Mazda MX-5 NA Valved Exhaust System (1989-1997)

The Mazda MX-5 NA exhaust in detail.

The first MX-5, the NA from 1989 to 1997, launched a simple idea: a small, light, rear-wheel-drive roadster in which driver and car become one. The Japanese call it Jinba Ittai, the unity of horse and rider. Its naturally aspirated four-cylinder, 115 hp and 148 Nm in the version described on the page, lives for revs.

With the roof down, you listen to every mile, which is why the MX-5 community so often starts with the exhaust. On the NA, the Rog valved cat-back replaces an exhaust that kept the engine singing under its breath: a clear, mechanical voice that livens up as the needle climbs, little crackles on the overrun, then calm again as soon as the valves close. Before manufacturing, we identify your roadster from its VIN.

On a roadster some thirty years old, the absence of welding is reassuring: clamps and gaskets are enough, in about two hours, with the factory valve control if the car has it, or the Rog remote and its small box.

The page also offers, under the “Manifold” option, the part between the engine and the cat-back that carries the catalytic converter, but on a 115 hp four-cylinder nobody is looking for another hundred horsepower, and an accompanying ECU remap would only bring around 3 to 8%. For a collectible NA taken out at weekends, the 200-cell is the one that keeps emissions control, a 100-cell will be accepted or refused depending on the car and the rules in your country, and the decat version only makes sense for track use. Titanium, around 40% lighter than 304 stainless steel for the same design, wonderfully extends the roadster’s lightweight philosophy.