“Turn a Race Prepped SM into a NASA PTE/E3 Race Car for Under
$2000 and WIN”!
Shawn Sampson
How to take a Stock SM to PTE /E3
EnduroTrim
This power point is intended to show
how you can take a race prepped 1.6l
SM w/ a stock Mazda create motor
and turn it into a winning PTE car for
about $2000. This is only a example
of what we did at Sampson Racing
Communications with our SM car
which was rather old and tired after
years of being raced. For the money
and the fun factor… it is really hard
to beat!
Intake System
Motor Head Work
Megasquirt System
Exhaust Header
Intake System
The intake system was pretty
simple. Any exhaust shop can set
this up for you (see Photo). I used a
3” muffler tube. Weld in a bung for
the Vacuum line and the Air Temp
sensor, mount up a filter and that’s
that. Cost was $25.
I did drill out the running lights
to increase air flow and
mounted the filter in the light
bucker on the passenger side.
Head Work
The head had less than 20 hours on
it. I took it to McKenzie's Cylinder
Heads out of Oxnard ,CA (Todd is
the owner) and had him work his
magic. He cleaned it all up for me,
did a 3-way on the valves and
decked it all for $500. If you know
anything about fast cars and head
work, this guy is one of our country's
best! That being said, your local guy
should be able to do a great job as
well… Just make sure he
understands how to work on race
heads!
Megasquirt System
You can do a lot here but I went w/
the Megasquirt System and a
Wideband LC1. The install was easy
enough (some crimping and zip ties).
The unit replaces your current
computer unit perfectly and was a
plug and play deal. In fact, the map
from the get-go was not that bad and
ran ok on the dyno, just a little on the
lean side. After some dyno time we
had 120hp at the tires w/ the stock
header… Not bad, from 103hp to
120hp for about $1850 including dyno
time up to this point!
Header
Here was the real kicker… I went
with a Raceland Header. It’s a off
brand from Germany for a whooping
$88… That’s right after shipping it
was $112! Figured what the hell, lets
see what it can do. Bolted it up to
the race prepped head and the SM
Springfield Dyno Exhaust on the car
and 5 more HP right out the box!
Back to the Dyno for some more
tuning for torque.
Megasquirt
Header
Spec
Miata
Head
Work
Intake
Get Racing and Have Fun!!!
What I ended up with was a really
fun 125hp - 2250lbs car on Hoosiers!
I went for the HP vs. Weight Ratio
with NASA’s PTE class because
honestly, I’m really happy to drive a
great handling car that is easy on
parts and can kick the shit out of
most cars in a technical track
section… shit any buddy can go fast
in a straight line!
Have Fun and Be SafeShawn Sampson
SampsonRacingCommunications
So after it was all said and done my cost
looked like thisHead Work
$500
Megasquart
Complete system
$1100
Raceland Header
$115
Custom Intake
$25
Dyno Time
$250