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Got Boost?

I purchased a Mazda Miata in October of 1997. I bought a 97 with the Touring Package. Before I bought the Miata, I had ordered a Porsche Boxster and had been waiting for over 8 months. Due to financial reasons, I decided not to get the Boxster. I sold my BMW 325i Cabriolet, and purchased the Miata. I have not regretted it for a moment. Boy, is this car a hot car! Is it very fun and peppy to drive!

On of the nice things about the Miata is that there is a huge aftermarket, so customizing the car can be great fun.

So far, the performance mods are:

Replaced the OE tires (Bridgestone 185/60HR14) with Dunlop SP-8000 195/55ZR14. Love those tires!
Replaced the OE sway bars with Flyin' Miata sway bars. I purchased these from Dealer Alternative. I highly recommend both the sway bars and Dealer Alternative. Bill Cardell, the owner, is one of the nicest guys I've met.
Jackson Racing Sport Exhaust: mellooooowww. Very nice, cool sound. Not too loud with a noticeable increase in power.
Polar Power Industries Cold Air Injection System. This CAI provides a definite noticeable increase in power in the high RPM range. The car pulls much better. I installed the Stage I and Stage II. I no longer have this CAI since I installed the Sebring.
Flyin' Miata Strut Tower Brace. I no longer have the brace since I installed the Sebring. I may order a Sebring version from the Dealer Alternative one of these days.
Hella Air Horns: git atta my way ya varmint! Initially, I had Crazy Red Air Horns, but they are not that much louder than the stock horns and sound kinda wimpy (in my humble opinion).
Magnacore 8.5 mm Spark Plug cables: some say these cables provide 1 HP gain. Who knows? I replaced them because I know the OE cable have the tendency to crap out real quick.
NGK Extended Reach Spark Plugs: I was told these guys provide a couple of extra HPs. Not sure, but for $14 for a set, was worth a try.
Advanced the engine timing to 14 degrees BTDC: I've been told this provides an additional 5 HP of power and an additional 10 ft lbs of torque. Certainly seems more responsive and powerful.

Sebring Supercharger. I' wasn't sure if I should either supercharge or turbo charge the car. I did a great amount of research and wrote down my findings here. On January 31, 1998 I ordered a BEGI System IV Turbo system from the Dealer Alternative. That day was the last day of the special sale price. The turbo is scheduled to be shipped towards the end of March. The delivery kept getting pushed further and further back. I finally got tired of waiting and order a Sebring through the Dealer Alternative. Click here to go to my Sebring page.

Cosmetic modifications, so far, are:

Installed the Wood Dash package.
Leather Seats.
Wood Emergency Break Handle made by Nardi. Very expensive (about $120), but it is the only handle I could find that was dark enough to sort of match the rest of the woodwork -- it is a perfect match for the Medium Burle woodwork.
Factory CD player. This is an in-dash single CD player, but it is fully integrated into the whole sound system. I also felt that the factory CD player had a better chance at not getting ripped off.
I upgraded the door speaker to Clearwater Coaxial Door speakers. I also installed the Clearwater Headrest speakers. Both speakers are much much better than the factory speakers.
Installed a Viper alarm with door lock actuators.
Installed black pebbled door sill plates from Moss Motors. These are very nice since they are already textured and won't scratch.
Moss Motors Rear Window Protector. This is a nice little accessory which "sandwiches" your rear window. It is felt lined so the rear window doesn't get scratched. The Mazda Miata manual doesn't say anything about needing a rear window protector, but believe me, this will extend the life of the window and make it a lot easier to see through.
Replaced the factory cheap antenna with a black flexible antenna from Performance Buyers Club. The factory antenna had actually started to rust in less than a month after I purchased the car! I've been told the antennas on 97 Miata's are slightly different than the older ones. The base of the antenna is chrome, so it didn't look very nice sandwiched between a black body and a black antenna. I ended up painting it by first attaching the base to my hand drill and turning on the drill. As it was spinning at a high speed, I first touch it with some sandpaper to scratch it up slightly. In order for paint to stick well, it needs a rough surface to adhere to -- if I were to paint the chrome base directly, the paint would scratch off very easily. Anyway, after it was uniformly scratched up, I removed it from the hand drill and washed it real good with dishwasher soap. This helped remove all of the powder and oils on the base. I then put it on my hand drill again and while it was spinning, I painted it with some Mazda black touch-up paint. The result: looks like it was made that way!
Installed a center console padded leather armrest. I like to lean on the center console as I get in and out of the car and to rest my elbow there while driving. The padded armrest makes it very comfortable. I went through a couple different models until I found the one that I liked -- the one from Performance Buyers Club.
Mazda OE front and rear mudflaps.
Rod Millen Club Aerocover. Although this "hard boot" makes the Miata look very very cool and reduce the wind buffetting, it is a pain in the butt to install and take off. I also had a very bad experience dealing with the body shop when they were painting it. I'm not sure if I would do this again. I also don't believe it will fit in the trunk as advertised.

Here are some other changes that I'm considering in the future:

New 15" wheels and Toyo Proxy T-1 205/50ZR15 or 215/45ZR15. I'm not sure what wheels yet. I want something lightweight. I'm not too crazy about Panasport, I hate the look of SSR, and the Volk TE-37 is very expensive.

Tokico HP shocks and lowering springs.
FM Sebring Strut Tower Brace
White guage faces.
Boost guage.
Momo Competition or Pilota steering wheel.
CATZ XLO driving lights
Brainstorm low profile headlights.
High flow header. All headers that I know of do not fit correctly with automatic transmission cars. If you know of one (i.e. you are certain) please drop me a note.

For information on how Miata's compare to other high performance cars, check out my Miata Performance Page.

If you are interested in the Miata, I suggest you start at my Miata links page.

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