Donor Car Acquired

1996 Mazda MX-5 Miata w/ Popular Equip. Package & A/C

On June 11th, we made the trip out to St. Claire Shores to pickup the project car, a 1996 Mazda Miata with 106,470 miles on the odometer and many go-fast modifications. The exterior of the car is very clean without visible rust. The interior, not so much. We won't need the interior anyways.

This car came equipped with the Popular Equipment Package which included subframe bracing, Bilstein dampers, and a Torsen Limited Slip Differential (LSD). A/C was also added optionally. The prior owner intended on tracking this car so the Bilsteins were swapped out along with many other parts. Modifications include the following:

• Koni adjustable dampers

• Eibach lowering springs

• Racing Beat front & rear sway bars

• Drilled & slotted brake rotors

• LRB skid plates

• Front & rear racing tow hooks

• Unidentified aftermarket steering wheel

• Hard Dog M1 Hard Core roll bar

• RaceQuip 4-Point racing belt (driver only)

• Unidentified aftermarket wheels

• Toyo Proxes R888R DOT Competition Tires

• Unidentified aftermarket shift knob

Items such as the roll bar will be parted out with the rest of the car. Most of these other parts can be used though, saving a lot of time and money down the road. The R888R tires are basically street legal slicks, not recommended for road use, and only for dry conditions, so driving over an hour back to Waterford in the pouring rain was interesting. The top has a lot of holes in it so I got a little wet on the journey. Overall, the drive was uneventful. While the interior and top were pretty ratty, the car drives and handles very well. Going over uneven pavement while turning causes the tires to rub the fenders, not a huge issue as we won't have fenders after the conversion is done.

After letting the car sit for a few days with an occasional drive, oil spots have appeared on the ground below. Spare oil is now stored in the trunk and more investigation into what is leaking is needed. Overall, the car runs well and will be perfect for our purposes.

1996 Mx-5 Miata Brochure