Engine rebuild and body restoration

[BCasper]

I’ve decided to restore my old ’91 (215,000+ miles). I’m looking for suggestions for shops in Dallas for the work I’ll likely be farming out. I’m planning to rebuild the engine myself but I haven’t pulled it apart yet so I don’t yet know if I’m going to need any head work or if the cylinders need to be bored out. I've got low compression in one cylinder that improves with a splash of oil so I'm anticipating new rings (though I might be replacing the pistons anyways).

So my first question is: What machine shops (near Dallas) do you recommend for headwork, cylinder work, lightning the flywheel, balancing the crankshaft (if necessary) anything else?

I’m also looking for a good body shop to take out all the dings and paint the car. The trick is finding the right combination of quality and frugality. I’m not looking for $99 special but I also don’t want to spend more on paint than the car is worth.

My second question is: What Dallas body shop would you recommend that can paint a Miata + hardtop in the $1000-$2000 range? Or do I need to spend more?

I’m also interested in suggestions on my engine rebuild. I’m keeping the 1.6 and keeping it NA. I’d like to get a little more power but that is not my main concern. I would like to make it livelier. I’ve been thinking about lightening the flywheel, possibly using lighter pistons and rods, stiffer valve springs, oversized valves, etc. What does it take to make a screamer of this little engine?

Once the car is back on the road again it will be my daily driver.

[sammm]

Start with Track Dog Racing in Dallas. Maybe they can point you to the other services you need.

[OZMDD]

Day Custom Engine

For paint, Rogue at Miata Solutions

[miataspeedracer]

The three sources listed above are by far your best resources.

[redmenace]

For paint, Rogue at Miata Solutions

+1

He did my classic red a while back -- came out looking better than new and I was very happy with the price.

[EricJ]

For paint, Rogue at Miata Solutions

+2 - Did my hard top, so beautiful it makes the rest of the car look shabby.

[patf]

+3 on all of the above, need to post images of my fresh from rouge repaint. When I lived in austin and we had John Long there, here we are so fortunate to have Rouge, one of the guys who understands miatas and truly loves what he does and it shows.

Day engines is under a different name now, i think 'Freedom' or something else, someone will chime in with the new name. i had John Day do the bottom end of my engine as i didnt want to mess with the thrust bearings (minimal charge from him) then i built up the rest from there. Nothing too scary other than all the "while i am in here I might as well replace this" crap i decided to replace along the way...