Ok so I bought my first foreign car! And I am pretty pumped. Everyone that drives these LOVES them and they seem pretty easy to work on.
Few Specs:
1996
Mazda
NA(Platform)
MX5 Miata
5 Speed
101k miles
1.8l inline 4
2200 lbs
89.2 in wheelbase
This thing is going to take a LOT of work though.
The Bad(well... the work): The interior is totally gutted out. It is down to bare metal on the whole car except the doors(which is almost good because he saved me a lot of work by doing that) The guy he bought it off of tried to put aftermarket side skirts on it with expanding foam and painted it with HOUSE paint so he just started stripping the whole thing. Someone cut the cat off of the brand new exhaust that was on it. I'll probably just have my buddy weld a pipe on it for temporary untill i get it painted then get a catback(not full because I have plans for the header/mani portion of the exhaust system;P ). The OBX duals sound AMAZING on these and can be had for just over 300 on ebay. And it is missing a front bumper.
The Good: He is including a $500 roll bar. BRAND new tires all the way around. BRAND new top. Drive train is flawless and only has 101k miles. All interior pieces are present. Seats are in good shape. 5 speed(of course. They didn't make too many autos i read). Body is in good shape. Including a car cover. Lights work perfect.
I am just nervous about the body work. I haven't done too much of it but my plans are to finish stripping all of the paint and getting it to bare metal and then just taking it somewhere to paint it flat black as a temporary thing so I can put it all back together. I am also nervous about putting it back together since I didn't take it apart and all that stuff. It'll be a learning experience for sure. haha.
Pictures will be up sometime tomorrow or the day after.
Oh and I found Miata.net, if anyone knows of any other good forums for these lemme know.
I've been considering picking one of these up as a weekend/track car. Seems like they'd be fun to work on. I'm a bigger guy at about 6'3 230 not sure how well I'd fit in it.. haha
I'm 6'1'' 230 and fit fine. They are kinda surprising. I got it today.... god I am nervous. haha.
I have a friend on that forum. SN is JasonsMX5. His is a 2007 i think. He put a BEGi turbo on it and did some other mods to it like the suspension, gutted interior, and even played around with the tune BEGi gave him lol. That car pulls hard too. I never gave a miata a second look until I rode in his miata. The power potential is there, especially when you get to the 300hp mark and the car weighs 2000 or less lol
300HP is just rediculous.... I just want to DRIVE mine. I may just look for a miata shell to drop my parts into.I don't know if it is worth painting and putting back together.
I wouldn't mind seeing 230-250 out of mine one day. They make really solid turbo systems for these and the engines can last forever if properly maintained. And as you said, mine comes stock at 2200 lbs so 230-300 hp, any of it, is a lot for such a little car.
saw one at pick n pull today.. it had a roll bar, lowering springs and front sway bar.
That would be nice.. haha.
ironically it was a roll over.
Hahaha... wonder if it saved someones life. Prbly didnt have their seat belt on.
It seems like it would be hard to roll one of these.
Ive been looking into one of these too. In for pics. NOW!
I have a LOT going on. Working on the cav today. Shopping for stuff for the new apartment. Hopefully going to the junk yard for a glove box and a few other things. Packing up everything. And then moving tomorrow.
I will try to get pics posted today. BTW the sunfire is looking good with the new hood, from the sig atleast. I still have the rims that look just like yours and they will most probably be on the cav in the summer of next year.
