Turbo or Supercharger

Now that I was living in Jersey City and walking everywhere, having both the CRX and Miata was unnecessary and expensive. I had to pay $150 a month for an outdoor parking space for the CRX. I was also ready to take the Miata from NA to forced induction. It was time to let the CRX go.

I decided to take the unconventional approach to selling the car. I decided to use eBay. I listed the CRX on a seven day auction starting at $999. I was hoping to get $1500. I put over 60,000 miles on the car in less than two years. The AC stopped working and it was a matter of time before the car really started to fall apart. On Day Two of the auction, someone reached out to me asking what I would take to remove the car from the auction so he could buy the car. I told him I would do it for $1800 and he agreed. He sent me a $500 deposit and scheduled to meet me at the Newark Airport. He flew in from Oklahoma or something, we drove to my apartment, signed paperwork and he drove CRX home. That was pretty risky on his part, but as far as I know, he made home with no issues.

So now I that I had some money it was time to spend it!! I knew what I wanted, but didn’t know which way to go; Turbo or Supercharger. I was eyeing up the Jackson Racing Supercharger and the Flyin Miata FM2 turbo kit. After much deliberation, I decided to go with the JRSC. The main reason was because I didn’t want to have to go to a 3″ inch exhaust pipe, replace my clutch with something stronger and deal with something that was considered more difficult to install.

I ordered my supercharger from BRP Performance. They were the supercharger experts at that time. My supercharger came with a smaller pulley to create a little more boost. Whenever you go forced induction, you will always have to upgrade a bunch of components. The JRSC was no different. Before I did anything, I replaced the timing belt, water pump and pulley with my mechanic friend. I also had to remove the Racing Beat header and go with a JR header because of the way the pipes were routed. A couple of weekends later, we tackled the supercharger. First, we upgraded the fuel pump to handle the extra fuel. Then we bolted on the supercharger. Installation was about 8 hours. The following weekend we installed an ACU (a programmable piggy back to the ECU) and finally a boost gauge and air/fuel gauge.

The new power was awesome and after messing with the ACU and finding the sweet spot, the car really ripped. There is nothing like a supercharger whine. It’s badass. The JRSC was right at home in the Miata’s engine bay. I wish I had pics, but they were all lost on an old computer. The car remained as reliable as ever. The car acted totally normal until you got on the gas. By this time I had a lot of time and money invested in the Miata and as a result, I was always nervous that something was going to go wrong with the car. I wasn’t enjoying the Miata like I should have been. I was worrying about it. Overreacting every time I heard a noise, concerned every time I hit the gas. I was realizing that I built something that I never wanted. I had a weekend car, that I only drove on nice days and only drove it to nice destinations. Quite honestly, it wasn’t fun anymore.