Miata Mailing List: June 1997, Message #115
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From: 	"John Freas" <jfreas@gte.net>

Subject: Re: Lots more power without p/s?

Date: 	Mon, 2 Jun 1997 14:35:04 -0500



Previously on Lots more power, Nick Rayner

<NRAYNER%BDG8.Trimble@ngmsmtp.Trimble.COM> said...



> I have a couple of questions that that arose after driving a 92 lastnight



> - wonder if someone could help. The main thing was this car seemed 

> significantly more powerful than the two other I've driven. Where as the 

> others seemed sort of "acceptable" at best in terms of acceleration, this



> one really pinned me to the seat when I wound it up - it picked up much 

> faster and was quite exciting. The cars I have looked at were all 91 or 

> 92, and this had the highest miles (50k). The most obvious difference to 

> the others were that this was the first without power steering - could 

> this account for the significant power increase? Also, I think the 

> exhaust looked larger than usual, and it had non-std wheels that had been



> on from new. Could these make much difference? Another thought was that 

> the wheels may have been a little smaller than std (the arches looked 

> more empty) - maybe this was it - more acceleration but higher revs at 

> speed? BTW - The last two cars I tried were both red, so it couldn't have



> just been the colour ;-)



The absence of power steering wouldn't likely produce any noticeable

difference in acceleration.  It sounds to me like the '92 was owned by an

enthusiast who put on some aftermarket stuff.  My guess based on your

description is that it likely has an aftermarket cat-back exhaust, which is

usually good for a few hp.  The timing is probably advanced, which gives a

very perceptable increase in pull, and there may be additional things you

didn't notice.  For example, if you looked under the hood you would have

noticed a supercharger or CAI, but did you notice an aftermarket header? 

All these things can of course be added to the other cars, but dollar for

dollar, the '92 saves you the time and effort.



> Also, here's a long shot but what are my chances of picking up std 

> factory allows for a 92? Where would I start looking and what price could



> I expect to pay? I think I've seen an ad on this list in the past once 

> before.



Chances are pretty good.  The same alloys were used for 1990-1993 cars. 

The center caps were the same except for 1993 when they got the toilet seat

instead of the name Mazda.  I remember seeing some for sale on miata.net in

the classified section.  With tires mounted expect to pay between $300 and

$400 plus shipping.  Without tires, $250-$300 is typical.



	-John



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John Freas (jfreas@gte.net)

Red '90 Base #7690

Deer Park, Long Island

Team Roebuck

Team Voodoo

Team "I have no idea what those dimple things on the windshield frame are

for."

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