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So, got this today. Have less than 600 in the car. Hardtop did not come with it, however good black cloth seats, carpets, and door panels as well as a good used softtop on a frame.
161k
6 speed
Scruffy as hell. But, good inspection, good tires, and drives pretty good. No major issues other than cosmetics that i found. Windows are a little noisy going up and down, and squeaks and rattles.
So, what do I need to know? Anything i need to do asap? Good forums other than here?
Plans are to daily it for a little while, and if i fall in love with it, tweak. If i don't, fix the cosmetic stuff and flip. To that end, any money i spend has to have a good return on investment.
Anyway, what the hell did i get, and what should I do with it? My answer has always been v8 muscle cars, never even really considered a miata.
Congratulations, you just bought a tempest in a teacup! Or, a hoot in a handbag! My 2003 LS is such a joy that it's only car I have ever owned that makes me a little sad every time I have to put away for the night. BTW, always run the highest octane you can get at the pump. It will tolerate 87, but you WILL lose torque and horsepower doing so. Also always keep the RPMs above 2000, even in steady-state cruise. It has a 7200 rpm rev limter; use it. Often.
Use the rev limiter for joy, or is there another reason?
Dusterbd13 wrote:
Use the rev limiter for joy, or is there another reason?
Call her whatever you want, but you'll both enjoy it when you get her all revved up :)
Ok. So drive it like my. Old acr. It got better gas mileage and ran better the more you had fun with it.
Im suprised though. As much as this place loves the answer, i figured we would be on page 3 by dawn....
Dusterbd13 wrote:
Ok. So drive it like my. Old acr. It got better gas mileage and ran better the more you had fun with it.
Im suprised though. As much as this place loves the answer, i figured we would be on page 3 by dawn....
Everyone must be at the track this weekend. I certainly have been 
I recently stumbled into owning one. Absolutely love it. Keep the rocker panel drain hole clear or you will get rust there. Also you may want to change out the slave cylinder just for piece of mind. I'm assuming the six speed uses the same slave, correct me if I am wrong.
$600?? Wow. Even being that scruffy, that's really amazing.
+100 about the drain holes- I have to fix my rusty rockers (as well as fenders). The good news- there are parts available.
I'd love to get my hands on an NB for a CSP/Challenge car that I've been dreaming of for many years. (the whole- I think one can trophy at nationals and still be challenge capable, against the whole notion of a $20k CSP car.)
So, link to information about cleaning the drain holes?
What else should i do right off, other than a good cleaning ?
And fluids. All of them. Same with filters. Any recommendations on fluids?
Nice score. I'm guessing no one's said much because with Miatas, there aren't really any "gotchas". They're basically bomb-proof, run forever, and are exactly what they seem to be on the package. Keep the drain holes clear, change the timing belt if you're not sure when it was done (it's about as easy as a timing belt gets). If it's not making any weird noises, you're golden.
As for forums.....you're on the best one, honestly. miata.net has great information, but a pretty high signal-to-noise ratio (and because the enthusiast base is so large, there can be some squabbling between people with opposing opinions).
Miataturbo.net has some GREAT information (or did back in the day), but they are not friendly to noobs. God help you if you ask a question that was answered on page 36 of a tangentially related thread from 2007.
Wow. Nice score. You've owned many Mazda Proteges.
The Miatas have no gotchas and enjoy the same straight forward simplicity that you get from Proteges. Add to that the huge aftermarket and online support of the most popular sports car ever sold.
Interstingly, Miatas are not geared for mpg, rather geared more for sport. As such, they will not deliver the mpg of a Protege but the spg (smiles per gallon) is much higher.
Dusterbd13 wrote:
So, link to information about cleaning the drain holes?
What else should i do right off, other than a good cleaning ?
The drain holes should be in a similar spot on a NB they are on mine not sure if there is a difference depending on year. I had the same rocker panel drain problems on my NA.
http://www.miata.net/garage/tsb/s034_94.html
I use a coat hanger to make sure it is open and shop vac to pull out anything I can. Don't know if the shop vac helps or not just something I do.
In reply to psteav:
This is the best forum for anything ever. I always come here first because of that.
So, im really just over thinking this?
Shift boots probably need to be replaced. Cheap and easy and improve the interior feel. The shifter should be the nicest of any car ever, if yours isn't perfect a quick rebuild of the shift turret is $10 worth of parts and easy while doing the boots.
Motor mounts, also cheap and easy, probably shot by 161K.
Good tires if they aren't: Miatai are sensitive to bad tires and rewarding of good ones.
I just replaced my slave cylinder, it blew and cost me an event. Amazon has them for under $12, so hard to go wrong there. Other than the slave cylinder my NA has been perfectly reliable and she gets beaten on like a rented mule while autocrossing.
In reply to JohnRW1621:
Im not necessarilya mazda fanboi, but i like them enough to keep buying them. Cheap, simple, reliable, and fun seem to be the hallmark of these things. Nice to know the miata is same old thing.
In reply to KyAllroad:
Shifter doesn't feel as great as the triax i have on the tko600 in my duster. Link to how to or parts?
In reply to alfadriver: not to poo poo your dream but I really want to see a challenge priced Miata capable of a national trophy is CSP. Contenders these days are north of 30K in their cars and the competition is insane at that level.
Dusterbd13 wrote:
In reply to KyAllroad:
Shifter doesn't feel as great as the triax i have on the tko600 in my duster. Link to how to or parts?
Literally one part. The shift bushing. Suck out and replace the turret fluid (I used Mobile one gear oil). My ball had a big groove worn in it so for zero dollars I used a fine sanding disk in my dremel and polished it smooth. Like butter now.
Very easy to work on!!
Shifter rebuild kit
Spring for the bronze bushing, so worth it.
The archives at miata.net are a god send, the forum....not so much.
I can't speak for the nb section directly, but i took 4 years away from the forum, and came back to the same 6 guys arguing about the same things still in the na forum.
Unless you're going for more stock or unlimited budget, they aren't very tolerant of new ideas.
Just my experience is all. On the plus side, it was someone there that sent me here when I was setting up my light bar. Everyone else had torches and pitchforks though.
KyAllroad wrote:
Dusterbd13 wrote:
In reply to KyAllroad:
Shifter doesn't feel as great as the triax i have on the tko600 in my duster. Link to how to or parts?
Literally one part. The shift bushing. Suck out and replace the turret fluid (I used Mobile one gear oil). My ball had a big groove worn in it so for zero dollars I used a fine sanding disk in my dremel and polished it smooth. Like butter now.
Very easy to work on!!
Sucking out and replacing the turret fluid doesn't apply to the 6-speed, it doesn't have a separate reservoir.
I haven't posted because I sent all this info in a couple of emails before the purchase 
I also know a guy who wrote a few books on the car - Miata Performance Projects and How To Build A High Performance Mazda Miata are the two I'd recommend if you're coming at this from total newbie status. Forums are okay, but most writeups are done by someone who's only ever done the job once after reading how on a forum.
One more thing, get used to your right leg being really warm. 
KyAllroad wrote:
In reply to alfadriver: not to poo poo your dream but I really want to see a challenge priced Miata capable of a national trophy is CSP. Contenders these days are north of 30K in their cars and the competition is insane at that level.
Last I checked, most of that is tied up in the shocks and engine build. And many on the miata.net forum are convinced that if you can't spend $20k on the car, don't even bother trying. A decade ago, I got into a major argument about it, which really turned me off of the racers on that board.
There's enough creativity and skill here to be able to solve that problem for under $2k, IMHO.
I forgot to mention the thrust bearing in earlier posts. Depending on the year I believe 99-00 and in a specific serial number range there is an issue with the thrust bearing. It has likely already been dealt with in your case based on the mileage. http://www.miata.net/garage/tsb/tsb014_00r.gif
