New guy and first time Miata owner from Minnesota
 

Hello everyone! I've been lurking for a few months now, figured it was time to make an account.

My name is Matt, I recently picked up a red '97 with 58,000 miles on the odometer. I've been looking at Miatas for a while now, finally found a clean one with low miles at a price I was willing to pay. Current plan is to drive the car for the summer, get all of the maintenance up to date, and then maybe turbo next spring? Before turbo I plan on coilovers, coolant re-route, maybe a radiator, we will see. The car will be primarily a street car, driven to and from work on nice days and on the weekends. I'll be shooting for 200-230whp, I plan on doing all the work myself. Not sure if I want to do a complete kit or diy yet, I need to get a better idea of what's available and what my budget is first. I don't mind paying for quality and reliability.

I'm married, no kids right now, finally convinced my wife it was time for a fun car. She loves the Miata (flip up headlights for the ladies, am i right?). I'm a mechanical engineer, she works in the med device industry.

Here is a pic of the Miata next to a couple of STs that by friends drive. I dd a '12 Acura TL SH-AWD if anyone cares.

http://i64.tinypic.com/rur6f7.jpg

Bumping this because it didn't post for many months and then kind of got buried.. probably because I was a new member? I wanted to say hello and give a quick update.

Anyway, the update: I did quite a bit of maintenance over the last year to prep for turbo - changed all fluids, plugs/wires, timing belt, water pump, 2" radiator, QMAX coolant reroute, some hoses, seals, etc. Car has been running great. A few weeks ago I installed a MS3Pro and a wideband - car is very derivable but will need some tweaking to dial in fuel tables and idle a bit nicer. I plan on doing injectors (in the mail) and a clutch yet this summer, so I should be ready to dive into a turbo next spring.

Still lurking the forums, don't feel I have a lot to contribute and there seems to be tons of old posts that have been pretty helpful (especially with tuning).