Lazeum

I don't see any comment about rust. That's what I would be concerned at first.
I'm on this board for nearly 2 years but turbo is not yet on the car - I had to cut the full car apart to fix rust prior to install power bits. Doing it yourself is quite cheap, having somebody doing it for you is expensive; chassis rails are easily 1500€ if well made, rear quarters and fenders are even more expensive to fix.
Being in Europe, Prestige Spares or Bofi in UK, SPS in Germany are selling parts for very cheap so I wouldn't be too concern with parts availability if something goes wrong (which may very be with heavily tuned car).

Having T-OEM, past owner, telling you what happened with the car is quite good news Setup seems quite well sorted based on comments.

Demville

I was quiete surprised to find the previous owner to be honest, but it indeed helps a lot with making a decision.

I am not concerned that something breaks because that is probably bound to happen over time, but that is to be expected. But what I am concerned about is the amount of times it'll break. If the build is correct and maintance is good no problem, but I don't want something that has a 50/50 chance of breaking on me everytime I get in after driving 10k km.

And to come back on to your concern, it doesn't seem like there is any rust on the car which is a huge plus.

T-Oem

should be a slight leak, but needs looking at what it is because its quite the setup: heat exchanger, sensor plate, oil cooler sw plate, oil filter.. i believe.

i do remember hearing something about the oil cooler not being connected or something.. would advise fixing whatever broke and reconnecting the cooler before running it on track. (make sure it’s clean and no debree is in the lines, and cooler itself)

i ran even colder plugs at a grade 8, they lasted even long enough for a full oil change interval 8-10k km. So grade 7’s should also work fine.

Lazeum

That's good news, you can remove the door sill trim plate and check inside of the body to double check.
25€ endoscopic camera can help you to control shape of the hollow part of the car to be sure.

Demville

I wasn't really planning on tracking the car, just something as a fun dailyable car. But it is always smart to reconect the oil cooler as soon as possible.

And as of the leak I can't really guess how big the fixing job would be because I haven't taken a look at the leak yet but I'd expect fixing it wouldn't be that big of a problem. Correct me if I am wrong though

Demville

Yeah rust is a big miata problem and a pain in the *** to fix if even fixable

T-Oem

Oh yeah the car was totally rust free apart from slight surface rust on the left front chassis leg around 50 euro cent spot.
also some paint bubbling at the rearward sills(left one had a bubble or 2 more than right side). However when scoping the insides it was quite allright, after that i sprayed about 2 large xl cans of textyl ml into it untill it started leaking wax out of all holes.
i did also clean the drainages every year before fitting the hardtop for wintertime.
chassis legs were paint-scratch damaged due to a week of way to low ride height.

I got it from a wreckers place where the left front was damaged, fender, bumper and all suspension parts were replaced. Chassis leg was straight, had to do some massaging around the fender mounting plate/wing.

take note this was 1,5-2 years ago..

as for reliability during my ownership:
always warmed up the engine, sent it as hard as could, never broke.. apart from losing the crank pulley once.. (crank was not damaged)

Lazeum

Ask me how I know!

Demville

That is great to hear that maintanance up to that point was great to say the least. As for the rust spots as you said it is just surface rust which doesn't seem to be that big of a problem and can be fixed in the long run by respraying the car or replacing parts like the front fenders.

Also good to hear that the build held up for that long already and that it wasn't babied in the time that it lasted. I was planning on using it as a kindoff daily so I don't want it to break every time I smash the throttle.

So daily driving the car wouldn't seem like a big problem if I hear all of this.

from what km has the car been fitted with a turbo if I may ask?

Demville

Jeez that doesn't seem like a fun job, glad you fixed the car up though in the end!

T-Oem

Do take note that usually these cars rust from the inside-out due to questionable drainage designs.(thanks mazda)

not sure really.. got it at around 142k km.. might have boosted it around 155-160 or something? It was my daily aswell..

Demville

So it is running boosted for about 30-35k km without any problems while being driven pretty well. That is a good sign.

Well I'll just wait out the compression test results and a list of parts that all have been overhauled in the engine and than I'll make a decision based on that. I'll come back to it.

Insane to have found the previous owner on the forum, would love to meet up some time if I come to buying the car. I don't know where exactly you are located in the netherlands?

Thank you for all the information everybody.

soot

This is why pics are good hahaha

aju41046

Any updates on the car?

Demville

I wish I had, currently still waiting on compresion test results.
With all the tips I got that is going to be the deciding factor.

I am not that woried about the test because the engine does run really well but still after all the reply's.
Correct me if I am wrong, but I think it is better to wait for the results of the comp test instead of buying right away

aju41046

Agreed, wait for the results before pulling the trigger. Taking a while for the seller isn't it? I mean he can run to a local parts store and rent one (at least in the U.S) and it doesn't take long to conduct the test. Or drop it off at a shop for a day and pay a small amount to have it done for him.

Demville

yeah, indeed. Thought the same thing. But still it will probably be worth it in the end I hope.

Because if the comp test checks out the car is pretty much in excellent shape, mechanically. Because from the outside the car is far from perfect. A lot of dents and such but no rust atleast. Just surface rust on one paint spot