sstony

*copied from another miata forum--sorry if you've read it already.

Hello all. My name is Tony and I reside in Tallahassee, FL. I got into cars about 10 years ago when I purchased an 01 Camaro SS. Got into car clubs, Internet forums, started going to car meets and did a lot of street and drag racing. I never was a fan of imports or convertible cars back then when I was younger and way more naive. I started working at a Mazda dealership as a service writer and after extensive dealings with miatas and the owners of miatas, I became a fan of the car based on handling but more impressive was the reliability of these cars. Still I was not a fan of convertibles.
Well about 3yrs ago while browsing Craigslist for a big jacked up truck, I searched for miatas and the only listing in my area was for a red 94 with hardtop, bone stock, with only 111k miles for under $3k. I contacted the owner, looked at it the next day and brought it home the following day. It was a great buy, the owner was a miata enthusiasts that took great care of the car except for the paint which was faded to the point where most of the car looked flat red. Other than maintenence I added, mudflaps, Chaparral S15 wheels, and a drop in K&N and absolutely loved the driving the car--felt way more fun than my high horsepower Camaro. I was hooked on miatas to say the least. Here's a pic before the wreck I was involved in this past January due to an elderly couple pulling out in front of me. There 06 Honda Accord was totaled due to the air bags deploying. My miata had front left side damage but I drove it away from the accident and couldn't tell it was messed upunless I looked at the damage.

So to replace it, I found what I thought was a good deal down in Miami. Some of you may remember this car for sale on here. 90 white turbo car with a Begi S2 turbo system , FM Link ecu, and balanced and blueprinted FM 1.6, semi stance, chrome roll bar for $3400. This was my first time traveling to buy a car (lesson learned and something I'll never do again) so I didn't check it out as well as I should have. Luckily I trailered it back bc no way would I have made it back home 7hrs away. After replacing a corded tire in the rear and changing the oil, I blew it up the 3rd night I had it home. Turbo seal went and compression test denoted 1 cylinder way down (I believe this was pre existing) . Did the oil in low cylinder test and compression went to what the others read. But taking a big step back, I decided this was not what I wanted out of a daily driver, due to manual, steering and windows, no cruise control, and very stiff suspension. So I call it the white abortion.

So it sat for a couple of months. I was looking for a better replacement and I came across a local guy selling a car I was familiar seeing over the years. 91 Mariner blue with a homebrew turbo setup installed back in 07 and only 135k miles. The owner Brian was an active member here so some of you may be familiar with this car. The band aided ecu management kind of worried me but this guy did one helluva job making it ride nice with Tein Basic coilovers and built it with reliability in mind first since this was his only daily driver. I inspected and drove it, then brought him $3k the next day feeling like I stole it from him. It's not crazy fast but that's not what I was looking for since I still have the SS, which just sits there in the driveway. I've been happier than I have been in months after buying this car 4 days ago. It's lasted longer than the white one so I'm off to a good start. Sorry for the book I just wrote for an intro. This miata just has me in a manic state of mind. Plans are to get the ac working (high psi line needs replacing), paint my hardtop black, along with the A pillar, and swap the gold wheels from the white car and pray it doesn't compromise the ride. Oh and I now love riding top down.

Thanks for reading and thank you Miataturbo.net for such a great forum filled with beautiful cars and helpful members.

Braineack

iTrader: (62)

Thanks for joining, sstony!

18psi

iTrader: (76)

Welcome. Any pics under hood? Details on car?

sstony

I'll just link his FS thread. I still can't properly regurgitate everything he's done to it. It's kind of scary seeing all the vacuum hose run around but I've had no concerns and feel confident he's built it up good and reliable. I'm a noob to turbo systems but not to motors. if issues arise in the future that I can't figure out, I'll put proper engine management on it.

https://www.miataturbo.net/cars-sale-trade-6/updated-1991-mazda-miata-%243-000-a-65743/

sstony

I swapped these wheels on today. Not sure I really like me. I'll probably put the Chaparral S15's on next and lower it just a cuntie. Needs some mudflaps also
.

Fireindc

iTrader: (13)

I like em. I hate to say it, but the car needs to be a pinch lower to pull em off right. Still looks nice though. Damn good deal you got on that blue car.

I must ask though.. why not just fix the white car? Do you still have it or did you sell it? You mention being good with motors, swapping that motor out for another 1.6 or upgrading to a 1.8 isn't very hard.

sstony

Yeah the motor could be fixed and turbo replaced and it would not look like a mosquito control truck going down the road. But honestly it wasn't a comfortable enough car to want to drive everyday for me. My first red one spoiled me with the options: cruise control, power windows, steering , mirrors. It really bugged me leaning over and rolling down the window (sounds lame but it did). Also the further I dug into it, I didn't like what I found. I believe most of this car was taken apart and not put back together well-the guy went crazy with a screw gun to try and secure things down probably due to rattles. Previous owner dyno matted the whole car and botched up the interior putting it back together. Water leaking into the trunk causing mold and mildew which seemed impossible to completely get rid of. He did put some decent parts on it that so it may get parted where I could make most of my money back and I'd be left with a shell which I think could come in handy for body panels should I need them. I regretted buying it and I got frustrated with it really quick.
There are a couple people I know looking to build race cars or engine swap these cars so it may leave me sooner than later.

sstony

Oh I'll add that I'm gonna swap my gold Chaparral S15's on, lower the coils and add some mud flaps. It's getting crazy hot over here so the ac will get fixed and my hardtop painted for the brutal summer that is coming.

sstony

ta da

pic with my old red one in the background

Fireindc

iTrader: (13)

Lookin good, needs a rollbar asap!

weak_sauce

very nice collection