So I've bought an NA not too long ago. It's my second

pls help

This is my favorite color OP maybe a Laguna blue color would be cool too. Are you going to be painting this yourself or paying a professional?

start off making sure it runs well and wont break down on you, then any body work it needs it, then paint. stick with red, oem color is best color unless you have your mind set on what you want out of it appearance. fuck with interior mods after it becomes a pussy wagon on the outside

>>14953477
I'm gonna have it done by a professional. Laguna Blue looks really nice but I think I'd like something shoutier and more like out of Initial D. Maybe yellow or white?

>>14953478
Solid advice, thanks

>>14953291
>hood risers

Fucking dropped.

>>14953511
I think that deep blue color for sure then. Are you getting everything done like engine bay and sills too or just a respray

>>14953665
Engine ways I'd only do a full service in the near future. But in the long run I'd like to invest some ressources in making it track proof/ready...

What exactly do you mean by sills?

>>14953691
Just wondering if you're getting the engine bay and door sills painted too

>>14953291
Paint the car yourself. You'll easily save $3,000.
Just need a bondo, spray gun, primer, paint, clear coat, garage, fan, mask.

>>14953291
>Convince me to keep my miata
/thread

>>14953837
Are you sure I can't fuck this up big time?

>>14953291

got pics of car? it might just need a good detail to get it looking decent

>>14954125
I'm going out to take pics of the car. brb in 10 mins or so

>>14954106
You could fuck it up 15 times in a row and still end up spending less money than a professional job.
Just take your time with it, YouTube how to do bodywork (also easy if you take your time), and then invest in also good spray gun.
If you do take it slow and do all the prep work right, it should take you a long weekend, and will look great.

>>14954291
This.

A friend of mine found a cheap 240sx with shitty paint and rust spots. A buddy of ours cut and welded in some new metal where needed for cheap, then he went and bought all the supplies he needed with plenty of extras for a fraction of the price of a paint job.

Prep is key, but he spent a weekend getting the car ready for paint in places a standard shop just wouldn't pay attention too. He went nuts on the details. Next weekend he sprayed, came out nice. He spent the next month touching up little spots here and there, but it looks amazing!

He bought the car for $1200. He could easily sell it for 3 times as much with that paint job.

Oh! And replace the trim pieces around windows and windshield! Nothing takes away from a good paint job like old rubber does! He learned that from the YouTube tutorials and spent the extra money to do it right.

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>>14954125
There you go famalam

>>14953588
What is that cancer?

>>14953291
>plastidipped stock wheels
"no"

>>14954420
Why not tho
The wheels look like those classic small japanese ones on different cars from that era. I think making them black is somewhat tastefull..

I really don't want to ruin the looks of the car. Everything I do to it is supposed to be original or a hommage to the Miata in a tastefull way. Plastidipping them would be true to its OEMness but still somewhat personalized.

Or am I wrong? I swear your opinion matters to me

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>>14954369
Why not just wait until you can afford to paint it the way you'd like, instead of having to cheap out and live with something you just tolerate? I don't know what you'd really want, but considering it's a second car you can probably take the time to do it right, no?

>>14954458
No, you got that wrong
I can afford to have it painted in the color I want. I just can't afford any tite mods so I was asking whether my "blue metallic/black wheels and interior delete" style is aesthetic.

I was basically looking for inspiration.

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>>14954445
if you're going for a tasteful look, plastidipped stock wheels is not the way to go imo.

there isn't anything wrong with going with aftermarket wheels. I think period correct aftermarket wheels would definitely be tasteful. or you could always get your stock wheels powdercoated like pic related. idk how much the previous owner spent to get these coated though, might be too expensive.

dip is cheap but it shows.

>>14954491
I see. Well, I'll check if powdercoating is in my budget after fixing and painting it. If so, I'll plastidip them first to see whether I like the looks or not. If they do, I'll either powdercoat them or get period correct aftermarket ones.

>>14954369

looks like that front bumper was repainted with non oem red paint? you could just try finding another bumper to color match your car

>>14953291
so basically you want to ruin a perfectly good NA?

>>14954491
damn that looks good

>>14954510
Idk senpai
The paint is so full of scratches, tiny dents and so faded that I don't even really care about the bumper color. As soon as the car's healthy again, I'll just repaint it.

>>14954519
>make car metallic blue
>make wheels black
>repairing it
>do weight reduction
>racing seats

Which part ruins it for you?

Please don't strip your interior. It really does ruin a car, and it's just tacky. If weight reduction is what you're really after, there are better places to go for first.

Unsprung weight is the first thing you should be focused on: lighter wheels, rotors, suspension components, etc.

Next up is body panels: hood, fenders, trunk, bumpers.

Even exhaust and intake take quite a few pounds off with good aftermarket choices.


Gutting your interior is the last thing you do after you've exhausted all other options and you'd actually notice the difference of maaaaybe 20lbs. But living with no interior just isn't worth it unless it is a purpose built track-car, and honestly, you are so far from that because you need to do the basics first.


Paint the car, do some power and handling mods, then see how you like the car. Ripping out interiors and plastidipping wheels is something an ignorant 16 year old does with his mom's sentra. Don't do that to a miata, you actually have a car with some serious potential of you just be patient, save money, and do it right the first time

>>14953291
>gutting your car
Just add more power for christ's sake. Rice/10

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>>14954621
>Inb4 painting a car is rice
You don't even know what rice is brother. You need to come to Germany and see the car scene for yourself. slammed Volkswagen-AG cars with a lot of stickers, sound systems and interior neon lights gives you street cred these days.

Giving it a special paint job and coloring the wheels dark is absolutely not rice. If I was swimming in money I would add power, but thatz would also mean higher fuel consumption, so that's a no. It's still my only car and all I want is to not have it looking like out of a scrap yard. Why not giving it a personal touch without stepping too much out of line?

>>14954596
listen to this guy

one point to add, the miata came with an aluminum hood and trunk which are both really light already. CF won't take much weight off. fenders are steel though iirc. and you can buy a lightweight hardtop and remove the soft top for less weight.

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>>14954656
he said gutting not painting

>>14954677
Oh, gutting means taking the interior out?

>>14954596
>>14954668
Okay, you guys are right. That's a stupid idea, I'll leave the interior as is.

>>14954668
Really? I thought the NC and ND got the aluminum treatment for hood and trunk. Cool.

Yeah, OP. Gets some fiberglass fenders and call it a dat. Most "carbon fiber" body parts you'll find are just 3 layers of fiberglass and 1 top layer of CF. You save almost half the price if you just go straight fiberglass.

Same goes for the hardtop. Remove the soft-too, permanently install the hardtop and you'll save a ton of weight where it really counts (high center of gravity).

>>14954720
These are some quality tips man
thanks a lot!

>>14954693
OP. From what I'm hearing from you, you're kinda new to modifying cars. I'm not trying to belittle you, but I think you need to educate yourself a little.

Go to miataforum.com

Infact, whenever you buy a car, go to its dedicated forum. You will learn sooo much.

There will be frequently asked questions threads, maintenance tips, things to watch out for, what mods are worth getting, and just a giant community of like-minded people with your exact same car with tons of experience and information ready for you.

Spend some time there and just read all that you can. Don't post a question right away because I guarantee it's been answered dozens of times, you just gotta search for it. Find people who live near yu and go to car-meets with them. Check out their cars and get to know the owner. You will likely make a ton of good friends and get a lot of help.

>>14954369
And honestly, unless your camera is not picking up what you're seeing, that paint looks absolutely fine.

If you wanna return some of the shine, you can remove a layer of clear coat and reapply another layer or two.

Body shops often add an extra coat or two of clear, that way the owner can simply buff/cut a layer in several years and it looks brand new.

>>14954772
miata.net and clubroadster.net are some other good ones. miata.net has a ton of info in the garage section of their website

>>14954820
I absolutely agree. I believe miataforum.com actually redirects to miata.net's forum section. Just wanted to make it easier on OP to navigate to it.

I've owned 3 miatas in my life. An NA and 2 NC's.

I think I'm gonna buy a used ND club as soon as prices are good. (Maybe a few years and they'll be closer to $25k instead of $30k+)

>>14954106
Yeah you can, it'll also take at least a couple of days prep + 1 or two for paint. You need to make sure it's not too cold, or humid. You're gonna need to get an air compressor, a really good one with at least 9-15 cfm. Probably rent that cause a 11cfm compressor if fucking expensive. Get a good paint gun + detailing gun, and an inline air filter that's high quality to get any water out of the air in the compressor. After all that look up videos on youtube for technique and practice on some cardboard. If you fuck it up, it will orange peel and be very obvious. It's fun, but if it's your first time, it'll take a couple of tries. All in all, the paintjob probably wont look as great as a pro job would, but you can pull off something passable, and maybe even nice if you're lucky/skilled

>>14954519
There's like 450k~ na miatas, it's not like they're rare.
http://www.miata.net/faq/production/MazdaMX-5_AnnualProduction_CY1988-2006.pdf

>>14954596
On the wheels side, the NA8 comes with aluminium alloy wheels and they're like 10.8lbs. You'd be spending easily a couple of grand to get wheels lighter than that since you're gonna need to go with either the bbs oem ones, or some other ones that are around $400-$500 a rim

>>14953837

If you decide to do it use plasti dip so you can peel the stuff off if you fucked up.
A shitty sprayed car is always looking bad.