Hi ,huge noob in help from Jeffersonville Indiana 90 miata names hunter
 

So making this meet as good as i can im 18, in highschool have old muscle car experience (Have four chevelles) besides the point i have a 90 miata 107k miles bone stock soft top i got a month ago love it. Monday i bought a hardtop rust free flordia car with 83k miles i was told it was built for spec miata i paid 850 for it but doesnt run and i need your expert opions on what to do

Slow down a little buddy.
Give us some more information.
What year is the car?
Does it turn over? Do you have fuel and spark?

Okay so i know this is going to sound very ignorant. The guy i bought the car from was a kid my age but was a drug addict and knew nothing about the car he said it was making a tick so he changed the lifters but took the head off to do so. He procceded to say he didnt retorque anything or change any gaskets doing so. Now on to the problem the owner before the druggie bought the car from flordia, it has a racebeat header,magnaflow exhaust,kn intake,bigger fuel pump,bigger injectors, mspnp 1 and a bunch of other racing suspension parts. I tried starting the car but it sounds as if its pouring compression out of the head.

Tell you what buddy, you've got a real basket case on your hands.The headgaset is probably completely toast.Pair that with a megasquirt which I can only assume was tuned during a meth addled trip to Kentucky with a sheep as the passenger, and you've got so many problems, it isn't worth your time to fix it.I'll give you $1500 for the car.That's pretty generous. You can use the money to buy a stock Miata that actually works

Ive already been offered 3000 for the car so ill have to generously pass on that one. Id rather fix it. If i have to ill swap motors and i have a stock miata

The lifters often click on these engines when they need fresh oil. Often times people who are selling a car with a motor that's been run out of oil will claim it has a lifter tick when it is really a rod bearing, or a mistune will have caused a cracked piston or broken rings or it has been over revved and the rods have been stretched.

I plan on taking it all apart but i don't know the best place to start.

This sounds like a perfect time to just swap in a 1.8.

Welcome to the site Hunter Overton, thanks for joining up!