93' Miata stolen and flipped build thread
 

I let my miata go yesterday. It's currently on the long drive back to it's new home.

Very nice guy that bought it. Hopefully he sticks around the community. I received a lot of flattering compliments about the car, which is always nice to here after you have spent so much time and money dialing your setup.

It also didn't hurt that some guy in a dodge challenger thought he was going to pick on a little miata. The real victim is his girlfriend, we demasculated her man right in front of her. :bowrofl:

Anyhow, I plan to stick around the forum. There is a lot of great information here that can be utilized elsewhere.

Particularly: I'm starting on an MS3x powered 69 dodge charger. Going with a 500ci stroker motor. Just picked up a 727 with a gear vendors overdrive unit.

Thanks to all the help on here, my time spent tuning my miata, fuel injecting the charger will be a piece of cake.

Good Times!

For those interested in what the build will resemble: http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/in...c,99432.0.html

*hear

LOL

Nice curly, glad that's what you got out of it. Lol

You've been around for a while, i don't think I could ever get rid of my miata - and I've had some nice trades offered.

Pics of the miata to spice up this thread? Better yet, did you get any videos of it ? :)

I'll have to try to get one of my track day videos posted. I wish I had day two on video. So I didn't have watch myself shifting like a bitch. The next day I actually downshifted to keep speed up In the corners, and learned to heel/toe.

I have too many hobbies. The real fun was building it.

Im going to assume fuel injection on the dodge then? And coilpacks as well? Good plan on projects btw.

I'm sorry and happy you let it go to me DJP. It made the 1800 mile journey home with no hiccups.

Hunstville, AL-Kansas City on day one, and Kansas City-Southern Utah on day 2. You really don't realize how nice cruise control is until you drive 1800 miles holding the gas pedal in the same position.

Glad I had noise cancelling headphones otherwise I'd be deaf from the exhaust, wind noise and boxes of parts in the trunk and passenger side.

Sorry about the bad clutch pedal work leaving the driveway....damn learning curves on other peoples clutches.

Driving with no lighting on the instrument cluster was interesting to say the least. At least the needles and total miles lights worked so I could line the needle up with those numbers.

I'm going to go take a nap now...

We can let Jeffbucc post pics of the Miata in his intro thread.

I want pictures of the Charger.

If you can't fint a power supply for the leds in that gauge cluster, there is another gauge cluster in the box of parts. I bet you are worn out after that drive.

Rats! I was really hoping to score some of those parts off of you!

Looking forward to the new build. Still sad to lose a baby. Seems like a cool new owner though.

WTH?

How does a '69 Charger replace a turbo Miata?

You need both.

Interested in your Charger build (have a '66 Sport Fury). You should do a build thread in the MS section.

:friday:

More sadness....miata was stolen and flipped down an embankment. I'm waiting on pics from jeff. Hes waiting on the insurance adjuster and in the process of finding a Miata to swap over the parts.

What would you guys do before trying to start the engine again? It sounds like the driveline didn't take a front or rear hit. It rolled onto the flatbed. Jeff ssid the roof took most of the hit, and had it not had a rollbar the thief would have probably been killed. Not sure if he was caught. Motherf***er

1. Unplug CAS, pull plugs and crank a few times to make sure there's no chance of hydrolock.
2. Put it all back together, change the oil and start her up.

Sound reasonable?

That's what I was thinking.

I'll keep you guys updated the more I find out from the police. The adjuster might not make it down here for another couple of days so I may just drive over there today and get some detailed pictures for you guys to look at.

I feel violated and sick that someone stole from me. Especially considering that they haven't caught the person who did it.

wtf

My exact reaction to the phone call from the police.
:vash2:

This is roughly what happened from the police report:

It was taken for a joy ride, slid off the road at +/-110 mph, did 3 complete revolutions before it went off the road, slid down the road embankment, tires dug into the soft sand on the drivers side and flipped onto the roof, thereby totaling the car.

I'm hoping enough speed was scrubbed to make the impact on the roof not terrible but that is wishful thinking. It tore the bead of the tire off one of the wheels and there is damage to every panel.

I talked to the tow guy last night and asked him to pop the hood and look at the engine for me and he said the cold air intake was a bit smashed but other than that nothing looked damaged. He said the car was able to roll onto the flatbed after putting it into neutral but one wheel(and I'm guessing control arm) is pushed in a bit. Rear diff isn't leaking, but I'm also guessing since it was in gear at the time of impact that one of the gears might be toast as well.

Damnit now I'm shaking in anger again.:facepalm:

I was hoping they were gonna find the guy in a ditch after being ejected from the car. I know that is hateful, but f*** him. I wonder if the police checked the hospitals? Typically sport seats and factory seat belts don't work that well together. That's why when I had the sport seats in I would wear the five point harness around town and the regular belt in a pinch.

those mormons...

Dude that charger is badass, exactly what I want to do with my Dart. Except add a turbo! And it's only a small block. But dude, seriously bad fucking ass.

Anyone know of a beater miata close to Utah for cheap?

I think I'm going to rent a storage unit to do the swap. If they haven't caught the thief he is likely to come back and do it again. and I don't want the car in parts in my driveway.

I think this story needs its own thread.

Wasn't FM giving away a stripped shell? Can't remember if it was NA or NB

They didn't find any physical evidence of the guy so I'm guessing he was wearing gloves?

I thought the same Dave, I wished the guy was too stupid to wear a seatbelt and was ejected and impailed on a tree limb 20 feet above the car.

they were giving away an MSM frame. just the frame.

They sold it unfortunately. All the beaters around here are more or less scrap material. or asking way too much for what the shitty car is

I jsut hope I can get a new hardtop out of the insurance actual cost value, and they don't fuck me on the price of the car.

I would think the insurance money will get you another miata. Just make sure you get the wrecked car back. Try to get them to write up the hard top separate as those pull 800 to 1000 easy

Holy crap, just read this thread through. You had the car less than a week and it was stolen and wrecked? Honestly, hate to say it, but at least the guy wrecked it and you recovered most of the $$ parts. I've seen too many modded cars disappear into part outs with nothing at all found.

Good luck on finding a shell and swapping parts over, it's EASY to do but will take you a lot of man hours. If there is one thing working on my car has taught me, it's that most anything you can do to it is easy, but time consuming.

Make sure you find the right year chassis so the ECU will swap over.

Get us some pics of the carnage when you have them. If i were closer I'd certainly help you with this project. Where is your location? maybe a miatabro can come give you a hand.

Good call on the computer. It wouldn't be difficult to mod, but a 93 would make it easier

90-93 should work for the ECU/harness.

This sucks mightily. I really hate to see this..

Threadjack, but did anyone found out what happened with jtothewhat's EFR that Hobbs was unknowingly selling?

No shit? I missed that entirely. Did jtothewhat's car get stolen? Or just the turbo? I remember him making all kinds of claims for a 1.6 power record he was planning on setting, but never saw anything come out of it.

I think it was mani/turbo/downpipe. It walked away from the shop that was supposed to install it I think? And someone noticed the SN from the pics Hobbs had up in a FS thread. I'm hoping they caught the dummy who sold it to Hobbs.

OMG guys I am so sorry to hear about the theft of the Miata. That was a car I would have loved to own myself. Good luck with the insurance claim and swap. I know it is a headache, but life will get back to normal eventually.

Thanks for the heads up on that Hornet.

That is what I mostly want, life to go back to normal, after getting bit by a Black Widow the week before and after driving 1800 miles back to Utah I'm a little down in the dumps as of late. Not sure what I did karma wise, but life has been kicking my ass lately. Which was why I was so happy to pick up Dave's car since it was so perfectly executed in my eyes.

Hardest part is going to be swapping all this without a garage, and knowing that a thief knows where I live and hasn't been caught yet.

Probably going to rent a 2 car garage sized storage unit and transfer the wrecked Miata and a hopeful donor car there and tear the parts off the wrecked one and put it in the new one there. More peace of mind that way.

Didn't have time to go to the towing company's lot to get pictures; hopefully tomorrow.

I was very close to not having an easy time recovering the parts. My insurance company was almost sneaky and had me release the car to them so they could transfer it to a "salvage yard" I.E. an auto auction yard in Las Vegas. They didn't want to pay the tow company storage fees.
Tow company owner is a customer of mine and clued me in on how hard it is to get your car back from these companies due to them being the unholy spawn of dicks when it comes to releasing the car.

So I managed to keep the car in town before they sent someone down to take the car 3 hours away.

Thanks for the offer to help, I'm in Cedar City, UT, far away from most people. I'll manage but it will take me a while. Agreed on it being easy but time consuming. Miatas are stupid easy to work on after owning a VW Jetta diesel wagon.

Just make sure the car stays put until you have claim to it.

Take it home now if they'll let you. I always have them take the car to my shop instead of the impound lot so the insurance company can't make off with it and the impound lot apes can't mess with it.

yeah. when i wrecked mine the adjuster came to our house. it's hard to pull parts off a car in a yard; let alone personal belonging.

Going to get it transferred to a storage facility today to avoid more fees. I would put it down in my driveway but I'm now worried about thieves in my area.

I figure one month @ $45 to strip the parts and scrap the body isn't the worst thing ever.

Having a hard time finding an answer to this via google...will the insurance adjusters be angry if I pull the body panels/bumper/hood/wheels off the car and a couple other pieces to get a good view of damage?

My parents were very kind and are letting me store the car in their vacation house garage for a couple of months(just has to be gone before the holidays start up). It is 45 miles south in St George, but it is better then paying for a storage unit with no electricity or lighting.

Getting it moved down there tomorrow. Should have pictures in the afternoon.

I don't think I would pull anything until the adjuster got there, but I don't have any supporting data to suggest that it will cause a problem

You are probably right, I just wish they would get off their asses and get it done so I can strip it. I have all of today and tomorrow to do so and it is a waste in my eyes.

Picture update.

Doesn't look as bad as it did at night. Definitely a lot of body damage but no engine damage from the outside and no fluids are leaking(for now).

Tire lost its bead
Roll bar slightly bent
Lots of panel damage.
Struts look ok but I haven't had a chance to put it on jack stands yet and look underneath the car.
car rolled off the flatbed no problem
steering lock disengaged after turning the key 1/2 way on

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Those seats look oddly familiar. Sorry for the loss and headache

I'm strangely over it already. In the "lets get the insurance shit finalized" mode so I can tear the car apart and put it in something else.

Wow

How did the door bars hold up?????? As long as they haven't been switched pretty sure they are the ones I built and sold to djp. I'm very curious to hear how they held up, especially the welds.

Really really well. I'm not sure if the passenger side bar was pressed against the seat as much as it is now but I figured I'd get a shot of it for you.

In the rear picture of the roll bars you can see it is tweaked to the left slightly.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1382248322
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Oh woops you wanted a close up of the welds. Bad light so its a little grainy but I don't see and cracks or any flaking from the paint around the area.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1382248957
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Also the fuel pump is still priming when I turn the key. Should I pull the plugs and turn the key a couple times just in case the engine is flooded? Then try to start it? Or just wait until I pull the engine to inspect for real damage.

Awesome man thanks for checking that out! I'm glad they held up even though it was in such a crappy circumstance.

In the end of this whole madness I think you could end up in a good place miata-wise. As long as you get all of your parts and don't get screwed money wise by insurance.

A huge aspect of having a turbo miata, especially for the guys on this site, is that by putting the car together yourself you know EXACTLY what everything is, where everything is, and what is happening if something goes wrong. Simply switching over all the parts will get you so much more comfortable with the car and all of its pieces, and you can also fix anything that wasn't perfectly set for you on the old car. I guess i'm just trying to look at the situation glass half full, though that is easier from my position than yours.

Hope everything works out smoothly!

Evan

Evan funny you say that. I was doing some math and I will come out ahead of this regardless of what I get from the insurance company.

I bought it from Dave for $7,500. If I get 75% of that plus the cost of buying the car back, plus my deductable, plus the cost of a donor shell(+/-$500), I'll have a running car for roughly $4,000; depending on mechanical damage to parts.

I was really down in the dumps until I realized it was a weird blessing in disguise and after that epiphany it really doesn't bother me at all anymore. Mostly will be a waiting game on the insurance company, finding a donor shell, and finding the time between running a business and stripping the parts off.

Do you guys think it will be easier to just lift the body off the subframe? Or should I pull the parts off individually to inspect for damage.

I have several pullys, 200 ft of climbing rope, autolocking belay devices, and a come-along to lift it.

That roll bar saved the thief's life.

If the roll bar is a Hard Dog (looks like it is), if you send Bethania Garage pictures I think they'll send you a replacement roll bar gratis!!

Yea, too bad there was a roll bar, door bars, and hardtop in the car. Otherwise maybe the theives would have got what they deserved...