Miata Mailing List: December 1997, Message #148
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From: 	Lanny Chambers <lanny@derived.com>

Subject: RE: More HP or More torque (nerdish)

Date: 	Mon, 1 Dec 1997 23:51:41 +0000



On 12/1/97 13:41, Wiseman, Curtis J curtis.j.wiseman@lmco.com wrote:



>So let's put some limitation$ on the equation: if one does not 

>change from the stock ECU but is allowed an ignition retard (say 

>a J&S), larger injectors, an auxiliary fuel pump, and a variable 

>fuel pressure regulator, which is "better," a turbo or supercharger?  

>Let's also confine the discussion to street driving (to eliminate 

>optimization for track conditions and keep it "real-world").



My brother called me over the weekend with a report of driving an 

Autorotor (whose owner shall remain nameless--you know who you are!). It 

had NOT been tweaked with all the goodies--hell, they're not even 

complete as kits, so a "stock" Autorotor won't run at all--and the 

drivability was dismal at low- to mid rpm, IOW street driving. The extra 

load from the belt wanted to stall the engine at every stop sign, and the 

torque curve was full of flat spots...until he opened it up. Then, it 

worked quite well, if not quite as fast as he'd expected.



Obviously, with enough skill, work, and money all these problems will go 

away, no matter which pressure pump you choose. The moral of the story: 

these things are *not* plug-and-play; better budget at least a couple of 

extra thou over the kit price, and better have access to a well equipped 

machine shop (or the money to pay a resourceful machinist) to make the 

rest of the parts you'll need. Oh, yeah: you might want to use something 

else for your daily driver, at least until the *charger is sorted out.



Too much commitment for me, I'm afraid. I wistfully remember autocrossing 

a friend's Griffith 200 once; it was sort of a one-trick pony, but it 

actually distorted my eyeballs enough to blur my vision when I floored it 

at 300 rpm in second gear.



---

Lanny Chambers, St. Louis

'94C. Red, of course.

Team GILTC

Team "My other car is a...er...hmmm...gee, I can't remember..."