Miata General

>Is the s2k basically a miata, but actually fast?
faster in a straight line stock obviously. but in terms of handling, when i was weighing up the two cars (S2k vs NC) i found it was a pretty even split on forums on the internets between people preferring either car, and i was surprised a few people said they switched from the s2k to the miats and preferred how it drove.

mine has been great to me, 93 1.6, daily driven for 3 years now with 30k added to it under my ownership

only parts that really needed replacing were the original clutch, slave cylinder, thermostat, water pump and a radiator fan

for the most part if you get any sort of weird sound or weird behavior just hit google and you will probably be led to a cheap fix from the miata garage that you can take care of in 30 minutes or will lead you to find the real problem

Got the finish panel done

nice. are you going to leave it badge-less? also
>7-Eleven hot dogs
my nig

Spray gun or can?

Spray gun
goes like this:
epoxy primer
high build polyester primer and block sand
urethane 2k primer as sealer and block again
base coat
urethane clear coat, sand and buff

Got like 800 dollars into paint supplies so far and it's a lot of fucking work but it's coming out really nice.

Haven't decided on the badges or not actually, I'll have to put them on there with a bit of tape and see if it looks good or not.
7-11 also has amazing cookies too, the 7-11 brand short bread fudge stripe cookies are so fucking good.

hope you leave that bitch on daisies at least, a stock mariner blue is one of the best miats imho tbqh

here's mine, posted booty in the other thread
who else /lowmileage/ /bonestock/ here?

>daisies
Hell no, it's slammed on BBS lmao
looks good my man bbs is the true master race, classy as fuck

Thinking of picking up a miata as a project.

What are the top recommended performance upgrades you think I should do first

turbos make everything funner

coilovers and wheels, poly bushings, turbo

what's the obsession with bone stock? imo miatas just get better and better with modification

quality coilovers
sway bars
wide wheels
sticky rubber
rigidity mods

one of the following:
mob mentality, too poor for mods, no mechanical skills

german miat

trying to find it some smaller, 17" wheels.
Getting a little tired of these massive 18" that rub on full lock, and tramline like crazy.

any recomendations? keep in mind its 5x120.

Everything that i've found that isn't oem looks like shit, and i can't find the OEM wheels that look good for my car anywhere. (Style 32 or 17" Style 18)

Trying to find a set of RPF1s for sale, but i can't find them in 17x8.5 anywhere.

The owner of the car found this and the two girls got in trouble

Who knows
Mx5s are absolutely dog shit stock

idk man i just love 90's jap shitboxes in perfectly original condition, just the way they're meant to be

>that feel when no garage to work on/store a project car
>that feel when can't afford house with garage in my area
>that feel when pristine NA miatas are dwindling
>there probably won't be any when I can finally afford a house in 10 years
hold me

used to be up until last weekend
>added a CAI
>waiting on exhaust to not be on back order
this rice aint bad

>just the way they were meant to be

but most stock cars are stifled by bean counters and plebs prefering comfort over performance. miata isn't an exception. my car only got better when I started putting money into it.

I feel the same way about the doritomobile
At least engine swaps aren't heresy on the Miat

no bad luck club? its like you dont want to die

gimme your hardtop goddamn

My dream garage is my current NA with some handling upgrades, and a completely illegal, straight piped, single turbo, anti lag, fire-spitting 13b, yellow fd3s with a raw carbon fiber hood and a big fucking wing. I have a thing for keisuke's rx7 that needs addressing.

I want to turbo the Miata this year. But I'd like to slowly acquire parts and add them as I go to an extent. What mods should I buy first that can be added to the stock motor before it's full blown turbo?

I'm thinking
>MSPNP
>Stiffer clutch
>Bigger injectors

Already have
>Wideband O2
>Aftermarket oil pressure and temp gauge

You're on the right track. The ecu, injectors and clutch are a good call in terms of the first things you should do. Something you may consider is a catback, that you can then hook up to whatever downpipe you end up running. Another thing is any suspension mods you wanna do you should get that done before rather than after.

Yeah I did some other stuff last year
>DIY coilovers
>Torsen
>Wider wheels
>Roll bar
>Hard top
>Full bucket + harness
Did a few auto-x and drift events and am getting bored with her. I absolutely love the way it handles and aftermarket though - so I don't want to give up yet.

Also any way to reduce wheel hop on launch?

Go for poly bushings, that should drastically reduce wheel hop. Also for the previous thing, maybe the frame rail bracing is a good call as well, I've heard it makes a ton of difference in regards to chassis flex.

Same bruh
>tfw live in CA
>no CARB approved sick mawds for FDs
At least the Miat's got a big enough community/aftermarket that there's a CARB approved SC and tarbo kit.

There's a clean as fuck '90 Miata for 5k with 40k miles on it a few miles from me. It has absolutely no rust. Should I get it or hold off until I find a good deal for a 1.8?

That's the beauty of the illegal as fuck rx7. You daily the miata, but then at night you tear shit up in the canyons, in your fast as fuck loud as fuck rx7, and run from the cops if they decide to chase.
It's a bit romanticized, I know, but that's the kind of thing I'd like to do.

>5k
>'90
nah mate, no way. Even if it's perfect, it's still an early one and those came factory fucked basically. For that amount you can get a rust free 1.8 that may need some paint work, but will last you far longer without any major maintenance.

Unfortunately I've yet to see a non rusted NA8 for under 6k that wasn't an automatic. Miata prices seem crazy high around here.

Where you at fampai? Over here in the 3rd world I got a 96 NA8 with the torsen, tan interior, power everything and no rust, babied 80k miles weekend car, for about 7k US with a hardtop.

Southeast USA. There's a 1996 M near my parent's house that I'd love to get, but they want 7k for almost 100k miles. I have been thinking about just spending the extra money on it though.

just bought $700 worth of accessories for my miat and it has some rust spots that i just noticed today smfh!!..dont all miatas tho

Damn, for an M, if the paint is in good condition and it has the hardtop, I'd go for it. The paint on the 96 M is just sex

I agree. Paint on it's amazing and the interior is great other than some cracking on the leather of the driver's seat, but no hardtop. Should I go for it anyways?

If you get no snow, yeah. Otherwise I'd think about looking for a hardtop. If the car is in good condition though, go for it. You won't regret it if it's been taken care of.

I haven't gotten to inspect it closely, but it looks pristine. We got two inches of snow last year, so I'm going to say I could live without one. Though I imagine it'd be cheaper to get a carbon fiber hardtop than to find a matching one if I ever do want to get one.

I also didn't see any rust at the rear rockers when I did see it up close, so I'm guessing it's rust free all around. Are M editions really worth that much more than a regular one?

Nah, you can get a hardtop for around $500, $600 if you want the one with a defroster. I'd get the hardtop just to not fuck up the softtop with the snow. What most people do is buy whatever hardtop they can get their hand on and get it painted with color matched paint at a good shop. In terms of weight, the hardtop's made of smc (sorta fiberglass), so it's pretty fucking light.

Not like a 2-3k premium, but something like 1k extra isn't unreasonable. They got good rims and a really nice paintjob. Especially the M with the bbs rims, that one is really worth the extra investment.

doesn't only the '95 M have the BBS? Some idiot in my city put ricer wheels on a '95 M and sold the BBS on Craigslist for 200 because he just thought they were stock. One of my friends bought then and then flipped them for 800. Shit was hilarious.

I feel like it'd be really hard to match the paint if there was any fading at all. I could be wrong though, I've never needed to color match car stuff.

Yeah that's the 95, in midnight purple or whatever that color's called. I also love that color
What a moron though, a set of bbs for 200? Shit nigga

Yep, he completely debadged the car too. I like the purple more in pictures, but in person I prefer the '94 and '96 more.

merlot mica is what it's called. it's pretty.

So guys I bought my first Miata two weeks ago now, paid $2800 for it. I probably overpaid by a few hundred with all the work it needs but the engine is rebuilt with 80k on it right now..came with a roll bar, mazdaspeed buckets, panasport ultralights, a max shift knob..

Nice mate, hope you enjoy it. Any plans for future mods?
Here's mine, I'm planning on a roll bar, butterfly brace+chassis bracing, some quality coilovers eventually, sparco sprint buckets + 6 points, a set of advanti racing storm 2 in 15x8bronze, and a nice prototipo momo wheel.
After I'm done with the handling mods, then comes the big turbo upgrade.

I already started a thread about this but I figure I'll get more accurate info in this general. So I'm looking at a 2004 mazdaspeed miata, all stock, 137k km for $6700 mechanically fine, clean vin. What is the problem areas on these cars? It seems like a good price for a fun car but I don't want to surprised a week from when I take it home

What road?

This.
First thing I did getting my MX5 was replace all fluids (except tranny and diff, tranny seems fine for now) and threw the stickiest tyres I could afford (Direzza Z2) at it. Corners like a mad cunt, but now the suspension is the weak link on standard 14x5.5's.

Temperaturegaugegettinghotinhere from last thread guy.

Got a thermostat and rad cap to put on tomorrow, hopefully that cures is. Old rad cap is wet under the warning label, thermostat unknown.

If it turns out to be the pump, what else can I do while I'm there? Done timing 500km ago, couldn't afford pump and cap/thermo at the same time.
I'll check the T junction on the housing while I'm there, not sure what else can be done. Timing rollers (if they're a thing) maybe? Got a weird itty bitty supercharger noise when I rev since getting the belt done.

What ? No it's not

msm is good. just read about it miata.net.

What should I look for when buying a used NA, 80,000 miles, full history, £2000 is this a good deal?

You want a 1996+ model for the improved engine.

how is it improved?

lmao it doesn't even matter every miata is slow as balls, don't let the engine be a factor desu.
If you want a miata to be fast you gotta turbo it or swap the engine.

It's the 1.8 engine, is that the ideal choice or the 1.6?

inlandempire.craigslist.org/cto/5551823429.html

Correction on this - the 1.8 came in the 1994-1997 models. The ideal Miata is a 94 or 95 because it has the 1.8 but is still OBD1. A lot of 94-95's in manual with a torsen are a little more expensive because of this.

Honestly look for any 1.8 model with a torsen and as low miles as you can get. Check for rust under the front fenders, undercarriage and lower rear fenders by the drain plugs. Even high mileage ones will probably run a while if the maintenance was at least semi-caught up with.

>asking about a high trim nb
Bro everyone has shitbox na's here they don't know anything about factory turbo miata

lol

all I know is the guy I bought my NA from bought a MSM and later told me he regrets selling the NA.

... Yeah.. I'm sure he didn't.

currently editing some new pix from last night

you want me to screenshot the messages? lol. he said he likes the MSM but he misses the NA. He said he should've just kept both.

Yeah those giant wheels are what drew my eye first and not for a good way lol

Maybe if you can't find z3 oem, theres other bmw oems that would fit?

I can agree with this, my miat was fun as shit to drive while it was stock, and I still want to find a good condition sunburst or mariner blue and leave it untouched.

If it's a "normal" color though (white, red, black, silver) then I say don't give a shit like it's some rare collector gem, and have at it with the mods.

I asked in a recent Miata thread if a car like this would be good to learn automechanics on.

One user gave a very good explanation and tips ("use a tent!"), but I forgot to reply in time.

I'd like to learn to do my own mechanics. After seeing so many great looming Miatas here, I also want to customize it myself (as much as possible).

Now I'm looking a bit at used Miatas (MX-5 over here) but the second hand market is huge and I have no idea what the best base to start with is.

Yes, 250whp is reliable and obtainable for about 3 grand if you're thrifty and do all the work yourself. Just don't let that rust run away on you otherwise it'll become a shit box real fast. Mazda metal is poverty tier and it sounds like you're Canadian. Don't drive it in the winter or it will start to fall apart on you

The Miata is a great car to learn on. It's one of the best handling cars out there, they are cheap, very easy to work on, great on gas and have huge aftermarket. The best par for beginners is almost everything you can do maintenance or mod wise has been documented online. I wish I had bought a Miata as my first car.

As for which one to buy - see here

Honestly look for any 1.8 model with a torsen and as low miles as you can get. Check for rust under the front fenders, undercarriage and lower rear fenders by the drain plugs. Even high mileage ones will probably run a while if the maintenance was at least semi-caught up with.

pic related my shitbox

>that bikini top

god they're SO GOOD LOOKING

i need to buy my damn bikini top already

super low miles on an older may not be the best decision. hoses and shit dry out

Anyone have or know anyone who has a k swapped Miata? Opinions? I know trackspeed is building one.

I've been out of the Miata game for a few years (used to have a turbo NA), and I am considering making a comeback. Not really sure that I want to boost it this time around though.

are bikini tops just clip on? or do i need to take my soft top off? just bought a roll bar and very interested in one for this summer

>Tfw your miata is over retarded

They look good when the car is sitting still but you have to be the fucking hulk to cinch it down enough for it not to flap around and make awful noises at speed

Maybe mine is just old
Maybe I'm a weakling idk

Why? Just why?

Kswap miatas are under 5k, there's a site dedicated to it. K series can go up to 320whp built n/a you just need $$$

There is a slight process to get them on. They attach to the front upper windshield the same way softops do with OEM latches, clip on the rear with the obvious straps and have a middle support bar that most people can't see.

>They look good when the car is sitting still but you have to be the fucking hulk to cinch it down enough for it not to flap around and make awful noises at speed
Wut? Mine is very tight and the straps are adjustable to tighten if it ever did get loose. Do you use the middle PVC support bar? Don't see how it could flap around if it's installed correctly. I've had mine up to 85mph and its rock solid.

the only thing wrong with this is the style bars

that's cheap bro usually people want s2k money because muh mazdaspeed unicorn.

Good lord that is hideous. To be fair though, it looks like it was done well.

Tbh the only thing good about them is the transmission. Best one you can put in a miata. For the extra money you spend on one of these you can buy a super clean NA and turbo it yourself to much better numbers.

That being said thats a good price. Usually they are 10k+ which is absolutely not worth it.

My car is gonna die on me sooner or later.
Is it stupid to buy a Miata NA as a dd?

I'm going to check out it soon, I'm weary of the low price and low kilometres I think it might be fucked and the dude wants to offload it on some one dumb enough but I'm quite handy and have been working on cars since I was 16 (26 now) just figure it's worth a shot since it's factory turbo and I can modify it for more power later on since it's got all the proper plumbing