Holy **** they will! That is incredible. One more extra cost gone!

I'm seriously impressed by the Miata community(maybe this forum is the exception) but everyone here actually gives helpful advice and information...such a different experience than the VW community.

 

Lift the body. Be much easier.

 

Damn dude. What a mess. I'd thoroughly inspect the motor and start it in that chassis personally, just to ensure everything is fine before swapping it over. Who knows how long the engine ran when the car was upside down and whatnot, anything could have happened and you weren't there.

So i would, 1) check/replace the oil, 2) check the waterpump, and inspect for any damage on the block and whatnot to ensure its not fd up, and then 3) crank it over with no plugs/shoot some compressed air in there and air it out. Put in some new plugs and crank it over.

My opinion. Glad to see you got the car back and are looking at this in a positive light. Good luck sir.

 

Will do, time to learn how to inspect the water pump on this thing!

Guy in Phoenix is pretty much giving away this shell, I'd cut the roll bars out since they don't look too functional. It doesn't look terrible though...rough yes, but I plan on painting any shell I get.

 

Hard Dog Roll Bars - Customer Testimonials

 

Hey man, I'd avoid that shell if i were you. If it were me, I'd be looking for something MUCH cleaner than that as a starting point for my project. Miatas are so cheap, even a clean one should not run you very much if you find the right one.

My car is actually really clean, yet i still find myself occasionally wishing i'd have just started with a cleaner shell. Just my $.02

 

Very true, plus it'd be nice not have to swap the full interior from this car to the new one. Was merely considering based on the almost free aspect of the shell.

I'd rather worry about getting it functional and driving before the beauty aspect, and if I don't have to worry about that too much all the better.

 

You'll spend way more than $500 worth of your time on making that one presentable.

 

LIFE! DO YOU HEAR ME? GIVE MY CREATION... LIFE!

Thanks again Fireindc. New oil/filter, started it sans plugs a couple times to ensure the engine wasn't flooded, new plugs, and it started right up. No hesitation, stuttering, or dying. AFR was a little rich at 12.1 but I think that was mostly due to it being cold and not having started for a week.



Also I got some suspension shots. From what I can tell, at least to the eye, nothing looks bent. Steering rack has full lock side to side, no hub bearing noise at all.

If it wasn't Sunday I would have put the bead back on the wheel and driven it a couple yards to see how it did. Transmission shifts cleanly into all gears etc etc.
Front Axles

Driver Front

Passenger Front

No leaks from the Diff

Scrapes on the Muffler

Driver Rear

Passenger Rear

 

We honestly should just move this thread to the Build Threads at the rate I'm going.

 

Glad to see it runs! Sounds and looks fine from here. I'm damn surprised the suspension looks as straight as it does under there considering the rollover. Why even get a new chassis, that one should track out pretty straight.. LOL. Kidding. Good luck finding a replacement chassis. Keep in mind that the nicer car you find as a donor, the less work you will do in the end to have a perfectly clean car.

 

drive it as is and it wont get stolen again.

 

Mazda Miata-Red-1991

Hmmm they want $1900 but it does have a hard top. Automatic but I'm pretty sure I can just transfer my wiring harness over since it is a 91' correct?

 

OK I consider myself pretty good on cars but absolutely 0 of my 12 point deep well sockets fit this thing.
All of my SAE won't either. What the size is this damn thing?

 

Ha! It's a McGard spline drive. You need the McGard tool. I imagine it's in the center console or the glove box, or possibly in the 13 crates of crap you got with the car.

 

Damn dude, I dont know how the miata scene is where you are - but that's a $1300 miata max where I live, WITH the hardtop. You should be able to find a MUCH cleaner shell for close to 2k. I'd skip that one.

What exactly is that a picture of? Is that the wheel? If it's the wheel it looks like one of those locking lugnuts that has a proprietary tool for anti-theft.

 

Ah, he beat me to it. Yip that's about what I was thinking too.

 

Ugh, of course it is the one thing I forgot to grab from him too!

 

You can probably sacrifice a cheap 12 pt socket to getting them off, or you can order one form Amazon for $7.

 

At least nobody stole your wheels