Miata Mailing List: June 1996, Message #252
sponsored by



     


   From: KENWALK@frmail.rosemount.com
Subject: Re: Ummm! Leftovers!
   Date: Tue, 4 Jun 1996 14:29:20 -0400

     I really want the chrome Jackson headers!  I have the Genie
     performance headers already, so I'm not really looking for a
     perfomance kick... I just want the look of chrome, and I always
     admired the Jackson quality (have CAI and Jackson exhaust).

     I don't know what's fair... I could pay $150.00, how does that sound?
     Please let me know.

     kjw &
     TIC-TAC  (work phone: 612 895-2057)


______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: Ummm!  Leftovers!
Author:  NOPROP.miata1 at XMAIL
Date:    6/4/96 1:12 AM


I finally figured it out!  For the longest time I kept reading reviews of
the Miata that all went on and on about how nicely integrated the Miata
design is.  You know, the wonderful styling, the snick-snick shifting
transmission, the balance and handling, the perky power plant, all combined
harmoniously using that propriatary Kansei CAD package.  The only problem
was, once I actually acquired Guppy and started living behind the wheel, I
became increasingly puzzled by my dissatisfaction with the available power.
"Gosh, do I have a different meaning for the word 'perky' than what was
meant by the reviewers?"  Yeah, admittedly I did have a Camaro in high
school that got 4 mpg, so I assumed that perhaps I had some sort of muscle
car testosterone poisoning or something.

But then quintessential Miata-head Bill Cardell moved his business from back
East out here to the Rockies.  Talking to him shortly after the move, he
made a remark about the performance hit his cars have taken since the move
to his new high-altitude home (approximately 5000').  BONG!  Finally it
became clear: Those glowing reviews all come from sea level writers
surrounded by fat oxygen-laden air!  Maybe there should be a Road & Track
Denver office.  The puzzle is solved.  I cease feeling like a power pig. The
moral of the story is, the Miata is perky at sea level, but be prepared to
get your wrenches and wallet out if you move up here.

First there was the K&N FilterCharger, and a Jackson Racing header set.
This pair enabled Guppy to slurp much more of our anorexic Colorado air in
and out of his engine.  The results really are a more responsive and zippy
power source, especially at the high rpm's.

More!  More!  I must have more!  Okay, I admit some of my latent muscle car
background bubbled to the surface to talk me into buying the turbo.
Unfortunatly, the installation of that has rendered the FilterCharger and
the headers useless to me.  So here's the deal:  these two items are for
sale.  They are both less than a year old, with only a few thousand miles on
them.  New JR headers cost about $430, and a new FilterCharger system goes
for $175 or so.  It's all in fine shape, except that the chrome finish on
the headers, which was really pretty the first two weeks, has discolored and
gotten funky from the extreme heat of exhaust gas.  Chrome on headers is
really not a real good thing to do.  Apparently JR thinks so too, since they
don't offer a chrome finish anymore (that I know of).  The one caveat for
the FilterCharger is that I am going to keep the little kit of recharge oil
and cleaner that came with it (for use with the turbo's K&N filter), so
potential buyers will just have to come up with their own.

So make offers people!  Drop me a line!  If I don't get a good offer on the
headers, I'm going to cut the mounting plate off, and turn them into a
catback system with quad chrome exhaust pipes.  Don't know what I'll do
with the FilterCharger though; maybe join the Shriners and use it as a fez.

--joseph & guppy