/mg/ - Miata General

Whats your price tag?

no
do you only do short trips

Nope. Try to swap it for an Optima Red Top.

I have a ND as my DD and even when I'm stuck in traffic, I enjoy it because if it's a nice day it's like being in a rolling lawn chair. On a bad day it's like sitting in a rolling tent. Since I like being outdoors a lot, either works perfectly for me. But, I live in an area where fun roads are everywhere, and I can usually work one into my commute each way. If I didn't, I'd probably have gotten a CX-5 and a heroin habit. I seriously can't think of the last time the car's lack of cargo room impacted me.

As for rain and ice and stuff, that's okay, too!

What's the average mileage for when your engine and tranny die?

I drive usually once a week since it's freezing balls.

I have about 5k, but I will probably get a little more from work.
Alright thanks man, I'm looking for a car that's fun

Are u talking about the fender?

It's easy bro, just fuckin unbolt the old one and bolt on the new one. The hard part is making it line up like it did from the factory. If u buy the part ur self should only be like 200 dollars at a place who like respects u ha

How easy are NAs to repair? I only know basic maintenance but I'd like to start learning how to wrench on my car

Get a 300z bro. You can find clean ones that blow the doors off miatas for 5k.

4k on car+1k on tuneup, wew lad plebs are eating dust.

Till you need to do any work on that V6 and you'll want to kill yourself

been looking at this car: denver.craigslist.org/cto/d/1996-mazda-miata/6456509055.html

owner told me it has no cat so i'll have to install one to pass emissions where I live. he sent me better pics of the rust spots and while it's not too bad right now it will need to be repaired

my browser decided to post this before I finished..

was going to ask if anyone is familiar with rust repair costs. it's on the sills and rear quarter panels up maybe 2 inches on both sides, pretty spotty. is it worth pursuing farther or keep waiting?

Not for that price. For like, $2000 maybe. If you can see rust on the sills at all, it's far deeper than what you think. Also, the upholstery job on those seats is fucking terrible.

roger that hombre

and yeah they did a poor job

i got my miata month ago and i still can't stop getting excited over it. i dunno if you'll appreciate is as much as i do since it's your first car (so you have no comparison), but it's just such an amazing car for fun, so precise and predictible on a small track, so exciting when you rev it over 7k.

you won't be able to carry couple of your friends, you won't be able to sleep in it, you won't be able to do anything practical, but then again you won't care because you're grinning like a retard every time you use it

All of this.
Got mine back in October and just recently got it up to the point where I can drive it whenever I feel like it.

Honest answer, not difficult or expensive for mechanical repairs but the biggest issue with these cars is rust if you live anywhere with a salty climate or drive it on winter salted roads and that shit is an absolute bitch to deal with.

I think he's talking about the swipe to the driver side front in that car in particular m8

My 1.6 died at around 217k, it had over 20k miles of redline burnouts and drifitng, major bolt ons on engine as well. (Cam, intake,header,exhaust, porting, injectors, etc.) Honestly if any miata motor is maintained well it will last at or more then 300k, its beating the piss out of them or bad maintinance that shortens life.

Easy when compared to other cars. Good and forgiving platform to learn on, plus they have been out for so long that every bit of info needed is online. I vote 8/10 for starting/learning car.

Ayy, care to go into a bit more detail about what you had on that 1.6 and how much it was making?

t. building a 1.6 soon.

20 grand? My buddies and I were able to do it for about 500. All we needed was an afternoon and we were good to go.

Fuck I posted it in the wrong thread
What's the deal with the door sill on the NA? Most cars I see have a black panel but some cars have a body coloured panel. For example, the photo here is black but the link has a body coloured panel
>carsales.com.au/cars/details/Mazda-MX-5-1991/SSE-AD-4129739/

black panel was probably replaced due to rust and never painted to match. they come painted from the factory

>looking for miat
>have to dig through facebook for people seling there
>everything is listed as automatic despite the pictures showing manual trans
>no way to sort out the slushboxes

REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

also I assume if someone is ONLY listed on facebook they are normies that can be talked way down ?

I have wondered this also before. The only thing I could come up with is that on early na's they had a very thick layer of paint on the lower sides of the car to protect from dirt and rust. They might have put the black strip in as part of that. It also could have been a design choice as the sill sits lower than the front and rear of the car, notice how the black stops where the bumper starts. Sort of strange but if you put a black front and rear lip on the black sill lines up pretty well.

>early na's they had a very thick layer of paint on the lower sides of the car to protect from dirt and rust
obviously that didn't work :&)

Mine came black on red from the factory. 1990. IMO it's to keep the line from bottom of front bumper to bottom of rear bumper straight, the lower doors were painted with a rubbery undercoat as well but they stopped doing that. Could be the same thing, chip deterrent.

Alternatively, it just is like that.

ah ok well I must have been mistaken. I believe na8s came color matched

The NA8's probably did, since they started in 1993.
They started and stopped a lot of shit over the NA range.

Personally, I think the black rocker panel looks sleeker.

I don't think the na8s were colour matched, I've seen so many without
The user link from the post was an na6 and was colour matched

The r-package came color-matched

i intend to buy (one day) second open diff for my 1.6, weld it (i can do it for cheap), and then keep replacing diffs whether i feel like having fun. am i retarded or is it really this simple?

cheapest mx-5 lsd costs 2500 of my local money units, open diff to weld costs 300. i have couple of shitty tyres to put on rear, i have means to replace diff and weld it. Am i missing anything?

I've given up trying to buy a used Miata because it's fucking with my mind turning me into a mental case. I can never find something that's good enough, always something to nitpick about it. I wish I could afford to buy new.

lol its a fucking car. a cheap sports car at that, its not a fucking GT3 RS

buy a used one and modify to your tastes

I know but as cheap as it is it's still nearly a year of savings for me. And even if it wasn't, I'm just weird like that, I can't just buy something and enjoy it.

>want and could buy ND as DD
>would feel bad commuting in it because commute is less than 10km

>tfw my commute is 20 KM of winding country road

wanted to do the same, open diffs are like 150-200€, the torsen ones are like 400 + propshaft and cv axles and have longer gearing, which I'd like to avoid while still having stock power
or buy a maruha for 800€

NB owners is the 1.6 enough or should I go for the 1.9 (well 1.8 plus change)
What is it like... 35 HP? Would it make a big difference?

...

What year was it? Also how's the suspension on these cars? I live in socal but sometimes there's pot holes or nasty dips

it's definitely a difference. think about it, 30hp is around 1/4 of 1.6 engine power. i'm pretty sure you can clearly feel 5-10hp increase, not to mention 30.

as a 1.6 nb owner i'd love to have more power, but then again i definitely wouldn't reject a good 1.6 offer. i'm having lots of fun on track with my 1.6 and the only anyhow bad thing is how hard it is to drift it, you have to keep revs really high and clutch kick a lot. open diff doesn't help either

Do YOU?

how can I tell whether an nb has VVT or not?

afaik nbfl engines have vvt, nb ones don't

related question, is vvt even mechanical feature? it doesn't change valve stuff like how wide it opens, it doesn't change peak power, so i'm wondering if it's even mechanical thing or just ecu delaying ignition or whatever

This. Why go with the LS1 when you could have the LS2 of LS3

>is vvt even mechanical feature?
AFAIK it shifts the entire intake camshaft into a more advanced position to take advantage of the intake velocity/intertia.
It may not change peak power but id bet it changes torque in other areas.
If it does nothing, it may somehow be related to Emmisions compliance, maybe allowing them to run a smaller cam and advance it when high airflow is needed to achieve the same flow rate

>advanced
Sorry retards. The intake camshaft normally retards at high RPM and advances down low

where do you live user and what job do you have?

looking at this car, it's listed as a 97 M edition but the color doesn't look right for an M edition, and the interior is black and missing the M edition badges, and no 'M edition' on the tach.

Am I right or going crazy here or is this definitely not an M edition?

found this 94 miata on craigslist going for 1200 and its in pretty decent condition. worth a buy for something to work on?

Only if you're REALLY into working on it and probably spending more money. For that price I doubt its condition is decent.

that's what im worried about too, im going to go check it out later since it's not too far away from where I live and I feel there's gonna be something big wrong with it, but it's worth a trip.

Doesn't sound like it is. Maybe you could look up the vin.

he posted the VIN -- is there a way to tell what options it had? It's a 97 VIN at least, dunno how to go further without calling Mazda though

why do so many miatas have disgusting chrome wheels. were they really popular in the 90s or something?

If you had the option to buy either an NA or a aw11 to be a daily driver, which would you pick?

I live in panama, and used sports car options are severly limited, however there are more in costa rica, and I'm not that rich to fly out to the us and import.

I rebuild mine. Swapped rear quarter panels, sill parts, a lot of custom parts.... You're in for a wild ride, kid.

Update : I finally extracted the bolts. Now the front wings are replaced, I'm working on the fiberglass bondo to make it smooth...

Next, fast windows. Since my doors are in my apartment I'm taking the mechanism apart, clean the rails and replace the silicone grease

That dent looks like it might be able to be fixed with a dildo.
My only concern would be that it's too close to that corner and not in the center of a large open area of the panel.
Definitely worth a try.

it's almost looking like a (happy) car again

Hey user, what kind off garage is that? How much do you pay for it?

It's just an underground box under my apartment complex. No light in the box, no electricity so I have to run a fucklongwire.

I don't pay for it specifically, it's part of the rent...

But in my city a garage like this runs for 50 to 80$ a month

Still pretty sweet even if electricity is a pain. Can't really find any place with a garage in my city (at least not in my budget)

Yeah, I can store my motorbike, two pedal bikes, all of my tools AND the miata. Too bad that my volvo has to sleep outside...

But yeah, this garage is the very reason I live in this complex hehe

pls sirs, I would like some counseling regarding this.

what do you want to know user ?

I should make a blogpost somewhere, I posted all the shit on Veeky Forums but the data is now lost... I searched all around this kind of story before doing it but no luck

i wouldn't pick such an old cars for a daily but if i had to i'd be the miata simply because it will be way easier to fix if something breaks

Probably one of the reasons the Miata is the least reliable convertable on the market.

I would get a quote and if it's over 800ish I would just buy a new fender and bumper

something's with the car
unless you have ND, then that's normal lol

Pretty much just this, if you had the money, to buy either of those cars which of those would you choose, and for what reason.

The engine layout seems to be troublesome to work on mr2 then?

Well let's say I buy it for a weekend car, would that change your choice a little?

How much have you guys needed to put in to get your cars up to daily conditions?

I'm a really big fan of all the mr2s, but just lately on how cheap people are selling miatas, its starting to make me consider buying one.

>The engine layout seems to be troublesome to work on mr2 then?
ye
also, way smaller aftermarket and parts are harder to get
not an ideal situation if you want to daily it

>Well let's say I buy it for a weekend car, would that change your choice a little?
not really
i'm actually getting aw11 in the near future, but if i only had to pick one car i'd be the miata
however the cars are quite different and not exactly comparable

>How much have you guys needed to put in to get your cars up to daily conditions?
not much and i didn't have many problems through the years i've owned the miata, though i don't daily it
nevertheless since it's an old car you need to be prepared

Thanks for the reply friend. So mainly based on availability of aftermarket parts, you're willing to say its better to get the NA?

How much are those NA hardtops worth anyways? It's definitely going to be an inevitable purchase due to how much it rains here.

Also, I just have the crushing mental image of the NA being severely under-powered compared to the mr2 family, how wrong am I in this sense? This is the other side that is keeping me away from NAs in general.

I've had cars that were basically mine (used daily for half a year plus), but nothing my own. The smallest car I've driven was a silly '12 focus se, I enjoyed driving it just for being small so I'm leaning towards a Miata.

LIVING. THE. DREAM.

I've owned both and sold the Miata. that being said a Miata is easier to work on. they're about equally reliable, but a front engine is always easier. AW11 was much more fun IMO

AW11 and NA mr2 are equally slow

But which is the slowest at complete stock?
Great info friends thank you!

The miata hands, down. I'm actually in costa rica, and we do have a bunch of miatas. Expect to pay around $5k for a decent one

Hello costa rican friend, know how the export laws over there? Heard panamanians can just up and buy them and just drive them back.

You guys sure do take care of your sports car.

Getting my new 15x7.5 +35's and Nankang AR-1's tomorrow can't fuckin WAIT.

what is the widest tire I can put on my NA without looking like a total mexican? what would the wheel size/fitment be?

Most people are more than happy with a 15x7 +35/40 offset and tyres that actually fit, i.e not stretching the fucking things. Only guys with a turbo/track orientation bother with 15x8+

>Live in leafland
>ND RF is more expensive than a mustang GT
Fucking why

same in the US. The GT has higher MSRP but is always discounted a few thousand while the RF isn't. Truecar says you can get a GT in my area for $30k and some change while an RF is $31k and change.

A pic from the summer. Went for a haircut and parked my RF across from its grandpa

Unsolicited car story time.
This is what I sold when I put my RF order in

And this is what I sold when I bought the Boxster

And this is what I sold when I bought the BRZ

Anyway, sorry. I'll stop now.