for a couple of years now I have wanted a miata. But school and sparse selection in Iceland have hindered me so far. But now I decided that it was time.

I went online and searched for a while until I found something I wanted to work with. Only one problem, that car is in Germany!

So I finished my nightshift, jumped straight into a plane and flew 3 hours, drove 4 hours and then laid my eyes on this.



The guys I'm dealing with barely speak English and my German is poor. We got it inspected at some shaaaady place that got opened up during the night for us.

She's not perfect but mechanically she seems really sturdy. Now on friday I get the temp plates so I can drive it over to Denmark and then take it by ferry to Iceland. Summer will be goooood.

First up will be to get her mechanically to a place where I like her, and then decide which turbo I wanna slap on it.

I love impulse decisions.

 

Congrats.

 

Thanks!

And some info since I was way too excited during my first post.

I'm a 28 year old aircraft technician in Iceland and have done all the research for a turbo build. Although I might have questions when it comes to injector sizing and mapping later on. I've had turbo cars in the past and to me boost is the only way to go.


The car is a 1998 1.8, with ~85k miles. There is some rust on lower sills but the plan is to fix that first and then find a lip and skirts to put on it.
My intention is to install the megasquirt a month or two before doing any mods and just getting used to tinkering with it. then go to the US on a shopping spree around mid winter to get the majority of the parts since shipping costs will have it's way with my poop chute if I try to have all parts shipped individually to Iceland.

I had the car running and was checking the engine bay when I noticed that the #1 plug lead had some damage on it that looked like a rat had gnawed at it. And in a stroke of genius I decided to have a better look. Grabbed it and ZAP! looks like plug wires are first on the "to-do" list.


I actually can't wait to get the engine bay cleaned up and shiny.

Does anyone know if anything was supposed to be here? it looks like something belongs there that clearly isn't there any more


The original alloy wheels are there too and I'll put them on as soon as I get the temp plates.

 

I saw the most retarded looking yellow and black 3000gt this morning.

 

The 'missing' area. Red connector is for the Air Conditioning pressure switch, white connector is for the Aux Fan (which is installed with A/C).

I have a 2000 with the exact same empty space.

What's up with that induction snorkel? It looks really long.

 

yeah, The 3000gt seems to attract some really tasteless individuals sometimes. Makes me a sad panda.


And barby, I'm just kinda happy it doesn't have AC. one less thing to delete, it's not like there is much need for AC in Iceland :lol:
And I don't know about that snorkel, looking at pictures from other miati I see that it's a lot longer. But why it's like that I have no clue.

 

This?

 

I'm glad you got a decent 1.8 to build. If you need a base of operations in the winter, it is pretty warm in Florida then, haha! And my lake house near Atlanta is empty most of the winter. Let me know if I can help.

 

hahah The family was actually contemplating on staying in Florida through December. I'd love to meet some locals and learn from them at least

 

As soon as I got the title I threw on the stock wheels. So much fresher looking already. and the interior is almost flawless


Right after that I taped the spark plug wire as a temp fix to avoid shorting anything. The inaugural drive was a 7 hour run on the German autobahn.

Only one question. Is the oil pressure supposed to hang this high?


It pulls strong and feels solid. And it feels like it has a limited slip diff, but I don't know the cars well enough to swear by it.

 

That is not a real oil pressure gauge. Mazda determined people were too stupid to have a real gauge. That is essentially an idiot light with a pointer and no light. It points when you have a few pounds of pressure or more (5 or 8psi or something silly like that) and doesn't point at all if your engine has lost all oil pressure and has been destroyed by the time you notice. The 1.6 cars had real gauges. There is a retrofit to use the 1.6 sending unit on the engine and the 1.6 gauge in the NA8 cluster. I'm not sure if it also fits in the NB cluster.

 

IIRC, the 94s and 95s had real oil pressure gauges too.

The empty spot is there on all NBs, AFAIK. Yes, the connectors go to the AC bits when so equipped, but it's just a couple of wires.

Early FM2 kits used that spot to relocate the power steering reservoir. It's also a decent place to put an aftermarket windshield washer bottle on a car that has ABS and a turbo.

--Ian

 

Ah okay. So just to worry about it when it doesn't go up. (seems like that can apply to many things in life)

But I decided that it desperately needed an oil change when I found papers that timed the last oil change at five years ago when the car was parked.
So I got to that mission while staying at a friends place in Denmark.

I'll most definitely be changing the tranny and diff oil once I get home, the gear shifts are a bit stiff.

I've most likely sold my other car so this one will get rust repairs, hardtop and repaint as soon as I get home.

And I made a friend on the trip

 

Looks like it could use some polish on those headlights.

 

It sure does. Once I get home I can post some proper pics of the small things that are wrong. The exterior needs love

 

I'm really liking this thread and the way you're making progress "on the road"

Good job

 

Thank you! I brought my overalls and a tool kit since I was buying a car I had never seen. Haven't gotten into any trouble but it's always a piece of mind to be ready for anything.

 

Drove the last 4 hours to the ferry, great weather and the top down blasting this


Met up with a friend that is also importing a car to Iceland and we teamed up for the last part of the ride.


Now it's just a 3 day boat ride to Iceland. Can't wait to start fixing this bitch up

 

Smart to move the car in stages.
When i fetched a 98 RS in Glasgow 2011 I drove it home in close to one stretch. 9h in UK, 4h slumber on ferry and 17h home. Last 4 hours in November slush on barley threaded summer tires.
I will not do it again.

I still have not decided what I should do with it, a well thought trough purchase...

 

haha the moving in stages was a result of circumstances but not choice. But it was a nice thing.

But I don't envy you driving a car on summer tires in slush. It can get scaaary