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leica posted:I did it once with help and I'd never do it again. Just a pain in the rear end, and there's too many manual Miatas out there to bother IMO. The swap itself seems fairly straightforward, is it just a pain in the rear end as far as any project like this is a pain in the rear end or are there specific things that really suck? I'm going to look at it today as long as the girl gets back to me. For that amount of money I can at least fix it and flip it or part it out. If it's in outstanding shape I will still consider the swap, however.
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May 31, 2012 13:04
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| # ? May 16, 2024 15:01 |
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I'm having a lot of trouble finding a decently priced NA Miata, since I want to start putting one together to be ready for when time attack and lap days return to my city in ~2 years. In my local market (Calgary, Canada) NAs pretty much start at $4000 for a high mileage 1992 and quickly go up to $8000 for a 1995. Most of them are garage kept (out of necessity) but lots of them have rust developing because people never took care of them besides shoving them inside occasionally. I don't think these people would be receptive at all to me asking a significantly lower price. I'd like to pay around half that, and get a 1.8L (post-94) with a nice body that isn't hugely cancerous. For Subarus, it makes sense to buy during the summer when people get tired of the fuel mileage, and it makes sense to sell them during the fall/winter when people usually have their first inattention-to-driving snow accidents. However, Miatas are never listed during the winter, because nobody "normal" wants to think about buying one and driving it home in the snow. When I look at American Craigslist (Seattle, San Luis Obispo, SF Bay) I find slightly better prices, but there still seems to be a lot of overpricing of the car by "normal" people who just consider it to be a sports car and therefore inherently valuable. There are also a ton of automatics, rice rockets, non-runners and salvage titles in the US market. By the time I start filtering out those ones I'm up to the $3500 range which doesn't justify the plane ticket down and time off work to bring it back. Is the trick for me just going to be camping out enthusiast forums (Miata.net, ClubRoadster is where I've been looking so far), waiting until someone gets massively in debt and has to unload their project and then getting on a plane, or is there another source of cheap Miatas I've ignored? Is this just the reality of Miata purchasing, that pretty much everyone is an idiot who's gotten emotionally attached to their car and thinks it never depreciates? Seat Safety Switch fucked around with this message at 16:24 on May 31, 2012 |
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May 31, 2012 16:12
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If you're buying someone else's project, I'd bring a trailer rather than doing the plane ticket. Nothing's better than breaking down in the middle of somewhere unknown on the way home.
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May 31, 2012 17:01
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Noise Complaint posted:The swap itself seems fairly straightforward, is it just a pain in the rear end as far as any project like this is a pain in the rear end or are there specific things that really suck? Normally, you can lean the front seat back and lay upside down under the dash to take are of the pedal swap. I imagine it's a bit tight under the dash in the Miata doing that job. The other little bits will probably be in harder to reach areas (reverse light setup, etc.).
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May 31, 2012 17:07
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Noise Complaint posted:The swap itself seems fairly straightforward, is it just a pain in the rear end as far as any project like this is a pain in the rear end or are there specific things that really suck? I remember the neutral switch being a real pain, other than that it just took a lot of time and it wasn't worth it. I was working at a Miata specific shop then, and the owner refused to do one again after that. I suppose if you have lots of time to mess with it it's not a big deal, but I would only take an auto Miata if someone gave it to me, and even then I'd probably just sell it rather than do the swap. But then again I'm old now and really not about big projects these days either haha.
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May 31, 2012 17:25
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Sadly it seems to have fell through. I guess I'll keep my eyes out for more NA Miata project cars. I'd love to find a roller but I can't even find a decent fox body roller in New England, never mind a Miata.
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May 31, 2012 19:34
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Noise Complaint posted:Sadly it seems to have fell through. I guess I'll keep my eyes out for more NA Miata project cars. I'd love to find a roller but I can't even find a decent fox body roller in New England, never mind a Miata. Too bad you're not a little more south, once I've got the brakes sorted I'm thinking about selling my '91 BRG.
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May 31, 2012 20:35
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Seat Safety Switch posted:I'm having a lot of trouble finding a decently priced NA Miata, since I want to start putting one together to be ready for when time attack and lap days return to my city.................................. I'm up in Grande Prairie and I am thinking about selling my bone stock 1990 NA with 115k on it. Two sets of wheels and tires and hardtop. It needs summer tires and an e-brake cable but its decent all around. I've been going back and forth for awhile about selling it, but I have never advertised it. http://imgur.com/1iI3S There is a Miata on Kijiji for sale in GP also, I know the owner and I work on that car but his price of 8900 is crazy. It is a beautiful car though. SiB fucked around with this message at 21:21 on May 31, 2012 |
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May 31, 2012 20:43
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Found out the insides were showing cord on my rear wheels. It was either spend $300 on tires or $200 on these CL 17" OEM Mazdaspeed Forged Rays wheels with 75% tread tires and factory lug nuts. It is a night and day difference in handling/road noise/ and this funny thing called traction.  (I had just set it down, the suspension had not settled yet.)
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May 31, 2012 21:55
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Good deal, now get an alignment, sounds like you need one!
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May 31, 2012 22:35
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I thought that the factory MSM wheels were Racing Harts.
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May 31, 2012 22:45
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Phone posted:I thought that the factory MSM wheels were Racing Harts. I'm pretty sure they are too, actually. I kinda wish I'd been able to get the dealer to come down on their price on a new '04 MSM (in summer '06) but at the same time...nah.
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May 31, 2012 22:48
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Yeah they are. (Racing Hart). There's a emblem in the lip. Ours are rashed, happened before we got em. drat shame. They are very good wheels though.
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May 31, 2012 22:56
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Ignore me, I have Rays stuck in my head from another project. They are Racing Hart.
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May 31, 2012 23:22
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revmoo posted:Yeah they are. (Racing Hart). There's a emblem in the lip. Really? I believe my friend has 6 in his garage and most of them are bent (he switched to 949 6ULs)
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Jun 1, 2012 15:25
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17x7 at 17.6lbs: a "good" wheel. 
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Jun 1, 2012 15:29
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Those are 17"? Holy christ, anything over 15" on a Miata just seems like overkill to me. That being said, he stole them for 200 with good tires, drat.
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Jun 1, 2012 16:34
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Phone posted:17x7 at 17.6lbs: a "good" wheel. 16x6.5" at 18lbs: My SE anchors.
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Jun 1, 2012 17:10
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Anybody fixed the eyeball vents with new felt? How hard is it to remove them without breaking them?
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Jun 6, 2012 02:39
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I've tried to pry them out of my NB a few times, but never had any luck. The whole dash was clearly moving towards me but they still wouldn't budge.  Maybe I just need to pull harder?
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Jun 6, 2012 03:22
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I read about using zip ties to yank them. Also using super thin plastic to slide in like opening a lock with a credit card.
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Jun 6, 2012 03:32
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The best thing to use to pry them out is one of those mini prybars, they pop right out.
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Jun 6, 2012 04:43
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On my NA I just stick a screwdriver in the middle of the vent a bit and pull down and it pops right out with minimal force.
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Jun 6, 2012 14:03
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Anybody ever pull the cat on their NA? I had to take the exhaust off when I installed my Torsen, broke both studs, so I took the whole cat off to drill them out (broke those studs too).  The gasket between the cat and exhaust fits fine. ...But the gasket between the downpipe and cat is a regular looking gasket, however the inlet on the cat and outlet on the downpipe look to take a donut. Should this be a donut gasket?
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Jun 6, 2012 15:39
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Blaise posted:Anybody ever pull the cat on their NA? I had to take the exhaust off when I installed my Torsen, broke both studs, so I took the whole cat off to drill them out (broke those studs too). I'm pretty sure I used a donut when I pulled my cat and put a straight pipe in.
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Jun 6, 2012 15:41
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Blaise posted:Anybody ever pull the cat on their NA? I had to take the exhaust off when I installed my Torsen, broke both studs, so I took the whole cat off to drill them out (broke those studs too). I ended up doing the exact same thing when I installed my OS Giken and I decided to just replace it with the FM cat. They only included normal gaskets and it's not leaking so it's probably fine without one. If it's supposed to have one, what the gently caress FM? For the prices they charge everything should be perfect.
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Jun 6, 2012 15:57
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Mine has metal ones on both sides. Also sheared the studs and had a shop press them out so I could just run a nut and bolt through it.
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Jun 6, 2012 18:55
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Seat Safety Switch posted:is there another source of cheap Miatas I've ignored? Honestly, I'd see if you can find a stateside goon and pay them to check a car or two out for you. I've found a few excellent deals in the states, you just have to wait for them. I'd offer to help but I'm on the east coast
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Jun 6, 2012 20:12
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revmoo posted:Anybody fixed the eyeball vents with new felt? How hard is it to remove them without breaking them? I pulled mine out by folding a wire coat-hanger into a hook(make it long enough that you can grip both ends), it slightly marked the back side of the vents, but that may be because I had to do a hard sudden yank, since a steady hard pull was just flexing the dash. I wouldn't worry about breaking them. You can bend the little metal tabs a little once you have them off to make them easier to remove in the future if you want to. I placed three tiny(1/4 inch) squares of self adhesive craft felt evenly spaced around each vent-hole and my vents have stayed firmly where ever I set them ever since.
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Jun 7, 2012 04:39
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I saw a cool video of a guy spinning a card around the circle and they just popped out. I'm gonna try that.
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Jun 7, 2012 16:27
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I used two fairly big zipties. Works well.
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Jun 7, 2012 16:46
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Sockington posted:16x6.5" at 18lbs: My SE anchors. My 17's weigh about 25lbs each 
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Jun 7, 2012 20:56
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What does AI think of this Miata? Might check it out tomorrow: http://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/cto/3048094492.html
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Jun 8, 2012 11:08
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Shockingly reasonable. Just be noted that you are buying somebody's project and all of the fun stuff that comes with it.
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Jun 8, 2012 12:56
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The half way removed air conditioner is a little worrying, but it doesn't seem bad, especially for the beginning of summer.
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Jun 8, 2012 21:40
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Logue posted:What does AI think of this Miata? Might check it out tomorrow: http://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/cto/3048094492.html Looks molested, and looks like a project.
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Jun 9, 2012 01:41
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Just got done re-felting the vents on our NB. I bought two separate types of felt and both were way too thick to work. I ended up using ONE small piece of soft velcro on each unit. It worked, barely. The vents now stay put better but they don't have a good feel to them. Oh well. E: BTW I used a kroger card and spun it around the edge of each vent and they popped right out.
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Jun 9, 2012 19:19
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It's here! But due to something that sprung up at work, I won't be able to install it until mid August Oh well at least I'll get to toy around with it for a month or two before I store it for the winter.
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Jun 15, 2012 04:53
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This kills me everytime. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MBaEEODzU0
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Jun 16, 2012 15:27
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| # ? May 16, 2024 15:01 |
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I made some progress on my project to remove the Megasquirt from my Miata. I finished rewiring the stock ECU connectors. Other than the discomfort of sitting the wrong way in a Miata trying to crimp together wires, it wasn't too bad. Unfortunately, I hit a major snag and another minor one. The minor issue that is puzzling me, there is a solenoid or relay mounted on the back of the intake manifold that makes a constant clicking sound when it gets power. It appears to be attached to the actuator for the butterfly valves in the lower intake manifold. Any ideas as to the cause of this? During my investigation, I noticed a few butt-splices coming from the fuse box in the engine bay. The lower half of the fuse box itself was hanging on by just one clip and it looked like a little black plastic Pac Man. The splice just appeared to be two wires that were cut and subsequently reattached to one another. After investigating the fuse box and bolting it back, the car won't start; there are no lights or anything when I put the key in the ignition. A reasonable hypotheses would be that there is a lose connector somewhere in the box, but I'm not sure where. I gave most of them a decent tug and they seemed to be attached, I'm going to investigate again tomorrow I guess. I'm so pissed, I was really hoping that this drat thing would run after I rewired the ECU. I guess this is just the kind of punishment you should expect when buying somebody else's project car.
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Jun 19, 2012 05:12
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