(urgent) Stripping my 1.6l, using parts on 2003 miata
 

This is urgent because i only have until tomorrow night to do anything.
My 1992 miata got destroyed by a stupid kid last thursday.

The appraiser is coming on monday, and i need to know what parts i can use off the 92 for my 03. The 92 is modified with a bunch of suspension goodies. I need to swap what i can out for stock on the 92, so i can keep what will work on the 03. After the wreck, i want to at least use what i paid good money for on my 03 if i can.

As i understand it, my 92's FM swaybars will work, the rear is a direct swap and the front can be made to fit with adjustable endlinks (which the 92 also has)

What about my 92's konis?

Is there anything that fits?

As far as what's damaged, don't bother considering that in you're post, i just need to know what will transfer... and i'll decide what's too damaged to bother with.

I posted this in this section of the board for fear that my post won't be seen on the suspension section before tomorrow morning(when i will start working). I'd appreciate all the responses i can get... posting in the wrong section is not a normal thing for me and i request that it be excused this once.


Thanks alot!

You can transfer over the entire shock/spring/mount unit as a whole, but not the individual pieces. IOW, if you remove the two nuts at the top which hold the shock mount to the body, and the one large bolt at the bottom that holds the shock to the lower control arm, then that whole assembly will swap into your NB. Whether it is preferable to go from an NB style upper mount to the (presumably) NA style mounts you have on your NA is debatable.

The complete powerplant assembly (block, heads, intake and exhaust from header to tailpipe) an be transferred over, though some minor trimming in a few places will be necessary. Individual pieces or sub-assemblies of the powerplant assembly will be largely non-interchangeable. The radiator is not easily interchangeable, nor is the alternator.

The transmission can be swapped with no modifications or caveats.

What level of detail are we looking for here? I mean, the little plastic cover (measuring about 1" x 2") that goes on the side of the center console below the dashboard can be interchanged. The screws that hold the door sills in place can be interchanged...

You need to ask what should be changed, not what can be changed.

I would not move the FM bars or Konis to the Shinsen. However, I would put stock parts on the 1.6 car and keep the bars and shocks to sell.

**Don't say anything about the aftermarket parts to the appraiser, and don't sweat the time frame. He's not going to pick up the car right then and there. Get the ball rolling on your recovery, and in the mean time, put the stock parts back on the car.

what the heck is a shinsen?

You can usually buy the car back for 400-600, and then part it out. They don't want the wrecked car anyway. They would rather sell it at junk price than pay for a tow truck, auction and the hassel.

+1 for parting it out, and buying what you need for the shinsen. You mentioned swapping "the rear" over... is it upgraded? You don't want a 6" diff in the NB.

http://www.autobytel.com/content/res...a/Year_si/2003

It was a bling package offered in 2003, which got Titanium Gray Metallic paint, a blue cloth top, and some interior trim bits. They came with a LSD, but were otherwise base models from a mechanical standpoint.

Truthfully, if they're still in good shape and have some decent springs paired with them, I would install the Konis on the NB. It costs you nothing, and is definitely an upgrade over the stock NB base-model parts. My preference is to not run large rear bars, but you can certainly experiment with those.

What other bits are on the '92 that you care about? Most parts I can think of are either not interchangeable (like the turbo system) or would constitute a downgrade. You definitely do not want to swap the diff unless the one in your NB is salad.

edit: Koto beat me to it.

I meant the rear swaybar. The Shinsen has the fuji-whatever torsen LSD which is far superior, i'll keep that.

I only meant suspension upgrades. The rest of the car was stock, and the NB has superior stock parts. I don't think i'll put the Konis on the NB as the mounts wont fit, the NA mounts have a "flange" at the top which will not fit through the hole on the NB's frame.

Why not put the FM bars on the NB? I did alot of reading and i can make them fit without much trouble, as long as it's not damaged(i'll look in about 2 hours) The Konis i don't think i'll move over, as they are not compatible without alot of manual labor and i don't think i want NA tophats in the place of my NB's superior mounts.

It was more than that. There are only 1,451 Shinsens ever made, my car is #141. The Shinsens came with Titanium Grey, which was only used on the Shinsen and the Mazdaspeed miata exclusively. It comes with the convenience package which is keyless, power everything, upgraded stereo with tweeters. It came with a two-tone leather-wrapped shift knob, a Nardi Torino steering wheel, sport suspension with larger brakes a well as the fuji-whatever torsen LSD. It came with chrome-plated 16" wheels. It has unique interior color of a slight blue for the seats and the top (which is also seen on the shift knob) and matte silver accents, a color scheme unique exclusively to the Shinsen. It came with the premium top(cloth not vinyl) in a uniquely slight-blue shade. It also came with floor mats that are embroidored with "Shinsen Version," along with badges on the side of the car that say "shinsen version" and have a hologram of the japanese letters for the name.
The Shinsen miata came standard with all of these. Now some of these options were available on any miata, but many of them weren't, like the color scheme, paint color and shift knob. The shinsen offers a fair bit more than the base-model miata, and its equally as rare as the Sunburst. I've only seen 3 with my own eyes since they were released, and i managed to buy one. Just like i did with my sunburst, which has now fallen prey to a stupid kid who just got his liscense, so the Shinsen is all i have left.

50 of the Shinsens were built to be what the old "R-Package" used to be, and were built specifically for SCCA by mazda, 25 with a ragtop and 25 with a hardtop.

Shinsen in japanese literally translates into "fresh and new"... for styling i'd assume.

It's a beautiful car, and rare on top of that. :)

So, i think what i'll do is take my swaybars (if undamaged,) my jackson-racing swaybar endlinks, and leave the rest....

Are you sure? I know the mounts are different, however I have seen a set of NA Konis installed in an NB. AbeFM (on this board) bought an early set of NA Koni Sports, and installed them, with NA springs, on his '00. I thought he was using NA mounts with them. The stock NB mounts certainly wouldn't be working with the NA springs he had.

edit: Now that I think about it, those may have been "NA retrotfit" mounts. It took a while for me to visualize the rubber stopper thingy which protrudes through the fenderwell in the NB and realize how much smaller it is than the top of the big NA mount...

Right. Like I said, it's got an LSD, and bling. :bigtu:

(Also, are you sure about the Sport Suspension? I thought the Bilsteins were only an option on the LE in '03.)

I'm pretty sure... i know every part i've had to order from local shops (some autozones etc, and some specialty shops) all had to look up the "sport suspension" part numbers. I found that out after buying "regular" 2003 miata parts, and they wouldn't fit.

I do know my brakes are HUGE. They are sooo big that i have to run 16" wheels that came with the car. I never could use my other wheels on it cause they just hit the caliper.

All 03 and newer have 16" wheels and "big" brakes standard. Ti was also used on 02SE.

A Shinsen is a base car + LSD, cloth top, and a some bling. If you think a 2 tone shift knob is a cool and special thing that sets your car apart, you're probably on the wrong board.

15" wheels will fit with offset of around 35mm and greater. I thought the car had Bilstien shocks, but I might be mistaken. I can look it up in the morning.

I'm pretty sure you need to back up off me there, Ben.
Somebody asked me what a shinsen was, i answered them, and said i like my car.

If that's a problem then ban me now. If you're not allowed to enjoy your car on this board, then i've just logged into the biggest oxymoron since the intelligent public.

Otherwise, let the thread continue(on-topic), and forget what i said.

oops wrong button sorry, my mistake :(

Easy, hoss. Ben was pointing out that members here are less likely to care about such items than at other sites. Don't take it personal, read it as: "no one here needs ALL the specifics of a special edition Miata, down to the shift knob"

Besides, if they need that level of detail, they can click my link. :cool: