I will be going to Europe on a business trip in the future. Does anyone with knowledge of the AO have any advice for finding a flat top intake manifold in a junk yard? Does Europe even have junk yards? Any tips tricks etc? I will literally throw out good clothes if I can bring one home for cheap.

As much as I want 3.63's that will be beyond the scope of hand tools I can put in checked baggage.

 

It's really that big of a deal to you when you can have one for 350 shipped by simply clicking a button?

 

It is an adventure for me. What else can I look forward to on a business trip after work? Not interested in picking up chicks (wife will run me over) And I am a car nerd, have you ever seen a Euro junk yard? Because I have not! I would rather be hunting cool parts then spend time in a bar.

 

ahh so it's the experience you're after. in that case, full steam ahead

 

Yes Sir, Pos Cat for you!

 

Hell, if you bring two home you could sell one and probably pay for both!

All 2001-2005 Miatas in Europe would have come standard with a squaretop.

 

Not entirely correct. I suspect that most 2001-2005 MX5s in Europe came with a 1.6.

Finding an MX5 on a random scrap yard will be hard and prices high in many countries. UK would be your best bet by a very large margin.

 

For real? I did not know that. So the 1.8 was an optional upgrade?

 

For the NB I'd say there are more 1.8s than 1.6s. Also a LOT of NBs are starting to get broken, in the UK at least, due to front chassis leg corrosion.

There are scrap yards in Europe, however in the UK health and safety laws killed off the old fashioned 'wander round with a wrench and pull random **** off a stacked car' kind of yards, now they tend to strip the cars and put individual parts in a warehouse, which pushes prices up. Those kind of places tend to be expensive due to the labour stripping the cars as well...

That said - there are a couple of MX5/Miata specific breakers in the UK/Ireland - one of those guys would probably overnight a flat top to your hotel if you are in the UK, or within a few days if you are in Europe - if you check out somewhere like mx5nutz.com there should be some people to email in advance in the traders section... You could probably get a 3.63 ring gear and pinion as well, ask them nicely to strip it from the housing for you...

 

Breaker yards will be your friend.
If you're up for a hunt, that is.

Or, jump on eBay and figure out if anyone in the area you'll be in has them and arrange for picking them up, in person?

 

Thanks for the help!
And wow I was retarded yesterday I can believe I wrote "flat top" twice instead of square top :-S My bad.

 

Sir, by chance do you have the name of one of these companies that I could look up when I make it your side of the ocean?

 

PMd

 

Latest squaretops I sold for 275$ shipped due to the reduction in price of the skunk2. Shoot me a pm if you want one next week.

 

Is that Britspeak for "fender rust" or something else?

 

I'm guessing the sway bar mounting area?

 

The chassis part from engine subframe mount and forward. I'm doing mine next weekend (note, the one pictured is NOT mine)

 

As above - britspeak for your chassis is ****ed...

In Europe it's a lot more common for the roads to be salted in winter - the salty water gets in between the two layers of metal and rots it out totally from the inside out. It's expensive to get repaired if it's non DIY (probably half of the sale value of the car), and is a fail on our annual gov road safety checks so a lot are being scrapped..

The NAs are only single skin metal there so don't suffer as badly, but it's looking like the NCs are rotting out just as badly as the NBs...