Photography by David S. Wallens
A little more than a year ago, our poor Miata sat in the corner of our garage dirty, moldy and stagnant. Our best guess is that the car hadn’t seen sunlight for some eight years.
So we planned a little R&R. What would it take to get the car back on the road? The car ran when parked, but what did the stasis do to the mechanical bits? And what about the fuel left in the gas tank? Yeah, we might have screwed up there.
After removing the top layer of grime, we pressed the Easy Button and had the car towed to BSI Racing, our local Spec Miata prep shop. We figured we’d let them drain the old fuel, get the car running, and handle the deferred maintenance–like changing the fluid, timing belt and clutch slave cylinder.
There would still be plenty of work left for us to tackle, right? After all, the car had sat for eight years.
Well, perhaps this is why Miata is always the answer. Since getting the car back from BSI Racing, we ran 11 autocrosses and participated in seven Miata meets and didn’t have one bit of trouble. No smoke, no issues, nothing to fix. Add gas, check the oil, and go do stuff.
Plus we’re actually using the car for fun stuff–like weekend drives with the top down.
What’s in store for 2022? More Miata stuff.
And that, is exactly why I love my Spec. Miata. I've run mine for close to 20 events without doing anything other than oil changes, tires and one set of brake pads. Most of the time I close it in the trailer at the end of the weekend and don't even look at it until the next weekend.
It currently needs an engine but that's more on the shiny happy people who stole it and ran it without coolant than the car.
In reply to APEowner :
And that is the beauty of the Miata. Going in, I really planned on a year of sorting and fixes once the car was up and running. And, after all those events and more than 2000 miles, that never happened. Just been running (and cleaning) it.
But there are some things that the car can use as it's still 30 years old. So, yeah, more updates to come.
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