Could it be - the Miata is not the car I thought it was!

This is a partial brag because I spent all evening working on it, but also a revelation. Turns out my little 1.6 Miata is a whole lot better than I'd ever thought.

The PO did the timing belt, but apparently not well, because the intake cam (or exhaust, I forget) was off a whole tooth. Hours of reading and video tutorials later, and 5 hours of work later, crossed fingers....

I love it. 110% difference. It feels like it has twice the amount of power up to 4k. It pulls the same as it did in the high revs, but has the torque to actually get me up HILLS now! And kick the back end out, and rev instantly without lagging. It's like I got a free 100hp upgrade. Who knew.

I'm damned excited. I've been looking at other cars just because it's been SO slow. Looks like it was hiding its true self.

I give it two months before I want more power, though....

awesome!

Did someone say "more power"?

Maybe the NA i was just working on has the same problem. It was depressing below 4k rpm.

there's a simple trick for some ignition advance, a bit more free torques! check out miata.net garage.

for power, there's a million turbos and supers for it, easy to find used.

Vigo wrote: Maybe the NA i was just working on has the same problem. It was depressing below 4k rpm.

Mine had a pretty obvious stumble off idle, and would lurch and hesitate all the way to 4k.

Oh, well this one seemed to be running great. It may still have had a problem (i wasnt being paid to go looking) but nothing that obvious.