And so the story begins with my RX7 being down, a need for a summer car, and a long standing want of a early miata.
Joelle and I got back from our honeymoon at the end of May 2009 and at that point I had kind of seen one too many nice cars when out in Japan. So with my needs squared away I enjoyed randomly looking through Craigslist a few dayd after we got home.
Looking on CL for a Miata before the vacation normally would yield a few clean examples for anywhere around $5k~$6k or for $500~$1000 for cars that normally did not have a title.
And then, there it was, a rust less '91 that had two previous owners. Problem being, in my mind, was that for the price the guy was asking and the way the car looked in photos it couldn't possibly run well. So after a quick once over online I called the wife over to look at the post (normally I miss something like "Car runs, missing motor" from the excitement of finding something that I'm looking for.) to see what she thinks. She tells me that I should send out an email to see whats wrong with the car, because in the listing it mentions body damage though you could not see it in the photos.
20 or so minutes go by and my phone notifies me of an email. It is from the Miata's owner and has lots of photos. He also explains that he has only had the car for two or three days an the title hasn't been swapped over to his name.
So with the pictures in hand and a phone number Jojo recommends that we call him and ask a few more questions about the car. The call goes out, questions are asked, and the owner describes what happened and why he is selling the car. Long story short, he was/is a Honda guy that was wanting to try something new, but his mom didn;t see it that way. He also explained that the car was owned by just one other person before he bought it and that it had all its regular maintenance done on time with paperwork to prove it. So the phone call ends with him asking if we are going to stop by to look at the car that night, mind you that it was a Sunday around 3pm, an he lived 3 or so hours away.
The only problem we had was that all the banks were closed an we needed 2k if the car really was on the up and up. So we head out running from ATM to ATM trying to pull the required cash for the car. The owner called an hour or so later wondering where we were and I explained that with it being sunday afternoon that all the banks were closed and that we were 3 or so hours away but that we should be heading out shortly.
It was probably the longest 3 hours of my life, I remember going through, out loud, what I knew I needed to look for in a early Miata. AKA: looking at the rocker panels for rust, seeing if it had the short or the long nose crank, how did the top look, was the back window cracked, was the shelf in the engin bay rusted, and so on and so forth.
So we show up and there is like 5 cars at the house not including the miata, two CRXs, two DA Integras and a DC integra. Oh! an did I mention like two b Serease blocks on the driveway?
I get out of the ms3 an walk over to the owner and ask him if it was ok if I started the car, he throws me the key. After getting the formals out of the way I asked him about the paperwork he had for the car, and he responded with "look over the car I'll be right back there's a lot to bring out." So I do my normal thing and crawl all over the car an look for leaks/loose rims/dead hookers, etc etc. The first thing I noted was how nice the interior was for a car with 180k on the ODO. The carpet didn't have any missing fuzz, the seats look like they were from a new car, the only problem I saw was the "ricer" light up peddles.
With that out of the way I opened the hood an found a remarkably clean motor bay, not so nice that you could eat off of it, but for a car that was almost old enough to drink and had done 180k(keep in mind that the moon is only 238857 miles away,so ruffly only 59k left to go) yet had no random fluids or rust anywhere to be seen. After going through the rest of the engine bay and looking at the trunk I realized that the car had no rust anywhere to be seen, even in the trunk (a known area when the wrong battery is used).
At that time the owner comes back outside and was carring about 8 inches of paper stacked between his arms,"This is most of it" he said. Going through some of the papers I see mazda factory paperwork from CA from when the car was bought until about 2008, then it was paperwork from Mazda shops in MN. All the required RSM was done at a dealer all OEM parts, even the oil was changed at the dealer up until 2007, then to jiffy lube there after.
With all this paper work and the shape the car was in I mustered up the will to ask why he was selling the car. He responded by pointing over his shoulder an saying "My mom is done with all my cars, it's get rid of the Miata or my Integra." So I asked about the other cars and he responded with "They are all my projects and I still live with my mom, I need to have a running winter car so I have to stick with my Honda."
So with that I drove the car for about 20 or so minutes (drove around the block, and up and down the highway) and got back with a smile. The car didn't have any weird sounds/smells, hell the car didn't even have any slack in the steering wheel, some thing I hadn't had in one of my cars since my KIA some two years before. With that I happily handed over the 2k, didn't try to haggle at all, it floored my wife cause we can't go and buy anything anywhere with out me trying to get a deal some way.
3 hours back home went off with out a hitch.
V All from the day I picked up the car V
After about a year it looked like this
At this time it was on kyb agx that I had sourced from CL along with a radiator that did not have the shape of a racoon in it (thus the tape). Along with that buy came mazdaspeed tow points not bad for $150. Flying miata sways were then put on order a week later. Kept the car in this shape for about 2 years, until the 1.6 died at the track after 2 sessions of ripping around the track. Things you learn to late, dont let your father drive your car at the track. He shut it down hot and it developed a tick from the head that did not go away under normal mazda FSM recommendations or oil change, it eventually crappie flopped in the car and it was stored for me to build a high comp 1.6. So I put my time into my FB rx7 that i had just recently put a new 13b into. More info, dont buy a new block for a car that is slightly rusty in Minnesota. What look like just a little rust in it was way more than what I had thought in the 3 years that I had owned it. Underbody spray does a awesome job hiding missing tubs... normal FB rust in the bins and on the drivers side all most the way up to the strut mount, all the way down to the lower control link mount . So the the running 13b in the rusty rx7 came out and all the 1.6 items i had including pistons and rods were sold off to help fund the project. Its bin 15 months and it turns over, working on finishing the fuel system. Now for some photos!
Start of the project
Motor out and sizing up what I have to work with
Clearancing based off of Ford Mod motor swaps. The first cuts, and hammer time!
Reinforcing the subframe
Looks like crap, had to do a bunch of spot welds TRYING to not warp the subframe....
Eventually replaced with this
Buddy of mine welded the bar on used as the engine mount point
Showing mods to the firewall/frame rails
Stitch welding the engine bay
After painting the bay
Engine mounted
What the engine is connected to, all mazda factory parts no custom parts needed. Fc NA transmission with a miata tail end to it. other than that its just a junk yard sourced NA8C Torsen type 2 with 4.1 final drive 1.8 rearend swap and driveshaft. FC NA racing beat flywheel and Clutch Masters clutch.
From under the car when it was out to get the exhaust done, motor is crooked from not having all the bolts in the mount. fixed once all bolts were put back in.
So where does it sit now, waiting on the last of my fuel system to show up and then it will be on the road. The fuel regulator I had didn't go as far down as i needed which facilitated me an-6 the fuel system. What follows is the list of all that I have into it. Any questions I will be more than willing to help with, I'm tired of all this skunkworks crap with the rotary community especially when it comes to swaps. Other than the exhaust, powder coating, and the welding on the subframe all the work has been done by me, with the occasional helping hand from friends and the wife.
And a vid of it running
lol
