Which Miata should I keep dilemma.

Ok. I’m trying to figure out what I want to do with my miatas. Which to keep, which to sell, whatever

Miata 1.  Weezer (named after a cat of mine, not the sucky band you may have heard of). I bought it back in 2002. Started life as a 1992. Got rusty, then a woman hit it while it was parked. I bought another tub (a 1994) from metalman and spent the winter moving everything over, including the 1.6 wiring harness. Then shortly thereafter found a 1.8 to swap in. Now, she’s a bit rough. Completely rust free, but rough. Has some worn but useable koni shocks, and has some goodies. Flyin miata bracing, and still has the 4.30 rear axle from the 1.6. It goes pretty well. No rust at all. Super solid. Looks like butt. Hard top. Compression numbers all around 170. 

Miata 2.  Blue. Mariner blue 1990. Bought back over Easter weekend in 2007. Gorgeous car. Nearly all stock except for 15 inch NB wheels, and an NB top. Also has kyb gr2 shocks. If you look at Miata.net for an example of a mariner blue 1990, it looks just like my car. Because it actually is a photo I took of my car.  No rust. 141,000 miles, compression all around 150. 

Miata 3. Tim turbos. The new one. Just picked up a 1996 black Miata that had been turbo charged. 81,000 miles, starting to rust in the quarters. Body is generally rough. Interior is not perfect. Intercooled garret 25/60 turbo. Similar to an FM Stage one set up, but megasquirt. Drives nice, with tokiko ilumina shocks and fm springs. Fm shock mounts and sway bars as well. Kosei wheels, Bridgestone potenza tires. Scary wiring for the computer and some other sketchy issues. Hard top. Compression 135-150. 

So, I need to pare this back to two Miatas. Maybe even one, but probably two. I was going to sell Weezer, and keep Blue and Tim. But after getting into some of the turbo cars issues, I need to disassemble so much I might as well keep going until the turbo is removed, and reinstall on Weezer. Plus switch the shocks and sway bars and such as well. Put Tim back to stock motor wise, and sell him off. He’s a good looking car, that’s not horribly rotten, I would think I could get 2500 for him, and Benefit lots of goodies for weezer.  Also I do have an m45 supercharger for an NB, I could source the 1.6 bracket and instal on Blue.  

Or, swap the whole turbo and motor into Weezer, and then swap Weezers 1.8 in place of Blues 1.6. Then part out Tim. Seems a shame though as he’s a nice driving car. 

I’m not sure what to do here!  I really don’t look forward to getting into a bunch of motor swaps. 

Any suggestions?

1: sell them all and buy a Mustang V8!

2: dual charge Weez with both compressors add e85 and ignore the little pieces of piston leaving through the boom hole

3: Install third 1.8 you have laying in the garage in Blue with supercharger and a FM Voodoo. now you have three cool Miatae.

4: put each car on eBay with a high but reasonable reserve and sell the ones that hit reserve.

Leave Blue alone, combine the best bits from Tim & Weezer into one car, sell off the leftover bits - probably by making Tim a running/driving non-turbo car. 

Pete Gossett said:

Leave Blue alone, combine the best bits from Tim & Weezer into one car, sell off the leftover bits - probably by making Tim a running/driving non-turbo car. 

This.

Values on clean, stock NA's are going up.  Even with higher miles, Blue looks like a very nice example.  Keep it and leave it as is.  There's also a lot to be enjoyed about a stock Miata and and it's nice to have that in the fleet.  As our NA has become more track oriented, it's become less fun to drive on the street.  Having a relatively stock NB for 'roadster days' has really been a boon.

Pick and choose the best bits from the other two and install on Weezer.  Keep Tim running, but with the intent to sell.  Keep the hardtop and repaint for Blue.

Drive both and enjoy!  

Nb supercharger you say??????

I have an nb and never had anything boosted. I may be able to help your decision making process.....

Dusterbd13 said:

Nb supercharger you say??????

 

I have an nb and never had anything boosted. I may be able to help your decision making process.....

Everything’s for sale, as they say. I think it’s pretty well complete. I have a couple power cards to go with it

Trade me the collection for my V8 Miata, you can enjoy the absurd noises it makes and all the HP of three cars in one....

In reply to joey48442 :

You have mail 

Put the turbo and suspension on the blue car and make it into a fun street car, sell everything else. Drive and enjoy.

Reasoning: you'll enjoy a nice car more than a rat. Doesn't matter what the market thinks, you have to get in this thing every day. The color and the condition of the blue car make it the keeper.

Disclaimer: my DD Miata is a 1990 blue with a 1.8 swap and a turbo

Pete Gossett said:

Leave Blue alone, combine the best bits from Tim & Weezer into one car, sell off the leftover bits - probably by making Tim a running/driving non-turbo car. 

This is my answer as well.

I'd definitely keep blue and transfer one of the hardtops over to it after getting it painted.

Personally I have a big dislike for rust after living in areas where it's a fact of life, so I'd ditch the rustiest car out of the three. Which leaves the question if you'd want to transfer the turbo kit from Tim to Wheezer, maybe with a new used wiring loom. I've owned a Miata with a slightly dodgy turbo install before (although the issues on mine were mechanical, not electrical) and there is a lot to be said for a clean starting point.

1st:  Keith

2nd:  Pete

I think Weezer is pretty cool as is!  Keep the blue one and put the 96 back to stock to sell and part out the extra stuff?

In reply to Tactical Penguin :

Thanks man!

Keith Tanner said:

Put the turbo and suspension on the blue car and make it into a fun street car, sell everything else. Drive and enjoy.

Reasoning: you'll enjoy a nice car more than a rat. Doesn't matter what the market thinks, you have to get in this thing every day. The color and the condition of the blue car make it the keeper.

Disclaimer: my DD Miata is a 1990 blue with a 1.8 swap and a turbo

So I think I’ll turbo Blue. But... should I just hang the turbo on the 1.6?  It’s in decent shape with fresh timing belt and water pump... the main difference being the manifold I would think?  Would all the parts required that we talked about in the other thread still hold true?

thanks!

Manifold is definitely different. Downpipe probably so. Other parts may or may not transfer. 

As for bracing on a 1990... it doesn’t have the rear subframe bracing the 1994 has that ties the subframe to the body. Is that a big loss not having it?  I have FM framerails to install in the 1990 that I’ll upgrade to a butterfly, but I’m still wondering if the rear would seem too bendy?

The aftermarket has your back.

https://www.flyinmiata.com/flyin-miata-cannon-rear-subframe-brace.html

In reply to Keith Tanner :

So, is that better than the braces that tie into the tub like on a 94+?

If you don't have the mounting points on the tub, yes

It braces in a different direction, it's primarily for cornering while the longitudinal braces are for overall rigidity and for acceleration. It's better than the factory brace that Mazda added in 1992. I can tell when they're not installed on a high power car, but it's not the same amount of change that you see with something like a butterfly. It's worth noting that Mazda deleted that rear brace on some of the late NAs, and I don't know if anyone ever really noticed. They also made them considerably stronger on the late NB.

In reply to Keith Tanner :

So given the choice of the two it would be butterfly first?

I would say so. You can retrofit the later braces to an early tub but you will have to drill to attach to the floor. If you're going to do that, go all the way and get an NB rear and use the NB Sport braces.