I need your opinion fast!
 

So I plan to go look at a 1993 miata tomorrow that has a 1.8 swap from a 99 and has isis turbo set up (greddy intercooler). They guy says it has no AC but I need to no if it is even possible to fit AC with this set up. He says it is also cutting out after 10psi due to the coil pack? ive read where this has been a problem before but since I know nothing about this car personally I can only take the guy's word as of now.

If I can make AC fit I will most liekly buy the car.

Any suggestions on what you would pay for a 93 miata like this?

i dont see why it wouldnt fit if you reworked the intercooler pipe to fit.

i see no hardlines, so it's not a task I'd want to tackle.

A/C should be the last thing to worry about when buying someone's project. Especially when you admit that it IS having issues.

Be honest, how confident are you in buying this modded car when you can't, on your own, figure out if A/C can be reattached?

How difficult of a task are we talking here?

Honest: confidence not very high, but I am young, learning, and really want a miata. I can not argue that it is probably not a good idea taking on a project that has issues but this doesn't have to be my DD.

I have to start somewhere. A boosted miata may not be the best choice but the price is somewhat reasonable to me.

As someone who is also very young and currently modding my first car, I would highly suggest buying the car completely stock. Last thing you need is to have to fix someone else's shitty work when stuff starts breaking. It will get expensive and stressful really fast. You will either have to rent/borrow/purchase another vehicle to drive when yours is breaking (just read that it will not be your DD.) and if you cannot fix the issue yourself you will have to pay someone else to. If you want boost from the get go find a good deal on a mazdaspeed miata. That is what I did and I have not regreted it. You will spend more up front but you can finance it and then as you replace parts you have a visual reference on how turbo systems are set up and work while maintaining factory reliability. Just my 2 cents.

I can tell you that you will more than likely regret buying the car you have mentioned with your level of expertise. Car purchases should not be emotional.

I must agree with you that modded cars are more problematic especially when you did not do the work yourself. I have had other performace cars before and built motors, but none with a FI. Like I said this is not my only form of transportation as I have a reliable DD.

So lets just go ahead and spill the beans on everything about the car. As stated before the car has a 99 1.8L swap with an isi turbo, intercooler, PCB 3.0 megasquirt, adjustable coilovers, 2002 seats, hardtop (no soft top on car), no AC, 2.5" exhaust, walbro 255 fuel pump, carbon fiber hood and decklid, "forged rods" not like I can really know this from picture. and drives fine under 10 psi.

yes this is obviously a risk when purchasing a car like this but I feel that I could part this car out for atleast 75% of what I would pay for the car if this whole project turns to CRAP which it may :) but its a risk I am willing to take considering it is not going to kill me finacially.

Putting the ac back in is going to suck. He removed the heat exchanger from inside the car too. Even on factory non-ac miatas they have the heat exchanger on the inside making installing an ac system an hour job. But correct me if I'm wrong you need to pull the dash to install the inside heat exchanger which is supposedly a 4 hour job for a first timer.

And who needs a/c in their non-primary car anyways?

me.

Floridians. I refuse to own a car without A/C.

You do not have to take out the dash to remove/install the heat exchanger. Just take out the glove box, two 10mm nuts, two clamps (hooks the ducting), and pull. <--How to remove, so reverse to put in. On a side note I just pulled that out of my car the other day. I have the foam and everything from there. PM if ya want it, but A/C is for sissies.

dude, if I ever track the car again, I'm running a/c.

Me too. I love my a/c. It will never come out. I'll gut my fenders for intercooler pipes before I take my a/c out when the big daddy turbo goes in.

OP, how much is this car? Thanks for the honesty so far. You'll do fine around here.

coincidentally, my a/c condensor has a hole in it... guess what car im NOT driving today.

:bigtu:

Leafy: at least I am getting real expections to look forward to if I decide to go this route.

Thanks Viper

was asking 3800 but got it to $3200. opinions on this price with everything known?

more pics of car? what issues? price isn't horrible at all.

Issues: says car cuts out between 10-14 psi but if fine below that. Says there is an exhaust leak between the turbo and DP, has no soft top only hard top which is sexyier anyway but im sure ill get a soft top and frame later, and it has no A/c

Price is not bad at all. I expect to pay less for a modded car than a stock car and that falls right into that category.

I am planning on going to get it tomorrow

stock coils suck. looks like you got an NB dash in there too.

are you planning on running the A/C with 3 of the 4 vents blocked with gauges or are you gonna move the gauges?

ya its a 2002 dash.

I will relocate gauges once I get compressor project going.
I will at least have 2 of 4 open :)

Oh and ya I live in Alabama so A/c is a must

like the all the dudes racing closed cockpit lemans prototypes?

like the all the dudes racing closed cockpit lemans prototypes?

My name is Scott Pruett. It has all been revealed.

Looks alright to me given what you've given us and to be honest I'm jealous of the A/C having mo fo's since I moved to the south. Screw humidity.

They have a minimum weight that they can easily get under, 10 pounds of racing a/c is a bit more useful than 10 pounds of ballast.

So did you get the car??

I actually did not buy it. Once I got there there was just to many little things that we unexpected that made me decide to wait for a different one. I will say though it did change me mind about NA miata's. I use to be stuck on getting an NB but I see that I really do like a lowered NA with hardtop and front lip. 6 hour round trip and empty handed kinda sucked though

Never mind! Maybe think about doing your own build instead... you'll learn a lot more..

That is what I may do. I have located a 99 in the same state as me that would be a really good platform to start from only because its relatively cheap. Really High mileage but a replacement motor would not kill me from the prices I have seen some people buy them.

Run the old motor until it blows up, then rebuild it.

If I could do it again, I would do that. I bought mine with 36,000 on it, and really wish I had gone cheaper. But I needed a dependable DD at the time, and it is still a boatload of fun.

The force is strong with this one!

I'll take that as a good thing :) and yes that's what I was considering, going cheap then just rebuilding when I need to. It has 187k miles now witty some cosmetic work needed inside and an ugly orange paint job but the fact that it's an NB that's running that would look fine with a paint job for right under $2000, I think it's worth it. Anyone else want to chime in here on this? Sound like. Good price and good starting point?

Either NA or NB I will eventfully get a hard top and lower it. I just am addicted to the look.

ok let me add a note here:

I contacted the seller of the 99 NB and he said one cylinder was not firing right and after a exstensive search to figure out what it was the only thing he said left it could be is a bad ECU in which he said he could fix but would not sell the car for $1800.

You might want to check the classifieds here on our forum. LOTS of good miatas here from members with a lot of history. Personally if i was to buy a turbo miata.. I'd feel safer if its from someone who built it on this forum.

I would have to agree with you but as for as a no FI car to start with.

I have checked the classifieds. I saw cjernigan's 99 turbo for 8,000 which is not bad considering the car but I am not wanting to spend 8,000 on an extra vehicle.

My go-to site for this kind of thing is autoemu: a curated list of great deals on used cars aimed at automotive enthusiasts. But I just like to browse and dream.

Also a bad ECU sounds perfect unless you were planning on a piggyback or band-aids.

Yes but how do you know the seller isnt pulling it out of his ass? You replace the ecu with a megasquirt and the problem isnt changed...

Ya I agree!

I mean unless it was tested from Mazda before I got it, I wouldn't want this problem without a definite cause