This is a \u201995 Mazda Miata, or MX-5 or Eunos Roadster or whatever it\u2019s called in your country. Being a 1.8 liter car makes it an NA8. These were made between 1994 and 1997 as opposed to the NA6 which is the 1.6L version made between 1989 and 1993. Note I mention 1988 in the heading. That’s when Mazda made the first few pre-production cars.<\/p>\n In my opinion the best year for the Miata was 1994 as it has the 1.8 engine, but also has an OBD-1 ECU and the functional oil pressure gauge. The 1995 comes in close second as it has all those same \u201994 features minus the real oil pressure gauge. The OPG in the 1995 Miata is like it is in any other Miata barring the \u201994 – a dummy unit. The 1996 and 1997 NA8\u2019s were great cars too, but having OBD-2 ECUs makes them a little harder to mod and still pass smog in California. I’m not discrediting the 1.6L cars however. They are great cars and some enthusiasts prefer the revvy nature of that engine over the follow up.<\/p>\n I\u2019m a bit of a sucker for good-looking cars. Yes, I like performance too and I love driving. But, I like my cars to look as good as possible. For that reason, l was leaning towards finding a pristine example of the car even if I had to pay a premium for it. And that I did.<\/p>\n The RallyWays Miata after leaving Cars & Coffee Irvine. Photo by Ted 7 Photography<\/a> <\/p>\n Most of my friends consider it the cleanest Miata they have every seen. As the owner, I am of course much more judgmental and I see things they don\u2019t. I see the faults. Because my search for a clean Miata was so extensive (nearly a year) I did see other slightly cleaner, more new-looking Miatas during my search. Of course, they cost more than mine did. Worse however, some were really far and the logistics of getting it over to SoCal didn\u2019t allow me to acquire any of them in time before they were sold.<\/p>\n So this one. Well, I paid $7,000 for this example. I\u2019m happy to say, I\u2019m very happy with with what I got for my money. It\u2019s not for sale, but as it slowly and steadily moves into classic car status, I don\u2019t intend to ever sell it for less than this.<\/p>\n When I tell friends how much I paid for my Miata, some agree. However, some people give me a strange look as if I had paid too much. Sometimes, other Miata owners laugh at me and say, \u201cHa, I paid $3,500 for mine.\u201d To which I reply, \u201cHahaha. Yeah, but look at it. And how much have you put into repairs so far to get it up to speed? Yeah, do the math.\u201d<\/p>\n While not all cream-puffs pan out, a pampered car at a premium is usually less expensive in the long run than a cheaper one that needs to be fixed.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n While not all cream-puffs pan out, a pampered car at a premium is usually less expensive in the long run than a cheaper one that needs to be fixed. Jot that down. And pampered this car was. I really can\u2019t take the credit for the way the car looks. That was totally the previous owner. The gentleman, a Porsche enthusiast who used to own a show-ready 356, bought the car brand new in 1995. He drove the car daily for a few years and eventually retired. The mileage logging tapered off after that.<\/p>\n The original owner took care of the Miata fastidiously. Every single thing the car needed was done immediately and using the best parts. The services were either done at one of the top Mazda dealerships in LA, Galpin Mazda<\/a> or by renown Mazda tuning shop, Tri-Point Engineering<\/a>.<\/p>\n The radiator went green – a brand new one was put in its place. The exhaust heat shield and valve cover discolored over time – cleaning or polishing was not enough\u2026 brand new parts went in. Religious oil changes, inspections and tune ups were done generously. The car spent a lot of time covered and usually spotless clean.<\/p>\n The previous owner took it as a hobby to detail the car like he would his old Porsche 356 – This, even though his Porsche was a show car and this little Miata never was. However, pride went into all the work even when it was just to show the car off to himself. Engine parts were always cleaned and polished and a toothbrush was not a stranger to both the engine bay and the under carriage.<\/p>\n I received the car with a huge stack of maintenance records. They were not very well organized mind you, but they were there. After acquiring the car I took the time to archive them all into a nice binder in chronological order.<\/p>\n The car runs like clockwork. In the year I\u2019ve owned it, the mechanicals have yet to complain. It feels solid and happy.<\/p>\n Of course, the car is not perfect. But most of the time, only I can see that. At some point in the car\u2019s life, someone back into it and damaged the front bumper and driver\u2019s side front quarter panel. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Reason being, the front bumper and left fender were replaced with brand new units and the front end was repainted. For this reason, I ended up acquiring a car with no rock chips, something that is a staple for a 20 year old car. Furthermore, NA Miatas didn\u2019t come with clear coat paint. The repainting of the front end yielded a more durable finish than factory. Yay for that. The hood is the original however, simply repainted. The shop that did the work actually masked around the original sticker under the hood. Nice touch.<\/p>\n It was a good thing seeing the original hood on the car and only having a new bumper and front left fender. It means the damage was very minimal – the story that someone backed into the car checks out. Close inspection under the car shows absolutely no damage either. The only thing I could find on the underside was 2 dents in the frame rails from somebody attempting to use them as jack points. Miata frame rails are made out of sardine can tin, so bent frame rails are very common. Eventually I intend to pull out the dents and reinforce each rail with either Boss Frog Rails frame rail reinforcements<\/a> or a Flyin\u2019 Miata FM frame rail reinforcement kit<\/a>. Maybe even their butterfly brace if I want even more stiffening.<\/p>\n At home at the Mazda North America Headquarters in Irvine, California.<\/p>\n Apart from that, there were a couple of small door dings on the rear passenger side quarter panel, a bit of weather-stripping that can use replacement, a slightly bigger panel gap between the hood and fender due to the new fender and a bit of scuffing on the bolster of the driver\u2019s leather seat. Nice thing is, all these are easily corrected and I have either corrected all the little issues already or I\u2019m in the process of correcting them.<\/p>\n This is what a perfectly straight body Miata looks like.<\/p>\n All those little niggles are offset tenfold by the good in this Miata. The original tan pile carpet is in beautiful shape. The dashboard is also in perfect shape with no cracks. The door panels also look perfect. Everything in the interior works like it should down to the smallest light bulb and even the original cable operated cruise control works brilliantly.<\/p>\n The car came with a color-matched hard top and a bunch of other goodies. The original owner gave me an extra set of wheels, two car covers and a bunch of little parts and extras. He even gave me a pair of the awesome ESCO 3 Ton Flat Top jack stands Rev-Limiter reviewed in the article here<\/a>.<\/p>\n The only modifications the car ever saw were suspension and wheels. I acquired the car with a set of Koni Yellow shocks with Ground Control coil over conversions installed. While the ride-height is in my opinion, perfect, and the dynamics of the car quite nice, it\u2019s a goal of mine to upgrade this setup. My intention has been to upgrade the Koni yellows to Koni race shocks as they are a much better match to the Ground Control units. Either that, or jump all the way up to set of Fat Cat Motorsports<\/a> coil overs or Ohlins<\/a> coilovers.<\/p>\n The car also arrived with a very nice set of 14 inch Enkei RPF-1 wheels. These are the rare 14s that only fit NA Miatas or early NBs with the smaller brakes. They look properly good on the car and a bit classic with the meaty Dunlop Direzza Z1 Star Specs tires. This particular set of 14×7 4×100 Enkei RPF-1 is the +28mm offset variation as seen here<\/a>. These offer a slightly less aggressive stance than the +19mm offset RPF-1 variation<\/a> that Rev-Limiter runs on his car. The 28mm offset wheels don\u2019t require fender rolling or pulling like the 19mm offset RPF1s do, plus they look perfectly fine on the little classic-looking body. That\u2019s not to say the lower offset option on an even lower car won\u2019t look awesome.<\/p>\n Perfect interior makes it a joy to spend time in.<\/p>\n Like I said earlier in the story, I don\u2019t take credit for the awesome condition of the car – at least not at first. But, after a year of ownership, I\u2019m proud to say the little Miata still looks just as good. She lives in my garage. She\u2019s always under a thick coat of Meguiar’s carnauba wax<\/a> and doesn\u2019t like the rain. Over time, as I continue to improve and fix things here and there, I will feel more and more like she\u2019s mine.<\/p>\n Future modifications<\/strong><\/p>\n My intentions for the RallyWays Miata is to keep her looking great. I don\u2019t drive the car every day but do drive it on weekends, for club drives, to many of the car events<\/a> RallyWays attends and sometimes even to the office. I intend to do a few mods, but nothing that\u2019s irreversible. Here are some things I have planned for her:<\/p>\n Nardi Deep Corn 330mm steering wheel on a MOMO Hub<\/strong> – Let\u2019s face it, the stock steering wheel is as big as a boat\u2019s. Yes it\u2019s classic and looks good with an 80\u2019s mindset, but I\u2019m looking for more improved driving characteristics. The Nardi wheel is not only beautiful, but smaller. Like I said earlier, this is a simple modification and I\u2019m saving the stock steering wheel for posterity. I selected the MOMO hub due to a combination of quality and security. The MOMO steering wheel hub is a quality-made product. Additionally, it offers the added safety feature of being the only crushable (collapsible) hub on the market. That means that under impact, it will crush in order to reduce impact force. Nice thing to have if you remove the airbag.<\/p>\n Racing seats<\/strong> – I admit, I do not like the stock seats. At 5\u201910\u201d I fit in the car perfectly. However, it seems like Mazda designed these seats for midgets. The back is too low, the seating position is too high and the support is weird. I\u2019m constantly shuffling about in the seat trying to find a comfortable position. I still don\u2019t know what my seat selection will be. I\u2019d love a pair of Bride seats, or those new Cusco Bride seats. Those are cool. I do want something that fits well and looks like they belong in the car. Some racing seats just look awful in a Miata because the seat backs are too dang big. I\u2019m going to miss the speakers in the headrest though. The added support, lower seating position and reduced weight should make up for that.<\/p>\n New header<\/strong> – The stock header and cat rattle. I don\u2019t know if it\u2019s because of old age or whatever, but the rattles have to go. Not sure if I want to do a full exhaust, maybe I will eventually. But for now, a new header and catalytic converter should take care of the old cat rattles and would provide better flow.<\/p>\n Polyurethane bushings<\/strong> – The stock rubber bushings in the Miata look fine. However, it\u2019s an 18 year old car. The rubber bushings might not look cracked or rotten but there\u2019s no way the rubber is not worn out. One big project would be to replace all those stock bushings with top-of-the-lone polyurethane bushings from PowerFlex<\/a>.<\/p>\n Suspension<\/strong> – Continuing with suspension upgrades after the bushings, I\u2019m looking to upgrade the shocks like I said earlier in this piece. One thing I\u2019m considering if I stick with Koni race shocks is to up the spring rate in the Ground Control units. If I go with a completely different set of coil overs, the spring rate will definitely be higher. A set of beefier sways is also in order. I\u2019m very happy with the current ride height however.<\/p>\n Roll bar<\/strong> – NA Miatas are a bit of a wet noodle when compared to the newer Mazda MX-5. Yeah, they flex quite a bit. I\u2019m not only looking to improve the rigidity of the car with a roll bar, but also to increase safety. I have a few roll bars in mind – Perhaps a Hard Dog M1 Hard Core Hardtop<\/a>, a Boss Frog Single Hoop Clearview Maxx<\/a> or possibly a custom bar by Moti at Blackbird Fabworx. Whichever way, I\u2019m inclined to powder coat the roll bar white – \u2018cause it just looks so classic.<\/p>\n Radio<\/strong> – The stock stereo works fine. In fact, I think it sounds as good or better than the stock kit in the NC MX-5. My problem with it is it doesn\u2019t look right for the car. It\u2019s an ugly looking thing actually. So, my quest would be to find something that will take CD\u2019s and maybe even an iPod\/iPhone, but look retro.<\/p>\n Shift knob<\/strong> – I\u2019m a big fan of heavy, metal ball style shift knobs \u00e1 la Mustang. During the past year of driving my Miata and comparing it to other cars I drive, I have to say I\u2019m not a huge fan of the stock shifter. The shifting\u2019s awesome, don\u2019t get me wrong. It\u2019s the cheap-feeling rubbery shifter coating and the odd cone shape that bother me. Not sure what I\u2019m switching it out to, but from the looks of it, I\u2019m going to end up with a collection of shift knobs, so likely expect the RallyWays Miata to wear different shift knobs at different times. I\u2019m sure a steel ball will be there for a while at some point. To see how I modded the Mustang shift knob you see in the photo to work in the Miata go here<\/a>.<\/p>\n That\u2019s mostly it for mods. The time and money that will go into this car will be more for upkeep than for mods. I\u2019m the type of car enthusiast that believes every car has its weaknesses and each requires a small set of mods in order to improve or correct those weaknesses. Other than that, I\u2019m not a heavy modder that mods for the sake of it.<\/p>\n To boost or not to boost?<\/strong><\/p>\n I\u2019ve considered boosting the car, but it\u2019s very unlikely I will end up doing that. At least that\u2019s the case at the time of this writing. For boost, you\u2019re looking at a good $5,000. In my opinion, after all is said and done, you can dump cash into an NA Miata all you want, but if what you\u2019re looking for is performance, might as well start with a better car altogether than try and make a slower one as fast. I guess what I\u2019m saying is, the NC Miata is already quite a bit faster than the NA. By the time you\u2019re done making the NA as fast, you\u2019re in used NC Miata money territory. Not to mention the ND Miata. I talk a bit about this in my NA Miata vs NC Miata comparison article<\/a>. <\/p>\n After a while, who knows, I might end up boosting it. We shall see. I\u2019m more inclined to use that money to find yet another Miata for track use instead of dumping 5Gs into boosting this one. Unless of course, the RallyWays Miata gets famous enough that someone like Kraftwerks<\/a> or Fast Forward Superchargers<\/a> wants to sponsor the car.<\/p>\n This is basically it. I honestly cannot think of any other car under $10,000 that is as fun or as cool. Of course, there are plenty of Miata-haters out there. But like the kids say, \u201chaters gonna hate.\u201d As far as I\u2019m concerned, the answer is always Miata. For less than $10,000 you\u2019re not going to do much better than this.<\/p>\n![\"1995](\"https:\/\/rallyways.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/red_miata_rallyways_front-740x493.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"RallyWays](\"https:\/\/rallyways.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/miata_with_hardtop_rear-740x493.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Clean](\"https:\/\/rallyways.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/clean_miata_interior-740x493.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"RallyWays](\"https:\/\/rallyways.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/rallyways_miata_by_ted_7-740x493.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"NA8](\"https:\/\/rallyways.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/na8_miata_interior-330x220.jpg\")
<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t![\"Miata](\"https:\/\/rallyways.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/miata_tan_interior-330x220.jpg\")
<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t![\"NA](\"https:\/\/rallyways.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/na_miata_door_panel-330x220.jpg\")
<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t![\"Miata](\"https:\/\/rallyways.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/miata_enkei_rpf1_14-330x220.jpg\")
<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t![\"NA8](\"https:\/\/rallyways.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/na8_miata_engine_bay-330x220.jpg\")
<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t![\"Miata](\"https:\/\/rallyways.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/miata_valve_cover-330x220.jpg\")
<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t![\"Mazda](\"https:\/\/rallyways.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/miata_ac_controls-330x220.jpg\")
<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t![\"NA8](\"https:\/\/rallyways.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/na8_miata_key-330x220.jpg\")
<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t![\"RallyWays](\"https:\/\/rallyways.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/rallyways_miata_by_grubbs_photography-740x311.jpg\")
<\/a>
\nOn the way to Symbolic Motors Spring Event<\/a>. Photo by Grubbs Photography<\/a><\/p>\n![\"RallyWays](\"https:\/\/rallyways.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/miata_at_mazda_irvine-740x493.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Perfectly](\"https:\/\/rallyways.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/perfectly_straight_miata-740x493.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"The](\"http:\/\/farm9.staticflickr.com\/8098\/8574798433_e4097b8d1b_c.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Miata](\"https:\/\/rallyways.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/miata_speedometer-740x493.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Miata](\"https:\/\/rallyways.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/miata_leather_driving_gloves-740x493.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"1995](\"https:\/\/rallyways.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/1995_mazda_miata_tan_interior-740x493.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Nardi](\"https:\/\/rallyways.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/nardi_deep_corn_330mm_steering_wheel-330x220.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Cusco](\"https:\/\/rallyways.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/cusco_bride_seats-330x220.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"PowerFlex](\"https:\/\/rallyways.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/powerflex_miata_bushings-330x220.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Miata](\"https:\/\/rallyways.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/miata_shift_knob-330x220.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Mazda](\"https:\/\/rallyways.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/mazda_mx5_office_building-740x493.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n
![\"Bye](\"https:\/\/rallyways.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/bye_bye_miata_sunset-740x493.jpg\")
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