More power!

So now, its about 2002, just into my second year of Miata ownership. Now that I had a car that handled and stopped great, thanks to the new suspension and ditching the boat-anchor wheels, it was time for some straight line power. Turbos, and superchargers seemed so expensive, and difficult to install, so I added a OBX 4-2-1 header and had a custom Flowmaster exhaust made at the muffler shop. More noise? oh yes! More power? a bit. Thats when I decided to add Nitrous Oxide injection.

I picked up a new Nitrous Express import wet kit off ebay for $350, did a great deal of Internet research, charged the bottle up and installed the kit in a weekend, which was uneventful. Mount the bottle in the trunk, run the lines, mount the solienoids, connect the fuel line, and finally mounting the nozzle in the intake, and then the fun part, going for a ride. First, I tried the 35 shot, wich was a nice, noticable increase, but did not really wake the car up like I thought I would. Next, I tried the 50 shot jets, now thats what I'm talking about! The 50 shot jets made a very noticable increase that really got the car moving. The power was great, but we can always use more, so I soon tried the 75 shot jets. I made this run at night, hit it out on the freeway and KABOOM! there was a loud explosion, and flames shot out of the hood gaps on the intake side of the engine. I thought for sure, my next "mod" would be an engine swap, but luckily the only damage was the stock plastic intake getting blown off. Later, I found out that for the 75 shot jets, colder than stock spark plugs were required, once these were swapped out, I had about a years worth of fun walking off from new Mustang GT's and other musclecars leaving them wandering why they cant keep up with a Miata. Once dialed in, the 75hp jets really made the car fly.