Well, in my quest for a fun, relatively inexpensive car I crossed to the dark side. It's not quite a Ford, so it's beyond the dark side, it's a Mazda Miata. The car is solid with a new clutch, muffler and tires and a relatively low mileage engine. After inquiring about the car I realized the owner was a friend of one of my friend's dad(saw the car at church this morning). After I settled on the deal he says...oh and I got an extra head I'll throw in and the hard top too. Not a bad day.

You're not the only one here I bought a 99 Sport, and I know there's at least one more dark-sider here. What did you get?

I got a 90 Miata with the body kit and 120,000 miles on the body and 68,000 on the engine.

I like those cars. I got to drive a '92 Miata on our only "road course" in AK. Had Ground Control coilovers, Koni shocks, short shifter, a little four pt bolt in roll bar. One of the easiest cars i've driven. I absolutely LOVED the pedal configuration. Made heel-toeing super easy. The car was a great driver, point-and-shoot operation. I almost wanted to sell my Camaro to get one. Then i got back in mine and remembered how nice 300+ hp is. The Miata barely touched 90MPH in spots my f-bod was hitting 110+MPH. Great little cars though!

Sgarnett, what grade oil would you recommend for the Miata?

I'll just leave this here..

Personally, I don't know. So, I just fall back on using the factory spec 10w-30, but I use Redline and try to be gentle while it's warming up. The previous owner used Mobil One 10w-30. It doesn't use oil and still starts fine on what I think is the original battery.

However, the lifters were changed to solid in 99 (mine). The hydraulic lifters are reputed to be a bit finicky about oil.

Have you looked for your oil filter yet? Do you know if the timing belt was replaced? It's due at 60k.

He recommended changing the timing belt. Where is the oil filter located?

Given enough time, I'll probably be jumping to this dark side too. I just need to find someone willing to buy my car, and I'm not trying very hard to sell it... yet. I'll probably get more serious after I wrap up my class for this season. I'm looking forward to being able to work on an engine that isn't half buried in the passenger compartment. I know I'll eventually regret selling my TA though.

The oil filter is under the intake manifold. The easiest way to access it is to turn the steering all the way to the left and reach in through the wheel well. A lot of people use a disposable diaper to catch the oil that spills when you unscrew the filter. I use a Coolwhip tub and a little funnel or gutter I made by bending a piece of aluminum flashing.

If the car wasn't set up for C-stock, I'd install a filter relocation kit. There are several to choose from.

I'd suggest researching lift points on miata.net.

Not long ago, I saw a Miata with a built 383 LS6.

This car is pretty much stock. It has crappy Sensatrack shocks on it. I can reach my hand in from top and reach the oil filter. I think that would be the easiest way to get to it with the engine cold. The guy who I bought it from is about 60 so he's a bit old school(he owns a 56 T Bird) and he was running 15W50 in it. I'll probably drain that and replace with some synthetic 5w30.

As a friend and fellow racer says:

"There are 2 kinds of racers - those who race Miatas and dumb people."

Yeah, we know that there are faster racecars, and there are better looking ones. But, for sheer reliability, competition, aftermarket support, and cost, a Miata cannot be touched.

Of the people who don't stick with 10W-30, there are two camps. One camp seems to have the goal of seeing just how thin they can go with modern oils (0W-20, for instance). I think the justification is somewhere between mpg and cold startup wear. Then there's the old school, thick camp for track use. Many seem to like the 0W-40 synthetics, for whatever little that's worth. I use 5W-40 Redline in my oil-fired Camaro because it seems reduce consumption compared to 10W-40 Redline.

I think the manifolds did change over time. I'm fairly sure that mine has the variable intake geometry manifold, which is probably more bulky than the conventional manifold. Regardless, there's no way I could get to my oil filter from the top.

They work well with pretty-stock LSx motors:

http://www.pbase.com/beagleracing/the_lsx_project

He did pretty well in SM (or was is SM2?) with this one at the first SCCA Southwest Division 2009 Divisionals.

Yeah, if I was going to do a swap, I'd use a stock LS6 for reliability and rpm headroom except for upgrading the oil pan baffle.

How many quarts of oil does the 1.6L take?

Dan ran his LS1 Miata in XP. Any LSx powered Mazda will have to run in XP or above. No engine swaps outside of manufacturer family in Street Modified. SM2 no longer exists and has been changed to SSM. Miatas with legal engines would go to SSM, since they are 2 seaters.

This is what a Miata looks like after hitting the wall between turns 2 & 3 at Mosport GP on Sunday;

What AX class would a Miata with stock springs run vs one with aftermarket springs?

A stock 1.6 Miata is in E-stock, put spring on it and you're looking at either STS or CSP (probably STS is best to be able to use "street tires").

4 quarts, factory oil change interval is 5000 miles... I don't let mine go that long except if its during the winter and I'm not racing at all. If it weren't for the stock 4.30 gears I think I'd get 35+ easily on the highway, as it is I average right at 30. My car has been deadbeat reliable (on oem parts) except for the speedometer cable making noise, burning about a quart of oil between changes while in race season, pinion nylock backing off, and some oil leaks, one of them being a rear main which is going to cost me my clutch one of these days if I don't get around to swapping in this crate motor I've got in my garage. I've owned the car almost 2 years with 2 track days and I'd guess 300+ autocross runs. Tires are cheap in 205/195 50r15 sizes and in STS running street tires you can get over 200 runs out of a set so its a cheap car to race and tinker with.

If your going to be doing a timing belt swap I'd strongly suggest reading up on the short nose crank problems in the early cars.

I get about 34 highway, which isn't that much better than the Camaro. It still gets around 28 city, which is a lot better than the Camaro. Even the "how fast can I burn it", lightswitch throttle experiment yielded 24.

I keep thinking about buying an NA or NB for a fun daily driver..although I fear eventually it would end up being raced more than my Camaro. Just out of curiosity does anyone know how the NC's handle in comparison to the NA/NB cars? I priced one online today and thought it was very cool you can still order them without A/C.

The guy I bought it from swapped a 91 1.6 in it so the crank isn't an issue. He even threw in an extra 91 crank.

If you have half as much fun with the Miata as we have with our Solstice you're good to go.

Mind you, after a season and a half of Solo in the Solstice I finally did a couple of runs in the freshly tuned (446 HP at the wheels) 1LE on Wednesday and I still have a big grin on!!

I'm actually surprised. The Miata is a fun car to drive on the street-it's a blast on curvy roads.

Yeah, who would think a lightweight, nimble sports car with a good suspension could be fun .

It's just a different kind of fun.