So my buddy just got a Miata.... burning oil issue

'95 PEP+Leather, Montego blue. Very nice, has normal rocker rot and needs a few things. Already has Koni Sports and a Hard Dog Double Diagonal, and a low-pro headlight conversion. 219K on the car. I already gave him a list of stuff to change since the car seems like it sat unused most of the time. Feels great to be back behind the wheel of a Miata, too.

Brake rotors and pads, clutch and brake fluid, shifter boots, lower shifter bushing, tires, rear diff oil, trans fluid. Drive it.

One major issue. It burns oil. PO was kinda vague about how much it uses since he didn't drive it much over the past 10 years he owned it(bought at 191K in 2004). Seems to burn it under acceleration. I think it needs a PCV valve and a compression check first thing, and dump in a bottle of Lucas oil stabilizer to see if it helps. Car pulls well(although doesn't seem like it really pulls until 4500), and feels healthy. Ideas?

It is probably bad oil rings. If the engine sat for a long time they could be frozen. Doing a MMO piston soak might help. I had it work on one engine.

PCV would be one thing. if compression is good, change the oil and then take it out and drive the Pxxx out of it.

New PCV, bottle of PEA containing injector cleaner on a 1/4 tank of gas, change the oil to a diesel specific oil, preferably synthetic(Rotella T6 5w40, use a good filter with metal center). Then go beat the tar out of it, keep the tach moving constantly, check oil level every 100 miles or less. If it stops or slows to a reasonable rate after a few thousand miles of this, good, if not, probably needs a rering and/or is hopelessly gunked up.

Thanks for the advice guys! I'll let him know.

My old 1.6 Miata burned quite a bit of oil until it spent a weekend at the track. It went from burning 1/2 qt a session to burning 1/2 qt a weekend, after a few track days.