Today I am bidding on a 1991 miata that has been written off. If I win the bid my plan is to build myself a winter miata because my 93 LE has been parked for a month now and I miss it. Living in northern Canada a Miata is not most peoples first choice for winter transportation. They are low, small and rear wheel drive. The build in my head goes as such, 3 inch lift, studded winter tires, widen stance, armour guard lower body. Front and rear skid plates and tow hooks. That way I can enjoy a Miata all year around. Anybody think of other mods I would need to survive a canadian winter? I though about a hard top but they go for an arm and a leg in my corner of the world so Ill probably just seal up the soft top with urethane so the cold stays outside where it belongs.
Well for the tidy sum of $256.44 I am the proud new owner of a red 1991 Miata. I have yet to see the car in person but it looks pretty clean. Has 250k kms on it and possible undercarriage damage but no visible body damage or rust in the four pics provided online. Should be delivered to my door Wednesday.
Good Idea!!! I used to use mine in the winter with studded snows and 100 lbs. of salt in the trunk and I would blaze trail to work in pretty heavy snow with no lift as a matter of fact the salt in the trunk would lower the car a little over an inch!!!
Miata's are Fun to drive in the snow!!! Best to You! Post Photos Please!!!
I was thinking about placing a Cat battery behind each rear wheel. That way I'll have lots of weight for traction and enough battery power to run a 12 volt heater inside when the temps start to dip into the -30° area. I will post pics as I get the work done but first I need to get the car inspected and so it can have the title status changed from salvage to rebuilt.
Yes, after it is inspected. I looked into the 3 inch lift available on flying miata but Im pretty sure I can make those brackets myself for way less than $300. Going to need the ground clearance because we usually get 2 or 3 feet of snow during the winter and when we get large dumps at a time it takes city plows a few days to clear the roads
I couldn't imagine thinking to myself that I could make a better bracket. That is your line of work, though, right?
If you happen to communicate with Mark (or the other Mark) at Paco Motorsports, tell them MATG Bryan said "hi". Fun fact: Mark once took his 94M and made it into a Locost that was featured in Car & Driver. At one point, that car was running the original wheels from my old 97M Edition.
Yes, I rebuild and customize vehicles for a living. Everything from hot rods to motorhomes. The shock extension brackets from Paco are very simple and wouldnt take long to reproduce but maybe longer shocks would work better? Im just wondering if those extensions will have my shocks bottoming out if I hit big ruts or holes. The roads get pretty bad up here sometimes. Almost everybody drives a truck or SUV
Props for being a hero and rocking a Miata all year round, if not the same one!
Plus points if you fill it with bumper stickers implying the car they're on is a big ass truck.
By the way, I really am clueless in these regards, so I meant to ask... in such a build, could a flat underside be a good idea, to achieve protection from both bumps and rust?
Yes and no to the flat underbelly idea. I am considering putting plates under it but if too much snow builds up under the car it will lift the body, unload the suspension and you get stuck due to no traction. (Its happend to me before when I was rocking an audi a4 quattro) So Im playing with the idea of putting some ridges under there at 45 degrees to the center lone of the car sweeping back to push the snow out from under my car. Front and rear skid plates are definitely going on, otherwise you get huge buildups of ice and muddy snow in the bumpers and undercarriage.
Yes and no to the flat underbelly idea. I am considering putting plates under it but if too much snow builds up under the car it will lift the body, unload the suspension and you get stuck due to no traction. (Its happend to me before when I was rocking an audi a4 quattro)
I am unfortunately facing a major huddle in this build. ICBC has yet to release my car. This happens on rare occasion with these type of auctions but it means that the circumstance of it's claim are under investigation and they suspect fraud. So now Im not sure Ill even get the car. Id like to no one way or the other though so I could at least look for another one.
Some are worse than others but Ive lived here all my life so Im used to it
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