THSCC Forums

So, I have this 1991 good crank, good compression,good tranny, ugly body,with hardtop, missing some interior carpet, miata sitting in my backyard. It has 120K miles on it, but runs good. I have $2750 into the car including the hardtop.

So the question is, do I build this thing into a Spec Miata myself, or do I sell this car off and buy a prebuilt car? As far as selling it a) I could sell as is, I'm pretty sure I could get $2750 out of it b) paint the ugly ass outside for $300 at maaco and try to get $3500 out of it c) put the carpet back make it all pretty, paint it for $500 and try to get $4000 out of it.

If I buy, it looks like I could get a really nicely done car for $15-16K with a custom cage etc etc, or go with a bolt-in cage one without any of the good stuff for $10K

If I build, here is a quick budget
cage - $1500?? <-- is that about right mr shimmel?
suspension - $1200
exhaust/misc/bushings - $2000
seat/safety - $1000
maintenance/brakes - $1500
wheels/tires - $1000
Thats $10000 with car and paint job and includes a custom cage.....or am I crazy in how cheap the cage/buildup will be?

Any ideas/opinions?

-Tom

I am also interested in the same thing.
I'd say your figures are about right from what I've looked at.

I was looking at some for sale, and they are going for about the same $$ range ready to go ($10k or so).

The problem with them, is some of those custom cages may not fit you (one of the SM's was selling because of this).

Also, your car won't have a Sunbelt motor, which would make it a ringer, but you don't have to have a Sunbelt to win if you are a good driver.

The rule of thumb, is a completed car costs less than to build one.

Well the $10-15K ready to go miatas don't have a sunbelt motor. Not that I've seen. To get the sunbelt motors you need to spend $18-20K. The $10K cars have the stock 100K mile motors like mine and the $15K cars have the stock crate motors from what I've seen.

-Tom

I think you should get one of these:

_________________
Mike Whitney
whit32@gmail.com, 919-454-5445
V10, V8, V8t, I6, I6, V6, F4t, I4, I4, I4, I4, I2, 1, 1

Here's a couple of questions for you:
- What is your schedule for having this car ready?
- How much is your time worth? Estimate how much time you'll spend prepping this car (then double it), and charge yourself labor. Even at a cheap rate, it's a ton of $$$.
- Will time spent on this project eat into time you'd rather spend auto-xing or hanging out with the girlfriend?

It's all about time. If you're willing to be patient and spread out your time and cost outlays, building the green car into a spec Miata might be worth it. If you're looking for something to compete in for 2004, it's a no brainer - buy a finished car.

Obviously, it's THE time of the year to buy a turn-key race car. The specmiata.com classifieds have a couple, and I'm sure the miata.net classifieds and the sccaforums.com classifieds do too.

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Tom Freeman
'98 M3/4/5 | '93 Spec3 325i | '12 TSX sport wagon | '03 Tahoe
Team Silver Bullets '91 240SX

I think somebody needs to merge that photo and this one with photoshop, so that Tom is humping the bike (my skills are limited, or I would do it myself).

This is a project for 2005.

I guess my time is worth something, but I would have fun building a "race car" so I don't want to count it.

I guess the biggest thing is spreading the cost outlay, but if I would sell the car now and save as much as I would spend over the next year, I would have a lump sum by winter 05

-Tom

Right...you save money...

If you're willing to spread out your costs and labor over all of '04, I say go for it.

Now you just need a sponsor to buy all the stuff for you...

Whatcha gonna do for a tow vehicle and trailer? Driving a Spec Miata to the track will be brutal...

_________________
Tom Freeman
'98 M3/4/5 | '93 Spec3 325i | '12 TSX sport wagon | '03 Tahoe
Team Silver Bullets '91 240SX

Driving a wrecked car home is even harder than driving a good one to the track.

_________________
2006 Civic Si - #24 HS for 2015

2005 GMC Sierra
1991 318is Garage Ornament

Tom, Velocity (click here) has a car they are fixing to sell in the $10k price range. If it were me, I'd probably start there and work my way up.

Ashraf's comment about winning is fine if you're talking about Carolina Cup races or the occasional undersubscribed ECR, but for most ECR and SARRC races you simply can not win without a Sunbelt or BSI motor, I don't believe. There are too many good drivers already out there who have them, and a whole host of other development items you'll just have to learn about as you go.


--Donnie

FYI in regard to spec miata engines:

I spoke with Dennis Shaw (his shop is next to Krause and England). He can create a strong Spec Miata engine either by going through a NEW Mazda supplied engine or by rebuilding a used one. He said the total cost would be about the same. He seemed to be recommending starting with a fresh Mazda supplied engine since everything will be brand new.

_________________
Dick Rasmussen

FS 50 2018 Mustang GT

But is it legal? Is it as strong as the BSI or Sunbelt engines? Are the BSI and Sunbelt engines legal? Is Tom currently on fire, or was that fire put out?

One thing I didn't mention...no use starting out on a built or even extremely fresh motor, I don't think. Start with something decent, certainly, but don't waste money by putting hours on a hot motor while you're learning the finer points of navigating road courses and race traffic. It isn't worth it.

Now that I've got a year under my belt I'm probably going to pop for a new motor. At both VIR and Road Atlanta I really felt like I was getting off key corners with just as much speed as some folks only to watch them pull me slightly on a straight or at the very least hold their ground ahead of me on long straights when the draft *should* have allowed me to pull them at least a little. That's how things were on my motor at VIR when I started this year, but no more. My motor is a crate motor that had a few races on it when I got it. It now has several events and a lot of test time on it. Grr.


--Donnie