One of the greatest cars to break into racing with, the Miata is cheap and easy to modify on your own, and here are the coolest mods you can do!

If you've gotten or are already wanting a Miata, you know that they're a cheap and exciting way to break into track racing, modding, and working on your own car. The first thing you're going to want to do, of course, is to make it as fun and fast as possible since... let's be honest, a stock Miata isn't going to win any prizes. These mods work for every generation of Miata, and other cars like the BRZ, though we're going to focus on the MX-5 with its 1.8-liter or 2.0-liter inline-four.

Instead of watching hours of YouTube videos or sawing off your exhaust above the catalytic converter, here's a comprehensive rundown on what mods work, how much they ought to cost you, and what to expect from them. Every mod does deserve a cautionary tale: anything done wrong can ruin any car, but most of these can be done cheaply by a friendly mechanic or free by someone with access to the right YouTube videos.

The brilliant thing about this is that you do not need a tune, in fact, it would be a waste of money. Also, you can totally put it on yourself! In the underpowered Miata, this is the first step in increasing airflow and one of the most straightforward ways to start increasing horsepower; not to mention it's basically a requirement if you pop your hood at car meets.

Intakes like K&N are well trusted in the car world, and Amazon will make sure it matches your exact car when you enter your car details (assuming it's stock). When you install one, just watch a 5-10 minute YouTube video and make sure there's nowhere for any dirty air to get in!

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This is the back end of increasing airflow in your inline-four cylinder engine. It's also one that also gets you coolness points for the sound quality. This doesn't have to mean getting new headers, though "UEL" or unequal length headers would really make it sound aggressive!

Sound aside, a performance exhaust in a Mitata has a few options to research and consider. Straight pipe, high flow exhaust, tip size, dual-tip, tip color, and mount type (weld or bolt-on) are all things to check on. That said, you could be spending $40 to $600 for a reasonable upgrade. Again, no tuning is necessary.

This is one of the very first upgrades anyone who's driven one bend around a track recommends, and for a good reason. You may not have power from the Miata now, but consider how well you want to turn, stop, drift, or even look! Sporty tires are the best money-per-second-off-your-lap-time you can get.

Wider rims that fit well under the fenders or a body kit will give you all the more grip and again, a more aggressive look. Most people who plan on drifting or racing regularly will have cheap or good-looking rims with cheap road tires to quickly change out for wider or completely different-sized race tires so they don't get wasted too quickly. A common choice today is BBS.

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The most underrated upgrade of all time. You can spend tens of thousands to eke out fifty more horsepower out of your poor four-cylinder just to go faster after a corner. When you can race up to a corner with full confidence, speed for longer, and brake harder you hold all the advantage.

Besides being safer in rear-end scares, brakes give you the power to pass on turns, initiate drifts more smoothly, and handling mid-corner adjustments all the better. On a sliding scale, changing the pads alone doesn't do much. Changing the rotors can do more, like staying cool to avoid warping and weighing less with drilled and slotted rotors. Ceramic will cost more, $500 plus, but perform, weigh, and stay cool better. A full set made to work together will benefit you the best, and if you did upgrade to bigger rims you might fit bigger brakes inside for all the more stopping force.

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A lightweight flywheel won't count you up any more horsepower but it will absolutely help your performance. It's a big factor in allowing your engine to rev up faster as well as rev down. Essentially, in a manual, you're allowing yourself more control of the torque and also slightly lessening the power loss in the drivetrain.

Installation is more difficult but still made easier by it being a Miata. It has an engine most strong men can lift by hand at 290 lbs wet (DO NOT DO THIS, always use a lift). The benefit is you can do other mods not here listed for the engine, like spark plugs and headers, and you can also polish up and even paint the engine bay. A normal decent flywheel will run you $300 including a clutch.

Lowering your car to a reasonable height is a fun way to make it feel sporty as well as perform far better. It reduces body roll in turns and allows for more exact power going out of the wheels. Most inexperienced people can get in there and do the work with basic tools you have or can rent.

The great thing about a Miata is that the springs are small, light, and cheap. A decent complete suspension kit costs $479 on Amazon, lowering springs alone that just change the height the shocks sit at will cost you just $187.99 and around $250 for the latest generation.

The best $0 you can spend is tossing out things like door panels, seats, and unnecessary equipment. It won't be pretty but a full stripped-out Miata can save you up to 120 lbs in a car whose curb weight is just 2,474 lbs. This may be a more aggressive move to get more performance, but things like a broken AC (I mean, it is a convertible), or a passenger seat can lighten it up quickly.

On the spending side, you can make your ride smoother and accelerate faster with lighter wheels and shocks, AKA "unsprung weight." This is the weight that moves before the car reacts, like tires, wheels, shocks, and some suspension components. The "sprung weight" is the weight that fights back on potentially slowing bumps, acceleration, and braking moments. Carbon fiber components are the extreme example, and rarely worth it on older Miatas, but they do add a cool factor.

Related: This Hellcat Miata Is A Whole Lotta Power In A Small Package

There's not much you can't do by simply plugging into the OBD2 port. While you can't get your own Accessport for a Miata at this point, you can take it to a shop for a tune. Normally people do this in combination with the installation of some major components like a turbo or supercharger.

But you can really tune at any point. Granted there are plenty of knockoff and scam plug-in tunes that supposedly go in your OBD2 port, the only surefire thing we've heard of for Miatas is taking it to a real tune shop. Even a stock Miata can get 10-30 more horsepower drawn out just by having the right tune.

Unlike most other cars you'd take to a track, a Miata has such a great setup and aftermarket support system that a pre-built roll cage can be trusted to fit nicely with little or no adjustment for as little as $230 on Amazon. While there are some head-only protective bars that run as little as $80, they tend to not do anything as far as making a frame more rigid or even protecting you, personally.

While there are some full-sized frames that can be jammed inside, there is one head-protective roll bar that will get your Miata track ready and give you peace of mind a convertible just doesn't offer normally, and it runs for $312 on Amazon. It looks good, and while it won't add any body stiffness, it looks great and will pass for most race regulations.

Once you've driven full-force in a racing seat, it's very hard to go back to the barstools manufacturers call seats in their stock cars. When it comes to bucket seats, one size normally fits most but in a Miata, you might need to do some measurements.

For a good, simple seat without the bracket like the NGR Innovations seat, you'll have to set aside $250, and it only weighs 20 lbs! That means, with two you would be saving 40 lbs off your whole car. For fancier seats like Sparco and Recaro, you should expect $450 to $1,500 depending on how light, comfortable, or performance-grade they are.

There's not a lot of time when a Miata would need great downforce, but a nice big back wing can really make a difference on high-speed corners that's hard to ignore. A widebody kit, similarly, is more of a cherry-on-top for your car (assuming the wheels are spaced out to fit). It allows you to turn sharper, grip better, put on far wider tires, and, of course, look cooler!

A cheap Amazon spoiler can be tacked on for just over $100, a decent universal wing can cost around $100, and a good performance wing can run you around $500. To get a widebody kit you must step away from Amazon and turn to more specialized shops. Still cheaper than almost any other car, a Miata Rocket Bunny widebody kit starts around $2,000 new. All fender and bumper kits will fall in that same $2,000 to $6,000 range, and may come with splitters, diffusers, nards, wings, and more! Everything you'd need to make your Miata look new and totally race-ready.

Wyatt is from Utah and likes to bike, ski, and drive too fast. He's written articles on motorcycles and cars for years, and especially likes Japanese cars and off-road vehicles. He has been featured in DriveTribe more than once and some of his content has had over 6.5 million views. He loves Formula 1, Formula Drift, the Baja 1000, and World Rally Cross!