91 miata.

The head was ticking while idling and I could see some white smoke while revving or under some acceleration.

Stay away? Common? Need some opinions please. Thanks

 

Miata engines have noisy valvetrains. But, the smoke... was the car at operating temp? if it was a cold idle, it may have just been moisture in the exhaust

is the smoke heavy?

 

all of it.


oh. It's a 91' man, what do you expect? Low ball offer, then swap in a 1.8.

 

The ticking is normal as long as isn't to loud, the smoke could be a sing of a motor thats getting tired.

 

+1 on lowball offer, then "all of it" until "bang".

 

I don't know if this applies to earlier cars, however, on my 04 there was once white smoke during acceleration -- turned out to be just a blown PCV valve.

 

ticking is normal for the valvetrain. Try this: Start the car for 5 or 10 seconds, then turn the car off and wait 5 or 10 seconds, then start it again. Repeat if necessary until the ticking stops. If it does indeed stop, it's just a common HLA tick.

how many hundred thousand miles are on the car? 2 and a half? 3?

 

The engine is 22 years old, it smokes
I'd worry more about the diff.
/thread

 

Buy it for cheap, build a motor, boost it to the moon.

Edit: Man, I ******' love miatas.