1997 Mazda MX-5 Miata

Convertible

1.8 liter

Manual

JM1NA3533V0730371

Clear

Gasoline

It is time to sell my baby! I just purchased a ND Miata and there isn't room for the 1997. I would prefer to keep the car but my wife wants us to be a one Miata family. I purchased this Miata in 2007 when it had about 54,500 miles. It now has about 71,500 miles. It has always been garaged since 2007. I have only driven it around 1500 miles a year. It is in excellent shape. It has been my hobby car. If you do buy it, please do visit Miata.net (www.miata.net) as there is a very strong enthusiast group dedicated to all years of Miatas. I have enjoyed working on it and improving it over the years. The car has never been in an accident or repainted as far as I know. You can see in the pictures that the gaps are all straight and the proper original stickers/documentation are on the fenders and doors. Please follow this link to see more pictures: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/gjz1zips7p57c4j/AADeJIH7lfKpjdrI3okHgjT7a?dl=0 The carpet on the driver's side does have some holes in it which were present when I bought the car. These are at the base of the pedals where the previous owners heels dug into the carpet. I took a picture of this. It is painted Montego Blue Mica. This was a special order color on the 1994 Miatas. It became a standard color choice on the later NA Miatas. The paint turns green in the sunlight. In shade, the car "reads" as blue but in the sunlight it "reads" as green. I tried to capture that in a few pictures. It is quite beautiful. I am a big fan of Flyin' Miata (www.flyinmiata.com) and their well designed parts. I have purchased several thousand dollars worth of parts from Flyin' Miata. I have installed their braces including their shock tower brace and their full underbody butterfly brace. You can see these braces in the pictures. I had a Hard Dog roll bar installed as well to stiffen the car. I have also installed Flyin' Miata's excellent stage 2 suspension package for a NA Miata which includes sway bars, springs, and adjustable shocks. I took a picture of the left front suspension to give you an idea of what it looks like. I also installed upper shock mounts from a NB Miata in the rear so the suspension is equivalent to their 2.5 NA suspension package as the NB upper shock mounts allow more travel. I installed high back seats from a 2003 Miata as the stock seats were low back. I wanted to protect my neck and my head if I happened to be hit from behind. The car has been well maintained. I did have the timing belt professionally replaced in 2012. At that time, I replaced all the usual parts with new parts such as the water pump, tensioners, accessary belts, and front crank seal. I also had the valve cover gasket and the cam angle sensor (CAS) O ring replaced at the same time. I just had a performance alignment done in June 2018 by the same shop that aligns the Flyin' Miata cars in Grand Junction Colorado. I replaced the OEM radiator, which has plastic tanks, with an all aluminum Koyorad radiator. The body has some scratches and dings. Please see the pictures. In general, the body is in good shape. There is no rust. My wife had put a dent in the left front fender just in front of the left front wheel when she was backing out of the garage in our family car. I had the dent repaired at a paintless repair shop. The fender looks great though the paint got creased so there is a place that looks like a scratch. Please look at the picture of the left front fender just to the upper front of the front wheel. I am limited to only 24 pictures for this eBay posting. The CarFax is clean. It shows that I am the 5th owner. The car was in Minnesota, Wyoming and North Dakota for the first 10 years. I bought it in 2007 and moved it Colorado in 2008. The CarFax shows that there has been no accidents. Interesting, the CarFax does show the timing belt change in July 2012 when the car had 61,368 miles. Denver requires emissions testing to be registered. It has passed every time including most recently in April 2018. I see that the checking service that eBay uses highlighted a possible odometer issue. I think eBay's software made a mistake. It would take a lot of driving to go from 19,000 miles in 2000 to 123,203 in 2002. I think the true mileage was 23,203 in 2002. I installed a Hard Dog hidden hitch so that I could attach a bike rack. I have never towed anything with the car and it has no wiring for a trailer. The timing has been changed to 14 degrees BTDC to sharpen the throttle response. 10 degrees is stock. Advancing the timing is a common change. I do use premium gas and have never had any knocking. Otherwise, the engine is completely stock. There is no sludge when you look in the oil filler opening. The coolant is clean. I have included pictures as well. I have most of the OEM parts including the original wheels. The wheels have Bridgestone tires in the stock size. They only have a few thousand miles on them. I am including these parts with the car. I also have three books written by Keith Tanner about the Miata which I will include as well. I also have a factory Mazda shop manual for the 1997 Miata which I will also include. I bought this shop manual from a Mazda dealer. This Miata has the best shifter I have ever used in any car including my ND Miata. I am going to miss that shifter! I replaced the transmission fluid with Ford XT-M5-QS full synthetic manual transmission fluid. I don't know what is in that stuff but when the transmission is warmed up, it shifts beautifully. The car drives and handles extremely well. The car loves to turn and lives for winding mountain roads. The stock exhaust had a great note. My favorite time is that magic visceral and aural moment when you are accelerating around a long sweeper, with the top down, going from 2nd to 3d at about 5500 rpm. It is a sweet car. I hate to see it go. The car is located in Denver. Local pick up only. Basic maintenance: - Timing belt/water pump/tensioners professionally replaced at 60,000 miles.- Valve cover gasket and cam angle sensor (CAS) O ring replaced at the same time- Shifter boots replaced- Accessory belts replaced.- Clutch slave cylinder replaced- Fuel filter replaced- Full synthetic oil in engine/transmission/diff- Replaced radiator hoses top and bottom- Replaced spark plugs and wires- Brake and clutch fluid replaced- New dipstick- Newer battery- New plastic rear window in 2007- New fuel injector O rings- New filler tubes in trunk Flyin' Miata (FM) parts: - Frame rails and butterfly brace- FM shock tower brace- FM master cylinder brace- Garage Star Delrin door bushings- Stage 2 suspension (FM springs and sway bars), with rear NB top hats, and Tokico adjustable shocks- Fatcat bump stops- Front sway bar Racing Beat adjustable end links- Porterfield R4S brake pads all around- FM pedal covers Hard Dog parts: - Sport roll bar professionally installed- Hidden trailer hitch (never towed anything. Used it for a bike rack) Other:- Momo Champion steering wheel with adapter kit- High back seats from a 2003 Miata- Koyorad aluminum radiator- Avanti Storm 15 inch wheels with 205/50R15 Dunlop Direzza ZII tires + wheel locks- H4 headlight conversion (Has halogen bulbs rather than sealed beam lights)- Recent (June 2018) performance alignment I have most of the OEM parts which will be included in the sale of the car: - Complete and assembled springs/shocks/mounts. The replacement OEM shocks are KYB GR-2s and they have about a thousand miles on them.- OEM sway bars and front end links- Original tonneau cover- Have new replacement heater hoses- Original wheels/lug nuts with good Bridgestone radial tires- Lower radiator two part hose (rubber and metal)- Original toe hooks I will also include three excellent books written by Keith Tanner from Flyin' Miata as well as the factory Mazda shop manual.