My latest bad idea

[Evan]

Some of you may have noticed I added a '90 miata to my sig a few weeks ago.
Some of you may have noticed a vehicle under a car cover at my house at the cookoff.
Some of you probably put 2 and 2 together.

Yep, I bought Miata #2. It was too damn cheap to pass up. Under $500 cheap. And no, it doesnt run. What fun would that be?



So whats wrong with it?


The Bad:
-Busted timing belt
-Hasnt run in over 2 years
-Electronics may be buggered. When the owner hooked up a battery the lights did funky things. Also there was a CB radio of some sort that looks to have been ripped out in haste
-Apparently a squirrel called the car its home for a while. When i took off the undertray it was packed with leaves and grass, and there was a half a walnut
-It took mazda 5 or 6 years to figure out how to paint miatas white, so the paint is peeling in a few spots
-one tire has a slow leak
-cracked rear window
-no rearview window
-90s had a short nosed crank that can crack and kill the engine. Im hoping that the broken timing belt didnt expidite this process

The Good
-the price
-straight, rust free body
-uh....shit...maybe this was a bad idea...

At the encouragement of several notes from my neighbors threatening to tow the car, Matt helped me get it into the driveway. Now the fun begins.

Plans for it: Fix timing belt, flush fluids, drain gas tank, new battery. Pray it runs. Fix electricals that Im pretty sure are at least mildly fugged up. Pray harder.
Drive it around. Have fun. Resist b00st. Resist building another SM.

Oh, and thanks to RJ and Snobeck for helping me load it up and tow it from baltimore.

arent they cute

[.RJ]

Oh, and thanks to RJ and Snobeck for helping me load it up and tow it from baltimore.

arent they cute

I guess the red top one is 'catching'

:lol:

[ScottyB]

yessss, another busted pile to ad to the MM roster :lol:

under 500, that rocks.....great find. with all that money you saved, a turbo would be so convenient! really though, that will be a cool project car. and if you dent your running miata you can pirate parts off it.

[Feersty]

Yeah I wondered what lie beneath that cover.

[Feersty]

if you dent your running miata you can pirate parts off it.

I believe that neither is running IIRC.

[Mike]

did the belt actually snap? the way it's worn almost makes it look as if it died in the middle, but became two separate timing belts... in which case it may not have slipped any teeth?

[Evan]

you are probably right, but its a non-interference engine so it doesnt matter if it vaporized into thin air, it wouldnt hurt the engine.
The only thing im worried about is the crank nose

You cant tell from the pic, but the part of the belt that delaminated bunched up in the cover and actually broke it in 1 spot. This is whats keeping the engine from running.

[Sijray21]

parts car?

i saw another car underneath, but i lost track of how many cars you people have.

[Mike]

ahhh non-interference... it all makes much more sense now.

[BLINGMW]

wheeeeeeee good job!
:thumbup: :bow:

[CaptainHenreh]

SBC! YEE HAW!

[damnit458]

wheeeeeeee good job!
:thumbup: :bow:

Hey he only needs 19 other busted ass cars to rival you! :wink:

[JackoliciousLegs]

Oh man... I hope this car runs and runs well for you. Then you will be unable to resist 'dee BO!0OOSTz!

[Evan]

the b00st is tempting. So is $2006/$2007 challenge......

dammit.

pulled the radiator, intake, and started on the timing belt tonight. I want to get this thing running while its still warm out. Now im just waiting on a new crank nose bolt

[Evan]

UPDATE

It runs!

This car took a back seat while I worked on my racecar, but I finally got a few hours to work on it this week.
Finished up the timing belt, alt belts, drained the gas tank (gas wasnt that bad), put the battery from my other car in, put a few gallons of premium along with a couple bottles of fuel injector cleaner and.....voila
fired right up, despite a couple bonehead moves like
1. forgetting to put coolant/water in it.
2. forgetting to change the oil (didnt even show anything on the dipstick)

had some NASTY top end tick, but some seafoam and fogging the neighborhood fixed most of that

the best part is that the stereo and speakers sound MUCH better than what i have in any of my other cars! :lol:

I ditched the hideous white wheels, took an old set of stock wheels and painted them bronze. (btw, Lee that is the bronze wheel paint I told you about, although its a little lighter in person)


too bad its fixed just in time for the weather to get cold

[.RJ]

:bow:

Nice work! $500 daily driver, w00t

[Dragon]

Sweet, sell it to me.

[ScottyB]

damn Evan that thing looks bangin with those bronze wheels!

and oh yeah.....i'm thinking of 'foamin my intake tract (already running a small bit through the crankcase to cure some lifter tick) but i'm in a really congested area. am i gonna get pulled over or anything for smoke screening the whole apartment complex?

[.RJ]

You'll blend right in down there in Atl traffic

[Chris]

thats awesome :thumbup:

I've gotta find a cheap one like this.