"The Turtle"-My 99 Mazda Miata

In The Beginning....

  After selling my 92 Galant VR-4 and having owned a never ending parade of DSM's,and other Mitsubishi based cars I was ready for something different.

I wanted something that was, reliable,  affordable to modify, had plenty of aftermarket and owner support and most importantly, it had to be fun to drive.

A friend who of mine who owned a heavily modded DSM at one time, had picked up a 99 Miata and was using it as a Daily Driver and for High Performance Driving Events at Motorsports Ranch. He seemed to be having a good time with the car, and suggested I give a Miata a try.

 So despite all my other friends saying "They're All Going To Laugh At You!", I started the hunt on the local forums and Craigslist for a car.

The Game Is Afoot..

 My friend suggested I concentrate more on the NB cars rather than the NA models because of the improvements Mazda made to the engine and chassis with the 2nd Gen cars.  I'm not a real fan of Pop Up headlights, and I liked how the NB2 looked like a scaled down version of a FD RX-7, so I didn't need too much convincing.  Now I just had to find one in my price range.

After searching for about a week, I eventually found a 1999 Emerald Mica 5 Speed with about 173K on the clock, from a older guy on Craigslist. He said he had a few Miatas, and that this one was supposedly his Daily Driver.

Here are the pictures from the Craigslist ad:

Woodgrain?  Yuck.

D/S Seat Is A Little Worn.  To Be Expected.

This Is What Convinced Me To Check It Out.  Clean Engine Bay.

Made an appointment and had a buddy drive me to Downtown Dallas to go check this thing out.

Initial Impression

Aside from some minor door dings and a small dent in the rear D/S quarter panel, it looked fairly clean and well kept.  It was Green which wasn't a deal killer to me, but I wasn't a real fan of the Tan Interior at the time.  I would in fact grow to appreciate that it did in fact have this interior, but that was a bit later. Also it looked like it originally had a Tan top rather than the Black one installed.  Eh, whatever.

 Engine bay looked very clean, no rust on the rockers, and the interior looked good as well besides a fairly worn driver's seat and steering wheel.  This wasn't a big deal, as I planned on aftermarket seats in the future, but it was nice to know it had been taken care of.

I took it for a test drive on the streets downtown and noticed that it drove very well, was responsive to throttle inputs and seemed to shift solidly.

He was asking $3500 for it and I offered 3000, which he took after thinking about it for a few seconds. Afterwards, I paid the man and he signed the title over and handed me the keys.  Neat!

  I was now officially a Miata Owner.

What's All This Then?

Driving the car home through downtown traffic was fairly uneventful, until I got on the highway and got the car up to, oh around 65 mph or so.  Veteran Miata owners can probably guess what happened next....as the car started to SHAKE, quite a bit. Enough to cause the steering wheel to seem like it was doing the "Humpty Dance" or something.

"Really?  I just bought the stupid thing!"

The shaking seemed to only occur in that speed range, so I opted to drop the speed down a bit and made it home to Arlington, where I snapped a picture of my new, shaky ride to text to my buddy.

A Stock Miata.  Go Figure.

 

 To The Internets!

Wondering if the shaking at speed was a "thing" with Miatas, I started searching for answers on the various forums dedicated to the car.

I soon found out the shaking was indeed a "thing" and that a simple wheel balance with a Hunter Road Force Balance machine, should straighten the issue out.  I got this done a week later, and the shaking was pretty much a non issue afterwards.

 I also read up on the 99 Miatas and found quite a bit of info available specifically for the 99 year cars.

  I found out that since my car had a Tan Leather Interior, it was equipped with the "Leather Package", which included the items from the "Popular Equipment Package" and the "Touring Package" as well.

"Let's see, 15 Inch Wheels, Power Door Locks, Mirrors, Wind Blocker, Cruise....Torsen Limited Slip Differential, Floor Mats...." (Wait, What?)

A Torsen?

That Thing Have A Torsen In It?

Needless to say, I was very happy to see that my car is supposed to be equipped with a Torsen unit for the rear end, but at this time I haven't been able to confirm it.  Hopefully it didn't get swapped out for an open diff at some point its lifetime.  One of these days, I'll pull the axles out and check the rear end and see if I see this:

It's Torsen Time!!

Photo From: Miata Differential Spotters Guide

I still think the Black Interior looks better, but I guess a Tan Interior isn't that bad if I get a Torsen out of it.

 So, What Now?

Shortly after I bough the car, I relocated to the Wichita area from Arlington, TX.  I bought the car before I moved, because I wanted a clean rust free car, and I had a much better selection available in the DFW Metroplex.

Texas

Not Texas

I also performed some much needed maintenance, and fixed a few things, that If I had known about them at the time, I would have tried to knock a few more bucks off the price.  I'll detail all that in later posts on here, with more information and the gory details.

The car doesn't look that much different besides a used hardtop that I had painted to match the car.

Found A Used Hardtop In Wichita?  Shock!

Very Turtle-Like In Appearance, Hence The Name

  Right now the car is down, to fix a few cosmetic issues and the the installation of a Blackbird Fabworx Single Diagonal Rollbar for my first HPDE at Motorsports Ranch in October with this car.

  Once I get everything buttoned up, I'll be sure to update further.

Until Then,

Alpha, Mike, Foxtrot...