Why are we even talking about this? I think everyone in this thread is telling you that buying that particular car for the money you specified is not a good idea. Yet you are fighting everything we are telling you. You asked for advice, but already made up your mind. Just buy the damn thing already and stop asking us questions for which you don't want to know the answer.

 

Not worth it, hold out for a manual.

 

Bottom line, regardless of the condition of that car -- if I was going to invest a minimum of 10k into a car above its normal value, you can be damned sure it wouldn't have any issues with the title. Not worth it.

 

Obsession does strange things to people. At least the seller is getting a good deal :(

 

+1 to that. If you're doing a LS1 swap you're going to drop some serious money on the car. You're much better off to buy a really clean 90-93 for half the price. Once it's swapped, if you ever want to sell it nobody is going to care if it's a 90 or a 96, but you better be damn sure that salvage title is going to absolutely destroy any resale value.

 

+2 I dont mean to rag but I rather buy the turbo one, why:

1) Daily turbo miata > auto miata
2) NO SALVAGE TITLE
3) Good platform
4) You can resale the stuff you dont need and put some extra $$ towards your LS1

 

Maybe you can get some "phat rims" yo:


That way you can get that tranny you were talking about also:


All jokes aside... an automatic? If you plan on IMMEDIATELY taking the car home and pulling out the motor and trans, then okay...go for it.

 

Hell, if you're fine with an auto, get this and start your LS1 build with an NB:

MAZDA MIATA 1999

 

Or this for $400 less:

Mazda 1995 Miata

 

Or dink around with a supercharger, then sell it for $1000 to put towards your LS1.

95 Mazda Miata SUPERCHARGED

 

h2o intercooler ??

Doesn't look intercooled at all from those pics.

 

who am i fighting? calm down, im looking for input and ive received it.

thats just the tranny i need! lol i dont plan on swapping everything out immediately but i wont mind driving auto for the time being untill everything falls into place.

-am i really that wrong for buying a car that is branded rebuilt title? the frame to me and my friend looks great and under the carpeting and in the trunk there is no rust and the paint + sealants looks perfect. the odometer doesnt seem bogus because the wear seems about right for the 49k miles.

- i would imagine that anyone dropping a ls1 into a miata is going to do as much reinforcing to the frame as possible. i didnt see anything visible that was crushed or bent up metal on the frame. since there is nothing visible is it safe to assume that the frame would be as good or even better than any other 100k+ miatas i see going for way more, without a hardtop? (auto vs stick shift aside). this car probably has a better frame than the 160k+ turbo miata some of you have suggested. i should have probably snapped some pics so u guys can see how clean the car is.

im not looking to start a fight with any of you or claim that i dont care and im getting the car regardless of what you say, just looking for advice good or bad.

i plan on keeping the car for a few years, even in the future if i could make a few g's or just break even selling it on the money ive invested id be happy. i just want a really fast affordable car that can do work in the streets and on the track.

 

that one doenst seem bad, i could jsut buy the stock parts on here and sell the sc, **** is so far tho. id hate to drive 3+hours (1 way) only to be disspointed

 

I have a hard time reconciling that statement with your stated purpose of swapping an LS1 in.

 

affordable i mean 20k or less and can be as fast as 100k cars (from what ive seen)

 

Why the hell would you do that? I can understand selling the SC parts to fund an LS swap, but why would you buy stock parts? Just keep the damn SC on until you do the LS swap (which from the way you're talking it sounds like is a pretty far off plan and not going to happen anytime soon, which makes more of an argument for buying a 5spd. Hell, never know, even though it's not a turbo, the SC may make you fall in love with boost and re-think the LS idea.

I think you'll find that's not going to be as easy as you think if you're going LS.

 

why not buy someones ls1 miata then? starting with auto is dumb especially if you are gonna swap to an LS1 that's manual, extra work of cutting holes and wiring etc...

this thread is auto-tragic

 

yea that makes more sense,, that was s dumb comment on my part. i basically know what parts i need, where to get them and how to do it. after the car is bought, gota start the engine/tranny search. a local friend will help me tear apart the miata and build it up in my garage.

- should i just ask a mod to ban me?

 

Or heck...if you're comfortable with spending $20k on a perfect, superfast Miata, buy robino's car. It's been up for sale for a while I think, he might cut you a good deal on it. It's probably the cleanest, best sorted out street turbo Miata I've seen.

EDIT:

It's even in Florida.

https://www.miataturbo.net/forum/t41560/

 

That's not necessary around here, if you're deserving it will happen in good time on it's own...trust us. You will be fine here, have you found v8miata.net yet? It's run by the same group of people as this site is.