Racing Beat Mazda Miata Performance High Flow Air Intake Kit 1994-1997 1.8L

Racing Beat Mazda Miata Performance High Flow Air Intake Kit 1994-1997 1.8L

This Intake Kit now has 3-4 weeks lead time.

The Miata High Flow Air Inlet Assembly combines the advantages of a low restriction K&N air filter with a smoother air passage into the factory air meter assembly to improve throttle response and horsepower. Designed and engineered by Racing Beat, this handsome assembly, with its polished aluminum casting, positions the air filter cone away from the exhaust header to minimize the intake of heated air. This intake has proven extremely popular over the years with Miata owners worldwide.

Performance
As reviewed by Miata Magazine, "Around 3500 rpm a new pull develops that increases with the RPM. Around 5,000 the power gain is easily noticed over the factory system. The Racing Beat intake will look good under any hood with its curvy aluminum elbow, but under its good looks is a performer."

Sport Compact Car Magazine reviewed this intake in the “The Great Intake Shootout” in the July 2000 issue and stated the following: “This intake was the puzzler of the test. Despite its higher intake temperatures, it remains the power king of the temperature-corrected dyno tests. Due to that fact, it's our favorite. Its hard to argue with the most power, the best sound and the best price in one intake. Plus it takes minutes to install and looks pretty cool.” To review this article, click here.

Dyno Chart
Our dyno tests have shown a 6 HP increase over the stock air filter assembly. This dyno test was conducted on a stock 1995 Miata (1.8 ltr.) upgraded with our High Flow Air Intake.

Only minimal effort is required to complete the installation of this assembly, with all mounting hardware and fully detailed instructions included. Use of the K&N Filter Charger Kit is an inexpensive way to clean, protect and prolong the life of your air filter.

Cruise Control Note: This intake assembly comes supplied with mounting hardware to re-position the factory installed cruise control actuator.

The 1994-97 High Flow Air Intake has passed the California emissions testing test requirements. Each kit includes a CARB exemption decal that identifies the Executive Order number associated with this intake.

Note: We are often asked if this air intake assembly is compatible with a specific aftermarket shock tower brace. For detailed information on the use of a shock tower brace on the Miata, see the additional information tab. With the vast number of aftermarket braces available on the market, we are not certain of the compatibility of these units with our air intake. We suggest you contact the part manufacturer, dealer, club members, newsgroups, and on-line forums to determine the compatibility of various aftermarket part combinations.

Made in the U.S.A.

Miata Shock Tower Bracesb

Over the years we have received many requests for "strut" tower braces that are compatible with our Racing Beat High Flow Intake Assembly kits. For the early models (1990-97) we do not offer a brace, for the later models (1999-2005) we offer a mounting bracket that is compatible with the Mazda factory installed shock tower brace.

Why doesn't Racing Beat offer a "strut" tower brace? Well, since the Miata is not equipped with a "strut" type suspension, we have never been compelled to offer a "strut" brace! Unlike some automotive applications that utilized McPherson "strut" suspension designs, the Miata was designed with a more performance-based front and rear double wishbone suspension.

On many of the early RX-7 applications, which utilized the McPherson strut style suspension, the tops of the strut "towers" were an integral component of the suspension and bore both vertical and horizontal loads of the suspension. Many of these early cars featured upper strut towers that were inboard of the inner body panels and suffered measurable flexing while under load. For these applications, a brace between the tops of these strut towers provided significant structural rigidity. If room allowed, further bracing the towers against and the firewall (a triangulated brace) further added to this improvement in rigidity.

On the Miata application, the tops of shock towers are subjected to primarily vertical loads from the upward movement of the springs and shocks. Adding a brace between the tops of these towers has not shown any measurable handling benefit during our testing.

Can I install a brace on my car?
Sure, why not! They look good and come in different colors, just don't expect much of measurable performance benefit. Besides, the simple design of many of these braces offer little in the way of actual reinforcement. The bends, joints, and angled cross braces are natural flex points that will simply "give" with the flexing of the vehicle. What about bracing against the firewall? Go ahead and grab the firewall on your Miata just behind the engine. The sheet metal is so thin and flexible it offers little in the way of support.

Understand, we are not opposed to the use of these braces, we just have a hard time justifying the price of these units versus any actual measurable performance gain.

Do racers use them?
Some do, and some don't. Since the benefits are very difficult to measure, some prefer to just save the otherwise additional weight increase and go without.

So why did Mazda include them on the later cars? Increasing the rigidity on a car is typically a benefit to handling performance. Over the years we have been privileged to many of Mazda's new production models during the R&D stage and have seen first hand many of the major and minor improvements being made during the prototype stage. Since the introduction of the Miata in 1990, we have seen successive attempts to increase the rigidity of the Miata chassis. In the case of the shock tower brace, we believe that this brace was added to the chassis as part of this upgrade process. This upgrade was just one component of many structural upgrades have been undertaken over the years.

I still want to install a brace on my car with that is equipped with the Racing Beat High Flow Intake, what will fit?
There are MANY of these braces on the market so we can't be sure of the fitment of all of them, but we have been told that a few of these are compatible. For the 1990-93 Miata - None that we are aware of; 1994-97 Miata - Freedom Design, REactive, 1999-05 Miata - Freedom Design, REactive (these are compatible, but the fitment is very tight). The final fitment of any brace with the Racing Beat High Flow Intake is the responsibility of the user.