1990 Mazda MX-5 Miata

Convertible

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Manual

jm1na3516l0147692

Gasoline

Up for sale is my 1990 Miata. I am the 3rd owner of the car, second owner had it since almost new until about a year ago, then I bought it for my wife to drive. Wife was "OK" with it, but prefered something "newer"....No problem, I was tired of Miata's passing me in turns at Laguna Seca, so it was a no-brainer for me, let's make a race car out of it. I'm a true car nut, 42 years old, worked in the auto industry since I was 18. Only selling all my toys now due to having my 4th back/spine surgury go "less than perfect". I can walk still, but my days of turning wrenches and passing medical for any type of racing are now behind me. I haven't worked in over 3 months due to these health issues either, so I need to keep cash coming in. My loss is YOUR gain at this point. Don't feel sorry for me though, I've had a good run over the years :-). When I bought this Miata off the second owner it had been parked for some time due to a miss-fire. As a former Mazda Tech this didn't bother me at all. All it took to get it running was a fresh battery and a tank of fresh gas, but the miss was still there at low RPM. Compression test lead to low compression on cyl 1 and 4. Leak down lead to compression getting past the exhaust valves.....Easy fix. I bought a low mileage cly head off eBay, sent it to my local machine shop for a valve job, surfacing, and pressure check. I then replaced the cly head with my newly prepped head, replacing the water pump, timing belt, cam & crank seals, every single hose on the engine and all needed gaskets. ALL of these parts were direct from Mazda, not eBay. Car now ran as it should, smoooth idle, good power and a nice pull above 4,500 rpm as a 1.6 liter should run. Car passed California smog check with flying colors, it's currently registered and insured and I did occasionally drive it on the road.....got a LOT of looks from the local Police, so I had a personalized plate made that says "LGL RACR"......seems to have made all the difference, now they just leave me alone instead of pulling me over just to "check my papers". The car is prepped for showroom stock racing, but could easily be turned to a "Spec Miata". The Jackson Racing cold-air intake would have to be changed to stock, and the spec suspension would have to be installed (struts and sway bars). It currently has Tokico Blue struts all around and Racing Beat sway bars. It rides stiff, but handles great. Wheels are from Japan and are the wheel Mazdaspeed Motorsports sells and recommends for the car, very light. Tires are DOT legal Falken azzensis, good grip in the dry, OK in the wet, and street legal. Car has cat-back Mazdaspeed spec exhaust system and MazdaSpeed cat delete race pipe. These are MAZDA parts, not some cheap after market junk. First thing done to make a race car out of was to strip the entire interior out of the car and send it to AWR (Anthony Woodford Racing in San Diego) www.awrracing.com for the roll cage. Anthony (Tony) is the guy Mazda sends their company supported race cars to for cages and prep. This guy builds the best cages around. He's not cheap, but as one of my friends asked me, "what's your life worth?"......cage was $3k and it's the best. Ties in behind the dash and has NASCAR Bars on BOTH the driver's and pass sides. Tony also installed mounts for the window net and driver's side support net. Tony also fabricated a custom plate to mount the seat to. He does VERY NICE work. The driver's seat is a X-large Cobra kevlar seat. I'm 6'1" 250lbs and fit in the seat great. Getting in and out of the car is something I can't do very well anymore though. Car has a Sparco 5-point harness and quick-disconnect steering wheel. All of these parts were installed in June of 2010, so these parts are good for years to come. Brakes are Hawk pads all around, rotors are all new Brembo, drilled/slottted in the front. I have a ton invested in this car and it's only been driven a few hundred miles since all this work was done. Roll Cage - $3,000 MazdaSpeed racing wheels - $550 MazdaSpeed Exhaust - $400 Head gasket, water pump, timing belt, all hoses- $800 (all 100% Mazda parts, no aftermarket) Racing Seat - $600 Sparco harness and steering wheel w/quick release hub - $475 New Windshield - $280 Brembo brake rotors and hawk pad all around - $240 Falken Azensis Tires - $265 That's over $6,600 put into this car this past June. Lets not forget the cost of the actual car itself....My Buy-It-Now Price is like getting the car for free, don't miss out. Car has never been on a track since modified, but it has run in one race. I ran it last June (2010) in the Spectre 341 Challenge ( www.spectre341challenge.com ) . I didn't win, didn't even come close, but I wasn't last either. This race was a tarmac (paved road) hill climb in Virginia City, Nevada. I was up against some serious competitors including a highly modified Corvette ZR1 driven by Lou Gigiotti, a 1,200hp Turbo Porsche driven by the late VR Alexander (killed at this event when he went off a cliff....R.I.P. Alex), Viper ACR-X, and a 1,000+hp Nissan GTR driven my a guy named Steve Millen........To even meet, let alone compete with these driver's was beyond belief. And they all respected the handling of my little Miata, even if it was only putting out about 65hp to the rear wheels at the 6,000 ft elevation :-)... Car still needs a few things to be completly race legal, battery disconect switch, tow hooks, steering lock removed, and decals, etc. I haven't worked on it since the hillclimb in June due to work, and now back injury. As to what else the car needs to be competitive, it needs a clutch (still has original clutch, not slipping, but not much left of it either) and the rear diff is an open model, should be changed to an LSD. I have never mounted a hardtop on it, although one IS included with the car as well as the mounting hardware. Take a look at the pictures, ask questions if you have any and make sure you have the funds to complete this transaction should you win. If you're local please feel free to come take a ride/drive. I will cancel all bids from bidders with less than 5 ppostive feedback UNLESS you contact first and provide your contact info. I had zero feedback myself years ago, but lately a lot of eBay bidders think this is just a game. If you don't have PayPal to make the deposit, please let me know before auction ends so that we can make other arrangements. Overall car condition is pretty good, runs great, very tight, looks fine for a 20yo car. It's no drag racer, but in the twisties a motorcylce would have to work very hard to shake it. Shipping is on YOU as my trailer was stolen a few weeks ago. I can store car as long as needed, but payemnt must arrive soon after auction end. Thanks for looking and be sure to check out the links for both AWR and Spectre341.....and my other items for sale. THANKSOn Jan-17-11 at 18:29:21 PST, seller added the following information:I just drove the car today with a bidder and there are NO warning lights on the dash. I forget when I answered the question eariler, but I removed the bulb for the air bag, so no lights on dash that don't belong there. All other lights on car (inside out) work fine. I WILL NOT END THIS AUCTION EARLY, HIGH BIDDER GETS THE CAR, SO PLEASE NO MORE CASH OFFERS, JUST BID TO WIN