I work at a mazda dealership and had a customer come in with some engine problems. She spend a bunch on diagnosing the motor and decided she doesnt want to pay the bill. I told her I would pay her bill if she gives me the car. (when i do my employee discount and some other tricks i end up getting it for 90 bucks).

my question is-should I take this chance and make this my next project??? Street, occasional drag and monthly autocrosser? or should I put some money into and sell it to make a few bucks?????


What would you do?

 

If you like the miata, nothing better than an almost free car to get started in racing. If you total it, you won't be at a loss. I'd make it my race car if I liked miata's.

 

Cheap/free track cars are the best kind.

 

To be honest I think they are great. I just dont think I can bring my self to drive one stock. The body is clean its just very faded red. I would love to keep it lookin pretty rough but with nice rims and 250whp. That would be a pretty stout vehicle. Ahh decisions decisions.
Anyone out there got a miata they may be able to point me in the right direction? Ive found companys like flyin miata etc but I am lookin for an online store that sells the more jdm stuff. Like hks, tanabe, etc.

 

fix it up and run stock classes..even tho its stock classes, u can still do some mods here and there which will make the car a little more fun to drive.

 

So you screwed the dealership and the customer...

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by downingracing &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">So you screwed the dealership and the customer... </TD></TR></TABLE>
Oh get off your high horse.

I gave the customer an out and she took it. She was going to junk the car anyway, this way she got out with out having to pay a diag charge. And the dealership, believe me the last thing they are worried about is making an extra 200 bucks on a car when they could help out an employee.

 

Yea - you gave the customer ONE out. Maybe you should have offered the customer several options like calling local salvage yards who might be interested in purchasing it, or offering to use some of your magic to lower the bill... And yea - I'm on the high horse - shady **** like that is not cool... Taking advantage of someone and trying to play it off like you did them a favor is total BS.

 

clubroadster.net

i enjoy my 94 A package with tokicos and a roll bar and some falkens. with HP+ pads, it is the PERFECT no-maintenance track car you can buy. leave it stock. they are so much fun that way.

or go monster on it. nothing like a 302 in the bay to make it a little faster, and nose heavy, but suspension can take care of it. rspeed.net will get you some fun JDM stuff.

 

I'm kinda torn on this issue. My buddy over at the VW dealership got an old 8o's something Nissan truck this way. Tranmission was blown. It would have cost more to fix it with parts and labor then what it was worth. The guy signed over the title. My buddy found a tranny in another one of their parts vehicles, put some after hour labor into it and got the truck running for less then 200$ in parts.

Most salvage yeards would have CHARGED the guy to take the truck, so he got his out. My buddy got his beater truck. I think everyone was happy.

But if she didn't want to pay the bill, then it's not like you have a whole lot of options. If she refused to pay, then that is basically her way of saying she is giving up the car. Either the dealership would have gotten the title, fixed the car and sold it for a huge profit or MassScene does what he did. The dealership got paid for it diag time, the customer got what she wanted, and MassScene got a car he had to fix out of it.

As for the Miata, it's a very popular track car because I see a lot of them. But they **** me off because spec Miata's are slow as hell and the dumbass drivers don't know how to give a pointby half the time then get pissed because you have to ride their *** before they look in their rearview.

I prefer a Honda front wheel drive because that is all I have ever driven on the track and considering your asking that question on HT, I don't know what other answer you would expect!

 

$90 miata? sounds like a great start on a $2008 challenge car

 

Well just to clear this up. I offered the lady 500.00 dollars for the car and she said she would think about it. The following day she called me back agreed. However this was after my fiance gave me **** because I already have a project. So i comunicated this to the customer and she said well I guess Ill just junk it. I in turn offered to pay her diag bill (which she would have had to pay anyway before junking the car) if she let me keep it. She said she would think about it. Not one minute later she called and said "Ok you got a deal". She actually dropped off the extra key and title today!


Well i have been doing research on the cars and have found some good solid stuff. However there are no good forums. Im looking for info like how much the average stock 1.6 motor can take for whp, is it worth it upgrading to the 1.8. How does the car, chassis, brakes, drivetrain, brakes, all hold up with 270whp. Etc.

The info is not as readily available as it is for honda's. I am sure I will find a good informational forum on it soon enough but theres nothing like honda-tech

 

Put an SR20DET in it and make a giant killer

 

i thought about that. I am really liking an f20c in there right now but thats to much $$$$$$$$$$$

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by MassScene &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">To be honest I think they are great. I just dont think I can bring my self to drive one stock. The body is clean its just very faded red. I would love to keep it lookin pretty rough but with nice rims and 250whp. That would be a pretty stout vehicle. Ahh decisions decisions.
Anyone out there got a miata they may be able to point me in the right direction? Ive found companys like flyin miata etc but I am lookin for an online store that sells the more jdm stuff. Like hks, tanabe, etc. </TD></TR></TABLE>

My friend has a 99 special edition (yeah, I know it's a 1.8l). Besides the custom stuff (hand made stainless steel octopus manifold, 3'' exhaust attatched to a JIC titanium muffler, etc), he buys stuff from flyin miata. He blew up his motor after road america last year, and he just bought a motor from Flyin Miata. He says that they're very knowledgeable. I think he bought his voodoo box there too as a temporary solution. He's getting more engine management and tuning this year, though.

Anyway, he's got a S15 spec T28 on it....it's an awesome car. It's really fun to drive. They have iron closed deck blocks with forged internals from the factory. It was just missing the turbo lol. Miatas are really really fun cars. I would definitely build it to race it. Give it some TLC and then go beat up on it.

You CAN have tons of fun driving a stock miata. I think at a small, technical track, you'd have fun. I think that struggling with the old *** stock suspension would be fun as well. The car's not fast enough to get you in trouble. I'm assuming this is a 1.6L....you didn't say what year it was. Go thrash it around on a small course. I'm sure you'll have fun.

 

yea its a 90.

ive been searching quite a bit and I think I am definelty going to make project of it.

Starting with a 1.8 swap.
suspension
wheels
rx7 rear diff conversion

in that order.
those things should make the car pretty fun and tossable reliabley. then I will be the judge if its something I want to do long term.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by B serious &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

My friend has a 99 special edition (yeah, I know it's a 1.8l). Besides the custom stuff (hand made stainless steel octopus manifold, 3'' exhaust attatched to a JIC titanium muffler, etc), he buys stuff from flyin miata. He blew up his motor after road america last year, and he just bought a motor from Flyin Miata. He says that they're very knowledgeable. I think he bought his voodoo box there too as a temporary solution. He's getting more engine management and tuning this year, though.

Anyway, he's got a S15 spec T28 on it....it's an awesome car. It's really fun to drive. They have iron closed deck blocks with forged internals from the factory. It was just missing the turbo lol. Miatas are really really fun cars. I would definitely build it to race it. Give it some TLC and then go beat up on it.

You CAN have tons of fun driving a stock miata. I think at a small, technical track, you'd have fun. I think that struggling with the old *** stock suspension would be fun as well. The car's not fast enough to get you in trouble. I'm assuming this is a 1.6L....you didn't say what year it was. Go thrash it around on a small course. I'm sure you'll have fun.

</TD></TR></TABLE>

and they're non-interference engines i believe, i used to have one, fun on the streets

check out
http://www.miata.net
http://www.clubroadster.com
http://www.flyinmiata.com

 

if you're doing a 1.8 swap, which i wouldn't bother, also snag the brakes from the 1.8 car. it's a cheap big-brake upgrad for the 1.6's. also, the stock 1.8 rear end is more than adequit for a while. just get one with the Torsen lsd. i'd just turbo the stock 1.6.

 

Miata info: http://www.specmiata.com/ Those guys/girls should be able to answer any questions you have.

 

The 1.6 in there needs some motor work. The keyway has elongated the notch in the crank. Im hesitant on getting a used 1.6 because I dont want that to happen again.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by MassScene &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">The 1.6 in there needs some motor work. The keyway has elongated the notch in the crank. Im hesitant on getting a used 1.6 because I dont want that to happen again.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yeah they had problems on the "short nosed" crank versions in the 1.6L.

 

ah, must be a 90-91 then. well, 1.8 swap then seems reasonable.

 

definitely check out miataturbo.net. They have lots of good info on home-made turbo kits and engine management. They also have a badass classifieds page

 

ay thanks for the info guys. Im pretty confident the car will be mad fun with the mods listed. To be completely honest. Even after I put the motor in it I dont think I can bring my self to drive the thing. They just dont do it for me stock.

I may attract the wrong attention

 

if you don't think a stock miata can be fun, well, i don't know. no, it's not fun in a straight line, but find some back roads, and the nice thing is sense it doesn't have a lot of power, you can throttle through the gears and it "feels" fast! i think that's why i love it stock. because i can use every bit of the 1.8 every day, instead of a 250hp monster which i could only use at the track. you can beat the snot outta the stock-ness every day and it will take it and come back for more. it's so appealling to be able to do that.

oh yeah, if you ARE one of those guys worried about the whole "gay thing", then do yourself a favor, check your manhood at the door, and if that isn't big enough, just sell the car, cause all your friends will make fun of you. and if you care, well: