My rust bucket budget build!

[lowandrusty]

So I picked this car up on a whim for $1600 off Ebay. This is my second Miata although it had been years since my last ownership of an MX-5. My former car was a gorgeous supercharged rocket that I spent way too much $$$ on. This time around I'm trying my best to stick to a $5000.00 budget.
Here's how she looked the day I picked her up and drove her back to CT from Ma.

[—RuckkehrMiata—]

I like that you set an upper budget goal. It looks like you have a great starting point, clean and decently kept. How is the interior? It looks damn near mint from the outside.

[lowandrusty]

So once I got the car home it was time to give the car a good cleaning and tackle a few issues such as the slipping alt belt. Also I needed to dig around in the basement for the left over parts from my first Miata!
Dirty!


After a quick pressure wash.


After a wash and wax.


Found my box of goodies which consisted of a Voodoo knob and Simpson Short shifter, Some K.G. Works Bellette G mirrors, Brain Storm polished aluminum defroster trim and some vent rings and mesh grill. There was also a custom subwoofer mount!



I also installed some TSW Trackstar 4 17" wheels I had from a previous car as well.

[ZQQMIN]

Lookin good...

[lowandrusty]

So now she looked like this!


Time to get a little more serious.

Next up was a Garage Vary front lip, and K.G. Works rear spoiler from my good friends down at RSpeed.net as well as a used set of Fortune Auto 500 Coil overs!




Oh, I also installed some CATZ be FET XLO driving lights


I also installed a Racing Beat header, Magnaflow high flow cat and some generic Ebay fully stainless exhaust.


The exhaust is actually nicely made, but the tip is way too damn huge. But my budget pretty much dictated the $180 (shipped) ebay fart cannon! Figured I'd at least have some fun with it.

[lowandrusty]

Time for some more repair work! As I was installing new drive belts I nudged the upper radiator hose and the neck decided it was time to part ways with the rest of the radiator.


So I did this!


And just some beauty shots

[lowandrusty]

I like that you set an upper budget goal. It looks like you have a great starting point, clean and decently kept. How is the interior? It looks damn near mint from the outside.

Thanks, it's in decent shape. It was a one owner car! Lots of rust though on the very lower parts of the car, they drove it year round. The stock wheels came with Nokian snows! Lol
The rockers are basically gone the previous owner thought that pop riveting metal onto the rusty metal would be a great repair! Haha
Mechanically however it runs great!

[— Phatmiata —]

wow this car is looking really sharp!! Nice job!!

[maharaj]

You got a steal for $1500. It's come a long way. Looks good.

[—atank—]

Man I really like this build!!! Love those KGW's mirrors!!!

[Demon I Am]

wow, looks great

[I<3flippyheadlights]

Your budget of 5k is sound when you have all those cool parts stocked away in the basement! Car looks good!

Any plans for the rust?

[treeafodo]

This looks good, you got a steal.

Any plans for the rust?

[lowandrusty]

Thanks for all the comments everybody! Its been a fun car/project so far. I've got more to update for this thread when I get home tonight.

[lowandrusty]

So looking at my thread I realized that I omitted a few things. I also had Nology wires from my previous car as well as a BSP window protector, a cool polished aluminum rear view mirror (don't remember from where) I also had an old top I had installed on my car with a glass rear window. Around the same time I had to replace the radiator I purchased a polished valve cover. Because of the rust on the car when replacing the drive belts I snapped the rusty alt tensioner bolt and pinch bolt. The latter bolt necessitating the removal of the alternator to extract the broken bit of bolt!



More recently I decided to install some different 7" headlights since I haven't been able to find my old low profile kit.



And that's pretty much how the car sat until this month. I decided to get a bit more agressive with my wheel fitment and bought some new wheels and tires.
They are 15" x 8.25" +5et (15mm spacers) with 195/50 tires.






And I think that covers everything! The next steps are some chassis bracing and a proper roll bar!