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Hi! before I delve too much into tearing apart the engine, I wanted to reach out and see other people's experiences.

I just picked up a replica of a 1957 Lotus 7 with a 1990 Mazda Miata 1.6L engine, naturally aspirated, 1999 Miata 6 speed transmission. It's a blast to drive around parking lots and around corners, but I tried to take it to my office the other day, which is 9 miles away, but 8 of which are highway driving. No matter what I did, I could NOT get this car above 71 mph. I have to assume that these cars can do a lot more than 71 because the original engine in a base Miata would do 116 mph, and this is lighter than that.

Is it normal to top out at 71 mph? It was awesome around 15-45 mph, but really struggled at the higher end. We are in Florida, so the highway speed limit is 70, and in this little guy with people flying around me just didn't feel the safest.

If I should be expecting more out of her, I'll be going through the whole engine next with compression testing, re-flashing the tune, throttle cable replacement/tweaking.

Thanks everyone in advance!

Chris

It should get you well over 100mph. What dies your Rev counter say? Could it be a gearing issue?

After that a compression test should tell you a lot. What do the plugs look like? Early miata`s use a flapper valve setup to measure incoming air volume, check that out next.

Graham