Hobo Jonny

Hey guys; Long time follower here finally chiming in! (If you don't want to read all of it, Just read the bold and you got the general idea) my story got kinda long.

I just wanted to start and say, Thanks for all the useful information around here, It helped a ton buying a used Miata. I was like to everyone, for at-least 6 months before I finally got my Miata hehe

So far this is my 2nd car, First stick shift! My first car was a 2005 Mazda 3i, got it in 2010 I never was really into cars prior but after owning it for about a year and a half, I knew its not what I wanted in a car. I joined the Mazda3Forums and was just soaked in information. Following user's build threads and side-projects I found a Miata That's when It hit me, but since my parents helped me buy that car I felt stuck with it. That's when I started to mod the Mazda 3i and fill that empty void. About a year went buy and I got no-where, So I figured out a way to get a Miata. Thanks to Mazda releasing the SkyActive engines my car's resale value doubled! woohoo.

I then began my Miata research, figuring out everything I needed to know and saved up money. Thanks to the forums that wealth of information is at your finger tips. I then began my hunt for a 1994 Low Mileage Miata. After months and months of hunting every crack in Southern California I found the right one, A Black 94 with 61k Miles. It had a few owners in its life time, they seemed to take decent care of it. Maintenance history was good, but not the best! I was satisfied and all went well. I got it from a dealer and they were asking $6,500. I went in there with ***** of steal because I gained so much knowledge from these forums and got the car for $3,400 -> $4,100 out the door registration, smog, everything HA! I came home sold my Mazda 3i gave my parents the remainder for our loan and recouped the money from buying my Miata!

Remember when I said this was my first stick shift? My uncle test-drove it and brought it home for me. Once I sold my other car I began learning to drive a stick in my Miata !! It took me about 20 minutes in a parking lot to get it figured out going around getting up to 3rd. Then we went out to the streets so I could get up to 5th and drove around for a few hours, BAM! I learned how to drive stick-shift. A few weeks went by and I have yet done anything to it. Picking up a friend It had blew the heater hose and coolant was shooting every where. i got it towed to my mechanic and told him to go to town. This is what was done;

Replaced Heater Hoses, Replaced power steering rack and pinion, Checked battery and charging system, Check/Adjust ignition timing, Replaced Spark Plugs, Inspected fuel system, Checked all fluid levels, Checked all belts, hoses, and cooling system. Cleaned intake manifold ports, intake valve, combustion chambers, and throttle body, Changed Engine Oil & filter, Lubericate and check chassis. New Oil Pan, Replaced Camshaft, crankshaft seals, timing belt, timing belt pullies, and water pump.

Since all of that was done i was amazed out how smooth this car was. Idle was great, Shifted great, No problems what so ever. The car pulled so much harder and I could feel its power! Over the course of time I had taught my self how to downshift and rev-match. Probably doing it wrong at first I suspect I caused my clutch to go out hehe. I bring it back to my mechanic and had him do his thing! This is what was done;

New Clutch Master Cylinder, New Clutch Slave Cylinder, New Clutch; (everything all the bearings and what not), Re-Surfaced flywheel, New Rear Main engine seal, transmission front seal.

Now the car TO ME feels like It should when it rolls out of the factory This is where I'm at today. I think I can finally start working on my car, learning. I bought the haynes Book and keith tanner's high-performance miata book. The haynes repair book helped me determine I was going to need new slave/master cylinder I felt proud only If I dove in and replaced them myself. (I've never worked on a car, and none of my friend's are car people )


I don't have any good pictures of my car, just one I took after I got my hardtop! Here she is.



I'll go out and get some nice photo's this week!

Braineack

iTrader: (62)

Hobo Jonny, congrats on signing up at the best site on the web!

Hobo Jonny

woohoo! thanks

Fireindc

iTrader: (13)

Good call on the 94 man, most of those came with a torsen LSD iirc as well.

Now, get that hardtop paint matched with the $$ you saved.

Hobo Jonny

Thanks! I honestly went with 94 because its OBD1 =D california struggle

One of these day's I was going to tackle and paint it myself. For now I want to play with my suspension I've been dying to