[NA] Project "Maria" (continued): Restoring an NA to perfection with a few improvements (2024)

Max_S

Join Date: Aug 2016

Location: Hamburg, Germany

Posts: 588

I had an older build-thread which can be found here:
https://forum.miata.net/vb/showthread.php?t=636786
The forum dropped off my radar due to some unrelated issues that occupied my attention, and upon returning I noticed that I had posted it in the wrong subforum. Sorry about that

To "briefly" recap:
After about two years of searching I bought my MX5 NA in 2017, a German-market 1.8 "Transition model" from 1994. That year German-market NAs got the 1.8 engine, two airbags (rather than none), a new interior, new doors, and a few other changes. But those weren't applied at once, leading to the "transition models" showing a wild mix of NA6 and NA8. Mine has the new engine, doors and a driver's airbag, but the old Dash and gauge cluster. By the time I bought it it had sat in a barn for a short while awaiting resurrection or slaughter, having just 84300km/52k miles on it with two prior owners and A LOT of documentation.
It also had a lot of rust.
Mazda-metal and bavarian weather doesn't mix.
Bought it on the phone, paypal-ed the money, faxed the contract.
It showed up a few weeks later, as I had to have it trailered cross-country from Munich to Hamburg:

Black on black, came off the line on the 8th of June 94, equipped with ABS, power steering, 1 airbag and Hardtop (at the time mostly considered a negative).
PO barely got to drive it due to a lack of backseats.

I took it apart, had the serious rust fixed and the car repainted, obliterating the original budget. Oh well, gonna do this properly.

Still wondering why the panel between the frankenstein-bolts had a ton of (cracking) filler on it
While the car was gone I refurbished/reconstructed various odds and ends, mostly fiddly rust-removal and some Hammerite paint.

I replaced/refurbished the brakes (ever had a disc crack during removal because it's rusted on so hard?), resurfaced and repainted the exhaust manifold, rust-removed and repainted the trunk, put on a new softtop with some improvements (including rain-guards over the windows), and ripped out the aftermarket immobilizer. The first owner's mechanic had made a mess of the wiring, so I got to spend a few days rebuilding the wiring loom, with no matching diagram available
If you google "Miatayoga" my photo shows up, seriously.

I also refurbished the headlights along the way, a matte gray looks way better than spotty gold-ish silver. There was no replacement available for the lower DIN-panel (which had a hole from the immobilizer), so I made an exception from my plans, installed a USB-outlet behind the dash and filled the immobilizer-hole with an extension to that port. The radio (Fun fact: German market NAs didn't come standard with a radio, only wiring and speakers) got binned and replaced with a somewhat fitting-looking unit. I ran a cable from the rear-mounted USB port under the center console to a small hole in the ashtray-insert, the last thing I wanted was cables dangling in the interior. (The radio looks more chrome-y on photos than it is):

I also fixed the broken passenger door handle, a broken metal bushing meant the handle would stay "open". It aint pretty but it works:

New cooling-hoses, new fluids, aaand a roll bar came in. TR-Lane single diagonal, which would be one of the first legitimate ones in Germany (TÜV-approval is....difficult). I had to make up and punch in a serial number, use a certain strength bolts and document the install. Along the way I had 4 metal plates cut, 2 to fill the 2mm gap on either side of the bar and 2 to replace the washers meant to anchor the roll bar to the wheelhouses. Drilled and painted the plates, got the needed bolts, everything fit perfectly:

I cut the carpet to fit around the uprights (that one hurt a bit, the carpet was pristine), and installed a discreet 2A USB-outlet by the left hand uprights to power a GoPro or charge batteries. The outlet is anchored through the parcel shelf (which got cut in 2 for easier install/removal/access) and not going anywhere.

Lastly I filed down the seatbelt tower caps so they still fit on top of the seatbelt bolts.
5th of April 2019, "Maria" left the garage assembled and under her own power

I did have to install proper padding (not just thin vinyl) on the roll bar, since I'm a bit on the tall side and don't want to run bucket seats. I binned the Frankenstein-Bolts (aka stored them) in favor of a second set of round-head bolts, not planning to use the HT anyway. Note: The chrome plates have a drainage hole, and the nut holding the frankenstein bolts breaks off easily.
Got the car TÜV-ed and registered in late May 2019, with the TÜV-engineer pointing out the unusually good condition the (unfinished) car was in.

Two months into driving the car the airbag-module quit, so I pulled it out and paid a specialist 50€ to replace the blown fuse and the capacitors (eliminating the risk of a leak).

I didn't get to drive much in 2020 as one of the shocks started leaking, so I went down the rabbithole of suspension improvement. I bought a set of Koni Yellow Shocks (new) and a set of subframes and wishbones (used) as i couldn't have the car off its wheels for too long.
The subframes and wishbones got sandblasted before I painted them inside (single layer) and outside (2 layers). They also got the FluidFilm/PermaFilm treatment the car had received.

With a new set of bushings ordered the 2020 season ended with under 300km/186mi, with lots of work on the horizon

__________________
1994' MX5 "Maria", restored to perfection