Thought I'd share a bit about my history with the cars.
My dad bought a salvage titled '99 NB in '04. He got it cheap - $6500 for a perfectly running car with 24k miles on the ODO. We took a road trip down to California to pick it up. Straight drive there and back, no stopping except for a two hour nap break. It took 35 hours, but was a blast!
Anyway, at the time, I had a Ford Escort wagon. Grew to love the Miata, and would drive it any time my dad would let me. I wanted my own.
In late '05, I found a '95 on eBay with an asking price of $5,000. I called up the seller and told him that if no one bid on it, I'd buy it for $4,500. No one bid, I was the winner, and I had a shipping company drive it up to Oregon for me.
When I got the '95, it honestly wasn't in the greatest shape. The lifters were ticking, the driver front wheel was about an inch lower than all the other wheels, there was road tar on the side behind the driver's front wheel, and the custom paint was chipping in places. I couldn't do much about any of those things, since I was a poor college kid. Still am poor, no longer in college.
Anyway, I drove it that way, had many many problems with it, but still loved every minute of driving it, at least initially. After a while, the rain dripping from the windows, the issues related to the accident it had been in early on in life, various mechanical problems and oil leaks, I just decided it was time for something new.
Started browsing Craigslist, eBay, and AutoTrader for newer Miata's, generally looking in the $6,000 range for an ok NB. Couldn't find anything that wasn't horribly overpriced (typical in Oregon), or a poor example of a car. Then, I came across the MSM. It was all broken.
This was a salvage title due to theft. The thieves stole the stereo, speakers, ripping apart the dash and door panels in the process. The engine was also shot with a spun rod bearing, which I am assuming was due to some joyride or something that the thieves did.
Regardless, it was put up for auction via insurance, someone bought it to restore, didn't get around to it for a few months, then I bought it from him for $5400 after seeing it up for sale on craigslist. Got a new engine for $2000, while selling pieces and parts of the old one for $750, had a mechanic install the new engine for me (I'm not that mechanically inclined), and after mostly restoring the interior as well, and selling other spare parts, I'm in it for about $8,000. Best money I ever spent on a car.
There were a few after-install issues that were causing me grief for several months after I got the car back. The car kept quitting randomly if I would accelerate quickly. Not fun to experience. My mechanic had the car for four days and couldn't figure out what the issue was. He's generally better at replacing whatever parts you tell him to replace than diagnosing complicated problems, so I decided to try to take care of the problem myself. It was like a forced deceleration - just a complete cut of all fuel. At first, I thought the issue was from the MAF, as an ODBII reader told me that the readings were off by a good deal from what they should have been at idle. Replaced that, but the engine-stopping problem was still there.
Then, I opened the trunk one day, and found that the battery was completely loose! It's covered with carpet, and I never touched it, so I never thought to think about it. Turns out, upon heavy acceleration, it would throw the battery back to where the positive terminal was actually touching the loose bracing, and shorting out to the body. A good 1/2" of the bracing was completely gone from arcing.
Still had the problem though. Especially at higher RPM's, the engine would quit. I bought my own ODBII reader so I could try to monitor things and figure this out. One of the codes was for the CAS, or crank angle sensor. I decided to check that out. While I was looking at the lower half of the engine, trying to find what exactly was the crank angle sensor in the engine bay, I noticed some wiring that was touching an accessory belt. Took a closer look, and about half the copper had been chewed through on two wires! After some verification, these wires went to the crank angle sensor. I taped them up, tucked them behind some hoses so they wouldn't come out again, and viola! Victory at last - no more random engine quits! This was about 5 months after the install of the new engine.
Since then, I've been doing some light modding, as already described in my welcome post, to help give a bit more power. I am estimating I have somewhere around 210whp, but that's just based on the dynos of people with similar setups, so I do not have a true number. I'm too cheap to spend money on a dyno.
I also bought an abused MSM for $3,500 from South Carolina this last summer, had it shipped to my door. It wasn't running, and the interior was an absolute mess! I'm talking mold on the beautiful black and red Mazdaspeed seats (along with twigs, leaves, and trash), you couldn't even see the floormats, etc. My wife and I spent four evenings cleaning it up as best we could, and even then had it professionally cleaned anyhow.
The PO told me that the hydra aftermarket computer had gone kaput due to some mice eating the wiring. I couldn't find anything wrong with it, but switched back to the OEM computer anyhow. He had 550cc injectors, swapped those out for the stock 265's. He also had some other aftermarket parts and pieces, and I swapped everything back to stock. New battery, and it started right up! Sold it for $8,350, after putting $5,700 in to it. Made $750 off of the Hydra after a diagnostic turned up nothing wrong as well. All in all, glad for the experience, and glad I took a chance on buying it!
So that's basically where I'm at now with cars. We bought an '02 Protege5 for my wife, which has giving us some trouble (bad O2 sensors, bad cat, something wrong with the steering rack, and now an oil leak), but we generally love the car. Also have a newborn in the family - my daughter of 4 months! The P5 has worked perfectly for hauling her around.
My dad bought a salvage titled '99 NB in '04. He got it cheap - $6500 for a perfectly running car with 24k miles on the ODO. We took a road trip down to California to pick it up. Straight drive there and back, no stopping except for a two hour nap break. It took 35 hours, but was a blast!
Anyway, at the time, I had a Ford Escort wagon. Grew to love the Miata, and would drive it any time my dad would let me. I wanted my own.
In late '05, I found a '95 on eBay with an asking price of $5,000. I called up the seller and told him that if no one bid on it, I'd buy it for $4,500. No one bid, I was the winner, and I had a shipping company drive it up to Oregon for me.
When I got the '95, it honestly wasn't in the greatest shape. The lifters were ticking, the driver front wheel was about an inch lower than all the other wheels, there was road tar on the side behind the driver's front wheel, and the custom paint was chipping in places. I couldn't do much about any of those things, since I was a poor college kid. Still am poor, no longer in college.
Anyway, I drove it that way, had many many problems with it, but still loved every minute of driving it, at least initially. After a while, the rain dripping from the windows, the issues related to the accident it had been in early on in life, various mechanical problems and oil leaks, I just decided it was time for something new.
Started browsing Craigslist, eBay, and AutoTrader for newer Miata's, generally looking in the $6,000 range for an ok NB. Couldn't find anything that wasn't horribly overpriced (typical in Oregon), or a poor example of a car. Then, I came across the MSM. It was all broken.
This was a salvage title due to theft. The thieves stole the stereo, speakers, ripping apart the dash and door panels in the process. The engine was also shot with a spun rod bearing, which I am assuming was due to some joyride or something that the thieves did.
Regardless, it was put up for auction via insurance, someone bought it to restore, didn't get around to it for a few months, then I bought it from him for $5400 after seeing it up for sale on craigslist. Got a new engine for $2000, while selling pieces and parts of the old one for $750, had a mechanic install the new engine for me (I'm not that mechanically inclined), and after mostly restoring the interior as well, and selling other spare parts, I'm in it for about $8,000. Best money I ever spent on a car.
There were a few after-install issues that were causing me grief for several months after I got the car back. The car kept quitting randomly if I would accelerate quickly. Not fun to experience. My mechanic had the car for four days and couldn't figure out what the issue was. He's generally better at replacing whatever parts you tell him to replace than diagnosing complicated problems, so I decided to try to take care of the problem myself. It was like a forced deceleration - just a complete cut of all fuel. At first, I thought the issue was from the MAF, as an ODBII reader told me that the readings were off by a good deal from what they should have been at idle. Replaced that, but the engine-stopping problem was still there.
Then, I opened the trunk one day, and found that the battery was completely loose! It's covered with carpet, and I never touched it, so I never thought to think about it. Turns out, upon heavy acceleration, it would throw the battery back to where the positive terminal was actually touching the loose bracing, and shorting out to the body. A good 1/2" of the bracing was completely gone from arcing.
Still had the problem though. Especially at higher RPM's, the engine would quit. I bought my own ODBII reader so I could try to monitor things and figure this out. One of the codes was for the CAS, or crank angle sensor. I decided to check that out. While I was looking at the lower half of the engine, trying to find what exactly was the crank angle sensor in the engine bay, I noticed some wiring that was touching an accessory belt. Took a closer look, and about half the copper had been chewed through on two wires! After some verification, these wires went to the crank angle sensor. I taped them up, tucked them behind some hoses so they wouldn't come out again, and viola! Victory at last - no more random engine quits! This was about 5 months after the install of the new engine.
Since then, I've been doing some light modding, as already described in my welcome post, to help give a bit more power. I am estimating I have somewhere around 210whp, but that's just based on the dynos of people with similar setups, so I do not have a true number. I'm too cheap to spend money on a dyno.
I also bought an abused MSM for $3,500 from South Carolina this last summer, had it shipped to my door. It wasn't running, and the interior was an absolute mess! I'm talking mold on the beautiful black and red Mazdaspeed seats (along with twigs, leaves, and trash), you couldn't even see the floormats, etc. My wife and I spent four evenings cleaning it up as best we could, and even then had it professionally cleaned anyhow.
The PO told me that the hydra aftermarket computer had gone kaput due to some mice eating the wiring. I couldn't find anything wrong with it, but switched back to the OEM computer anyhow. He had 550cc injectors, swapped those out for the stock 265's. He also had some other aftermarket parts and pieces, and I swapped everything back to stock. New battery, and it started right up! Sold it for $8,350, after putting $5,700 in to it. Made $750 off of the Hydra after a diagnostic turned up nothing wrong as well. All in all, glad for the experience, and glad I took a chance on buying it!
So that's basically where I'm at now with cars. We bought an '02 Protege5 for my wife, which has giving us some trouble (bad O2 sensors, bad cat, something wrong with the steering rack, and now an oil leak), but we generally love the car. Also have a newborn in the family - my daughter of 4 months! The P5 has worked perfectly for hauling her around.
