Hello from Northwest Arkansas!
 

I have been a lurker here for quite some time but I never bothered to register; please allow me to explain why.
Many years ago I bought a 2000 LS White (Bone stock, Clean). I loved that car. Sadly after less than 8 months of ownership it was totaled. Apparently this guy in his Chevy Impala decided that stop signs
were too "conformist" for him that day. This was the result:
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1403626867

Someone got a LOT of nice spare parts. I didn't have the know-how to deal with repairs, it was bank-owned at the time, so I just said whatever and let his insurance pay for it....I got a decent check out of the whole
ordeal...but it didn't resolve the matter.

I ended up buying a 2009 Civic Si. Good car, but after owning it a few years I started to realize that it just didn't pull at my heart-strings.
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1403626867

This is when I should introduce a little car known as: Road Warrior
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1403626867

My buddy bought this car from "Some Old Guy" for $700. The guy said it didn't run and made weird noises...my friend put a battery in it and drove it home. He spent a lot of time freshening things up,
doing some TLC, doing some not-so-TLC (it spent some time plasti-dipped purple). Once he had it running good he was using it as his DD. Then he got bored and slapped a Greddy Kit on it!
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1403626867

He had some head gasket issues so I helped him swap in a new and totally-refreshed motor into it. Here's the car just before finishing up that work.
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1403626867

Time went on, Road Warrior spent some time at the local Auto-X, and some time pounding through the snow. Then we discovered a small crack in the head that only showed up under boost. My friend decided to drive it like it was
for a while. But that lead to a perfect storm...You see Road Warrior had a leaking FPR...barely leaking. As in Fumes. Well, that's not such a big deal if you're driving down the road, but it IS a big deal if you're sitting in your
driveway. It is also a REALLY big deal if that head crack you've recently discoverd happens to make coolant puddle up on your #2 and #3 spark plug wells, which causes a lot of resistance...which causes spark plug wires to arc
onto a valve cover, which causes a large fire.
Since fires are no big deal, my friend decided to snap a pic before he tried to battle the blaze
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1403626867

That's about the same time my friend decided that this car was cursed, and so he let the car sit a few weeks and didn't try to repair the fire damage.
This is also about the same time that the Car gods would decide that I needed to drive a Miata once more, because my Civic was rear-ended while parked and totaled.
I bought Road Warrior from my buddy for what he paid for it spare parts and all. (a "smoking" friend-only deal)

And thus began the rebuild! I'm a few weeks into it now, it's all together and just troubleshooting a few weird starting issues. I've come to the forum for help and hopefully to make some new friends in the area to go to Auto-X or cruising, or modding cars!

Here's a few extra pics!
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1403626867

My buddy's new ride
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1403626867

Urban Camo layered body filler fender
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1403626867

That is the kind of intro thread I like to see! All it lacks is cat pics.

Keith

Thanks for joining, Snow!

Wow! Now I see how the intro thread thing is meant to be done! Great story. Still, your buddy stiffed you for $700 for a $700 car that then burnt up?? That's rough. lol

HAHA! I never thought about it that way!
I was thinking of the extra parts he had into it, like nearly new Azenis, Megan EZ Streets, Greddy Turbo Kit, Intercooler (yet to be put on), and a new ACT Clutch, plus a spare Long Nose bottom end, and a spare 5 spd transmission!

That's not your car fire.

I thought the fact that it was obvious (different car color and infamous photo from the London Riots) was what made it funny :dunno:

Welcome to the site from central arkansas.

It was funny.