Funny story, really.

Woke up on Thursday morning with no plans on buying a car. Got a text on my way into the office from an old college friend telling me that she'd put a hole in the motor of her '95 NA. Asks me if I know anyone who might be interested. I tell her to come back with a number since I know a few folks out at MSR who might be interested in a Miata in perfectly good condition with the exception being a hole in the motor, depending on the price.

She texts me back that night telling me that she wants $350 for it.

I just got back from signing the title. Can someone point me in the direction of the rebuilt 1.8s? I think I just bought a new track toy.

http://i.imgur.com/41RVpdE.jpg

Sounds like a smoking deal.
Give me a call and we can discuss what your options are.

Stevan
Miata Solutions
940-390-0234

Is that an R package?

PS
Stevan is the man

Welcome to the site! Got to love that kind of price tag. The car looks pretty decent, too!
Quick questions for ya': what color are the shocks? Does the car have power steering? I see a front air dam and rear spoiler that might denote a specific option package (R-pkg) that's fairly rare.

For the engine, seems like Track Dog Racing usually has an engine or three. You might give them a call, or maybe blackroadster will chime in, as he works there.
If you're not dead set on a rebuilt motor, there's a salvage yard in Kennedale that specializes in Mazdas and Nissans: http://mazdanissanheaven.com/. They tend to have a number of 1.8 engines on hand. The guys who run the place are pretty nice, too.

edit: and yes, Stevan is definitely the man! Give him a shout for all of your Miata needs.

That looks very R-ish. Nice score.

Saw your post on dfwautoclub.com. Congrats on the new ride and your future track days with it.

This might work....
http://dallas.craigslist.org/mdf/cto/4021664370.html

Using the 99 block shouldn't be a problem but not sure about the whole 99 engine which is OBDII. Query Rogue or Trickyrix on adapting a 99 motor to your 95 chassis. The bump up in power would definitely be worth it.

Another one...
http://www.dfwmiata.com/threads/2484...th-anniversary

The first thing you need to do is see if it has 3 or four pins on each connector going into the coil pack. Then, figure out what to do about the swap. If it's OBD1, VVT all the way, son.

I tried to find pics of forum member creek's 94 R package to show what it could become. Creek's car is very nice with the black stripes and hardtop. Maybe he will post up some pics.

If it's a '95, it's OBD-I, so it should be no problem whatsoever to swap in a '99 motor. However, if you want to nudge it up even further, follow Hustler's advice and go for a 2001-2005 VVT engine with a full standalone ECU like a MegaSquirt.

95 = OBDI

The tricky part if it's got 4 wire coils is the VVT coils won't feed the tach when using the stock ECU.

C

I'm a bit overwhelmed as to all the support that is out there for these cars. This is awesome.


Stevan - if you're around today, I'll give you a ring.


And I checked the shocks, they're just silver, no barn find R-package story here. But it makes me feel less guilty about shopping for a new set, the stock suspension is a bit tired and has more play in it than my Cadillac.


24 hours in and I'm loving this car. Seriously, it kept me up last night.


Oh, and thanks for the link to that place in Kennedale, I think they'll be getting a call this week!

BRB checking coil pack now.

Looks like the 4-pack coils, but I believe chriscar is right: OBDII debuted in 1996 IIRC. The issue is cost - I'd really like to keep it under 1000 or 1250 for the motor. Could I find a 2001+ motor and pick up a MegaSquirt for that kind of coin? Or is the performance worth going over budget? I should really make a separate thread for all this...

It's possible that the original shocks were swapped out. Visual cues for an R will be manual steering, manual windows, manual mirrors, no leather wrap on the steering wheel, and of course, the front & rear lip, and trunk spoiler. I think the original wheels would be hollow spoke. Register at the Mazda Owners site here, enter your VIN, it'll return your car specifics, including the Trim level (keep your fingers crossed that it's R :)). Or just post the VIN, and I'll check for you.

C

You want to look at the number of wires coming out of each coil connector.

C

Yep, I'll be in the shop all day I expect.

Call Mazda North America with the VIN and they can tell you what it came equipped with. I'm guessing it is an R-pkg and if it has a manual rack, that's a real good indicator.

Just do it on the website - Here's mine.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Y...221-no/95R.jpg

So...just what exactly did I get yesterday?

http://i.imgur.com/OORDesR.png

Trim: R you scored!

1995 R Package

The R package was a $1500 option package and not a special model
Equipment: Sport Suspension (Bilstein shocks, heavy-duty rear springs, heavier sway bars), rear spoiler, front air dam, rear skirt, alloy wheels, Torsen limited slip differential The R package was not available with power steering, automatic transmission or Popular Equipment and Leather option packages
Optional: air conditioning, hardtop (dealer installed only)
Production: 465
Base MSRP: $19,000 plus $440 freight, plus options

Winner winner, chicken dinner.

C

Stevan - thanks so much for the help with everything! 24 hours into ownership and I couldn't be more smitten.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by trickyrix

If it's a '95, it's OBD-I

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Not always. There is at least one OBDII 1995 car in south Texas.


Yes, if OBD1 you want MS3 and VVT. It is the promised land.

Blown engine... time for v8. No replacement for displacement. :D

I've got 11.7 liters of friendly fire on my side between my daily and my PlaySkool plastic fantastic redneck Ferrari! I could go for something that doesn't wake everyone up with the sound of carpet bombing when I leave for MSR at 6AM on a Saturday.

$350 for an R Pack with a blown motor? Damn, you did make a score! Congrats.

You won't get it done for $1250, but with a nice shell and a blown motor I'd probably be looking at something more like MugenS2's AP1 S2000 engine swap. A higher mileage AP1 engine/tranny combo with factory ecu probably wouldn't be much more than a good VVT engine, Megasquirt, and the required tuning time/$ to make it run right, plus you get ~200 whp, a 9000 RPM redline, a pretty bulletproof motor, and no tuning required.

Just make sure to use OEM Honda oil filters, and make sure they're tight. Don't ask me how I found this out.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by altiain

You won't get it done for $1250, but with a nice shell and a blown motor I'd probably be looking at something more like MugenS2's AP1 S2000 engine swap. A higher mileage AP1 engine/tranny combo with factory ecu probably wouldn't be much more than a good VVT engine, Megasquirt, and the required tuning time/$ to make it run right, plus you get ~200 whp, a 9000 RPM redline, a pretty bulletproof motor, and no tuning required.

Just make sure to use OEM Honda oil filters, and make sure they're tight. Don't ask me how I found this out.

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But Iain, then he would be removing the soul of the Miata! ::StirTheP

Quote:

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Originally Posted by altiain

$350 for an R Pack with a blown motor? Damn, you did make a score! Congrats.

You won't get it done for $1250, but with a nice shell and a blown motor I'd probably be looking at something more like MugenS2's AP1 S2000 engine swap. A higher mileage AP1 engine/tranny combo with factory ecu probably wouldn't be much more than a good VVT engine, Megasquirt, and the required tuning time/$ to make it run right, plus you get ~200 whp, a 9000 RPM redline, a pretty bulletproof motor, and no tuning required.

Just make sure to use OEM Honda oil filters, and make sure they're tight. Don't ask me how I found this out.

---

By the time you bought the S2000 motor, supporting parts and paid the hundreds of hours of labor to get it turnkey it'd be a 12,500 dollar Miata.

Yep that kinda work you coulda had a V8.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by CosmosMpower

By the time you bought the S2000 motor, supporting parts and paid the hundreds of hours of labor to get it turnkey it'd be a 12,500 dollar Miata.

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Yep, and it would still get smacked-down by a Miata. ::Banana::

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Nails

Saw your post on dfwautoclub.com. Congrats on the new ride and your future track days with it.

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Ditto. Oh, and I'll buy it from you today for $500....;)

Best advice: Figure out what your "end" budget for the car will be, and work backwards from there. A Miata is infinitely "buildable" from $1000 to over $25K, so it's best to know up front what you want this car to be and how much $$$ you want to throw at it.

If it were me, I'd keep your motor expenses to a minimum and focus on safety (roll bar!), decent suspension, and a good set of 15" wheels and tires. That alone will get you 90% there. The rest is incremental...

http://www.dfwmiata.com/threads/24861-FS-2000-longblock

Quote:

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Originally Posted by altiain

$350 for an R Pack with a blown motor? Damn, you did make a score! Congrats.

You won't get it done for $1250, but with a nice shell and a blown motor I'd probably be looking at something more like MugenS2's AP1 S2000 engine swap. A higher mileage AP1 engine/tranny combo with factory ecu probably wouldn't be much more than a good VVT engine, Megasquirt, and the required tuning time/$ to make it run right, plus you get ~200 whp, a 9000 RPM redline, a pretty bulletproof motor, and no tuning required.

Just make sure to use OEM Honda oil filters, and make sure they're tight. Don't ask me how I found this out.

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Heh, john is in that thing for way more than 10k, just saying...

I called it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mk2tmr2

On the serious tip, though...that might actually be an R-Package. Buy it.

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(From the DFWAC forum.)

Congrats on a killer deal!