NoiseRacing

Hi,I have been a memebr for sometime now mainly reading up on builds and how to properly build a car. I am not new to the worl of cars or FI coming from a FI Saturn background, this seems to be the natural progression as saturn owners tend to come this way. After driving a 07 NC i was extremely pleased and intriqued to the world of miatas. I have recently been looking at NA miatas and have found a 1990 with several stock upgrades, including 94+ brakes, and the the 94 front and rear subframe braces. I have heard that the early 1990's had crank issues. My plan for this car is to build a new weekend warrior/track car. I have not received the VIN, as I forgot to copy it down while viewing/test driving the car. My intentions are for a mild-mid boosted car on the stock motor of 135,000 km. If it turns out to be one of these miatas with the bad crank should I turn away. the price seems extremely right at 3 grand. I apprieciate your insite.


Thankyou

-Jeff

jobambo

1993 and earlier had weaker rear ends which you will most likely replace once you start boosting.

hustler

iTrader: (6)

turbosaturn.lol

samnavy

iTrader: (7)

If you're in Canada (hint... we don't know where you live) $3k for a 90 is actually a good deal based on my Craigslist searching.

If you can source a car from the states, then $3k will get you any number of 94-95 cars and you should be looking at those.

You can read up about the SNC issues in the m.net GARAGE.

Your plan is sound, but track use practically mandates a differential upgrade. The 7" rear found in the 94+ cars is a straight swap for the 6" in 90-93... but you need the axles and driveshaft as well. Finding one with a Torsen differential would be ideal... but a Torsen swap is about $750 or so... which is more reason to look at a 94+ car to begin with... especially with tracking in mind.

Edit your Profile to include your location for us.

NoiseRacing

Thankyou for your advice, and yep I'm canadian. Like i said I've been reading as much as I can from this site and understand the importance of the larger rear-end from the 94+ cars. I have sourced a rear-end from a 97 that is at one of the local yards believe me its definately one of the first things on my list to be swapped. Plan is to get is setup suspension wise first and then get a Begi kit and run Ms over the winter. I guess my main concern more than anything is the crank issue I've heard of in the 1990, swapping and upgrading I'm fine with as this is going to be my project/track car. I just don't want to do a engine build right off the bat. So should I stay away from the 90' or is this "bad crank" not that big of a deal?


edit:Thankyou for pointing me towards miata.net for the SNC

97montego

If your going FI, save yourself the trouble of swapping the rear end and brakes off a later car and just buy a '94+ car, this will also get you a 1.8l instead of the 1.6. Be sure to get a Torsen rear end, your def. giong to be haveing traction issues when you go FI.

If you love to tinker, go DIY, but if your not tuner you may want to consider buying a complete FI car, it will be cheaper than buying a car and adding a turbo and supporting mods, unless you are a world class tinkerer.

hustler

iTrader: (6)

I agree with this, unless you can get the 1.6 significantly cheaper even after doing the rear end swap. I paid $1600 for my 1.6 car, so it made sense.

NoiseRacing

Thanks for the advice, the car sold yesterday on me. I don't mind having to do the swap upgrade my main issue is finding a car that contains little or no rust.

if i do go turbo I will definately going the DIY route and running MSPNP. From the saturn world like here MS is the only way to go and I've been reading Mega Manual for about a year now.

Keeping my eyes peeled for a 94+.

jayc72

iTrader: (14)

non-turbomiata. lol

Braineack

iTrader: (62)

miataturbo.net smilie making fun of me lol

Toddcod

iTrader: (8)

Belive it or not. Some of the saturns with twin cams will run well for a 4cyl. And with turbo it will scream. I watched a video of one with 13psi waxing a Z28.
I would still rather have the Camaro. But the saturn was fast no matter how you look at it.

jayc72

iTrader: (14)

You'll want NO rust. A little rust means there is a lot of rust, but you are only seeing a little of it for now. When I bought my car there was no evidence of rust at all. A year later I have rusted out rocker panels.

Find a good shell, the rest is easy to fix/replace. Body work is neither. I'd look in the US. Here in Alberta Miata prices are still way high, I'd assume Ontario is similar. $5K here will get you a 4 out of 10 Miata that has rust. $3K will get you a parts car. I would expect to pay $7000-8000 for a good condition 90-93.

Machismo

iTrader: (1)

That's it....I'm taking my car to Canada to sell, and then coming back to buy two.

cueball1

iTrader: (13)

A late 90's saturn SC won the ITA class at Nationals a couple years ago. They make a respectable track car to compete with the other ITA cars. The original cars were suprisingly like our Miata's. Light, underpowered, low to the ground and handled well. I used to get 38mpg in my single cam wagon I commuted 50 miles one way in.

97montego

Here in BC as well. Which is why I bought my rust free '97 in San-Diego. At the time (5 years ago) I saved about 4~5K. In BC I would have had a choice of 1 or 2 '97s. In Cali I had a choice of a dozen reasonably priced ones and drove 5 or 6.

NoiseRacing

Ended up getting a '96 black with black hard tp on the weekend. Only has 92,000 kms and has never seen winter, the car is mint and never been touched mod wise(still has the factory tape deck). paid $6800

Fireindc

iTrader: (13)

Sick, nice.

Update when you start doing stuff to it..