THSCC Forums

Hey everyone,

I recently acquired a new project/toy in a turbo Miata. The cost of tires compared to my Camaro almost pays for the car itself. And I figured it's a good way to improve driving skill.

Anyways, it's in pretty good condition but I knew it was coming with an oil leak (at least one) and a knocking engine. After a quick drain of the sparkly oil I decided it's good as dead. So I guess I'll be improving my mechanical skills as well.

I've been starting to tear into it getting ready to swap in a replacement but I thought I'd see if anyone has recommendations on how to only have to do it once.

I've seen a couple junkyard pulls on eBay but they usually have >130k on them. I know these tend to run up to 200k+ without major issues but you never know if they were maintained well. There was one with about 70k but it was like $1500 more than the others. The turbo variety is already rare enough compared to other Miata engines. I don't like the idea of a tax on a tax.

I thought about going the remanufactured route but I've heard a couple horror stories about getting slapped together junk that highly leverages the warranty they come with. And that's assuming they even honor it at all since I'm not a "certified" mechanic.

Thanks for any advice.

_________________
Dan S
Orange 2011 Camaro SS
Gray 2004 Mazdaspeed Miata

If compression and leakdown are fine send it. I bought my current race car with 173k on it, it has 178k now. The only thing I did to the motor internals was replace the HG with the NA head gasket and throw some ARP head studs I had in it. I have another ~170k motor sitting here as a spare. These are both VVT motors, but I'd do the same with a 99-00 motor.