There's been a tuning guide from S&S around for a while, but I've not seen one with the M3W on the front page before, so I guess this is an update. There was never any doubt that the engine can produce much more power if desired, the question is how the current M3W version has been detuned to run at only 75-85bhp (depending on where you look). My money is on a combination of all 3 key areas - intake (quite small, yet good for torque), exhaust (have you seen the size of the tiny holes in the 2 baffles in the tail pipes?!) and map (clearly very conservative). This is a 130-140+bhp engine all day long, given the requisite setup....
..... but whether or not the transmission overall will take that power, is another thing altogether. The compensator was a key part of the design to keep the big bang pulses from damaging the gearbox (which typically expect smooth power delivery in the MX5) and I suspect that this is the weak point, as we've all seen failures on our standard cars. The belt drive will take the power, as proven by countless tuned HD's and I suspect the BB will be OK too, despite its whining protestations.
What we need is someone to embark on a Stage 1 type tuning process for our cars so we can judge the easy gains available (always the most cost-effective) and how they might affect the reliability. My money is on a good increase being available and I'd probably stick to that were a kit to pop up onto the market. Although I've never left a car standard in my life (even my Panda 4x4 runs a Rotrex supercharger that lifts power from 59 to 112bhp on stock internals
), I don't plan to begin a development cycle again, as I just want to spend time driving rather than working things out with it in pieces on the garage bench....
I look forward to seeing how the market develops mind.
