New Miata owner from Austin
Hello out there. The Austin Miata club is $20 bucks to join so I've been lurking here since I began my Miata search a month ago.
Which is when I decided I wanted to own lightweight, cheap RWD car so I abandoned my reliable and low mileage 2008 DD and replaced it with a high mileage 1990 Miata. The roofless part is just a bonus. My search criteria: non red, AC, 5 speed, hard top, low miles and limited slip diff. 5 out of 6 isn't bad...
What I ended up with is a hardtop 5speed VLSD Smurf Blue 90 that had been sitting for a very long time. It is very dirty in the nooks and crannies but as far as I can tell everything is stock, down to the 22 year old daisys. It runs perfect, gets 27mpg and the AC is ice cold so I'm happy. Aesthetics have always taken a back seat to performance with my cars.
Some planned mods that are more out of necessity than anything: Insulating the floor. Falken 512's for the daisys. Slightly more aggressive brake pads, maybe some carbotech bobcats if they're available for this car. High temp brake fluid. A new cylinder head, probably breathed on a bit. Shocks and springs, is there any factory NA stuff that would be an upgrade? Frame rails and a roll bar for sure.
Joining the Miata in my garage I have a 6speed 2011 Clubman S, it's my wife's car and the only upgrades are non runflat tires and window tint. Also, my dad lets me play with his track car, it is an 89 BMW 325is that I just finished turbo-charging and at 12-13psi and almost 300whp with a giant turbo and air to water intercooler, it is a little bit faster than a C6 corvette. The chassis has full spec e30 suspension and a custom BBK plus a bunch of other odds and ends. I fell in love with boost after owning an 09 WRX and if I had deep pockets I would drop the direct injected, twin scroll turbo N18 Mini motor into a Miata. I think the table flat torque "curve" from 1400rpms and excellent boost response from the tiny twinscroll turbo would suit the Miata very well.
