What is my VVT Swapped C30-84 NA Miata worth?? (Paging Keith)

In reply to NickD & Duke :

You're both right. For some people, there's an intangible value to doing it themselves vs buying somebody else's.

I would totally buy his car for about 6-8k range if I had the cash and could do it over vs what I have spent on mine now that I have a trailer. But since it's not street legal and also not local that would also nix me from the equation of when I was actually shopping

STM317 said:

In reply to NickD & Duke :

You're both right. For some people, there's an intangible value to doing it themselves vs buying somebody else's.

The flip side to my flip side is that if I had just bought a nearly-stock Miata, I never could / would have put the money, time, and effort into building the car I bought complete.

Not being street legal will severely limit your buyer pool and likely the final selling price. I would correct that ASAP before even thinking about selling.  

Price will also be affected by how quickly you need to sell.  Even once street legal again, the market for modified $8K NA's is still on the limited side.

Good luck - looks fun.

Ian F said:

Not being street legal will severely limit your buyer pool and likely the final selling price. I would correct that ASAP before even thinking about selling.  

Price will also be affected by how quickly you need to sell.  Even once street legal again, the market for modified $8K NA's is still on the limited side.

Good luck - looks fun.

Whoa lot's of reply's (I'll get to them in a sec). Real quick though, it's worth noting that I converted the turn signals to LED projectors. So it still has working headlights that are arguably just as good as OEM. 

STM317 said:

NickD said:

In reply to icaneat50eggs :

It's still worth building. My 245whp Miata is one of the most psychotically fun little cars I've driven, and other people who have driven it (including a shifter kart driver, a Z3 M Roadster owner and a guy with an STR-prepped S2000) or ridden in it, all agree. I just knew that when I went down this road, I was investing money that I wasn't going to see back and that this would be a long-term commitment

 

What you're describing is a perfect reason to buy somebody else's completed (or mostly completed) car though. That way you get the enjoyment with a fraction of the financial outlay.

Indeed. The only reason performance builds don’t maintain value is that they get a bad rep. From people that half ass eBay parts. I would LOVE to scoop up a 6k miata with a bunch of money dumped into it, as long as I can tell it’s been done correctly. The kid I bought my miata from was a hack. I knew it, and it’s why I scored a decent car that needs work, but has a lot of potential. 

In reply to _ :

Xidas are usually a good indicator of quality.  Most people willing to drop as much or more on the shocks than the basic car is worth are probably going to take some care in putting it together... 

I wanted Xidas, but could not justify them at the time. I sort of regret it now as I think the spring rates are too light even at my level of prep on the ones I got

goingnowherefast said:

Ian F said:

Not being street legal will severely limit your buyer pool and likely the final selling price. I would correct that ASAP before even thinking about selling.  

Price will also be affected by how quickly you need to sell.  Even once street legal again, the market for modified $8K NA's is still on the limited side.

Good luck - looks fun.

Whoa lot's of reply's (I'll get to them in a sec). Real quick though, it's worth noting that I converted the turn signals to LED projectors. So it still has working headlights that are arguably just as good as OEM. 

You start your thread by calling it shady and no headlights and needing a trailer :P So are the projectors good enough to be legally street legal or not?

Jaynen said:

goingnowherefast said:

Ian F said:

Not being street legal will severely limit your buyer pool and likely the final selling price. I would correct that ASAP before even thinking about selling.  

Price will also be affected by how quickly you need to sell.  Even once street legal again, the market for modified $8K NA's is still on the limited side.

Good luck - looks fun.

Whoa lot's of reply's (I'll get to them in a sec). Real quick though, it's worth noting that I converted the turn signals to LED projectors. So it still has working headlights that are arguably just as good as OEM. 

You start your thread by calling it shady and no headlights and needing a trailer :P So are the projectors good enough to be legally street legal or not?

 

Any tampering of the OEM headlights makes it not legal. So do they work as good as OEM lights? Yes. Are they considered legal in a court of law? In my state, yes. In others, no. Results may vary. 

Jaynen said:

I wanted Xidas, but could not justify them at the time. I sort of regret it now as I think the spring rates are too light even at my level of prep on the ones I got

They are pretty badass. Even at 800/500, I'm confident I could use a bit more spring rate. 

I can't comment on the value of your car, but I can say I was starting down a similar path and modifying an extremely clean 1994 NA that I was the 2nd owner of. I had pre-spun rod bearing knock and pulled the engine and about 6-9 months later I decided to part it out. I couldn't justify the cost of the build when I made a spreadsheet for the cost. I sold all the basically 0 mile parts and a mint NA for almost what I had in it (part out) and bought a mint C5 Z06 with 30k miles. Honestly the price would have been about the same for what I wanted to do to the Miata and I think it still would have performed less than the Z06. But the biggest factor was that the Z06 will hold value unlike what people here are mentioning (spending $20k on modifying a car and then selling for <$10k).  GLWS OP. Hopefully the right buyer will come along and want to save a lot of money. 

goingnowherefast said:

Jaynen said:

goingnowherefast said:

Ian F said:

Not being street legal will severely limit your buyer pool and likely the final selling price. I would correct that ASAP before even thinking about selling.  

Price will also be affected by how quickly you need to sell.  Even once street legal again, the market for modified $8K NA's is still on the limited side.

Good luck - looks fun.

Whoa lot's of reply's (I'll get to them in a sec). Real quick though, it's worth noting that I converted the turn signals to LED projectors. So it still has working headlights that are arguably just as good as OEM. 

You start your thread by calling it shady and no headlights and needing a trailer :P So are the projectors good enough to be legally street legal or not?

 

Any tampering of the OEM headlights makes it not legal. So do they work as good as OEM lights? Yes. Are they considered legal in a court of law? In my state, yes. In others, no. Results may vary. 

Which is why if you want to maximize the number of potential buyers and get the most $ for it in the minimum amount of time, getting the lights back to OEM is important. 

STM317 said:

In reply to NickD & Duke :

You're both right. For some people, there's an intangible value to doing it themselves vs buying somebody else's.

Also, you need guys like me and goingnowherefast to be building them firsthand, otherwise they wouldn't exist to be bought secondhand.