FMII M-Edition in Virginia Beach
Background: Mid-40's, Married w/ 2 kids, Mechanical / Civil Engineer, Career Navy
Prior 'Toys': '68 Corvair, '73 Opel GT, '86 Toyota MR2 Oldest daughter about to turn 13, so went on the hunt for an early Miata as a father-daughter project to become her first car. Target goal was stock, cosmetically clean, mechanically neglected. Got way off-course and ended up with a '96 M-Edition, cosmetically scruffy, FM II turbo ( at $4,500 it was like buying the turbo kit + hardtop...and getting the car + other mods thrown in for free... ) Mods: FM II Turbo Kit ( 2560R ) Link Engine Management FM Lightweight Flywheel ACT Clutch FM Springs & Sway Bars FM Stainless Dual-Tip Exhaust AGX Adjustable Struts Konig Helium Rims Dunlop Direzza DZ102 PROS: Mods done, Like-new Robbins soft top, hard top ( non-matching ) CONS: Dings / dents / scrapes, Seats need recovering Was saved from an estate sale by local ASE mechanic who is into Mitsubishi turbo scene. He freshened up the stock 1.8, daily drove for 2,000 miles, then found a Galant VR4 project to restore. Plan is to do some minimal cosmetic improvements ( DIY seat recover, full wet-sand / buff, refinish hard top)... daily drive for a couple years here in VA... then strip it apart as an Exocet donor for my Navy retirement present to myself... https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...88ca6810e9.jpg https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...e42c4ffc37.jpg https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...3c2324262a.jpg |
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Beautiful gorgeous car! What a freakin' steal. Problems of living in the Bay Area, there would never be a deal like this lol. Do tell more about the Opel!
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Originally Posted by astral
(Post 1347375)
Do tell more about the Opel!
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SamNavy is local to you and a Navy guy. He can probably give you a ton of help. For new seat covers I highly recommend Interior Innovations. I have 2 sets from them and both are very good. Its less then $400 for both seats in real leather from Pakistan. Usually takes 2-3 weeks to get them in.
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I watched that car for sale for months...I shoulda bought it, but oh well. I thought there might be a reason it was for sale so long.
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Originally Posted by kevinspann
(Post 1348088)
I watched that car for sale for months...I shoulda bought it, but oh well. I thought there might be a reason it was for sale so long.
I also wrote it off initially as a quick sale not worth pursuing... was surprised to see it lingering on Craigslist... we both theorized that the pricing was too high for the high school 'stance' crowd... but condition wasn't pristine enough for the 'Cars & Coffee' guys... daily-driver '10 footer' mod'd to hell toy is a pretty limited buyer demographic... :-) |
Originally Posted by shuiend
(Post 1347684)
SamNavy is local to you and a Navy guy. He can probably give you a ton of help. For new seat covers I highly recommend Interior Innovations. I have 2 sets from them and both are very good. Its less then $400 for both seats in real leather from Pakistan. Usually takes 2-3 weeks to get them in.
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Originally Posted by kevinspann
(Post 1348088)
I watched that car for sale for months...I shoulda bought it, but oh well. I thought there might be a reason it was for sale so long.
1) Interior cleaned up well, with exception of the seats. Picked up a pair of '93 cloth seats to recover (currently trying to figure out how to merge them with the '96 seat pans that have different seatbelt mounting.) 2) Exterior buffed out to maybe a 7 out of 10... won't matter once it goes Exocet next winter... 3) Smoking valve stem seals are really annoying... not an urgent fix, but feels so ghetto to be driving around with the car randomly blowing smoke screens... |
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