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So here's my question. I posted this in "Questions about a Performance Miata" before this thread was created. My guess is it's not going to get answered there now that it does. I've got a '91 Miata. No options. No power steering, no A/C, no power anything, and definitely no LSD. So I read through this, and I do want to get around to upgrading my Miata. So after reading this, the natural progression seemed to be: Differential, Turbo, Exhaust, Suspension. My reasoning being this: Before upgrading the suspension, you want to make sure that a brace will fit around your exhaust. Before an exhaust, you want to get your turbo, this just based on the fact that Flyin' Miata differentiates between a turbo exhaust and a normally aspired one. Before getting a turbo, I want to change out my differential with a 1.8 so I don't screw mine up. So I started to put my foot in today, and went to a differential service shop that I heard about from a shop that I've done good business with in the past. They seem to be a pretty good shop. When I mentioned that I had a Miata, they lit up and talked about a few Miata's they'd serviced in the past, although they were a little too hyped up about the V8 Miata they serviced for my taste. Apparently they've serviced a rotary Miata which sounds interesting, though. Well, anyhow. When I mentioned that I'd like to change out my differential with a 1.8L LSD, they understood and said they'd never done anything like that with a Miata. They said they'd call around and see what they could get ahold of, and gave me the "parking lot of a ballpark of a price" range of 1000-2000 dollars. I really don't know anything about differentials, and I've only done routine maintenance on cars myself. So I'm not too sure I feel comfortable doing the swap myself (I found a pretty good guide on Miata.net) since I really don't know anything about differentials, and it doesn't seem too simple. But is the price right? How much would it cost me to get the part myself? It seems really pricey, although I can understand why, but I'm a little uneasy about spending 2000 on changing the differential on a 2400 dollar car. But I have to start somewhere, sometime, right? And I doubt that anything but the exhaust is really going to be much cheaper. I don't know. Can I get some advice? I'm a moron. I know very little about cars, in reality. Is my idea of upgrade progression in a correct order? Is the ballpark price fair? Should I try doing this myself? Is getting a "Turbo" exhaust without a turbo going to cause less efficiency, or is the Turbo exhaust just built to handle more? (For those of you who read it, I went and test-drove a Porsche 944. And I think I'll pass.)
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Oct 12, 2007 02:24
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Okay, so do keep in mind I don't have any idea of what I'm talking about. Amir suggests that parts are going to run me 925, and meatpimp suggests 400. Big price gap  . Are we talking the axles are going to be 400 more? I assume that I'm not going to get them with the differential. Is this a job that someone as inexperienced as I am could do within a day, or over a weekend's time? (I live with my wife, and my friend. We each have a car. We each have jobs - It's not an easy thing to not have a car for even a few days.)Where would I buy a differential from a 1.8L? Is it safe to buy a used differential, maybe from a parted out car? And finally, because of the bulk price of this upgrade, I would like to put it off for a little while, but I'd still like to upgrade my car soon. Is putting a turbo in my car without changing the differential going to kill it? Thanks for the answer on the exhaust systems. And thanks for the differential swap info so far. Sorry for being repetitive, I'm just very intimidated by this differential problem because I simply don't know much about it. I'm learning, and I appreciate any help you can give me while I do so. amadeo fucked around with this message at 03:12 on Oct 12, 2007 |
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Oct 12, 2007 03:04
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Thanks for all the information, it's really helped. I'll be debating whether or not to put a turbo in or get the differential changed first, and let you all know when I do either.
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Oct 12, 2007 03:14
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Alignment's great. Tires came with the car, but they're pretty new, haven't had any problems with them, they're definitely keeping they're tread. I haven't been on the track or anything, but I've pushed the car, I've spun out and, oh my god, I've done donuts behind Circuit City. Shocks are a good point, but I really don't have a problem with the way the car feels while I drive it. But it sure would be nice to have a little more power. And that's what I'm ultimately working for. I'm interested in the NB top swap, but I have to have a roll bar that's going to get my into a track. When you ordered the NB top (WITH FRAME!), lecia, did you specify for a glass window? There wouldn't be any real change in swapping my 91 top with an NB top that has a plastic window, right? This seems very desirable, but I just don't want to go about it the wrong way. The only reason I'm asking about it is because I don't want to go to a shop and tell them this is what I want to do, and have them bullshit me out of doing it. (The first shop I went to, a Meineke, told me that Miatas don't have LSD's and tried to charge me about $100 for maintenance on my trans-axle.) It seems like there wouldn't be a problem from what I've read, but I generally trust AI more than the interweb. amadeo fucked around with this message at 07:24 on Oct 13, 2007 |
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Oct 13, 2007 07:21
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Thanks. Guess that kills the NB top swap for me. I'd rather avoid paying $150 more for a rollbar to support a glass window. I heard some people say they had luck with Ebay tops. I was looking at this one and it looked pretty good. Anyone have any experience with it? It doesn't look like this will cause any interference with a roll bar. amadeo fucked around with this message at 10:11 on Oct 13, 2007 |
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Oct 13, 2007 10:06
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leica posted:Do you have an NA? If so, an NB top swap is the easiest/most affordable/best quality. So I've been actively pursuing this idea. And oh my god, has it been frustrating. No one has any idea what I'm talking about. "Hello. I have a 1991 Miata. I would like to buy a 1998-2005 Miata soft top with the frame." "Uh... why?" "Explanation" "Well, we don't have a clue. Go to this place." Repeat. I've been to three upholstery shops, four body shops, and a dealer. The dealership just told me that they wouldn't do anything that isn't bringing a car to factory specs. I've looked online, but can't find anywhere to buy an OEM frame. I think my next ventures will be going to wrecking yards in the area and seeing if there's a usable NB frame there, so I can just order the soft top.
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Oct 23, 2007 16:04
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So about two months ago, someone slashed my plastic window on my 1991 Miata. Then over time, pressure buckled it down, it kept ripping, and eventually someone furthered the damage by punching a whole in it. All this happened in my work's parking lot. So eventually the top looked like this: Just a lot of tape. So I ordered a new Robbins top with a glass window for around $570 and set on installing it myself with my wife and roomate and fellow goon BeatSetRadio. We tore the old top apart with knives and pry tools and our hands and got the car to eventually look like this!:  That took all of Saturday from 10AM to almost 4PM. Then on Sunday, we set upon installing the new top. What a pain in the rear end that was. Everything was off, we had to drill new holes everywhere and kind of figure it out as we went a long. But, at 4:10PM, when the hobby shop was closing down, we finally finished. And it looked beautiful.   For the first time in a little while, I was very happy with my Miata. I went to go get it washed, and it was spotless. I was planning on getting it painted in the coming month, a nice blue color with a black hood. I talked to my wife about replacing the seats and belts with harnesses, installing a roll bar, fixing up some of the trim.. it was going to be a beautiful auto-crossing machine. Then came Friday. I had the new top on for four and a half days when my wife called me at 6:45AM. I had left my cell phone in her car. Needed that thing that day, so I immediately got up and went down there. Got my cell phone, and was on my way home. Now, I live in San Diego. Weather here is great. But for some reason, on the on ramp to the highway, I guess I hit a wet spot in the road. Maybe an oil slick. Hell, maybe a tire blew and I didn't realize it. In any case, my car started fishtailing all over the road at about 35MPH on the on-ramp to the I-5. I tried to regain control of my car. But I just wasn't able to. I panicked like an idiot, and hit the brake. The car spun in a total 360, and the passenger side wheels hit the right side of the road's curb. My car proceeded to topple over, rolling down the hill, onto it's top, and back onto it's wheels, smashing into a fence at the bottom of a hill. Somewhere in this process, it also did a horizontal 180, as my car ended up facing the opposite direction of the way it was when it hit the curb. It was actually kind of fun, looking back on it. When the car started fishtailing, I had a nice smile on my face as I fought it to gain control. As the car started to hit air, I screamed "What the gently caress?!". It wasn't until I hit the ground and could feel how the airbag had just hit me in the face and the rails on the top had scraped up my head that I really started to yell in agony. So now, my car looks like this:      The top, however, looks wonderful, still:  It's just too bad that the car's totaled. Oh, and so is my face...  Down one Miata. But at least I'm still alive, and with no permanent injury. Which was close, because I just had refractive surgery on my eyes, and that airbag could've screwed that up nice if it had hit the wrong way. So the question is: What year should my next Miata be? I love the look of the NA. But I'm unsure of the differences between them. I know the '94 model saw the 1.8L, but HP went up in the NA at some point, and I'm not sure what year that was. Also, when were Torsen LSD's introduced? Info will help. I want to make sure this next Miata is the right Miata. amadeo fucked around with this message at 04:59 on Dec 30, 2007 |
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Dec 30, 2007 03:34
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I replaced the top on my 91 with a Robbins top with a glass rear window. It took me about two days of work with me and my wife, and a lot more tools than I had ready access to. The top ran something like 500, and I wasn't about to pay the extra 300 a shop would have charged. I'd say that price is about fair. I grabbed a '96 M Edition for $4000 even. It had 140k on it, but I have all the maintenance records and it was kept up by an older enthusiast. And he recently replaced the clutch and top. It's the most beautiful car I've owned, and it runs like new. I think I got a steal on it. I was really looking to spend $7000 on a car that wasn't quite up to the par this one is.
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Feb 4, 2008 21:19
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Speaking of windows, my '96 has power windows. They go down very, very slowly. Is this normal, or do I need to replace the motor or something? I've never driven a Miata with power windows before this one, but they can take a long time to get up or down. And when I roll them both down at the same time, they can take even longer - probably around 20+ seconds for both windows to go all the way down together. Any advice? I don't imagine that this is normal.
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Feb 5, 2008 08:29
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By cold do you mean below 60? Because that's about as bad as it gets here. So I guess I'll go ahead and look into doing those things. Thanks for the advice. Edit: Also, I bought my Miata with a Momo "Corse" steering wheel on it. It completely obscures my view of the instrument cluster. Anyone have any experience with aftermarket wheels on NAs? Specifically detachable steering wheels, if they're available. (I live in San Diego - violent crime is low, car theft is high.) But, basically, the last thing I want to do is order a new wheel off the internet and have it still obscure the view of my speedometer. amadeo fucked around with this message at 13:02 on Feb 5, 2008 |
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Feb 5, 2008 11:18
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I recently took my '96M for an oil change, being too lazy to do it myself. Turns out this is a good thing, because I'm not sure I'd notice the leak from my rear main seal. What kind of pricing am I looking at to get this replaced? I've been keeping a pretty good eye on my engine's conditions since I found out about the leak, but am unsure about the total spectrum of consequences. I've driven about a tank of gas and have consistently checked the oil, and it still appears full. How serious is this, given that fact? Mind you I'm not sure I can afford to get this fixed right away, and this is my daily driver. From what I understand, replacing the seal requires a lot more mechanic work than I'm experienced enough to deal with. All I've really done is change brake pads, set timing, change oil.. a couple other small items, nothing too intensive, and all with a Hanes manual guiding me. Unfortunately, that Hanes got nice and destroyed in an apartment fire a few months ago. Anyhow, am I wrong? Is this something an inexperienced but willing-to-learn mechanic should do on his own?
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Feb 13, 2008 11:23
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Suniikaa posted:A leaking CAS o-ring is often mistaken for a rear main leak. Definitely check that out first. Also, I like the way the coupe looks. But I agree that the shape of the trunk lid resembles a tacky Ford Taurus. amadeo fucked around with this message at 00:17 on Feb 14, 2008 |
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Feb 14, 2008 00:15
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Individual Throttle Body. Throttle bodies for each individual cylinder instead of just one.
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Feb 14, 2008 16:09
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Alright. Because I'm unfamiliar with all this steering wheel stuff and can't find anything that answers my specific questions, I'll ask here. I'd like to install a quick release and new, larger wheel. The current Momo wheel that came with the car is blocking my view of the instrument cluster. I've been unable to find a 360mm (which I think is the size a wheel needs to be to not interfere with my view of the instrument cluster..) Momo or Sparco wheel, so I found this nice Nardi wheel. However, Nardi-compatable quick releases are nearly $300. So this is what I was looking at: this NRG quick release and this Nardi to Momo adapter. I have a few questions before I do anything with these products: Will this work at all? Do I need a Nardi hub adapter or a Momo hub adapter? I appreciate the help, the last thing I want to do is pay for all this stuff and not have it work together. I'm interested in a quick release because of San Diego's auto theft problems.
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Feb 16, 2008 03:58
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