Lurker not yet in possession of a Miata
 

Howdy all-

I figured i'd make a thread here to prove i'm not a spammer or douche once I start crawling through the classifieds.

I'm from the New Haven area in CT. I currently have an 02 WRX wagon that I daily. I used to be big into Saabs, and DSMs. Recently sold my bike and my "other" DD which was an Acura.

Recently sold the DSM and looking to get into a boosted Miata.

I've test driven a few in the area looking for the right candidate that isn't a beat up POS. Have a lead on a nice one that I might fly out and get sometime in the next few weeks.

Looking to meet anyone in the area (only miata owner I know who is on here is Dave, we were in the UCONN car club together years ago and now i just bug him about random miata questions :hustler: )

Anyways, very impressed with the forum and the answers i've been able to get from just searching through.

Damn, if you weren't almost as far away as you could possibly get, I'd sell you mine. It's begging for a road trip!

Welcome!

And put that Connecticut location in your profile, so we don't have to search for it.

Thanks!

And done.

I was going to make a roadtrip out of a nice one I found in CA last month but it fell through.

Welcome, JStoops. Check out the Miata Gallery and post up some pics!

Pics of what brain? PICS OF WHAT?

selfies.

I'll post pics of my sweet rear quarter panel rust on my WRX.

And my 5 :party::party::party::party::party: turbo kittens.


yeah, i got 5 cats.

we have a wiener!

Welcome! I am in Shelton.

Welcome. This is a good time of year to buy.

4 of my 5 cats.

3 of the 4 are from the same litter. we adopted them before they were given away to a shelter. They're half maine-coon which means they get HUGE and are medium/long hair. They're about 18 months.

4th cat (orange one in bottom left) just showed up at our door and we took him in. He seems to be part maine-coon and part dwarf cat (look it up it means hes got squatty front legs and is kind of bow legged like a bull dog). Estimated age 2 or 3.

5th cat (not pictured) is just a normal short hair. Same story as above, showed up at our door on her death bed (really bad infection eating away her leg). Got her all fixed up, found out she had cancer and vet gave her 3 months to live; that was 3 years ago. Vet estimated her age to be around 11 or 12 (that was 3 years ago). She's a grumpy old thing but shes got a good home to be grumpy in.

In August it was really hot and the cats were struggling with the humidity being long haired so we got them lion cuts!

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1381348260

lol that looks so funny

Welcome!!!!!! MOAR pics of lion cuts!!!!!! (Do they like it? I've always wanted to do it to my cat)


Oh and: Buy my Miata.

The were confused as hell about it for the first couple of days but I think they like it alot more now that they're not sweating their (now chopped off) balls off.

We got it done at this local vet that only takes care of cats. I would recommend getting it done by a professional. The other orange cat we did ourselves because he doesn't really give a crap what you subject him to but it still was a HUGE PITA because he just got ansty after a while and the clippers heat up pretty fast and then you have to wait for them to cool and make sure they don't get jammed etc etc.



What kind of miata do you have? and where are you located?:party:

04 MSM with what's essentially an FM "Little Enchilada," plus 550cc injectors, Blouch/Deadbolt upgraded turbo, and running Haltech Platinum Sport 1000. NGK Powerdex AFX wideband, Autopower rollbar, Thompson oil filter relocation, all fresh fluids, fresh rebuilt shifter, new Mazda Competition motor mounts and Energy Suspension poly diff mounts, nice stereo, and i think about 85000 miles? Clutch is about 20k miles old, grabs well.

Located in Indianapolis. I'd absolutely trust it on a fly 'n' drive. That's how i bought it 2.5 years ago, Fly 'n' drive from Oceanside, CA. Took it on a 7500 mile road trip this past summer, as well as MATG. Never skipped a beat.


This freshness. Would like to sell because it's nice, and i don't like nice things.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1381354457

bumpin' this bad boy back from the dead!

Finally a miata owner. Going to PA to pick it up on Saturday. Pics to come

In for pics. Shove all 5 of your cats into the miata and snap a picture.

RIP soft top

Well I suck and did not take a single pic yet because life is super busy right now.

Drove back from PA beautifully the 5hr trip was great. I now get what people say about the high rpms at highway speeds.

Anyways, some info until i get pictures

-Red 92
No rust anywhere was kept garaged and covered. Looks like it was originally a B package because it has A/C, headrest speakers, Cruise control, p/s, abs
-200k+ on chassis
-90k on 1.8 swap (96 motor)
-45k on turbo setup

-Its got the gt2560r flyin' miata kit with the hydra ecu. 700cc injectors etc.

-Owner said it was a full stainless steel exhaust. Muffler is a twin tip borla for sure but I don't know if the exhaust is a full 3" all the way back doesn't sound like it.

-full metal rad. not sure what type but i will investigate later...

-ACT stage 1 clutch (seems a bit heavy? better or worse than the flyin' miata happy meal anyone know?)

-1.8 rear from same 96 the motor came from

-1.8 brakes all around

-tokico blues with some springs not sure which haven't got a chance to really get under her yet

-flyin' miata frame rails and butterfly brace

-glass softtop (no defrost tho whomp whomp)

-black leather seat covers

-random Alpine headunit

-turn signal intake vents (at least +20 hp obv.)

The two things I hate about the car:
The rear spoiler which is one of these: JKS® - Mazda Miata 1990-1997 Factory Style Rear Spoiler

They also did this to the hood (not as nicely)https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1399476002

which i hate that will be the first thing to go.

Sell me the wing.

I love the late 90s mustang hood though. :)

Get one

done deal if you've got a normal red trunk +cash

OR

a red trunk with a stock lip style spoiler

Not sure if sarcasm :party:

but you can have mine if i can find a replacement for mine!

I do have a "normal" trunk lid. Paint isn't that great, though.

Will start a build thread soon (i know i haven't even posted a picture of the car yet...)

Haven't gotten the car registered yet because CT's DMV sucks and its impossible to go there and not spend 5+ hours in line.

However, I did pick up a hardtop and new hood this weekend. hardtop is a defrost/headliner version. The hood is to replace the mustang style one shown above.

I hate CT's DMV! They made me pay blue book sales tax on a car, even though I purchased it for well under that price. They can suck my dick. Moved away over a decade ago, and got a bill a couple years ago from them for registration, and tags for over $1500 on a car I hadn't owned in a decade. I ignored the fuck out of them and they eventually stopped sending bills.

Fuck them.

Keith

Texas does that now too. Charging taxes on blue book as opposed to purchase price.

Well i now hate CT for a new plethora of reasons.

So i get to the DMV at 715am to wait in line for it to open at 745am.

Turns out CT now does not issue perm license plates to out of state vehicles until you pass emissions.


SOOOOO they charge you $20/week for temp plates and require you to go pass emissions then go BACK to the DMV and wait in line again to get an actual registration. And then pay again for actual plates.

So, my car doesn't have a cat but i thought *Well my WRX passed visual and sniffer inspection without a cat no problem*. However, the emissions gods hate me. The miata failed the sniffer.

Here's the kicker, since i refused to pay more than I was forced to for the temp plates, I only paid for one week of temp plates. So i now have 7 days to find a cat and slap it on there and putter down to get retested. I also don't know if I even have space for a cat AKA i don't know what exhaust setup the PO has on there since I've been crazy busy lately.

So all in all. FUCK CT

Find someone who wont check as thoroughly for a slightly larger fee.

In Texas they just ticket you if you tell them you drove it without plates. Needless to say I "never" drive mine up there when something is expired.

Sorry for your troubles.

I must admit that I got a slight chuckle out of reading this, however. A lot of East Coast people spend a lot of time bashing CA, and yet most of the complaining I hear about this sort of thing all takes place out here on the commie coast.

The cat area is easily visualized from the driver's side. Stick your jack under the mirror (good estimate for the front/back balance point on a miata) and jack it up. 20 seconds later you'll have an idea if it's got a bolted in test pipe you can easily replace, or if you'll need to have one welded in.

Please use jack stands once you're actually under the car.

I bought a $70 cat off ebay, along with a couple flanges. A few hours later my mig welder and I had a 3" cat for $80 so I can test every 2 years. YRMV, especially if you can't weld.

I wish there was still a way to do this in CT thats how i passed my DSM through emissions backs in the day. However, now all CT registered emissions stations are outfitted with cameras to ensure you don't tamper with the process. Or what alot of places used to do was enter your VIN then "test" a car they knew would pass.

I passed on HC (hydrocarbons) so the A/F is fine
My results were as follows:
HC: 129ppm on a limit of 188ppm PASS
CO: 1.38% on a limit of 1.00% FAIL
NOx: 2397ppm on a limit of 2188ppm FAIL

So I wasn't far off at all

Damn. That sucks.

So I had time to peek under my car today and check out what kind of exhaust setup is down there.

And I have a fucking cat. So the moron at Meineke that failed me on the visual test saying I didn't have a cat deserves to be knocked upside the head.

As far as my test results go, I am going to be a bit more intelligent this time. My failing test, I ran home from the DMV and shot down the street to the Meineke which is less than a 5-10 minute drive so the car had not gotten up to operating temperature and I don't think the car was in closed loop when testing so the car was probably running a bit rich causing the fail.

Tomorrow or Thursday I am going to go for a decent drive before getting tested to get the car up to operating temps and hopefully I pass there. If not, I'll keep the car unregistered until I get MS as I'm already annoyed by Hydra's piss-poor customer service and product support.


Oh yeah and I'm definitely NOT going to that Meineke again. I'm heading to the local Firestone where my pig rich WRX passes with flying colors.

Good luck haus.

GOOD NEWS!

I have passed emissions. If you see my previous post how I barely failed, I checked my plugs to ensure they weren't fouled/dirty (which they weren't). It led me to the conclusion that the only reason I failed was that I brought the car while it was cold (a barely 5/10 minute drive to the emissions station).

So this morning, I let the car warm up for about 30minutes and reach operating temperature so that the Hydra would be aiming for that 14.7:1 AFR. It worked.

My new results on a sniffer test were as follows:

Hydrocarbons (HC): 158ppm on a limit of 188ppm PASS
Carbon Monoxide (CO): 0.61% on a limit of 1.00% PASS
Nitrogen Oxides (NOx): 1925ppm on a limit of 2188ppm PASS

So tomorrow I'll get to the DMV and get her registered and begin my journey of fixing her up. I'll start a build/progress thread soon.

Congrats bud. Glad it all worked out.