The Special Miata: 2000 Special Edition Miata

I did a straight trade with my crashed 1994 for this. As mentioned before, the 1994 was a runner but it had more body damage than I thought. The '94 is now an Exocet donor.

I got the Special Miata off of the dolly about 20 minutes ago. U-haul tow dollies are a bit too big to properly haul a Miata in my area- the slope of the road means that getting the ramps out without lifting the back of the car a bit is impossible. Luckily, I was able to haul up on the back of the car enough to lift it high enough to get the ramp out. It was then rolled into position.

The battery is dead and there is a known no-start condition. I intend to try and turn the engine by hand before charging the battery and trying to crank it.

The Bad:

It does not start.

The paint is rough. ROUGH, I say.

It is dirty inside.

It has no seats (which will make cleaning the inside a bit easier). I did get a set of tan leather seats with a foam delete done in them for $70, but they are in a box.

It might be too nice to rallycross. It has the appearance package, too, so lots of low hanging bits that will have to be removed.

No roll bar, but the Hard Dog "Sport" Bar I removed from the '94 MAY fit it. Even if it does, I am thinking of selling it and getting a track-capable bar.

The suspension looks original and worn out.

Stupid shiny chrome wheels.

The Good:

No rust.

Good top with glass window.

No pop up headlights (I lost my fascination with those at some point in the past).

Pictures and details of the long road to recovery will happen soon. I may end up rehabbing this and seeing if I can turn a profit, then look for another 1994 or 1995 car.

Total invested so far: $1070

Brett_Murphy wrote: It might be too nice to rallycross. It has the appearance package, too, so lots of low hanging bits that will have to be removed.

I don't believe it.

Where are the pictures?

Let me get the sideskirts.

Pictures soon- probably during the week.

Pictures! They are fast phone pictures, but you get the idea of what I'm dealing with.

The paint is coming off in sheets. I think it was a badly prepped respray.

The grey chip is one I just picked off and threw back on the car.

This gives an idea of what is happening.

The worst spot, but really, the whole things needs to be redone.

I'm going to worry about getting it running before any cosmetic issues. It is going to wind up being some bright shade of green if we keep it, since that is the color SWMBO wants it to be. To get it there, I'm probably going to get the paint fixed using the original color and then vinyl wrap in the appropriate green color.

And yes, my driveway looks like a salvage yard right now, with FIVE non-running cars visible in the pictures.

That car's hopeless. I think you need to pass it on to me to turn into a track rat ;)

Everything is always for sale.

Hmm, rx8 x (2), miata and nissan SUV. What's the fifth?

Another green Nissan SUV visible in the second picture from the top behind the Forester.

You still need to get one of the rx8s into rolling shell condition for me so I can put a stupid engine in it (BMC B-series?) and race it at Lemons... Whichever one you're getting rid of. ;-)

Slowly working on it. It'll be the red one.

dculberson wrote: You still need to get one of the rx8s into rolling shell condition for me so I can put a stupid engine in it (BMC B-series?) and race it at Lemons... Whichever one you're getting rid of. ;-)

NSU rotary or Suzuki RE5 engine.

Alright. I got this thing started today. The no-start was caused by a bad (100% dead) battery and a bad connection to the starter.

However, the oil pressure hunted around a bit and settled on zero. If the sound the engine was making isn't rod knock, I'll be surprised.

The plan is to drain the oil and look for evidence of bearing material. I may post up a clip of how bad it sounds.

The oil pressure gauge on those is a switch - it tells you if you have 7 psi or more, that's all. If it's settled on zero, that's one sick engine.

OK. As my avatar suggests, I'm a rotary guy. I've never owned a piston powered car with rod knock.

I heard you can tell if it is rod knock by unplugging one of the spark plugs and seeing of the knock goes away. Is this true?

In reply to Brett_Murphy:

Yeah while its running pull a wire until the noise stops and that's the problem hole.Is it knocking at idle?,the 4ags I've blowed up were caught well before knocking at idle and needed a light throttle no load to bring the rpm up slowly to start the rap song.

Want to get rid of those side skirts?

There is a pretty good clunk at idle.

SF1: I'm hoping to sell the car complete and buy an NA Miata with the proceeds. A 6 speed and wood fixtures do not a good rallycross car make.

Heck, this thing is for sale now, it just isn't advertised.

Oh, I forgot to mention this. I found some evidence of masking on the car, so the peeling paint is most likely a really bad respray that is just shedding off.

Doesn't really matter which cylinder is knocking, the fix is the same. And if you have less than 7 psi of oil pressure, you're damaging that head as you dink with it. The head, as you've discovered, is one of the most sought-after heads in the Miata world, had the lowest production amount and takes damage quickly when run with low oil pressure.

So take the battery out of that car to prevent you from playing with the engine. Then pull the engine out and fix it before you do any more damage. Or sell the whole thing cheap.

My grandfather one said: "It doesn't matter how much you know or how smart you are. When somebody who knows more about a subject than you do starts talking, shut up and listen."

The battery is already out of the car, Keith. =)

My thinking is that any 1.8 block will work with the car- am I wrong?

I'll probably send the head out for a rebuild.

Yep. I thought so.

http://www.solomiata.com/BP8.php

A Kia Sportage engine may also work, apparently. Heh.

I'd pull the cam caps and have a look. If the journals look good, use the head on any 1.8 Miata bottom end. You can also use 1.8 Escort GT motors, but you'll have to swap around a few other bits like oil pans.