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n8r posted:Can we have a little chat about tops for the Miata? My top has completely poo poo the bed, but I have a hardtop to last me through the winter. I use my softtop maybe 5-10 times a year when it rains. So, I really need about the cheapest top available, but I don't want to have to pull my hair out installing it. A friend and I put on a cheap ebay top in about 3 hours.
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Oct 12, 2007 05:10
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mobn posted:My Miata is a '94 with 129k on the clock and it's running strong. The only work I've done besides oil changes was a belt that had started to dry rot a bit. Absolutely no mechanical problems whatsoever. I bought a '92 with a snapped timing belt last year. I had a 3 angle valve job done on the head and bolted it back together with new gaskets and belts and ran the piss out of it before selling it at the start of this semester. It had 226k miles when I got rid of it and still loved to be wound out to the redline. I drove it from southern Louisiana to St Louis with a clogged radiator and the heater blasting in early august without any problems and averaged 34mpg at about 80mph. The PO was a friend of mine and it ran great before the valve job, but it was noisy. Valve noise is common in these cars, dont let it keep you from buying one in otherwise good condition.
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Nov 1, 2007 18:43
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mobn posted:You're completely lying about that mileage unless you drive the most stripped out Miata ever. At 80mph you'd be spinning nearly 4500rpms, possibly 5000. There's no way you were pulling off more than 25-30 MPG, and 30's optimistic. You got me, I only measured from louisiana to southern missouri. Perfectly flat highway, a steady foot, and good compression. From New Iberia to Jackson I got about 36, but I was going a bit slower for that stretch. User Error fucked around with this message at 21:51 on Nov 1, 2007 |
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Nov 1, 2007 21:49
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Savington posted:Cars are a lot less complicated than mechanics make them out to be. This is especially true with Miatas. I replaced the radiator in my '92 in all of 20 minutes. When I got a valve job, reinstalling the head was a leisurely afternoon and I was driving it around that evening.
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Nov 12, 2007 04:37
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oh man a Miata hatch would own.
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Nov 13, 2007 04:39
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willd58 posted:So a bolt or something came loose in my engine bay, it held together the power steering fluid. Said fluid leaked everywhere and my steering went really stiff, I called the RAC out and they filled it back up and advised me to have the engine bay steam cleaned. It can wait a few 10k miles probably, but it would be a good idea to do the cam belt sooner rather than later. Do it whenever you have the time/money but it isnt super critical right now. The water pump is right behind the timing belt so it makes sense to replace it as well.
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Nov 29, 2007 18:06
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Putting a new top on the old frame really isnt that hard. I did it with a helper, and it took us a few hours inclusing a run to Lowes for a rivet gun. It's 100x easier if you just unbolt the whole frame from the car and take it to a place where you can spread it out on the ground. The frame is held in by 3 bolts on each side IIRC.
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Dec 11, 2007 22:20
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I miss my 150$ fagmobile  . $150 car, $450 valvejob including a gasket set and resurfacing, $200 ebay top. The little bastard lasted me a year with no problems at all, 215k miles to 226k. I needed something bigger with RWD, a manual, and good handling and my e36 is about the best I could do on my budget with that criteria but I still yearn for the telepathic steering and effortless powerslides.I'm living vicariously through you homos.
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Feb 2, 2008 09:31
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Phone posted:Most of the noises are new, and in the back of my mind catastrophic engine failure is just looming around the corner at every possible minute. I know I'm being a paranoid little bitch, but poo poo tends to roll downhill. Example: Got the hardtop finally secured properly on the new Miata, and that evening, my radio refused to work. Next day, the radio worked fine. It's a loving voodoo car, I swear. Miata engines are pretty much unblowupable. Big forged rods, oil squirters, iron block, etc. It's a non-interferance motor (which is rare for a high strung DOHC motor) so even a timing belt failure is no biggie.
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Feb 5, 2008 17:11
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.... as soon as I get the money for it. 
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Vitamin J posted:They are awesome motors. You can pull apart a 150k mile Miata motor, and still see the honing marks on the piston walls. 150k is just break in on these cars. Mine had honing marks at 215k miles when I got a valvejob done.
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Feb 5, 2008 22:57
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compton rear end terry posted:A cheap ebay top. I am not expecting it to last more than 2 years, but I needed something cheap after mine got slashed. I did the same thing. I bought the car for $150 with 215k miles, a slipped timing belt, and a torn up top. I was going to fix it up and flip it, so I got a cheap top off Ebay for something like $200 and had a friend help me install it. It took us an afternoon, but it looked fine and didn't leak. It was a bit of a pain in the rear end to install and required a rivet gun. I ended up keeping the car for about a year and the top never gave me any trouble.
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Mar 4, 2008 02:39
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AF posted:Questions once again - apologies if this has already been answered. My '92 had manual steering and it was wonderful. It did have AC but it came without a belt and I never bothered putting one on.
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Mar 8, 2008 02:03
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phootnote posted:i have been thinking about getting a miata, and i was wondering what year did they switch over to premium fuel? how/what kind of difference would it make for me to use regular instead of premium fuel on the models that recommend premium? plus, i've never driven a manual before. are miata's good for learning? Running regular in a car that takes premium is never a good idea. If you cant afford premium then look for another car. Miatas are very easy to learn in I think. The clutch is easy and the gear shift is very precise.
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Apr 25, 2008 17:16
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