So, inspired by brontosaurus' build thread and chatting with him, I decided to do one of these for myself. The photography is not going to be great and going through my photos, I really only have exterior shots, which is ok since my only interior mods for the most part are a Moddiction knob, a Corbeau Forza and some RSpeed vent rings. Maybe some shots later when it get's warm enough out to get the car out of the garage.
So, on with the Denim Demon:
I bough the car in Spring of 2009 with 99k on the clock from a friend of mine who owned it since new. It's a late '91 with a big nose crank on it. PS and (dead) A/C. It also had the VLSD which becomes a nice thing to have down the line... I also have the original window sticker I'll dig up later.
As for the car:
I had always wanted one of these cars since the dad of friend of mine let me drive his when I was 16 (was 27 when I got the car). I met my friend who sold me the car about 5 years before that and when I learned he had a Miata and how he cared for his cars I said "I want that car when you sell it." He said he would give me first right of refusal. Well, 5 years later he made good and I bought it off him. I got it for a ridiculous price when he went in for a new Pontiac Solstice. Let's just say he gave it to me for the dealer trade in value he was offered :mrgreen:. Always dealer serviced (with records!), stored in a heated garage almost every winter (something I hope to give back to it one day), and babied. Mostly a nice weather DD and occasional cruiser. It has been lovingly cared for by me, but it would slowly become fairly serious autocrosser.
So, here is the beast shortly after I bought it:
This car had a bra on its whole life. I was scared to see underneath, but it was not bad at all. I bit of polishing and all the scuffs went away.
Ballin' interior. Cracked tombstone with a radio laying loose in it. The radio was stolen by a cleaning person at the PO's workplace. They caught him and my friend (the PO) agreed not to press charges if the guy gave him the radio back. He is a pretty forgiving fellow.
So, the first things I did were the typical newly purchased Miata stuff: Plugs, wires, shift boots, and full syn fluids all around. The TB was less than 20K old so I am waiting on that for a bit.
The other thing I did was pull the bra off and polish the crap out of the car. Pretty amazing how single stage comes back to life.
I will add that at the time, I lived in a fairly dumpy area with terrible street parking. I found car-less bicycle friend with a garage and arranged to rent the space from her until I could find a new place to rent with a garage. I was planning to move in with my girlfriend/eventual wife, so I knew it would be temporary.
So, with a tuned and shined up car, I set my sites on my first autocross! I then promptly shattered my right wrist stage diving during an Off With Their Heads show and went through a month of not being able to drive at all and then only being able to drive poorly for many months as I went through physical therapy! Fun!
So, I know I am not going to be telling tales of how I became hellaflush, super retro, or anything super thrilling, but hopefully, this is interesting to someone. If not, I am just excited to put this all in one place for my own sake. :icon_cheers:
Up next: My first autocross and the start down the path of addiction....
So, on with the Denim Demon:
I bough the car in Spring of 2009 with 99k on the clock from a friend of mine who owned it since new. It's a late '91 with a big nose crank on it. PS and (dead) A/C. It also had the VLSD which becomes a nice thing to have down the line... I also have the original window sticker I'll dig up later.
As for the car:
I had always wanted one of these cars since the dad of friend of mine let me drive his when I was 16 (was 27 when I got the car). I met my friend who sold me the car about 5 years before that and when I learned he had a Miata and how he cared for his cars I said "I want that car when you sell it." He said he would give me first right of refusal. Well, 5 years later he made good and I bought it off him. I got it for a ridiculous price when he went in for a new Pontiac Solstice. Let's just say he gave it to me for the dealer trade in value he was offered :mrgreen:. Always dealer serviced (with records!), stored in a heated garage almost every winter (something I hope to give back to it one day), and babied. Mostly a nice weather DD and occasional cruiser. It has been lovingly cared for by me, but it would slowly become fairly serious autocrosser.
So, here is the beast shortly after I bought it:
This car had a bra on its whole life. I was scared to see underneath, but it was not bad at all. I bit of polishing and all the scuffs went away.
Ballin' interior. Cracked tombstone with a radio laying loose in it. The radio was stolen by a cleaning person at the PO's workplace. They caught him and my friend (the PO) agreed not to press charges if the guy gave him the radio back. He is a pretty forgiving fellow.
So, the first things I did were the typical newly purchased Miata stuff: Plugs, wires, shift boots, and full syn fluids all around. The TB was less than 20K old so I am waiting on that for a bit.
The other thing I did was pull the bra off and polish the crap out of the car. Pretty amazing how single stage comes back to life.
I will add that at the time, I lived in a fairly dumpy area with terrible street parking. I found car-less bicycle friend with a garage and arranged to rent the space from her until I could find a new place to rent with a garage. I was planning to move in with my girlfriend/eventual wife, so I knew it would be temporary.
So, with a tuned and shined up car, I set my sites on my first autocross! I then promptly shattered my right wrist stage diving during an Off With Their Heads show and went through a month of not being able to drive at all and then only being able to drive poorly for many months as I went through physical therapy! Fun!
So, I know I am not going to be telling tales of how I became hellaflush, super retro, or anything super thrilling, but hopefully, this is interesting to someone. If not, I am just excited to put this all in one place for my own sake. :icon_cheers:
Up next: My first autocross and the start down the path of addiction....