I just came home with the same Miata that sparked this thread when I found it for sale. It's high milage, but I got it cheap and it's had a whole whack of things done/added to it that I would have wanted to do to it and would have ended up costing as much in parts as the car did. Here's what I've found so far:

1. Racing clutch.
2. Adjustable shocks.
3. Aftermarket header.
4. K&N air filter.
5. Euro/clear/altezza tail lights.
6. Blackpunt(?) CD/MP3 player & speakers.
7. 15" After market aluminum wheels.
8. Silly chrome roll-bar.
9. Custom individual coil packs on each cylinder

And of course it came with the hard-top, as well as the rag-roof, which isn't holding up at all bad for it's age. It runs really well, idles smoothly, no complains there. It gave a puff of blue on first startup, but it wasn't oil...its probably the lack of backpressure in the exhaust, its definetely a touch rich while warming up. I havent gotten under there to look at the rest of the exhaust, but it's definetely free flowing, yet not noisy. The wheels need polishing...they look like they have hard-water spots all over 'em.

What else...it needs the wiring for the individual coil packs cleaning up. It needs a bit of body work, but it came with replacement parts for the damage ones, and he even told me where I could go get some matching paint mixed for it. The tires are worn down to the wearbars, so I'll be on the look out for tires (Sheesh, not again), but it'll be fine for the summer. Everything works. Interior is good, only a small rip in the driver's seat to complain about. yep.

And that clutch...yikes! I haven't stalled a car that often since learning how to drive 15 years ago. Have been driving stick 90% of the time ever since, and thought I could drive just about anything...well, I was rudely disabused. Stalled it twice in a row on first take off, and on half of my takeoffs after that. It's gone one mean pressure plate...dang hard to press that clutch in, and maybe half an inch of travel between full engage and fully disengaged. I'm getting used to it, but...

Oh and then there's the suspension. There's dials on each of the struts to adjust the firmness of the ride. It's set on maximum, of course, and there's absolutely no give in the suspension. Its rediculous...and fun at the same time. It probably didnt help the smoothness of my take offs with the suspension having no give. That and by the feel of it, the engine mounts are torn and need replacing, though that could just be the clutch and hard suspension making it so the engine move a lot more than it should. I'll find out when I start tinkering with it tonight.

Sheesh...I don't think he knew what he was sitting on. Other than the high mileage and the bit of body damage, this thing is awesome. I even talked him down a couple hundred bucks. And the weather was on my side...it's stinking hot and sunny here today, perfect weather for the 2 hours of driving I did in it today. It took driving it for all of 5 minutes before I noticed myself smiling. I'm going to enjoy this thing.

quote Originally posted by Stubby79: I just came home with the same Miata that sparked this thread when I found it for sale. It's high milage, but I got it cheap and it's had a whole whack of things done/added to it that I would have wanted to do to it and would have ended up costing as much in parts as the car did. Here's what I've found so far: 1. Racing clutch. 2. Adjustable shocks. 3. Aftermarket header. 4. K&N air filter. 5. Euro/clear/altezza tail lights. 6. Blackpunt(?) CD/MP3 player & speakers. 7. 15" After market aluminum wheels. 8. Silly chrome roll-bar. 9. Custom individual coil packs on each cylinder And of course it came with the hard-top, as well as the rag-roof, which isn't holding up at all bad for it's age. It runs really well, idles smoothly, no complains there. It gave a puff of blue on first startup, but it wasn't oil...its probably the lack of backpressure in the exhaust, its definetely a touch rich while warming up. I havent gotten under there to look at the rest of the exhaust, but it's definetely free flowing, yet not noisy. The wheels need polishing...they look like they have hard-water spots all over 'em. What else...it needs the wiring for the individual coil packs cleaning up. It needs a bit of body work, but it came with replacement parts for the damage ones, and he even told me where I could go get some matching paint mixed for it. The tires are worn down to the wearbars, so I'll be on the look out for tires (Sheesh, not again), but it'll be fine for the summer. Everything works. Interior is good, only a small rip in the driver's seat to complain about. yep. And that clutch...yikes! I haven't stalled a car that often since learning how to drive 15 years ago. Have been driving stick 90% of the time ever since, and thought I could drive just about anything...well, I was rudely disabused. Stalled it twice in a row on first take off, and on half of my takeoffs after that. It's gone one mean pressure plate...dang hard to press that clutch in, and maybe half an inch of travel between full engage and fully disengaged. I'm getting used to it, but... Oh and then there's the suspension. There's dials on each of the struts to adjust the firmness of the ride. It's set on maximum, of course, and there's absolutely no give in the suspension. Its rediculous...and fun at the same time. It probably didnt help the smoothness of my take offs with the suspension having no give. That and by the feel of it, the engine mounts are torn and need replacing, though that could just be the clutch and hard suspension making it so the engine move a lot more than it should. I'll find out when I start tinkering with it tonight. Sheesh...I don't think he knew what he was sitting on. Other than the high mileage and the bit of body damage, this thing is awesome. I even talked him down a couple hundred bucks. And the weather was on my side...it's stinking hot and sunny here today, perfect weather for the 2 hours of driving I did in it today. It took driving it for all of 5 minutes before I noticed myself smiling. I'm going to enjoy this thing.

I guess I didn't read the whole thread. Glad to see you got something you like. I still don't understand, not my money though.

Couple questions. Racing clutch? More specific? Adjustable shocks, is that coilovers? Blaupunkt used to make very nice stuff. I personally HATE the one in my Fiero, I don't think they make their speakers, not that it matters. Cool man, enjoy. Post some photos.

Starting with the damage...

Kid who owned it before the guy I bought it off of apparently slid off the road. Not bad damage, considering.


From this angle it looks just fine!


You can see a large chip of paint missing on the front bumper, from the same incident.


Here we've got the adjustable shocks/struts. I know the brand symbol but would have to go look to figure it out for sure. KYB? someone tell me so I don't have to think.


Here's the rip in the seat. Took another pic of the interior, but looks like I left it on the camera. Oh well. Not much to see.


The engine. You can see the mess of wires going to the coil packs.


The header. Looks stainless to me, with long tubes. Probably a cheap on off ebay. Goes with the cheap chrome rollbar.


The only reason I assume it's got a K&N filter...I don't even have to put the k&n cone I have on to it...


That looks liek a resonator, not a cat, though I could be wrong...


Anyone recognize the wheels? they should be a lot shinier. Is that a word?


And I chucked the hard top into the back of my truck for lack of other easy/temporary, lockable containment.

Thats it. Exhaust dodnt look fancy, but I dont think its OEM, either. Theres lots of little things to do, all the silly little maintenance things people who don't love their cars don't bother to do, and the previously mentioned body work, but not much else. I can't even look forward to buying that cheap header off ebay myself!

quote Originally posted by ls3mach: Glad to see you got something you like.

That's all that matters at the end of the day. I'm happy with it, past that, who cares?

quote Couple questions. Racing clutch? More specific? Adjustable shocks, is that coilovers? Blaupunkt used to make very nice stuff. I personally HATE the one in my Fiero, I don't think they make their speakers, not that it matters. Cool man, enjoy. Post some photos.

I can't tell you much about the "Racing clutch". Probably a spec 1, 2 or 3. I wouldn't know the difference. The guy I bought it off of didn't know or care much about the specifics, since he was going to convert it to electric. It was owned by "some 20 year old kid"...I remember those days, and throwing expensive parts at my car, thinking it'd make it better than the guy's next door...anyway, its stiff as hell, and will grab stupidly hard even dumping it at high RPM. Thats all I can tell ya. For all I know, he just threw in a stronger pressure plate.

See the pics for the shocks/struts.

As to the stereo...well, all i've listened to so far is a bit of static. Its probably not plugged in to the antenna, cuz it doesnt pick up any stations. and i had no cd with me...I do find myself wondering if there are rear speakers hiding anywhere in the car, though.

[This message has been edited by Stubby79 (edited 07-29-2011).]

Bloody hell, I have a sunburn. First thing to buy for the Miata: a bottle of sunscreen.

Any recommendations for what product or tools to polish the rims with?

Forgot the most important thing on my list!

10. Optional cup-holder!

I used this:


To go from this:


To this:

In about 15 minutes per wheel. Cleaned/polished the "water spots" right off. Of course, I used up 3 of them to get all 4 wheels done, but for a couple of bucks a piece, who cares!

They also polish up old sun faded paint too, apparently!

That test patch took about 2 seconds to do, meaning I can get the whole trunk done in about 5 minutes. No fancy polishers or creams necessary!