94 Protege classification

[Greg Amy]

The 1999-00 Protege ES is a 122hp 1.8L....

And therein lies the key to its underdog status. Based on what I saw at Road Atlanta, that number is significantly under-rated. Given the same engine as the Miata, with ever-so-slightly-higher compression, only slight differences in intake design, and the additional of open intake and Megasquirt (look what a better ECU did for the 1.8L Miata vis-a-vis 94 to 97) I suggest we're actually looking at a mid- to high-140s-wheel pony car in ITB...just a SWAG, nothing to support that premonition.

When I saw that car, first thing that popped into my head was "that car is the NX2000 of ITB". - GA

[Andy Bettencourt]

And therein lies the key to its underdog status. Based on what I saw at Road Atlanta, that number is significantly under-rated. Given the same engine as the Miata, with ever-so-slightly-higher compression, only slight differences in intake design, and the additional of open intake and Megasquirt (look what a better ECU did for the 1.8L Miata vis-a-vis 94 to 97) I suggest we're actually looking at a mid- to high-140s-wheel pony car in ITB...just a SWAG, nothing to support that premonition.

When I saw that car, first thing that popped into my head was "that car is the NX2000 of ITB". - GA

And during that generation the Miata got changes bumping it to 140hp (the ITS version).

A crazy SWAG for sure seeing as how the Miata's can't touch that number. The 122hp rating is weird for sure given the 128/133 rating of the Miata, then the 140 rating.

[tnord]

Given the same engine as the Miata, and Megasquirt (look what a better ECU did for the 1.8L Miata vis-a-vis 94 to 97) GA

it did precisely "not much" for me.

i got the benefit i expected from the MS, and for the price it's a great product. but it's not the 10hp!!!!!! bump that many would like to believe.

[JeffYoung]

More midrange?

I *think* I have more mid on the MS setup than I did on the Haltech due to better fuel and timing control, and better ability of the MS to read the distributor signal (I was "losing" pulses on the Haltech for some reason).

[tnord]

the biggest bump came in an area of the curve not used during racing. otherwise, the stock OBDII ECU does a very, very good job.

[quadzjr]

after talking to Mike VS and his brother Kip, they saw decent gains on teh older miatas, and according to Kip it was absolutely necessary on the ITS miata. Travis who tuned your car? and how did they do it?

[tnord]

Sam Henry of Springfield Dyno did it.

Done the same way you'd tune any car i'd guess. start at idle, and gradually working your way through the map increasing load and RPM as you go. add/remove fuel until you get to you target AF ratio, add/remove timing until it quits making power.

i did send the sheet to Jerry @ DIY and he said my results are in line with what he would expect for a car working within in the IT ruleset.

and this was as good of a comparison as you can get, with dyno runs done at the beginning of the day on the OEM ECU after already optimizing base timing & fuel pressure, MS plugged in and tuned, then OEM ECU plugged back in at the end of the day immediately after the two best runs with the tuned Megasquirt.

and yes, i would expect the 94-95 miatas to see bigger gains from the MS (or any other standalone) than i did on my 96. remember all that stuff about why the car should be listed based on the 128 number vs the 133? my experience verifies that decision as being appropriate.

[JeffYoung]

Kip and Mike are pretty open about the Miatas. I don't know much about Mike's ITA Miata (don't even know if it is a 1.6 or 1.8) but I do know Kip told me the computer was necessary on the 99 ITS car in order to get it to rev to make power. I think he told me around 160, maybe slightly more, peak rwhp.

My personal view is that the Miatae are strong, nearly unbeatable at Roebling, but weaker at the up/down tracks like VIR and Road Atlanta.