-Hello everyone, I am a 16 year old kid who wants to put lambo doors and a big wing on the back of Miata......Just kidding. Unfortunately my Miata has fell victim to such molestation, sort of. My Miata is my first car and i only paid 1000$ dollars for it and were i live thats a hell of a deal(and yes i paid for it, not my parents). Unfortunately the interior was "ghetto" spray painted a blue like the outside of the car. Fortunately it came with 4 fresh 215mm Nitto NeoGens, an engine out of a 95 and a transmission from a 96. Of course that could be viewed as concerning that the car had both the engine and transmission replaced from the extensive abuse it took. But anyways the other downsides cosmetically are a dented hood, a big scrach on almost every panel a two tone paint job, a crappy bondo job on the drivers side rear quarter panel, a huge hole in the finish panel, and a massive dent with flaking paint on it on the front passenger side fender. aside from all that i absolutely adore the car. Its not the fastest but will smoke my friends 85 rx7 any day, and with the after market tires it handles like an f1 car. Of course i would love to dump every penny in making it faster, lighter more agile, .. etc. However for now i would just like to restore it somewhat then begin to modify it. So i am sure the forums will be great resource for my inexperience.

-See you around

 

Welcome. Where are you from? Post us a pic of your car!

 

I'm from Mead Colorado and will hopefully shoot some pics tomorrow. Besides i need to see if anyone on here can identify some rims for me. The ones that are one it, aren't stock but have no sort of logo or anything.

 

Don't be concerned about the engine. 1990's and half of the 1991 cars have a known bad crank shaft. IF the previous owner knew anything about cars/miatas, he did the right thing by replacing the broken 1.6 with a good 1.8. You've got a very nice upgrade in that there car. Sound like your first priority should be a new fender, fix the bondo, replace the finish panel (or remove it, it doesn't look terrible without one) and get a new paint job. Nothing $500-600 can't fix, although the paint job won't be amazing. Welcome.

 

Maybe the engine wasn't what he told me it was? It must be earlier than a 95 because i know it is only a 1.6.

 

Than it's 90-93. Read a little in the garage section of miata.net. Don't spend too much time over that cause you'll go crazy. He could have put a 1.6 in with a transmission from a 1.8 car, which are known to be stronger. Some pics of the engine bay will solidify the argument of 1.6 vs. 1.8. But either way, don't be concerned about him replacing the engine. It probably wasn't due to him abusing the engine, but more likely the front pulley came loose and destroyed the crank shaft. Take a picture of front main pulley so we can make sure he didn't put another bad one in.

 

Will do in the daylight.
- Thanks for the heads up about the pulley

 

Step1. Do a $40 roll on paint job if you cant stand the way it looks

Step2. After making sure engine is healthy, begin turbo build

Step3. After turbo, suspension, brakes, and safety are done, get it repainted and body work done.

Thats just me though

Edit, take pics!