Miata Mailing List: January 1998, Message #180
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From: 	Andrew Platt <ajplatt@ucdavis.edu>

Subject: Re: NA power and non-NA power

Date: 	Fri, 2 Jan 1998 17:24:08 +0000



	Aaron wrote:



> My plan is to produce a normally aspirated 160 to 170 hp!!...ambitious

> huh...especially since I want the package to be streetable.... so a

> rebuild is in the works. .020 over size pistons and raising the C/R to

> 9.5 to 1, and some work on the head...three angle valvle job, port

> matching the intake and exhaust..cc'ing the chambers, coating the piston

> tops with ceramic heat



	160hp should be attainable with a 1.8L, at least for a peaky

motor, torque will be the hard part.  If I were going to put in new

pistons I'd go with a little more than 9.5:1 CR.  Run the 92 octane

and go with at least 10:1.  Head work done right can get major

power and torque, but I don't know how the B6 or BP respond to such work.

Looks like it's time for Aaron to make a call back to Japan and see what

the folks with the road race cars are running.  I know there are more than

a few Mazda and/or Miata specialists.

	Now to the abnormally aspriated world.  I'm looking for a few

opinions on how I should take my next step up.  Come summer time I should

be taking a trip into the turbo zone (as long as someone wants to hire

me and my new B.S.)  Options are the FM Turbo or a custom setup pretty

analagous to it, or I can look into a rotary swap.  13B-REW (twin turbo)

would be my first choice, but I may settle for the 13BT if I couldn't find

one.  Of course this would take a lot of work, which I'm willing to do, 

and there's a whole bunch of legality issues, which I'm willing to 

ignore ;), but it is something semi-different.

	Another reason I'm thinking about the rotary besides the fact I

personally like the motors is that I have a 1.6 so I'm already at a power

disadvantage to the 1.8's and that by the time comes, I'll have around 90K

on the clock.  I haven't done any testing yet but the possibility exists

that I'll have to do some maintainence to make the motor turbo ready.

This will just add to the costs.

	So my question is which would y'all out there do?  Assuming that

the rotary will fit, etc. how many would be willing to forego the original

spirit of the Miata for rediculous amounts of power and drive a car looks

like a Miata but 'isn't a Miata' as some would call it?