I purchased my Miata new in 1995, and as soon as I got it home I was looking for ways to make it faster. First mods were the run of the mill exhaust and intake mods. I was a poor college student at the time, so I knew I could not afford a turbo. Because I was hanging with the wrong crowd back then (Mustang owners) I was influenced to install a dry nitrous kit. Had a great time with the car until I blew the motor up.Got the car fixed, and soon after that the car was involved in a pretty serious wreck.
First thing I did was do some mild weight reduction. I pulled the A/C out of the car, pulled as many unnecessary brackets and what not I could find, pulled the spare and jack, and removed some of the easy to reach sound deadening. The car was already a base model car, so it already had manual steering and roll up windows. Car still appeared to be bone stock to the untrained eye.
I found a set of tiny 20X8x14 inch slicks that I mounted on a set of junk yard wheels. I also reinstalled the nitrous thinking this time things would be different. I had a great time with the car. I did the local street race scene back then and beat down many unsuspecting Mustang thugs. Back then tuning was some kind of archaic, but I did the best I could. I probably made a few hundred nitrous passes with the car.
One night I went in the 8.20's with a 1.71 60' time in the 1/8th at Lakeland Drag Strip. That normally would be fast enough to go in the 12's in the 1/4 mile. Just about that time, there was a Nationally recognized import drag racing event coming to Bradenton, and I decided I wanted to compete in one of the lower level classes they offered. I took the car to Bradenton to do some testing and to prepare for the upcoming event, and noticed the car was not quite as fast with the tune I had at Lakeland. I decided to push it a little, and raised the nitrous shot a little higher, and put down a best of 13.16 @ 99 MPH. Then the motor let go again.
I will add more to the story in an upcoming post.
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