for a ring (yes she's that good, and will probably be taking the how-to pictures I eventually post).

If something in my post is incredibly offensive or wrong I happily accept your correction or verbal flogging. I have seen how brutal ya'll are on n00bs and I expect nothing less than the best! Included is a picture of my car with the hydraulic lift I bought at a work auction for $25

 

Our cars are slower than Camrys and Rav4s. That's just how it is.

You must not have been here very long if you thought you could post an intro without pictures of your cats.

Aim for 200-220whp and you will be happier. 460's will do it but they are getting frowned upon by the elitists these days. Technology has moved on. The stock 1.6 rear diff should have grenaded at stock power by now. I hope it has been exchanged for a 1.8 setup.

This forum is flush with engineers of various stripes.

Welcome to the forum.

Pics of cats or girlfriend or ban.

 

My apologies but I currently have no cat. Please accept a picture of the former cat. He was a good one and he is sorely missed.

Also, a pictures of some horses from back home on the farm. They pretty much sum up my situation.

And finally, if it please the moderators, a picture of a vehicle I observed when buying groceries last night

 

That's a handsome kitty. You will do fine here.

 

Quoted for truth.

200-220whp isn't going to cost you much more in time/money than 165. In fact, I think you would be foolish to stop at 165. above about 220-225 whp is where the cost increases start to happen. Things that do break at 220 whp will also break at 165whp. Things that don't break at 165whp are also not going to break at 220whp.

Some light reading: Your path to power - Selecting your starting platform and eliminating the weak links - Miata Turbo Forum - Turbo Kitten is watching you test compression.

 

Thanks for joining, btfu1869!

 

You have a smart coworker. Usually we hear "my buddy said ebay parts and an afpr is good enough."

Replace the rx7 injectors with some rx8 ones though, not much more expensive and much better atomization.

 

Thanks for the excellent info! I'm going to be reading for quite a while, and then buying/installing the components recommended for 200whp durability before really going bananas.

I'll shoot for 220 and see where I land, but I really do appreciate the information. Glad to be here, y'all are much nicer so far than the passat world forum guys from my previous car.

 

Damn, Nuge beat me to it. Are you going to swap in a 1.8 first?

 

We are not nicer. You are more experienced.

 

Horses! You'll do well here.

 

This. An NB head will allows whatever other mods you do to make another 15-20% more power and spool faster with the same trubo.

 

I'm strongly considering it. The way I see it if I already have a hydraulic lift then it's a heckuva lot easier to install the hardware on a dangling engine than one in a cramped engine bay.

It seems like I should just begin looking for an M option Miata from 94 on and take the entire drivetrain minus the gearbox... Has anyone had any issues calling Mazda USA and using VINs to ask the right questions (paint color/options) to find Ms in our many friendly junkyards scattered across this great country?

 

Just find a green NA miata. It shouldn't be *that* hard.