Im looking to boost my 1.6L miata. I have looked around net the and found forged pistons for a reasonable price, but rods seem to be on the expensive side. So the real question is....How much boost/hp can stock miata rods take? Would 14lbs be possible with shotpeened/reconditioned rods? Thanks guys!

 

I ran 16 psi on the BBB on my stock rods and made 280 whp. The 1.6 rods are OK. I eventually snapped a rod but that was at 16 psi and a 50 shot of nitrous with some detonation. Not a good combo.

Frank

 

14lbs of boost from what? A T25 or a T66?

Instead of thinking boost, think torque/cylinder pressure. As long as you have a good tune, you'll likely be fine up to ~250-275hp/lb-ft. Plenty of people have done more than that on stock bottom-ends, but you're probably not going to get a long life out of it.