Miata repair opinions

Found this Miata for sale on CL. Does it look like the core support could be pulled out and driven or more serious? It would make a great Locost donor but that really isn't feasible for me right now.

Looks like the rails will be swayed in addition to the support being bent. It could be pulled and fixed but you need to know what you're doing.

On the other hand that looks like a BRG, and those are apparently worth BIG MONEY!

My old racecar looked about the same and needed the front clip replaced. Look at the frame rails all the way back to the fire wall. To the driver's right of the master cylinder should be flat. Mine was buckled.

Saw that one too, it is pretty cheap. Saw a running 94 with a hardtop for $1500 yesterday but I'm broke and it was probably already gone anyway.

Where did you see the one with the hardtop?

Edit: Nevermind, I found it.

There's also one that's been on the Dayton CL for a while now. It's a 90? for $1000. Says it "needs body work finished". Pics don't look bad but there has to be a reason a $1000 Miata has been for sale for so long.

Yea I saw that one too, I never saw the pictures though and the seller won't send me any.

In reply to EvanB:

It's white, the pictures are taken from pretty far away. It doesn't look terrible but it may be clever photography.

Junkyard_Dog wrote: Looks like the rails will be swayed in addition to the support being bent. It could be pulled and fixed but you need to know what you're doing.

Repeated for truth.

It has the omg look frozen on its face.

I actaully know the guy that selling it. It was hit by a car in a parking lot at around 20mph. Drives fine,runs fine. Hit him up,I'm sure he can give you more detail than I can as he's in ohio and I'm in virginia.

If a car is parked when hit, with the ignition off, do the airbags fire? The passenger one usually takes out the window and I don't see a broken window on that car.

You really need to see the car in person and maybe put it on a rack before you can tell how bad it is. Question is: "Who is going to invest in this; the owner or the buyer?"

Buy it as a Locost Donor and if it is fixable, Bonus.

$1800 91 with hardtop in Fairborn. $800 isn't bad, but there seem to be a plethora of cheap Miatas lately.

http://dayton.craigslist.org/cto/1985881936.html

So close. So tempting.

Thinking about one of these again, Evan?

NOHOME wrote: If a car is parked when hit, with the ignition off, do the airbags fire? The passenger one usually takes out the window and I don't see a broken window on that car.

"It depends". If the ignition had been turned off in the last 5 minutes, maybe. The airbag system is designed to function even if the power is cut, but it isn't live for very long.

On the other hand, a side hit should not blow the airbags, and a lot of frontal hits don't either. A friend of mine totalled his ZX2 three times, two of which were frontal collisions(*), and his airbags never deployed.

(*) "Peel-offs" for a ZX2 run about 50% more than a regular Escort. Seems this is a common problem.

Knurled wrote:

NOHOME wrote: If a car is parked when hit, with the ignition off, do the airbags fire? The passenger one usually takes out the window and I don't see a broken window on that car.

"It depends". If the ignition had been turned off in the last 5 minutes, maybe. The airbag system is designed to function even if the power is cut, but it isn't live for very long.

It normally doesn't rely on the ignition switch - it gets battery power all the time, and also has a secondary capacitive supply for instances where that link is severed. You can trip a crash sensor in an older car by whacking the floor in the right spot. I've seen a floor rust repair job go very bad with a few whacks of the BFH.

I can tell you for sure the passenger airbag didn't go off in that 1991 Miata, because they don't have one :) BTW, only the 1994-97 models break the windshield with the bag, the 1999-05 models seem to be better aimed.

Get a frame shop to look at the car. They'll tell you what needs to be done.

stan wrote: So close. So tempting. Thinking about one of these again, Evan?

I'm considering it, I'm looking for a winter car and something to rallycross that I don't care about beating up and a Miata with a hardtop would be perfect.

I'm also looking at MR2's but they seem to be in the same price range.

EvanB wrote:

stan wrote: So close. So tempting. Thinking about one of these again, Evan?

I'm considering it, I'm looking for a winter car and something to rallycross that I don't care about beating up and a Miata with a hardtop would be perfect. I'm also looking at MR2's but they seem to be in the same price range.

If you find something over this way you need me to look at just let me know.

Stan