Purchased the 1992 Miata in June of 2007 as a project car for $2400.00 bucks, The car had sat for long periods of time and needed some work. A little history on the car it came to life with the first owner in Kentucky, then an older couple from Florida bought from a used car stealership they then had for many years, the guy I bought it from inherited it from his wife’s father. I am the 4th owner of this car and it was neglected for a few years until I picked it up. It has been babied ever since I purchased it. I did some minor work to it the first year I had it. Crawled up underneath and repainted the rear suspension and under body after spending a few hours under the car scaling rust and grime. Car was very dirty inside and out, Air filter was so clogged I was surprised it breathed, the previous owner decided to pressure wash the engine the night before and filled the plugs with water. It barely ran the first time I drove it. Dried out the plugs then drove it again, wrote a check and the rest is history.
At the moment this a bone stock Miata other then a few stereo upgrades. The car now resides at around 8600 ft above sea level after being a flat lander most of it's life. It now gets to tear up the back roads on my way home from work. 10, 15, and 20 mile an hour switch backs on mountain roads until the tires squeal a little.
I will be over the next couple years restoring this car to the original beauty it was and adding upgrades. Next step since I cleaned it up and got it running great is the suspension. Still trying to choose which suspension upgrades with Coil Over Shocks and Springs. I can not lower it much since I live off a dirt road. This will be my winter project and have started to prepare the suspension parts for removal. Started presoaking all the suspension bolts with PB Blaster so when it is time to remove the suspension it will all come apart easy.
Engine bay looks a little bit better now. All new silicone hoses, new timing belt, new water pump, new radiator, 180 Degree Thermostat , little bit of polishing of the aluminum with a dremal tool and lot of scrubbing to get the dirt out of the engine bay. Installed a Stainless Steel Radiator Cowl to direct all air over the Radiator to provide better cooling. I went a little anal when I cleaned up the engine and painted the lettering on the valve cover so they would stand out. Used a paint that closely matched my silcone hoses. I also painted the exhaust heat shield with High Temp Flat Black. It was a little rusted and looks much better now.
I went down to the local hardware store and picked up some blue electrical tape then started to rewrap the wire harnesses before and after pictures.
I tore it down one evening to clean up the rest of the stuff and re-did most of the wire harness with blue tape. Started about 7:00 pm and got done around 1:30 am on a Friday night. Everything I want blue is blue now. Repainted my brackets Gloss Black in the process. Few more upgrades and it will be ready.
Last summer I clean the rust and grime then repainted the unbody of the car in the rear. Removed and cleaned the heat shield then painted it with a High Temp Flat Black paint.
Picked a used Style Roll bar today 9/13/2008 for $150.00 bucks and wondering how to mount it. Looks like I have to remove interior panels and cut them to fit the Roll Bar.
