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Schwack posted:So as long as the car has power steering and power mirrors it should come with the Torsen? If the car has power steering and a manual (and it isn't an R-package), it has a Torsen. I'd estimate a C-package car to weigh about 80lbs more than a standard car (40lbs A/C, 25lbs P/S, 10lbs CC, 5lbs power mirrors/windows/antenna) My car was about 2300lbs bone-stock with a full tank of gas.
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Oct 12, 2007 10:19
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Schwack posted:So as long as the car has power steering and power mirrors it should come with the Torsen? Pretty much. I refer you to this: http://www.miata.net/faq/Miata90-97A3.pdf quote:edit: Does the C package add an incredible amount of weight to the car? Not really. Less than 100 pounds total, the heaviest things being the AC and PS pumps.
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Oct 12, 2007 10:59
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iscariot posted:I just did my top 2 months ago or so. Robbins, vinyl, zip out window, rain rail attached. Top notes: I put a Robbins cloth top on (Robbins makes vinyl tops, too -- to be clear the cloth tops are MUCH better looking than the vinyl ones, regardless of manufacturer). It was a project I poked around with during hte winter. Nothing difficult, just took some time. For cheap, though, I've heard good things about the eBay vinyl tops. On the transmission -- the 1.6 should work, but why? There was a running change that beefed up the synchros for second gear, so it's worth it to look for a later one just for that fact. I've completely torn out second gear in an early transmission -- it's not pretty.
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Oct 12, 2007 11:13
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EVERYWHERE 
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n8r posted:Can we have a little chat about tops for the Miata? Do you have an NA? If so, an NB top swap is the easiest/most affordable/best quality. I did it to my '91. I put in a request for a NB top WITH FRAME at a local import used parts place. Within a week they had one, and after an inspection, I paid $400 for a like new '99 black NB top and frame. It took me literally an hour and a half to do the swap, and I had a Mazda OEM quality top that goes down in one motion (no more zipping the window down!) and a glass window. It was hands down the best thing I ever did to my '91. And if you have a NB already, at least NA owners can use this info.
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Oct 12, 2007 14:57
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iscariot posted:I just did my top 2 months ago or so. Robbins, vinyl, zip out window, rain rail attached. Can you expand on that at all? Is it just hard to line things up or something?
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Oct 12, 2007 17:45
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It's a lot of stretchign the top and rivets.  What would be the best sequence of upgrades? Softtop >> Rollbar >> Torsen LSD? e- Which is the best rollbar that will fit under a hardtop?
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Oct 12, 2007 18:14
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Phone posted:e- Which is the best rollbar that will fit under a hardtop? Probably this: http://www.flyinmiata.com/index.php?deptid=5652&parentid=0&stocknumber=20-28020
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Oct 12, 2007 18:21
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leica posted:Do you have an NA? If so, an NB top swap is the easiest/most affordable/best quality. That cheap? I may need to get two of those, then - our '99 top has two holes in it (one in each corner) and the plastic window on my sister-in-law's '95M has gone completely opaque. I can't justify $1k right now to fix the '99, and it will be a cold day in hell by the time my sister-in-law has $1k to put into her car.
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Oct 12, 2007 18:27
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Ize posted:Probably this: http://www.flyinmiata.com/index.php?deptid=5652&parentid=0&stocknumber=20-28020 Yep, the HArd Dog rollbars are pretty much the standard. Bethania Garage is very accommodating to 1-off versions, too. On my '92 I had them make a Hard Core Hardtop without the diagonals. Fit perfectly with the hardtop, great visibility. Now that I have a car that has dual diagonals, though, I have grown to like the look. Keep in mind, though, (other than this one) few roll bars are going to allow you to have a glass rear window... one of the trade-offs for keeping your head intact.
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Oct 12, 2007 18:31
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NC checking in... Click for gigantic I absolutely love this car. I had a really hard time driving an NB. My knees were hitting the wheel at every turn. I'm only 6'1" and 185lbs, and I found it to be quite cramped. Great car though. Also, if anyone is looking to buy an NC, mine is for sale 
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Oct 12, 2007 19:04
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That's the problem with my Miata. I fit in glovelike fashion, and I'd like something where my knees are not splayed to either side of the wheel so much.
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Oct 12, 2007 19:07
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Wrar posted:That's the problem with my Miata. I fit in glovelike fashion, and I'd like something where my knees are not splayed to either side of the wheel so much. I don't understand how anyone over 6' can drive a Miata comfortably. I'm only 5'9" with relatively short legs and I have zero extra leg room and the steering wheel nearly always rubs my legs. And that's after a massive foamectomy in both the bottom and back of the driver's seat.
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Oct 12, 2007 19:19
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IOwnCalculus posted:That cheap? I may need to get two of those, then - our '99 top has two holes in it (one in each corner) and the plastic window on my sister-in-law's '95M has gone completely opaque. I can't justify $1k right now to fix the '99, and it will be a cold day in hell by the time my sister-in-law has $1k to put into her car. To be fair, it was about four years ago, and I'm sure places vary all over the country. I'd call around and see what you can come up with. Just make sure it's a local place so you can inspect it before you buy it. Swapping out the whole frame/top is a hell of a lot easier. I've done tons of top replacements on Miatas, and although I had the hang of it, it still took a good part of the day doing it the "traditional" way. You also may be able to sell the old frame on ebay or something....The frame on my '91 was trashed so I just chucked it.
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Oct 12, 2007 19:33
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MourningGlory posted:I don't understand how anyone over 6' can drive a Miata comfortably. I'm only 5'9" with relatively short legs and I have zero extra leg room and the steering wheel nearly always rubs my legs. And that's after a massive foamectomy in both the bottom and back of the driver's seat. It's all about proportions. I'm 6'3" and I have about half an inch of clearance on either side of the wheel for my legs. I'm pretty autistic, though, so I love enclosed spaces. I feel more comfortable in the Miata than in any of the boats I drove in high school. Worse comes to worse and my legs thicken up with the lifting I've been doing, I'll buy a smaller momo wheel and some racing buckets.
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Oct 12, 2007 19:40
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angor posted:Also, if anyone is looking to buy an NC, mine is for sale Where are you at? And why are you selling it?
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Oct 12, 2007 19:54
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Man you guys have really funky proportions if you're around/under 6 feet and can't fit in a Miata. Or maybe I have really funky proportions and you're all the normal ones.  I'm 5'11" and about 170 pounds or so, and I don't find my NA very cramped. My legs are nowhere near the steering wheel; I don't need to bend them much at all. My seat still has all its foam in it, and I still have several inches of clearance with the soft top. I'm not a big guy, but I'm not small either, and the cabin space is pretty adequate all things considered. Even my dad, who is 6'2" and 180-190 can fit reasonably well in my NA, although he probably wouldn't enjoy daily driving it. I prefer the snugger feeling of small car interiors to big land yachts that you can get lost in the driver's seat.
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Oct 12, 2007 21:27
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leica posted:You also may be able to sell the old frame on ebay or something That's what I was thinking too - the frame on ours is fine and would probably be worth something to someone with an NA willing to either put a new NB top on it, or perhaps patch up the holes and live with them. My only worry with local is that tops don't live well in AZ anyway thanks to all the sun and heat.
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Oct 12, 2007 22:13
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IOwnCalculus posted:That's what I was thinking too - the frame on ours is fine and would probably be worth something to someone with an NA willing to either put a new NB top on it, or perhaps patch up the holes and live with them. My only worry with local is that tops don't live well in AZ anyway thanks to all the sun and heat. Try planetmiata.com, they are showing $350-$400 for tops with frame. http://www.planetmiata.com/01-05_pricing.htm If they have any kind of gaurantee against holes or tears you'll be fine. Just try to get an '04 top or the newest you can get and it should be like new after a good conditioner is applied.
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Oct 12, 2007 22:40
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Looks like they sell the tops with the frame already on as well. http://www.planetmiata.com/top.html Anyone have any experience with those?
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Oct 12, 2007 22:55
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Moritastic posted:Where are you at? And why are you selling it? I'm in Phoenix, AZ I'm selling it because I could use the extra money I would save on payments. I've been on the fence about it for a little while, but I realized that I can buy another one when I'm ready.
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Oct 13, 2007 00:46
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angor posted:I'm in Phoenix, AZ You had better find a cheap way to stay in the AZ Miata  Speaking of which, where the hell is Hoagie and his turbo NA?
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Oct 13, 2007 00:58
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IOwnCalculus posted:Speaking of which, where the hell is Hoagie and his turbo NA? Another turbo NA goon? 
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Oct 13, 2007 01:18
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amadeo posted:So here's my question. I posted this in "Questions about a Performance Miata" before this thread was created. My guess is it's not going to get answered there now that it does. If it was me, depending on the condition of the car, I'd do suspension first. Shocks wear out over time. I haven't driven a Miata in a long time though, but as I recall the stock suspension is pretty good, but you'd want to be sure it's in good shape. For me, suspension, tires, and brakes make a big difference in feeling.
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Oct 13, 2007 03:20
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Schwack posted:So as long as the car has power steering and power mirrors it should come with the Torsen? Stop repeating this, it isn't true. It might've been true in '94, but you people really need to start mentioning that the touring package in '97 didn't come with a Torsen either. Some poor kid is going to buy a '97 without looking under the back and find out later that he somehow bought one of the six touring package miatas in Texas. Like me. Binger Banger fucked around with this message at 03:40 on Oct 13, 2007 |
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Oct 13, 2007 03:37
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Binger Banger posted:Stop repeating this, it isn't true. Which is why I said it was true in 94, specifically. Otherwise, look at the big NA options chart on Miata.net that I linked to a few posts up.
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Oct 13, 2007 03:45
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Guinness posted:Which is why I said it was true in 94, specifically. Otherwise, look at the big NA options chart on Miata.net that I linked to a few posts up. I know, I'm just bitter as hell about that. Why would it make any sense for a "touring package" to not have an uprated differential on it? Mazda is loving us again.
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Oct 13, 2007 03:47
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Captain Stink posted:If it was me, depending on the condition of the car, I'd do suspension first. Shocks wear out over time. I haven't driven a Miata in a long time though, but as I recall the stock suspension is pretty good, but you'd want to be sure it's in good shape. For me, suspension, tires, and brakes make a big difference in feeling. +1. The first upgrades you should make are the shocks, the tires, and the alignment. That will be about a thousand bucks, and you'll have a car that's really enjoyable to drive while you save the big bucks for the differential swap and the turbo setup.
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Oct 13, 2007 04:04
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Alignment's great. Tires came with the car, but they're pretty new, haven't had any problems with them, they're definitely keeping they're tread. I haven't been on the track or anything, but I've pushed the car, I've spun out and, oh my god, I've done donuts behind Circuit City. Shocks are a good point, but I really don't have a problem with the way the car feels while I drive it. But it sure would be nice to have a little more power. And that's what I'm ultimately working for. I'm interested in the NB top swap, but I have to have a roll bar that's going to get my into a track. When you ordered the NB top (WITH FRAME!), lecia, did you specify for a glass window? There wouldn't be any real change in swapping my 91 top with an NB top that has a plastic window, right? This seems very desirable, but I just don't want to go about it the wrong way. The only reason I'm asking about it is because I don't want to go to a shop and tell them this is what I want to do, and have them bullshit me out of doing it. (The first shop I went to, a Meineke, told me that Miatas don't have LSD's and tried to charge me about $100 for maintenance on my trans-axle.) It seems like there wouldn't be a problem from what I've read, but I generally trust AI more than the interweb. amadeo fucked around with this message at 07:24 on Oct 13, 2007 |
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Oct 13, 2007 07:21
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All NB tops have glass windows, FYI. The only vinyl-windowed tops are original NA tops and some aftermarket tops.
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Oct 13, 2007 08:15
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Thanks. Guess that kills the NB top swap for me. I'd rather avoid paying $150 more for a rollbar to support a glass window. I heard some people say they had luck with Ebay tops. I was looking at this one and it looked pretty good. Anyone have any experience with it? It doesn't look like this will cause any interference with a roll bar. amadeo fucked around with this message at 10:11 on Oct 13, 2007 |
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Oct 13, 2007 10:06
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You generally get what you pay for with cheap replacement tops. The Ebay top will last a few years if you're lucky, where a used OEM NB top would last another ten years easy. IMO you'd be better off with an NB swap and just pay the extra for the rollbar, especially if you plan on keeping it for awhile. Putting the top down with an NB top and rollbar is a hell of a lot easier also. Once you have had a NB top, messing with the rear window on a NA top every time you want the top down is just a pain in the rear end.
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Oct 13, 2007 15:06
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Savington posted:+1. Please don't
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Oct 13, 2007 15:19
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Binger Banger posted:I know, I'm just bitter as hell about that. Why would it make any sense for a "touring package" to not have an uprated differential on it? Mazda is loving us again. The Miata I had was also a touring package. Having headrest speakers seems to be a good indicator across the NA range whether it was a package with Torsen or not.
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Oct 13, 2007 15:35
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warwick5s posted:The Miata I had was also a touring package. The headrest speakers are also extremely bitchin', but make it hard for me to get myself to put in buckets, because I know I'll miss my music not sounding like utter poo poo.
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Oct 13, 2007 16:32
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Cenuji posted:Can you expand on that at all? Is it just hard to line things up or something? The car came with a 'new' top, E-Z-On, probably a cheap 180$ ebay one. Vinyl, no zip out window. It started developing a tear where the bottom of the window folded. I installed it about 2 months ago, so in the dead of summer. Taking the old top off wasn't difficult at all. Finding the rain-rail drip cups(?) cracked and some rust on the rear shelf was a pain though. So - got some rust convertor, paint, sandpaper and went to town. Bought a random plastic piece from Lowe's and epoxied bits and pieces of it's plastic to the drip cups.  No that's epoxy, not bukkake.  The getting the new top onto the frame wasn't terribly bad. Having to find rubber cement at 1am to glue down the folds to the front of the frame was..  You're supposed to glue down that part (not the entire top half, but most of the bottom).  This was the real pain in the rear end. There's 3 bars that spread the load out. With the rollbar in the way, the ones on the sides were amazingly hard to do - because you're having to push on the bars to get the rain rail on top of the nuts, then put your arm at weird angles around the roll-bar and then around the seatbelt towers to get the drat nuts threaded. For 6 nuts, I think it took me a good 2 hours. The rear bar was even more difficult. I weigh around 180, and I was having to push back with all my weight to get the drat rear on (and yes, the top was half-way lifted up to give me some slack). Then getting the window-seals aligned. Pain in the rear end. At this point I realized I had actually bruised my fingertips - never knew that was possible. Putting the bottom pieces of trim on the main part of the frame was also very, very difficult to do. Could never seem to get the holes align just right, and getting the screwdriver into that tight space was hard to do in the first place.  BTW - these pictures aren't exactly chronological. I did take the frame off to put the top on, then put the frame back in the car. Could have saved myself some trouble by putting on a few pieces of hardware prior to putting the frame back on the car, but I will *never* do this job again. Forgot to mention - found a quarter in one of the rain-rail reservoirs. That had plugged that up, which was what probably left the other side to start showing rust. The other side was cracked - when I bought the car I found a childs toy lodged where the main frame hunkers down, which put weight on the cup and probably cracked that.. iscariot fucked around with this message at 20:15 on Oct 13, 2007 |
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Oct 13, 2007 20:05
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Ok quick question: 1995 A Pkg w/ 118k miles Clean title, hard top and new soft top w/ glass rear window They're asking $5900, how much should I haggle with the price if at all? I know the hard top adds a significant amount to the car, but just how much.
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Oct 14, 2007 02:44
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Schwack posted:Ok quick question: $600-900 for the hard top. In my area, that would be $1000 overpriced with that much mileage (though admittedly I don't know what the A pkg contains).
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Oct 14, 2007 03:18
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Schwack posted:Ok quick question: ~$5000 would be a fair price if the car is in perfect condition. Ask about maintenance records (especially when the timing belt and water pump were last changed). If the owner doesn't even know this or it has never been changed, run away -- the car was probably neglected in other areas as well. If the car is otherwise healthy and you really like it, try to knock the price down to maybe $4,800 (cost of timing belt/water pump). Go through the Miata.net inspection checklist. GOLDMAN SACHS PARTY fucked around with this message at 03:48 on Oct 14, 2007 |
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Oct 14, 2007 03:19
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Schwack posted:Ok quick question: I don't know what pricing is like in your area, but in Seattle that car will be sold very quickly for close to asking price. Hard top and a new glass soft top? That alone is worth a lot. The only thing to watch out for is whether or not the timing belt and water pump have been done (120k service). If not, get several hundred knocked off the price for that.
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Oct 14, 2007 03:26
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I traded in my 01 Malibu that had a failing anti-theft system that would not let me start my own car and would cost $1000 to fix for a '99 Miata this weekend. Got it for $6900 with 69k miles. It's my first stick shift, so I had the joy of learning that over the weekend. It rained last night and I got to find out real fast how sensitive a RWD is in rain. 
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Oct 16, 2007 14:26
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