Ownership Verified: Meet Luigi DeVito! That's right, another MX-5! Sorry.

[loose_unit]

So, before we start, I don't own the car, my girlfriend is on the papers as it saves us ?200 a year on insurance. It is our car though, half mine!

What we have bought for ?1700 is a USDM NA MX-5 with 192,000 miles or kms, not sure - need to check, don't care. It has Air Conditioning that seems to work and the Torsen diff

The good:

• It has had a really rather good paint job done on it, it was a silver car but now it is red.
• I haven't seen a single bit of rust anywhere... I need to get underneath properly to confirm it, but in terms of body
• The roof is new, like, really new - I am super happy about that as it was something I had figured I would need to buy on any second hand one MX-5 I bought.
• Torsen locking diff
• Air conditioning

The bad:

• The airbag wheel is horrible and needs to go, somehow... Although what will likely happen is putting an airbag wheel from an NB in there.
• Airbag light blinks but will be fixed when doing the wheel above.
• The engine drops some cylinders on initial gas pedal press at low RPM, it's fine at high RPM though and if you keep revving at low RPM it it is fine also.
• The interior needs a lot of tidying up, trim bits are missing and not fastened properly and there is no cigarette lighter to charge my phone! I will probably leave the red in there as my girlfriend likes it, and it is actually quite well done and nowhere near as vulgar as I thought it would be.

So, now some pics and video!

Just after picking it up:

Look at that roof!

Stupid cute face

What are these mazda original radios worth these days, nothing?

Tehehehe

Made it home:

Aaaaaaaand proof pic:

Popup headlights
[video=youtube;pXtGbuRNv-k]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXtGbuRNv-k[/video]


And if anyone has any ideas, this is what the engine issue is like, it doesn't seem to matter if hot or cold.

Here is a link to the working document on what needs to be done, I won't update this post again: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1aLyCthcFKAZayWpn2iB8-pUr4E6DTeDxpMWF7pcYbg8/edit?usp=sharing

 

[frankiess]

Clean car.

That's what you call an engine problem? Check the battery, check the spark plugs, check the spark leads, check the distributor (and rotator if these things have it). Also might wanna check that it's actually getting fuel at lower revs.

 

[Adunaphel]

Nice one. You need to make a drive here and let me sit in it. For breaking wind purposes, you know.

 

[MXM]

Congrats, finally!

Also check TPS, they wear out at idle position first, so could be related.

 

[MWF]

Welcome to the club!

 

[IceBone]

I didn't get to fart in the old one, so this one better not escape me!

Looks nice and clean, although I somehow doubt you actually fit in the car. The pictures say something, but I need to see this with my own eyes.

 

[CrzRsn]

Why would someone import a USDM Miata to Germany when there are European ones everywhere?

 

[Posmo]

God damn it, everyone is buying these now. Get more creative with your purchases!

 

[loose_unit]

Clean car.

That's what you call an engine problem? Check the battery, check the spark plugs, check the spark leads, check the distributor (and rotator if these things have it). Also might wanna check that it's actually getting fuel at lower revs.

Yeah, I wouldn't have bought it if I thought it was a major catastrophic failure issue It helped me get the price down from ?1990

Nice one. You need to make a drive here and let me sit in it. For breaking wind purposes, you know.

lol, Will be going to D?sseldorf this weekend and then I will try and arrange a time with Beni to head down to the garage and see if we cannot get the engine issue sorted

Congrats, finally!

Also check TPS, they wear out at idle position first, so could be related.

Will check that, thanks

Welcome to the club!

Thanks!

I didn't get to fart in the old one, so this one better not escape me!

Looks nice and clean, although I somehow doubt you actually fit in the car. The pictures say something, but I need to see this with my own eyes.

I am not that tall It's actually perfectly fine for me size wise!

Why would someone import a USDM Miata to Germany when there are European ones everywhere?

No idea, but it is far more common than you might think.

God damn it, everyone is buying these now. Get more creative with your purchases!

This satisfies both mine and my girlfriends requirements for now, next car will be mine and I want something special and old!

 

[loose_unit]

Okay, so going through the papers, it was imported on the 28th of December 1990 and the first registration was 30th of April 1991 in D?sseldorf, Germany.

It seems like it might have been a dealer just grabbing one from the states and importing it as they were quite hard to find.

Thomas kindly found some information here: http://zoom4fun.servehttp.com/sunri...91&h=e173d5a38a3248333004adaf29609d74c48d91a7

From IRC:

21:36 < thomas> They exported them to europe before they started selling it here, and when they sold it, they were sold out right away

 

[Posmo]

This satisfies both mine and my girlfriends requirements for now, next car will be mine and I want something special and old!

You'll never get round to it

 

[loose_unit]

You'll never get round to it

I will, we already have half a plan and half a solution to one of the problems

 

[Lastsoul]

Congrats!

So it's 1.6? At least then the TPS is on/off only, so basically an idle switch. So if it's acting strangely near zero throttle, it could be one culprit. MX-5 doesn't have mechanical ignition, so only ignition related issues could be coil pack, plug leads or plugs. Plug leads are common issue and they could be changed before problems occur, but usually they cause hesitation and misfire somewhere around 2500rpm. A

The idea of those red parts in the interior sounded weird to me, but I actually like it on the pictures. Btw, if it has a torsen diff, it must have been changed from later 1.8 cars, so in case you need to replace drive shafts be aware that original 1.6 items won't fit anymore.

And have fun!

 

[public]

Congrats! The colour might be an RX-8 shade? Also, the "Cup" style wheels look good.

 

[Mitchi]

Why would someone import a USDM Miata to Germany when there are European ones everywhere?

Mazda completely underestimated the impact the car had on the market over here and therefor didn't have nearly as many of them on stock as people requested, so a lot got imported over from Canada. Probably every second NA I see is a North American model.

I dig the paint btw. It looks fantastic.

 

[loose_unit]

Congrats!

So it's 1.6? At least then the TPS is on/off only, so basically an idle switch. So if it's acting strangely near zero throttle, it could be one culprit. MX-5 doesn't have mechanical ignition, so only ignition related issues could be coil pack, plug leads or plugs. Plug leads are common issue and they could be changed before problems occur, but usually they cause hesitation and misfire somewhere around 2500rpm. A

The idea of those red parts in the interior sounded weird to me, but I actually like it on the pictures. Btw, if it has a torsen diff, it must have been changed from later 1.8 cars, so in case you need to replace drive shafts be aware that original 1.6 items won't fit anymore.

And have fun!

TPS sounds like a culprit, I will investigate further!

I believe it's a factory fitted LSD for the 1.6.

The first Miata's options list was a short one and included a limited-slip differential and air conditioning.

I have AC, and I am 90% sure I have the LSD also.

Congrats! The colour might be an RX-8 shade? Also, the "Cup" style wheels look good.

Not sure, it's metalic red with some orange(ish) ness too it, I will try and get a good photo when I get my DSLR out next

 

[MWF]

I presume you plan to bring it to the Mini Roadtrip/Ringmeet?

 

[Fairlady]

Clearly, I've brought back the wrong car. How is the rust situation?

 

[loose_unit]

I presume you plan to bring it to the Mini Roadtrip/Ringmeet?

At this point, yep!

Clearly, I've brought back the wrong car. How is the rust situation?

Absolutely rust free from what I can see, I need to dig a bit deeper and get a better look underneath, but so far absolutely none.

 

[public]

Good thing you tinkered with the silver car, so working on this should feel natural