HELP! Ready to pick up this '99 Miata Sport but it's not a Sport!

OSULemon wrote: Side note: Tow dollies and lowered NA's don't mix. My dolly also jumped off the hitch while I was driving. Scary. I'm getting a full trailer next time.

I've had my dolley for probably 8 years and towed a lot of low cars with it. I've gotten to the point where there's only 1 person i really trust to borrow it, and that's more because he knows how to fix things and clean up his own messes than it is because i think nothing will happen. Something ALWAYS happens with a dolley. I have learned that much... Still love the thing.

Also, consider the fact that a trailer coming unhitched would be as scary as the dolley if not worse. There's nothing about the hitch part that is unique to a dolley.. Im not going to ask any questions on that incident because i dont want to antagonize when we could be talking about your new car.

OSULemon wrote: My dolly also jumped off the hitch while I was driving. Scary.

With the locking mechanism in the unlocked position, reach under the hitch (female part on the dolly) and there should be a nut that you can tighten. This will tighten the connection on the ball.

OSULemon wrote: And the worst part...my knee didn't fit between the Nardi and the inside door handle. Making it near impossible to get my foot on the clutch. It drove beautifully, but I just fit in the NA better. Also, my head touched the top in the NB, and not in the NA.

The interiors are the same size, it's just that the NB seats take up more space. You can address this fairly easily by swapping seats and/or foamectomy kinds of approaches.

The bodywork sounds like a mess though.

mtn wrote:

OSULemon wrote: My dolly also jumped off the hitch while I was driving. Scary.

With the locking mechanism in the unlocked position, reach under the hitch (female part on the dolly) and there should be a nut that you can tighten. This will tighten the connection on the ball.

I had the car on the dolly and was raising the hitch in the air to try to readjust. When I put it back on the ball, maybe it wasn't centered correctly, and when I tightened down, it didn't set right. When I put it back on, I bounced it up and down vigorously, tightening every time. I saw how many threads I was missing.

Lesson learned. No damage to the truck or the car.

codrus wrote:

OSULemon wrote: And the worst part...my knee didn't fit between the Nardi and the inside door handle. Making it near impossible to get my foot on the clutch. It drove beautifully, but I just fit in the NA better. Also, my head touched the top in the NB, and not in the NA.

The interiors are the same size, it's just that the NB seats take up more space. You can address this fairly easily by swapping seats and/or foamectomy kinds of approaches. The bodywork sounds like a mess though.

It was cheaper, and this one already has the look I wanted. I'm pretty happy so far, so hopefully that means I made the right choice. Gut feel and all that.

Ehhhh..... my NA previously had an NB dash/console swap. It was ridiculously claustrophobic and my knees ate the dash.

But with NA dash... no problem.

I don't really have an issue with the interior space of my NB with NB dash.

OSULemon wrote: It was cheaper, and this one already has the look I wanted. I'm pretty happy so far, so hopefully that means I made the right choice. Gut feel and all that.

Absolutely. I'm not questioning your decision -- enormous ugly dents are easily enough reason to pick one car over another! I just wanted to clarify the interior space differences.

codrus wrote:

OSULemon wrote: It was cheaper, and this one already has the look I wanted. I'm pretty happy so far, so hopefully that means I made the right choice. Gut feel and all that.

Absolutely. I'm not questioning your decision -- enormous ugly dents are easily enough reason to pick one car over another! I just wanted to clarify the interior space differences.

Of course. I knew you weren't.

I knew in my mind that I could fix the interior differences. But I kept adding it up in my head....

new seats quick release wheel remove door handle

I wanted to get in and go this time around. Watch the NA break down on me...