Sofa King
Sofa King Reader
11/30/09 9:30 a.m.

After the 2009 Challenge, I was asked to write an article about my 99 Miata for the North Coast Miata Club newsletter. On a whim I submitted the article to Miata.net's Miata of the Month section.

Here is the link: http://www.miata.net/motm/2009/swanson.html

dyintorace
dyintorace GRM+ Memberand Dork
11/30/09 9:37 a.m.

Great article! And good publicity for GRM.

DeadSkunk
DeadSkunk New Reader
11/30/09 1:15 p.m.

OK Sofa King, you drive a hard bargain. I'll give you the whole $2009 without quibbling. For that kind of money I expect the NOS bottle to be filled, though.

Sofa King
Sofa King Reader
11/30/09 3:55 p.m.
DeadSkunk wrote: OK Sofa King, you drive a hard bargain. I'll give you the whole $2009 without quibbling. For that kind of money I expect the NOS bottle to be filled, though.

Why not... It was filled when I bought it!

Keith
Keith GRM+ Memberand SuperDork
11/30/09 4:32 p.m.

You got a killer deal on that car and that engine, well done.

paulmpetrun
paulmpetrun New Reader
11/30/09 4:59 p.m.

Congrats all around!!!

Hey this summer when I'm running the miata at Mid-Ohio, can I talk you into bringing the monster miata down?

Later

Sofa King
Sofa King Reader
11/30/09 5:03 p.m.

Thanks, Keith.

I know, I was VERY lucky on the car! It was listed under "parts" and not "cars for sale" and it wasn't listed in a metropolitan area. If I hadn't been specifically looking for parts for my '97 Miata, I never would have seen this one.

The engine was a case of the guy just wanting to get it out of his garage. He actually had it in the attic above his garage. We backed a truck into the garage and lowered it into the bed using his built in hoist. Pretty slick!

Sofa King
Sofa King Reader
11/30/09 5:05 p.m.
paulmpetrun wrote: Congrats all around!!! Hey this summer when I'm running the miata at Mid-Ohio, can I talk you into bringing the monster miata down? Later

That would be great... You won't have to twist my arm!

ckosacranoid
ckosacranoid HalfDork
11/30/09 5:39 p.m.

nice artical and nice write up. great deals and finds. now if i can get my challage car done this spring.....sigh....

Keith
Keith GRM+ Memberand SuperDork
11/30/09 6:08 p.m.

You're lucky the head off the donor motor was good - often, when the thrust bearing goes, the drop in oil pressure trashes the cam caps. Score!

Sofa King
Sofa King Reader
11/30/09 6:35 p.m.
Keith wrote: You're lucky the head off the donor motor was good - often, when the thrust bearing goes, the drop in oil pressure trashes the cam caps. Score!

I know I was lucky. You might not remember, but I posted last year about the engine find, and you said that there was a good chance that the #4 failure could have damaged the head. There was no sign of metal shavings, so I cleaned it as well as possible and put it back together. The motor had come from a pretty well pampered 10th anniversary, so even though the bearing went it must have been caught pretty quickly.

You'll need to log in to post.

Our Preferred Partners
6cI2d2erLrPArsk09TaBDEAnK4l33mj6XxDIJPKL0YuzLWn7zETUWlEUNrFO8iHX