Life after Nitrous Oxide

Fast forward to 2003, I had been enjoying the nitrous for awhile, but like any drug other drug, after you've been using it for awhile you feel like you need it all the time. I saved my money and decided to buy a Jackson Racing SuperSharger (JRSC), which is an Eaton M45 blower, which comes set up to make about 5 pounds of boost for a modest power increase.

I found a used JRSC on miata.net classifieds for $1200, which was a good price at that time when this was pretty much the only SC kit on the market for my car. I installed it in a weekend with the 5psi pulley, JR Fuel System, and a MSD timing control unit, and was extremely dissapointed with the power output. Sure it was more power, but it felt about like that 35 shot of nitrous, just availale all the time. I immediately looked for a way to get more out of this little supercharger, so I picked up a 60mm supercharger pulley (stock was 67mm). This made a DRAMATIC difference in power! Boost pressure went from 5psi to 11psi, and hit very hard at much lower RPMS. I now had the power I wanted. The only problem was, I had to severly retard timing to prevent detonation, and this limited power in the upper rev range. Later on, I added an Air to Air intercooler to combat that problem.

JRSC at 11psi. Also notice the nitrous solenoids

It had also gotten to the point that I decided to buy a new daily driver, know as OTM, or "Other than Miata" in the community. Because the Miata was now modified to the point that I did not want to drive it every day, so I picked up a new 2003 Ranger Edge. I loved this truck, may it R.I.P. - but thats another post

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.

Photos, And updates

Its been awhile since I updated, but its all ancient history anyway. I went back and added some photos. I doubt anyone has bothered to read this, but if you have, don't worry, I'm still here and will get it up to date some time this century.