Aloha from NorCal

[IlyiaZakira]

Hi,

I've lurked this and this and other forums since first buying my miata. I decided to make an account after all this time to be able to participate.

I'm pretty young, and have owner two cars prior to this: a 2001 Corolla, and a 2011 BMW 128I Coupe. Both were Automatic and I never really understood a lot about cars until recently. While I can't say its the sole reason for buying a miata, my interest in miatas was raised by a video I saw of two NA's winking at eachother from across and intersection. Once I began to look further into the cars, I saw exactly what I wanted: A lightweight, well-handling, relatively cheap, and easy to work on car with a great community behind it. I had to have one.

My miata is a Classic Red 1991 manual with manual steering rack. It was purchased towards the end of August 2020. I found a pretty decent deal for it, though not a steal, out of state with a hardtop. At the time I had been searching for a few months and this was the best option I had found that matched my wants with my budget. The car isn't cosmetically perfect, but has no structural problems or rust on the rockers, fenders, or subframe components. I flew out and figured out how to drive manual on the 800 mile trip back home.

The previous owner(s) didn't necessarily abuse the vehicle, but they left a lot of things to be done more....tastefully. I've honestly spent a lot of money and time trying to get it to where I want it. I swapped a 4.10 type I torsen into it , replaced entire clutch, master and slave cylinder, braided stainless clutch line, and it is getting new brakes, hubs, bearings, OEM suspension bushings, I have an RX7 TII transmission that is about 85% ready to go in, but I am still deciding if I want to. I am aleo trying to decide if I should rebuild my 1.6 or build a BP4W and put that in. I'm not crazy about wanting power for no reason, but this is my daily and I frequently find myself wishing for better torque.

I'll be uploading some pictures to my profile to sort of contrast how it was when I bought it vs how it is now. It is currently a patchwork of colors due to putting different parts together, I will have it painted professionally after I finish with dealing with all the things I want to do mechanically with it, and am satisfied with the build.

In summary, hello everyone, I am overall very new to the miata enthusiast community and have a lot of plans on where I want my NA to be in a little while. I made this account to be able to participate in forum activities (and be able to buy hard to find parts) and I will look into making a build progress thread to showcase the things I've done. I would say there are a couple of unique things I've done that are worth sharing.

Thanks
-Ilyia