• Power
• Handling
• Toys

Power Modifications

• FM II Turbo (aka Bill and Corky's Wild Ride)
  OK, so I caved. Sold the motorcycle last year (some horrible drivers here in Philly). Got engaged last year. Decided to treat myself this year.
  
• Max-5 Clutch and Lightened Flywheel
  Stock clutch can only take so much boost. I eventually upgraded to a 1.6l Max-5 as well as a lightened and balanced 1.6 OEM Flywheel.
• Advanced Ignition Timing
  No surprise there. When I measured my timing after getting the car, it read about 9 degrees BTDC. I pushed it to about 14 over the winter, and ran 87 octane gas. With the 80-90 degree summer days, I noticed a ping and went to 89 octane. I am still experimenting to make sure I have rid the engine of ping. Yes, I could simply throw in 93, but that could be too high of an octane for what the engine is tuned for, resulting in a non-optimum gas usage. That is not hogwash: its only a few cents a gallon more for 93 around here, but I want to run the car in an optimum state of tune :) The ping I did hear was *very* faint, and usually in 3rd gear under a bit of a load, say 5000 RPM up a hill. It may simply be that I am being too cautious as this can be normal. I am not sure...
  
• K&N Replacement Air Filter
  Nothing fancy here. K&N makes plenty of OEM and universal filters. I replaced my factory air filter with a K&N for under $30. Just the occasional wash and oil is all that is required for K&N filters. After 2 normal maintenance periods, it basically pays for itself. K&Ns also flow better when dirty in comparison to dirty paper filters. Sure, some clean paper filters will flow more then their respective K&N on a flow bench, but how long do those paper filters stay clean?
  
• NGK ZFR-6F11 Copper spark plugs
  Clean fresh plugs make for a happy ignition system. Dynos can even show a HP or 2 when you throw on new plugs. At $1.50 a pop, its trivial to change them every 15K miles.
  
• Porterfield R4-S Brake Pads
  Brake pads in the power section? It does make sense when you consider that power makes you go faster, something must help you slow down faster as well. Porterfield has a good reputation among racers for making solid brake pads. Several flavors are available to suit the driving application. The most popular set of pads is the R4-S. The 'S' stands for Street, as in this is their primary brake pad for street car applications. I have been running R4-S pads on my Integra for 1 year, and have been very pleased with the attributes of this pad. Porterfields are known to be a bit pricy up front, but if they are not abused to bad they tend to last longer then OEM rake pads. That is not to say that they are rotor unfriendly as a result (as many 'lifetime warranty' brake pads are). Quite the contrary, I run my Integra on the track and as an AutoX car and the OEM rotors are doing fine with the Porterfields. On the miata, I was hoping the Porterfields would help with the general dead brake feel. I was correct to a point. The previous owner had some generic 'performance' brake pad on. Not only did I not like the way these pads dusted, they squeaked from time to time and generally felt pretty bad. The Porterfields tend to get warm rather quickly and begin to bite quite nicely when applied. This upgade did little to cure the feel of the brake system in terms of how mushy/numb the brakes feel compared to other cars that seem to communicate much better with the driver. The Porterfields grab quickly, hold well, and feel downright good. If you can swing the upfront costs, I would recommend them to anyone who likes a good street pad for light to medium track and autoX use as well.
• Spark Plug Wires
  Miatae are known for having crappy OEM plug wires. Plug wires by themselves make no additional power. If you believe they do, I have some nice lakefront property you may be interested in. Rather, good plug wires will not deteriorate and provide consistent, clean ignition. When I got Tatjana, the plug wires seemed fine. After 15K miles, I was doing most of my 60K servicing so I spent $30 on a new set of NGK blue plug wires. SOTP told me that she rev'd just a bit cleaner afterwards. Word on the street is that plug wires should be changed every 30K. We shall see.
• Bosal Cat-Back Exhaust
  Scanning the miata.net classifieds paid off once again. A fellow Sunburst owner who sadly was replacing a totalled Sunburst with (happily) another one, had an extra exhaust to spare after parting out the dead miata. I had my eyes set on the Bosal due to the fact that they are very quiet. Perhaps too quiet for most, but if you want a stock sounding exhaust, this would be the replacement for your. The Bosal is a fully stainless steel exhaust, with a reasonable 3.5" polished tip. Installation was fairly painless, though on my car the hangers don't allow the exhaust tip to be very centered in the rear bumper cut-out. I don't have any dyno charts to see any extra horsies. I don't expect much as its just a NA 1.6 :) However, the exhaust sounds dandy with just a tad more growl, but for the most part simply stock levels of sound. I wouldn't mind a tad more, but I have yet to hear something that I like (else I would consider getting it and selling the Bosal). Perhaps the resonated FM Duals would suit me, or just a resonated Thermal Research, but I have yet to come across one. With the Randall Cowl Induction installed, the intake noise now overpowers what little growl the soft Bosal has, so a bit more would definately be welcome now, but not at the expense of being overbearing.
• Randall Cowl Induction
  Finally, a fairly inexpensive intake that is not too bad on the $/hp ratio. We all have eyes for the Jackson CAI, but lets face it: $425 after shipping is not chump change. Sure there is used, but I have only seen one pop up in the last 6 months for a 1.6 myself, and that was sold quickly. You are still out 300-325 going used. The RCI was $115 to my door direct from Randall (who is on the miata.net sponsor page), also availble at DA, who recently changed to just Flyin Miata.
  
  The RCI is a neat piece of real carbon fiber that makes my faux carbon fiber STB look rather tired :) The only hard part of the installation is the need to cut a piece of the firewall away. The idea being that instead of the stock plastic intake snorkle pointed at the right wheel well, air is drawn directly from outside at the cowl. Cowl refers to the fact that there are higher air pressure points along the windshield edges of any car. The ideal place would be more centered (highest pressure) but that is not possible with Miatae, so this will do. Here is my post to the miata power forum regarding the install:
  
  • Fiddling with the snug-fit carbon fiber to the air box was also an exercise in patience, but that is really all it takes. It is actually a good thing it did not fit perfectly, as now there is some decent force from the stock airbox that holds the CF *firmly* in place against the firewall. Never thought I would be cutting holes in my miata!!! It was sort of fun though (gotta love air tools). Make sure you get a bi-metal 1 1/4" hole saw. The wood ones will get chewed up quickly if you accidentally get one of those. I definately feel a performance gain. I find myself running up faster on folks and winding the car out a lot easier. The pull to redline is better above 6K, though I still would love to fit an RX-7 Flowmeter on this to get the best of all worlds. Only way I see that happening however is some sort of custom enclosure around a cone filter, as Randy pointed out to me a while ago in a different post. The intake growl, as previously noted, is ear candy. I also bumped down to 87 octane and can't detect any ping at all on my timing advanced '92 (previously had to wait until winter to do that, temps above 50 could cause a faint ping). I am back up to 89 as temps ran into the 80s for a bit, so I will just stick to that year round as its not really a big expense. I found it easiest to take out the bottom of the air box, and dremel the notches off of the opening, otherwise the RCI would not fit (thanks for the tip guys :)

Handling Modifications

• Alignment
  Miatae are very sensitive to alignment. Its an often overlooked service that should be done once a year. Unlike many modern cars today, a miata is adjustable for all 3 major alignment settings (castor, camber, and toe), which also means a lot can be a bit off. A poorly aligned miata can really take away from the fun of the car, wear out tires faster, and in some cases, make it more dangerous to drive should the settings make it too tail happy. Much has been written in the past on good recommendations. Refer to miata.net's Garage section and read about Miq's settings, as well as the Mazda factory settings. This is important for one reason: there is a lot of variance in the mazda settings. I like to refer to it as slop. If you take your miata to a decent alignment shop, they will merely pull up the specs for a miata and try to get your alignment in the specs. Not good as far as I am concerned. I attempted to use a local chain of stores (Avellino's) that are known for being pretty good with customer service. They tried for a day and could not get close to the Miq settings, gave me lectures about camber and tire wear (Miqs settings are not that radical with respect to camber) and in the end aggrevated me enough to just thank them for their time and take my car. After rotating my tires a few times following my GC install, I noticed some camber wear, and figured I needed a good aligment again. Fortunately, a local shop that specializes in Hondas an Acuras only was willing to align the miata to my specs (they are fabulous guys, A&H Motorsports). One thing I learned is that many computerized racks seem to only like one set of units: inches or degrees. Miq's settings states degrees for camber and castor, but inches for toe. Once I converted the toe settings to degrees, all was good. They were able to hit all my settings dead on. Any they did not even need any donuts :) The following is how Tatjana is currently set up:
  • Castor: + 4.0 degrees
  • Camber: - 0.8 degrees (front)
  • Toe: 0.15 toe out per tire (0.30 total toe out - front)
  • Camber: - 1.1 degrees (rear)
  • Toe: 0.15 toe in per tire (0.30 total toe in - rear)
• Tires
  This is first. Period. I don't care what you do to your suspension, failing to first improve your tires is inexcusable. Tire engineering is always a compromise, and OEM tires for the most part are conservative. The Miata is a sports car. You don't see the Knicks playing with Chuckies just because they are 1/10th the price of new Nikes. If you want to extract the most out of your Miata, treat it to good tires. Also consider this: that narrow contact patch is all that separates your 1 ton piece of machinery from the road. Tires not only steer the car, but they accelerate, brake, and attempt to touch the road surface at all times. Do you really want to run the Pep Boy's special just to save a few bucks, knowing there is a Semi that will cut you off sometime, and you have to get on the brakes NOW!!! I didn't think so.
  • Bridgesone RE-930 185/60-14 A/S
    These were on the OEM alloys when I picked up the car. I wish the car had bald rocks on it: at least I could negotiate a few hundred off the price and go get some good tires. This tire competes in the market with the likes of the Dunlop D60 A2 and Yokohama Avid H4. I feel both of those tires are better then the 930 for the miata. None of these are great tires by any means, but they do most things well. I just feel the 930 breaks away too quickly on the dry, let alone the wet. These tires now reside on a set of steelies I purchased. They are the winter beater tires, and will probably be subjected to much abuse as I attempt to wear the titanium laced tread away.
    
  • Dunlop SP8000 195/55-14
    How could you not want to run ultra high performance summer tires for $70 a piece!!! The SP8000s compete directly with the Bridgestone RE-71. Both are fantastic for what you are getting, especially considering the fire-sale price. I chose the Dunlops based on past good experiences with other SP lines (and the 930s being uninspiring may have not helped the RE-71's chances). These tires have now assumed their rightful place around the OEM alloys.
    
  • Dunlop SP4000 215/50-15
    This is my favorite A/S tire that I have tried. Its M&S rated, so you can run it into the freezing temps of a typical North East winter, and also it does fine in light snow. These tires are the winter set from my OTM, and since they are MSW type 45 wheels, I mounted them on the miata to see how it felt. The wide tires with a 7" rim made the car stick nicely. Unfortunately, without a turbo and big brakes, I could really feel the extra weight on the corners from these porkers. After a week, I had located a set of steelies, and put in an order for the SP8000s. Some may be fine with heavier aftermarket rims on their Miatae. I simply want the car to feel as nimble as possible, and in my book, heavy wheel/tire combinations are out.
    
  • Dunlop SP5000 205/50-15
    This is my new favorite A/S tire :) The replacement for the SP4000, it has a better rain tread, and a rather interesting overall tread design. Sidewalls seem to be a tad softer then the SP4K. I have these on both Tatjana and the OTM Integra and am quite happy. Why have I abandoned the 14" summers you ask? Several reasons really. I was tired of the 14" stock look and gave into pure vanity with a set of 15" wheels. Now that I had them, I wanted to be able to use them more then just the summer months as I don't like running summer tires when its cold (let alone near snow). An A/S tread like this will allow me to run these March-December here in PA, plus give me 4 wheel rotations (something the SP8000s or other's do not). Since I will be driving Tatjana in the white stuff this year, I also plan on gettng some snow tires for the 14" wheels for nothing more then the safety and car control only snows give you. My only problem with the SP5000s is that I seem to have gotten a set with too much run-out, causing me to get some nasty vibration when driving. Considering I have beated out any shimmy in my car with the added bracing, this is not good. I am working with NTB on a resolution, after returning a set of the Rota's and finding out they were fine. Stay tuned...
  • Kumho Victoracer V-700
    I mention these only in passing. I have not autoXed with a set on a miata, but I did run them on my OTM for a season. They are excellent bang for the buck race tires, with good wear characteristics and predicable handling. Quite a few people are trying them out after being disappointed with the G-Force that BFG thought people would accept as a replacement for the much loved Comp T/A R1.
    
  • Toyo T1-S 195/50-15
    I bit the extra $100 for the set and moved up to the Toyo. Too many good reviews, especially wet traction. I had been considering the RE-730 which is still a fine tire, as well as the Kumho 712. The T1-S does not have the same initial turn in feel as the SP8000, but its far from slow. I attribute this to the more ride compliant sidewall design. The wet traction is better then the SP8000, with the dry being hard to really feel the difference without back to back comparisons. The Toyos are very progressive at the limit, barking slightly when they are getting towards 80% in my judgement. I don't drive nuts on the street, but I have autoXed the T1-S in an Integra. As for size, I dropped down to the 195/50. I don't see a whole lot of advantage in the 205/50 on a 6.5" wheel other then looks. The 195/50 was 1 lb lighter a corner. Despite having the FI power to make overall weight not as much of an issue, corner weight can still be felt in breaking, etc....so I wanted to keep them as light as possible. John at www.tirenet.com gave me the best pricing that included shipping to my door for far less then other miata.net vendors. I would easily buy these again, however Bridgestone just released the PP SO-3 in 15" sizes for not much more then the Toyo, so perhaps something new to try? Additionally, Falken has a new tire out that is very popular with STS autoXers. Something else to consider when the time comes.
• Rota Circuit 8 15x6 Wheels
  Always a popular low budget wheel for the miata, they weigh 12 lbs and look great to me. 8 is my favorite number, and since these are 8 spoke wheels I am not surprised how much I like them. Granted, they are not Racing Hart Tuner's, but I was on a budget here. I ran into a nasty imbalance immediately upon mounting these with the new SP5000s. I tried everything:
  • Multiple balancings at NTB
  • Balancing with a Hunter9700 at another shop
  • Using an edge againt the wheel well to see of there was runout
  • Mounted with and without the aluminum centering rings from R.Speed
  Nothing worked. Joseph at R.Speed was kept in the loop, and offered to take them back and check them out. He found them to be fine, and another miata list person actually purchased them. I am now waiting for the new ones, so I can take them back to NTB, and have them once and for all see the run-out in the tires and get me new ones. I already logged a complaint with Dunlop a month ago, so I am in their system. They informed me to work with the Dunlop dealer. R.Speed went above and beyond expectations of customer service in handling this matter so far, which is why I wouldn't think of getting my money back: I want wheels, and I want them to get the sale. Stay tuned...
  **** Update ****
  Since its no longer winter, I spent the extra few bucks for Toyo T1-S tires and now am cruising on those with my new Rota C8's. The tires are excellent (see review above) and I do not have the vibrations I experienced last fall. Perhaps it was just an odd combination or occurance. Those SP5000s are running nicely on an Integra right now.
  
• Flyin' Miata Swaybars
  This should probably be the first modification done to the car if you're interested in handling (after tires that is). The FM sway bars are a good value, good quality, and quick to install.
  
• Koni Single Adjustable Shocks
  68K on stock shocks, oh my!. You don't realize how horrible your shocks are after this time as its such a gradual change. That is, until you hop into a miata with fresh koni's installed. Since I also threw in a set of springs, I cannot compare directly with my old OEM shocks, but even with the stiffer springs, the car was riding better in the bounce department then with my old shocks. Firmer, yes, but to my tush more comfortable.
  
• Ground Control Spring Kit
  Since I was swapping out the stock shocks, I took the plunge and ordered the GC kit to do at the same time. Even though I am not new to GC and spring changes, some lessons about miata were learned.
• Mazda Front Air Dam
  Also referred to as the front lip spoiler, this M1 dealer option could be viewed strictly as eye candy. The air dam does help the aerodynamics of the M1 however (which is why it was standard on the R package miatae) by deterring the ever so slight front end lift at higher speeds. This is a must for a racer, but even on the highway at 70 MPH I could feel it. Here is my report.
• PBC Strut Tower Bar
  I went with the PBC (made by Freedom Design) strut tower bar with Carbon Fiber details. Good bar for the money overall. It did arrive with a few nicks and scratches to the carbon fiber wrap (or whatever its coated with). I did not want the shinny bar, and the CF looks fine under Tatjana's mostly black engine. The cheesy yellow Freedom Design logo on the bar came off easily as its only a sticker. If I was to do it again, I would have gotten the polished bar, but only because I added the Randall Cowl Induction kit, which *is* carbon fiber. The RCI now makes the faux carbon fiber STB stick out pretty badly. Now where's that spray paint....
• 1.8 L Big Brake Upgrade
  I suppose big is a bit of an overstatement (that would be the Wilwood upgrade :), but never-the-less I was never impressed with my 1.6 brakes, so I pieced the 1.8 kit together. I started with just the fronts as I got a good price on the brackets from a friend who did go Wilwood. As noted most everywhere, you only need to get the rotors and caliper brackets for the upgrade. I used my friends old rotors and a set of used Axxis Metal Master pads, and ran that with Porterfield rear 1.6's for a few months. This combination only accented the fact that the rear 1.6 brakes are puny. The miata already has a bit too much brake bias to the front, so now my fronts were really locking up quickly. I eventually bit the bullet and ordered rear 1.8 rotors from PBC, and a set of 1.8 rear calipers from Mazda Recycling, who's prices killed Mazmart. Mazmart seems to be raising prices as they are one of the only places on the east coast that has Miata parts, so shop around if you are looking! With the rears I decided to try the new VGX pads that Tommy had at Finishline for grins. Its hard to tell how the pads compare, but the VGX do dust a bit less, though since they are the rear, I would not put too much into that. Eventually I will probably go back to Porterfield as they are my favorite brake pads, just pricey. The only drawback I have encountered is that my brake pedal now has a bit more play in it. I really can not explain this. Perhaps the master cylinder is tired? I have attempted to adjust the pedal itself, but am having difficulty with the second of two locking nuts that adjust the pedal shaft. Stainless Steel lines are on my Xmas list, so lets see what Santa sends my way. It could just be my 8 year old rubber lines are tired, and I did not do a great job support them when I have taken calipers and rotors off in the past.

Toys!!!

• Audio Upgrade
  The stock audio was palatable, with the exception of two things: overall volume and CD usage (what are you supposed to put into a tape deck?). This page shows my approach which focuses on simple and not too expensive rather then show winning sound.
  
• Crazy Red Italian Horns
  The best way to replace the pathetic stock horn with something which commands attention NOW. If you are dodging 2 ton SUVs that seem to never have working turn signals, you need something louder then the stock horn.
  
• Painted Valve Cover
  Some vendors sell chrome valve covers, and service custom color painting. MSUs are at a premium, so I went with a DIY paint job. Its really not that difficult. Clean the valve cover, use some steel wool to scratch the surface a bit, and spray away. I applied several coats of a black spray paint to it. You don't need ultra-high temp paint as if your valve cover is getting more then about 200 degrees, you have bigger problems to worry about then flaking paint! For the 90-93 M1s, the Mazda lettering is cast into the valve cover, so I took some of the Sunburst touch up paint and attempted to make the lettering yellow. This should really be done with a very fine paint brush, not the brush in the touch up bottle. So, its not extremely clean if you look closely, but from 3 feet its fine. Eventually I will probably re-spray it, and simply leave the lettering black. Or if I am feeling generous, I will treat the valve cover to a powder coating which would look fantastic and be far more durable then spray paint.
  
• Shifter Boot
  The OEM shifter boot is vinyl and already had a small tear in it. During one of my maintenance item order from PBC, I noticed Atlantic Design had replacement boots for the shifter for all miata. $20 later, I had a replacement. The Atlantic Design one is made out of leather and a bit stronger then the vinyl it replaced. Installation took 10 minutes. Remove the console (which I am now an expert at after my audio installation) and pull off the old one. Take note of the orientation of top and bottom. The top side of the shifter (closest to the dash) is a bit more narrow then the back side. This is how you line up the new boot. There are perforations in the leather that allow you to clip it into the console plastic. A bit of tugging is all it takes.
  
• Trunk Light for Early Miatae
  I suppose Mazda wanted to keep the weight down a few more ounzes in the early days. Or they felt no one would really attempt to use the trunk for anything, let alone at night. This kit is a common one sold through vendors like Moss motors. It was a Xmas gift from Grace, so I am not sure who was the vendor.
• Trunk Shield for Early Miatae
  Mazda screwed the pooch by forgetting to put in a $2 piece of plastic, probably in an effort to claim more usable trunk space. The net effect is potentially expensive left side body damage. This item prevents that for the most part. Tatjana had such damange when I got her, and it cost me $100 to have it repaired.
  
• Twilight Light Kit
  A Moss motors kit (I purchased from PBC). This kit fills in the blank lighting on the north american market front turn signal lights.
• VooDoo Polished Shift Knob with ring
  As odd as it sounds, I think the OEM shift knob is horrible. Its rubber, heavy, and just not all that aestheticlly pleasing. VooDoo Bob has a solution for most in his product lineup, as well as many other vendors. You can see here I have added a simply Aluminum ring now available from PBC that mates the knob to the shift boot a bit cleaner.
  
• Wheelskins leather steering wheel wrap
  Mounts over the steering wheel with some patience. This makes the grip thicker (which I like) and also can help the look if your stock leather wrapped wheel is faded, as was Tatjana's.
  
• BSP Short Twin Hoop Style Bar
  Please spare me the get a real roll bar emails as I am aware of the 'risk' of a style bar. Its up there with the risk of running your car without a roll bar to begin with, which is about 99% or so of the miata population. If a roll bar did not cause the plastic windows to crack, I would have one, but that is not acceptable to me. Despite all the rhetoric, you don't see any notes or postings regarding 'I had an accident in a style bar, and it hurt me.' The Style bar does its job nicely by adding the look I wanted, while also stiffening up the chassis a tad, similar to the 94-97 cockpit brace.
• FinishLine Performance Powder Coated Grill
  Teeth are removed, front lip spoiler is on, only think left to complete the mouth of a miata is a decent grill. Tommy at Finishline has 2 types, one with bigger holes for better air flow. Tatjana is NA, so I got the normal one. Installation wasn't too bad, thought it was a bit tight and I had to bend the grill a tad to get it aligned between the two bolts. Only drawback is if you drop something while working under the hood, you can't just stick your hand in through the mouth to retrieve it from the splash guard. Yes, I have tested that myself :)
• DIY Vent Rings
  Blantant plagarism warning: Gary documented this procedure, I used it too. Here are the results ;)