[Caconman424]

Update!

After an 8 hour drive to South Dakota last night, i have finally found myself a very nice mariner blue miata. Picked it up for a good price from a cool guy who has meticulously maintained it. It has 135000 miles, had timing belt change and a few other things less than a thousand miles ago, and has nice upgrades like the viscious LSD, speakers in the headrest, cruise control, power windows, ect. So it is official, I am a miata owner now

PICS! (I need to move some cars around so I can get her out of the snow in the garage)

Hey guys,

I am a seasoned forum user but far from being a seasoned roadster user. In fact, I dont even have one yet! I am currently in the market for a used NA Miata project ranging in the $1,500 to $3,000 area. Anyways, this isnt a WTB thread so I'll carry on...

I am a 21 year old located near the heart of Minneapolis. I was never a huge Miata lover until recently. As I began to study and understand mechanics, I started to discover the beauty of these machines, the potential they have, and my curiousity has sank me into a search for a relationship with one of these gorgeous cars. (Am I getting too sappy?)

I just wanted to introduce myself, learn all I can about these cars and get to know these forums a little.

Nice to meet you all!

 

[blackdbl9NB]

Welcome to the forum from another upper midwesterner.

 

[(Adam)]

Welcome to CR, be sure to post pictures of the first Miata you get. 1990-97s are the best.

 

[33oh]

Welcome from a fellow noob!

 

[winlowe]

Welcome aboard

 

[kumar oc]

Greetings the miata is a wonderful machine it may not be the quickest car on specs but its a ball of yarn in the turns and fun to drive in general . So hows the weather over there?

 

[Caconman424]

Thanks guys for the warm welcome!

Weather was great here until today. We just got 3" dumped tonight and another coming tomorrow

 

[ohsixspeedsix]

Welcome to CR from a fellow Minnesotan. You should also check out MNMazda once you get one

Yeah the weather tonight is discusting. Nasty wet slushy heavy snow. Not good miata weather lol. But thats why I have an MS6

 

[freshbuzz]

Yeah the weather tonight is discusting. Nasty wet slushy heavy snow. Not good miata weather lol. But thats why I have an MS6

I had to drive back to Rochester after a concert in Minneapolis last night during the snow. needless to say, I was pretty happy I have a subie as my daily

 

[Caconman424]

Bump for pics of the new ride!

 

[ohsixspeedsix]

Looking good man. What's the plan with it now?

 

[brontosaurus]

Awesome :3. We typically have a meet in the summer around Calhoun, so you'll have to show up!

 

[freshbuzz]

Nice! Looks like you have a nice base to start modding the car if you want to, although that color blue has never really appealed to me

 

[Caconman424]

Ya. it's a perfect base car for modifying. My plan is tastefully add on while maintaining a very clean look similar to stock. First things first though, I need to make her a little safer with a roll bar and saving for a hardtop. After that, I would like to get some nicer wheels, but nothing to flashy and update the interior a little bit (it's a little tattered inside, but what can you expect from a 20 yr old car). I dont want to go to crazy with it, as it is my daily driver, but want to do some performance upgrades to just nothing higher than basic bolt-ons like exhaust, intake, and headers. Also I want to tighten up the suspension a little with a few braces and possibly in the future, coilovers, but we'll get there. In the end I want to make this car to have people doing double take looks at it. Something not noticeable, until you look closely and realize how it looks. But this obviously will take time. Safety first is my top priority.

Where can I find more info on the Calhoun meet? That's about 10 minutes from where I work

 

[freshbuzz]

^^ don't bother with intake/headers - they don't do much of anything performance wise. The only intake really worth doing is a 'randall' style through the cowl and the gains are minimal ie <5hp. Exhaust is pretty much sound only. I'd save your money for suspension/chassis upgrades.

 

[Caconman424]

^^ don't bother with intake/headers - they don't do much of anything performance wise. The only intake really worth doing is a 'randall' style through the cowl and the gains are minimal ie <5hp. Exhaust is pretty much sound only. I'd save your money for suspension/chassis upgrades.

Wow really? I did not know that there was that minimal performance gains. Thanks for the tip. so is it forced induction, engine swap or forget it?

In that case I'll probably get an exhaust and call it good.

 

[freshbuzz]

^^ pretty much. It's still a very fun car to drive, even more so with suspension upgrades, just don't expect to beat anyone off the line. Once you get into the higher rpms, there's more than enough pep for daily use.

 

[brontosaurus]

^^ don't bother with intake/headers - they don't do much of anything performance wise. The only intake really worth doing is a 'randall' style through the cowl and the gains are minimal ie <5hp. Exhaust is pretty much sound only. I'd save your money for suspension/chassis upgrades.

Pretty much this. Megasquirt (roll DIYPNP or MS3 at this point) will let you remove the AFM/tinker with AFR/timing which is pretty easy gains after you learn how to use Tunerstudio. As freshbuzz said, if you plan on doing I/H/E, buy the cheap stuff (diy Randall, Raceland headers, exhaust I don't know much about).

There is some pretty easy stuff to remove dead weight (pulling the spare is an easy 15-20lb), get rid of the baby teeth if they're not gone already, etc. A nice strut tower brace (don't get the shitty eBay ones) will help some with NVH, along with front and rear subframe braces. The Calhoun thing we haphazardly organized last year and it turned out great -- I imagine someone will make a thread come summer time.

 

[Caconman424]

I probably wont get much into tuners other than maybe like an Apexi SAFC2 if that is even compatible with our cars. (I have one and an Innovate wideband just laying around. Would like to put them to use) Kinda funny to be told for the first time to cheap out on parts...I kinda like it lol Is ebay stuff still a no-no? Or is it not so much heavily frowned upon? And who makes some good strut braces? I would like to get a solid one if they are available. And one last question, are small undercarriage braces on ebay frowned upon too? Ive seen plenty on there for the price of change I find in my couch cushion practically.

Thanks for the tips and answering my question guys. I appreciate it. Im gonna go join up with the forum ohsixspeedsix mentioned above and check out the regional sections. It's been a long time since Ive been to a car meet.

 

[blackdbl9NB]

Spend the money on the suspension and chassis braces. Cheap out on the motor, seems to be out this works. You could do a rotary swap into the Miata, but your opening up a massive headache just thinking about it.