Mission: maximize sale price on my miata

I'm sick of talking about it and staring at it, and I found a toy I want more that means I NEED to sell it, so what's going to be my best bet?

I'm going to wash and vacuum it tomorrow, and move it into good lighting for pictures. Should I do a walk around video with it running to show off the good and the bad?

The good:

It's blue, I have almost no local competition on Craigslist for NA miata, the wheels are shiny, the tires still have tread, and the carpet/seats are in fantastic shape. only 130k miles

The bad:

That collapsed lifter, rust on the back of the door sills and rear fenders, no tombstone, not inspected, some scratches and paint chips, the plastic back window on the top is broken

Should I take the time to install the new parts I have had sitting around since September first or just include them with the sale? Front brakes, rotors, and non adjustable front KYB shocks. 

I plan to be as transparent and honest as I can in the ad. I won't be liNking to the build thread, but I might be liNking to the thread that pointed me at collapsed lifter, even though it does include evidence of me being an idiot and running it with low oil. Should I not do that?

Considering as of today there are 3 NAs on my local C list, I'm going to be asking $2500. There is a show car for $6k, a flat black 212k mile beater with hard top for 2800, and an average 91 asking 3500, I feel my asking price is inline. Honestly I'll take anything over $1500 despite that including buy in price I have almost $9k into the car. 

Why I want to sell it finally? Autocross is far away, rally cross is more fun, and I want a quad, which I could afford monthly payments on but can't really come up with a down payment. I've put 9 thousand miles on it in the 3 years I've owned it, and it deserves better even being noisy and kind of ugly. 

So what would you do to really maximize the sale price, knowing it's a bit ugly, a bit noisy, and should likely be trailered out?

Collapsed lifter? Rust?

Um. I'd just sell it as quickly as possible. Forget doing anything to it, just sell it. Throw the extra parts in the trunk. Messing with it is just a waste of time, and your time is money (and energy), as the saying goes. That's my opinion, and I had a wrecked NA with frame damage that I sold for $700, but I live in an area with a ton of decent NAs.

I think that's on the high side for price, but I guess you can always go down, can't go back up. 

I'd fix the lifter and put in a tombstone. Lifters aren't a big deal - you can do one without completely pulling the timing belt, just the valve cover and the upper timing belt cover. Under $20 for the part and maybe 2 hours for labor if you're feeling around and trying to figure out what you're doing. Tombstones aren't very expensive ($85 at Moss) and it'll make a huge difference to presentation - especially if the rest of the interior is good.

Also, wax it. You'll get better pictures. Make sure the car is well positioned and accessible when people come to see it, they should spot it gleaming from down the block. The first car I sold was in drizzle - when they saw those droplets beading up, it was sold.

Short version of HLA change:

• remove valve cover
• identify bad lifter with a feeler gauge
• remove upper timing belt cover
• set the crank to TDC (timing mark pointing to T) with the #1 cylinder cam lobes pointing away from each other
• use a 14mm open end wrench to loosen the tensioner pulley (stick it down between the middle timing belt cover and the belt
• remove the cam caps on the appropriate cam
• pull cam
• use a magnet to pull out the dead lifter
• install cam
• install cam caps
• install the timing belt - you'll need to hold the intake cam in place so it doesn't jump a tooth
• turn the crank 1 5/6 turns so the timing mark lines up with the boss sticking out of the timing belt cover
• tighten the tensioner pulley
• turn the crank 1/6 turn and verify cam alignment by ensuring the I and E marks are at 12 o'clock. It won't be close, it'll either be dead on or way off
• install timing belt cover and valve cover
• drive and enjoy

Return the parts that you have if that's possible, and spend the money from the return to repair stuff that's going to really knock down the value in a buyer's eyes (tombstone, collapsed lifter).

If you can't return any of the parts, then install them. Brakes are quick and easy, and a pile of parts can be intimidating for some potential buyers, or a red flag for a neglected vehicle to others. You don't want to do anything that's going to turn away prospective buyers. "Just installed brand new brakes" is going to appeal to people a whole lot more than "comes with a pile of parts! (that you get to work to install because there may be issues that need repair currently)".

Get it as clean and shiny as possible. Take half a dozen exterior shots that show the entire car from all angles.A couple of front 3/4 shots, a couple of rear 3/4 shots, and a profile are fine. No need to get a bunch of close ups really. Grab a couple of interior shots and an engine bay photo. I'd skip tons of super detailed photos or walk around videos personally. You want to show the car in it's best light to attract potential buyers while keeping the bad stuff to a minimum. Again, you don't want to turn away potential buyers before they even reach out to you. You can tell them about the rust and other issues after they reach out to you initially but getting a buyer to be interested enough to call or text you is the hardest part.

Keith Tanner said:

• pull cam
• use a magnet to pull out the dead lifter
• install new lifter
• install cam

Dude don’t get a loan to buy a 4-wheeler!

ok unsolicited advice over sorry

Have you tried Rislone for the lifter?  I'm not a big believer in additives and treatments but I've had good luck with it in the past.

dculberson said:

Dude don’t get a loan to buy a 4-wheeler!

 

ok unsolicited advice over sorry

I missed that part. Listen to this man!

wae said:

Keith Tanner said:

• pull cam
• use a magnet to pull out the dead lifter
• install new lifter
• install cam

 

Ummm - I was just checking to see if everyone was paying attention. That's my story, I'm sticking to it.

dculberson said:

Dude don’t get a loan to buy a 4-wheeler!

 

ok unsolicited advice over sorry

I understand that. Really I'm hoping I can trade. Maybe someone who wants a track starter car sans roll bar is looking to get rid of a quad. A boy can hope. 

I just have perfect credit that isn't being used at all and am beginning to realize I need to quit smoking. Surely I can find better uses for my money, and in another week im sure I'll find something else I want as much or more. Like a hearse. 

I only put 600 miles on from September 2017 to now. It has aged more sitting in my driveway and being ignored than it would have had it actually been used properly. 

Shocks and brakes I agree I should do. I've been sitting on parts since September, and it will take more effort to jump start the car and move it than to swap them out. 

Keith, thank you for that! I've been mostly ignoring it since I originally asked about it because I thought I'd have to do all of them. 

I just recently got rid of the tombstone to another forum member because I was going to start parting the car out, but I've since decided that will just take to damn long and leave me with stuff that's even harder to get rid of than a car that moves under it's own power. 

I guess I also forgot in the original post, it's got a dead battery, no door cards, and no cig lighter either. 

By Pennsylvania standards, it's rust free. By southern standards, it's too far gone to berkeley with. The rust isn't an inspection issue though, no holes or sharp edges, and limited to the drivers side. I still don't know how bondo rusted, when I found out the rear wheel arches were all bondo from a previous owner, I was very confused. 

Getting pictures today failed. I'm going to have to sneak it out to a car wash after dark, pollen and rain turned to yellow glue and I need more power than my hose to get it off. 

I like the waxing idea, I thought about that, it would definitely make it shinier, probably highlight the crap paint as well though. 

Check with a Spec Miata shop and see if you can score some door cards. I'd get that interior together. A bit of rust on the outside doesn't make it a rat - especially not in PA - but missing interior panels sure do.

RevRico said:

I still don't know how bondo rusted, when I found out the rear wheel arches were all bondo from a previous owner, I was very confused. 

 

Sure doesn't sound rust free, even for PA.

why won't it pass inspection?  that's a big red flag for an otherwise put-together car down here.  two birds one stone if it's because it needs brakes (which you already have).

In reply to stylngle2003 :

The rotors were .005"out from "being able to be machined" despite only having 600 miles on them. And a leaky front shock. The shop I took it too had a reputation for upsells and winter was coming so I just parked the thing. 

Bring this thread back up though because I was asked a question I don't know the answer too. Would it be safe to drive it ~100 miles with the collapsed lifter?

Probably. It might even come back. It's happened to me before - I commuted for a week at 6000 rpm and the lifter shut up nicely.