I talked about getting a Miata for awhile and last November (08) I finally went through with it and bought a 93 C-package. The car started life as a black with tan leather interior, however the car was re-painted Montego Blue by one of the previous owners. The paint was in very poor condition when I bought it. It had bad oxidation and someone had taken off the rear luggage rack. When the luggage rack was removed the hardware holes were left behind and covered with black electrical tape. One of the positives was the OEM (w/defroster) hardtop that came with the car.

So after finding the car I made the 8.5 hr drive from NY to the Virginia Beach area. When I picked it up I was pleasantly surprised to find out the seller was including a new softop with the car. It just needed a rain rail and to be installed on the frame. He also gave me a black dashboard ( I hate tan) so I could swap out the tan interior. After completing all the necessary paperwork I got in the car and drove it about 1.5 hrs north to Richmond and spent the night at a friends house. I woke up early the next day and embarked on the final 8hrs of my drive home. I was very happy to arrive in my driveway without running into any problems. The car, even with 144k miles was able to muster out 35mpg on the drive home!

Here it is after the drive home:




The electrical tape covered holes and bad oxidation:




The tan interior was ripped up and needed to be overhauled IMO:




The little motor that could:



The spare black dash given to me with the car:




Like I previously said I hated having the tan interior……I ordered new black carpet and a set of used black door panels.

The teardown and new interior was then started:












Boy that was fun…….I’ve pulled many cars apart, but the amount of contortionist abilities needed for the underside of the Miata dash is ridiculous!



After doing the dash it was time to get the car over to my buddy for paint and of course the shocker in the first pic was needed for some reason….









Now the car was stripped so it was time to scuff down the car and get the bay painted:








We filled the trunk holes:





Now it was time for some primer, sanding , a little more primer and some more sanding:














We tackled the Hard Dog roll bar setup next:











Then we got started on painting the bay:





I couldn’t stand the stained up valve cover so I prepped and then painted it krinkle black:








The final primer coat is done and is now ready for paint:









Now we laid the paint, Electron Blue Pearl from the 99-00 Si:




Test fitted one of my Recaro SRD seats:





Well…..the Vmaxx Coilovers, Konig B-Bombs, CF side mirrors, Nardi rep steering wheel, R-pkg front lip and the NB dash conversion were not photographed during install.











I am currently working on my manual window conversion and will soon start installing my Jackson Racing Supercharger…..I will keep this thread updated as I go!

 

wow this is impressive, props for all the hard work, cant wait to see the supercharged videos!!

 

sickkk!

 

Looks great so far. Refreshing to see something non-honda in here

 

Thanks for positive comments!

 

wow, very nice

 

nice build, are you going to stay at the height or go lower??

 

Wow, nice work.

 

****in dope!

 

I will go lower. The rears rubbed a little, so I had to raise it up. The fenders are all rolled completely flat and I have -2.5 degrees of camber in the rear, but it still rubbed. Im either going to give it -3 in the rear, or get some 185/50/15's or 195/45/15 tires. Obviously the 195/45's will be much easier to find, but I think the 185's will look better.

 

car looks great man

 

Looks great, nice build. I've always liked those cars.

 

Makes me miss my first Miata =(

 

I dont like miatas but i have to say urs i really like

 

I just finished doing the manual window conversion.......Mmmmm old skool hand driven lol.

 

So sick! Good color choice!

 

cool project.

 

I wont have the red SRD's much longer, Im selling them to a friend. They are a little to big for the car so I will be getting some fixed mounts.

 

looks good

 

i must say, pretty sweet build! im exited to see the s/c on the bitch

 

What made you want to go to manual windows?

 

The passenger side power window broke. It was cheaper to buy brand new OEM manual windows for both sides rather than fix the 1 power window. Its also one last electrical thing I will ever have to think about on the car lol.

 

Am i nuts, or did you switch your dash twice? you seem to have a late model Miata dash after you painted the car

 

Yup, I put an NB (99-05) Miata dash in it. I wanted an updated look in the interior. I rewired hvac controls to so I could have the proper ones from the 99-05 too.

 

BP? I like the rocker cover man I want to do that to mine looks mean