Hi folks,

I’ve been lurking on this forum for a few weeks now. Excited to have an account!

I’m buying a miata either this weekend or next, and I was hoping to get your opinion on what to get. (Yeah I know, so noob he doesn’t even have the car yet!)

Anyways, I’m basically deciding between a clean looking 91 stock rolling shell (seller drowned the engine, hoping to get them down to ~$650) or a running 97 (~$1k). I’m trying to check out both of them this weekend. Here’s what the 97 claims to have installed:

* Racing Beat 4-2-1 headers to exhaust system
* Mishiomoto double aluminum radiator
* ACT stage 1 clutch
* Racing beat sway bars front and back
* AGX 8-way adjustable shocks and racing beat springs
* Magnaflow catalytic converter

So, off the bat the 97 seems like the better deal. But, the body is trashed, and I have no idea as to the quality of the work. Plus, it’s a 1.8 which I assume means I’ll need to swap out the rods for my power goals (see below). So I’d need to take out the engine anyways. Owner says he’s had it for about 3 years, seems like he drives it on a regular basis. Not sure about track use.

I’m still considering the 91 for 3 main reasons:
1. The body looks pristine (at least in pics), and I don’t want to deal with major body work/paint
2. I’ve read that a 1.8 would need new rods for my power goal (see below), which means I’d be pulling an engine either way
3. I’d be dealing with a newer/unmodified engine, which seems like lower risk than the 1.8

Plus, I REALLY don’t want to deal with body work.

Am I insane for still considering the roller?

Power goals:
I’d like to make 300 whp on a budget of <$3500. I’m thinking a 3” MKTurbo kit with ebay intercooler, MS3x (I don’t mind DIY), and FF injectors. I’d love to add the FM clutch and flywheel, but with all the extra stuff it looks like I’ll probably end up buying, that would probably break the bank. I’ll have to look some more into a clutch.

Couldn’t figure out how to change my location from mobile, but I live in Oxnard, CA.

Excited to hear from you all! I’m pumped to get this moving.

 

Buy them both: for $1600. you will have a clean NA, with $2K worth of mod parts, from a running, driving doner you can verify. Now you can do the swap, learn about these cars, and have pretty low $$ invested before the big HP saga. To clean up the '97 and paint her to a decent level, you'l have a lot more than $600. in supply and grief.

 

I approve of this ^ message. You can sell what's left over and get some money back as well, so it will end up less than $1600. Take the swap slowly, fix all minor things, learn about the car and enjoy the process.

 

No way you are making 300 reliable hp on a $3500 total budget including car.

Mechanics are easy, body work is not.

Buy both and make one good one. Sell remaining parts.

It will take minimum $5k on top of having a running car to make 300hp.

 

Amazing, I’m glad I posted! Wouldn’t have thought of this. My landlord’s going to go ballistic lol. But he’ll live. I’ll keep you guys posted on this.

Sounds good! I do look forwards to driving the car without FI for a bit. The only problem is that I’ll be without a garage over the summer, so things like rods will have to happen now. (I do get a covered parking space and storage though.)

Hmm I’ll have to see about that extra $1500 I guess. Does my parts list look good to you for the power level?

Also, can anyone confirm that I do actually have to change the rods on the 1.8? I guess I might as well if I’m going to be swapping the engines.

Also, what would you guys keep from the 1.8? Are the clutch/manifolds any good?

 

You have to change a lot of things to get to 300whp. It is about $2k-$4k to get to 225whp reliably, depending on how much DIY you do. It takes about $10k to gt the 300whp reliably.

Stock rods on all 90-05 miata's tend to bend between 220-250ft/lbs of torque. Besides that there are a good number of other things that should be replaced in the bottom end if you are going in.

 

Got it.

In that case, do you have a guess as to the power level I could see for a 1.8 on E85 with the setup I described above? Aside from brakes/suspension, what would you suggest changing for that setup?

 

About 200-225whp safely. Anything over that is really on borrowed time.

 

I would do thing as follows:

Buy both cars
Take both cars apart
Pick the parts you are going to use, change usual service items while having them out, do not cheap out on engine seals
Give the tub and interior bits a good clean, put one car back, sell leftovers
Enjoy the car for a while during summer
Get an ECU, wideband sensor, injectors (optional at this stage), learn how to tune while still enjoying the car
Buy turbo bits, uprated clutch, injectors (if not already there at previous steps)
Enjoy your 225whp (they are a handful in a Miata)
When bored in a couple of years time, take engine out, add the rest of parts needed to go to 300whp

 

This exactly; plenty to learn about the cars, without investing too much $$$, then if you really like her, you can spend how ever much you please.

 

Awesome, I think this sounds like a good plan to me.

I ended up buying the 1.8! It's a ton of fun to drive. Even just going to the grocery store is memorable. Though I do look at semi trucks now in a whole new way.

Either way, can't wait to make these mods!

Thanks to everyone in this thread for their input. It really helped!

 

'94 is not a 1.6L.

 

Oops, that’s a typo. The posting on cl was for a ‘91. Edited my first post to reflect this.