Austin Mansfield

Hey guys im new to the forums and new to Miatas. I got a 1989 1.6L hardtop Miata about a week ago and currently have only services it and got new tyres all around.

Id love to know what are some good ways of gaining more power thats is sort of cost effective.

Keep in mind in my country and state i cant have a supercharger or turbo charger lol its illegal for my age and licence type.

Id love it for people so share some of there builds and spec with me also!

Thanks

18psi

iTrader: (76)

1.8

Monk

iTrader: (3)

Pretty much...
I have no idea what country you're in, and I wouldn't know your emissions laws anyway, but here is a basic NA power recipe.
Keep in mind, it isn't exactly going to blow you away, but we're dealing with an outdated design here.
Max power with a reasonable budget goes like this:
Megasquirt
1.8 (year of block doesn't really matter)
01+ head (non msm)> 99-00 head > 94-97 head
Square top intake > 99-00 intake all other non-diy need not apply
Racingbeat header
2.5" - 3" exhaust

Lines with multiple entry's are arranged in order of HP gained

Braineack

iTrader: (62)

N/A power is not cost effective whatsoever.

there's a reason this forum is called miataturbo.net and not miataslowcar.com

AlwaysBroken

Since you're probably young and poor, I would focus on doing the following:
1.8 swap + MS3
rear end swap when you have money or when it breaks
injectors when money, retune
clutch when money

You'll get modest gains from just ecu and 1.8 swap and it will prepare your car for when you're able to get a turbo. You need to do everything on this list anyway.

If you're actually rich, you might want to take apart the 1.8 and put in nice rods/pistons/opg/harmonic damper/head/ARP studs before you swap it in to the car. This way when you actually get the turbo, you can run lots of boost. I'd say buy larger injectors if going this route.

Bond

iTrader: (6)

Strip the car and hit the gym, Chubs.