Getting a pretty decent NB around the midwest (for 7k) is not difficult, at all. Getting one in the fall or winter will save you some money over trying to get one in the spring/summer.

I never really spent a bunch of time working on cars but these things are painfully easy to work on. A bit of reading in the forums, googling, etc.. and you can pretty well manage any project on an NA or NB (I wouldnt know about NC)

I guess the point I'm trying to make is.. dont overspend on a car that will soon be two generations old, and also.. installing your own FI is not rocket science (well technically, it could be, but you'll need a larger platform than a miata to fit rockets)

Yeah, I've done minor stuff on my old Miata, but I know my limitations.

I'm actually surprised that Miatas seem to be holding their value at this point. Everything I've seen locally has been priced about a grand (or more) over what they are actually worth. Of course, I haven't gotten to the point of actually negotiating yet because my buy date is so far out (but it's getting closer). Fortunately, I'll be buying pretty early in the spring rather than later.

Few things are priced for more than what they are worth, because by definition an item is worth as much as someone is willing to pay for it, and as long as someone is willing to pay $1000 more than you are willing to pay, the cars "worth" or value is going to be $1000 more than you think it should be.

I'll be able to get you pics of the black '99 once I get to the garage it's kept in - I probably see it every 2 weeks or so.

I doubt that you will find any shop to do the install for less then a grand. A grand is about 10 hour worth of labor at a shop. I am very skeptical of any shop installing a turbo kit on a miata in less then 10 hours unless they have done it a dozen times before. While nothing on the install is "hard", there are a lot of things that if you do not know what you are doing or to expect that will hold you up. I remember it took me a Saturday and Sunday to get my BEGI kit installed and I had Braineack helping for part of the time. The kit was also not completely installed at that point. I did not have one of the intercooler pipes hooked up, and had to finish that later.

I understand how markets work.

And just so you guys know, $7k was my max. For $7k, if it's not turbo'ed (which I'm probably not going to do now), it better be something better than a '99 normal mileage Miata (which is what the local dealers are asking for them). It better either be absurdly low miles or a more recent model. And yes, I know that they aren't going to sell a '99 for $6900. But they are pricing pretty well above what they should be offering as a starting point (in my opinion).

This is why I'm pretty ignoring the comments that imply that doing a turbo project isn't all that difficult. I'm not saying that it's impossibly hard, but it's not a trivial project. I'll stick to things like swapping out rotors, replacing clutch cylinders, replacing radiators, etc. You know, fairly trivial stuff. Especially since I have a driveway to work in, not a garage.

And that's why I'm not really thinking turbo at this stage (pun intended).

It's NOT difficult, it just takes a while. The most common problem for the time is that old bolts don't want to come out.

I'm not going to argue with you. And I won't assume to know your core competency. Hope you can do the same for mine.