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Engine 66k, HKS Turbo, Megasquirt II, New clutch, Adult Owned, Receipts, Runs A+

Location: Burlington, North Carolina, United States
Make: Mazda
Model: MX-5 Miata
Type: Convertible
Trim: Turbo - Tastefully Modified: Street or Track Ready
Year: 1990
Mileage: 66,000
VIN: JM1NA3513L0142983
Color: Red
Engine size: 4 cylindar HKS Turbo 1.6 litre DOHC 16v
Number of cylinders: 4
Power options: Folding, latching soft top, Air Conditioning, Cruise Control, Power Windows
Fuel: Premium 91, 93, 100 for track use only
Transmission: Manual
Drive type: RWD
Interior color: Gray
Drive side: Left-hand drive
Safety options: Anti-Lock Brakes, Driver Airbag, Passenger Airbag
Options: Brand new upgraded clutch package, Upgraded Kicker Component Door Speakers and Head U, Upgraded brand new high performance brakes, Brand new gas suspension, Dash-mounted boost / vacuum pressure gauge, Short shifter kit, Clean title, Motor has only 66k miles on it, Read description carefully, small cosmetic defects, Saved LOTS of docs and receipts come w sale, CD Player
Vehicle Title: Clear

1990 Mazda MX-5 Miata Turbo - Tastefully Modified: Street or Track Ready Description

Adult Owned, No expense spared on upgrades or general maintenance, garage-kept, non-smoker, no pets, owned by a very experienced driver who's job was to track-drive exotic supercars all over the country for a living and teach at the BMW M Performance Driving School in Greenville, SC (me!). I tell you this so you can rest-assured, it was never driven "stupidly" or had any "irresponsible" modifications done to it. Everything was functional in some way.
I'll start with the list of mods. I'm sure I'm probably forgetting something... but here we go:* 16" wheels Gloss-Black Wheels w/ polished outer lip from Tire-Rack (light-weight, less un-sprung rotational mass)* Tires have about 80% tread* Oil just changed with Mobile 1 Synthetic.* Brand new Duralast battery* VERY COOL, custom hard-metal "skid-plate" mounted underneath the car from about the front bumper to near the middle of the car which help prevent "OH $H!&" moments when you scrape the car accidentally. Instead of scraping something potentially important or the exhaust-work, it will scrape the skid-plate, and the skid plate has a custom "trap-door" so you can still do full oil changes without removing it. Super clutch!!!!* 1.6L engine with 66k, odometer reads 165k. * HKS turbo kit, RX8 high-flow injectors, Walbro high-flow fuel pump * Eibach street/sport gas suspension paired with Eibach lowering springs, give car 1.2" drop* Rear sway bar (don't remember brand)* Exhaust: Custom designed by Motion Lab, and includes a high-flow cat so it will pass emissions (I think including California, but I am not 100% sure about that. It's OBD1 though, so it may be forgiven.)* Upgraded Sound system: Kicker component door speakers with tweeters and Pioneer CD player/MP3 head unit with Aux input. Sounds awesome, even with top down on highway. * JWT Stage 2 Street Clutch pkg with upgraded master cylinder and throw-out bearing.* Short-Throw Clutch kit* Brakes: Upgraded EBC Green Stuff Street Sport pads with upgraded SS brake lines and EBC high performance cross-drilled rotors. Brake dust is no not bad at all and barely noticeable anyway with the black wheels.* Cooling: Ultra-Thin, high performance Radiator and High-performance Racing Fan have been installed along with the front-mount HKS intercooler. As a result, we had to take the A/C compressor out to make room (saved close to 100 lbs as well), so on a hot day, at least the car stays cool! Put the top down, enjoy the weather!* ECU: Megasquirt II unit. Has been custom-tuned to the exact specs of this car and has 2 different maps depending on fuel octane. Track setup gives car advanced timing, sets car up for 13 - 14psi (It was recommended I keep it at 13 to be safe, but they did test it at 14), changes to air/fuel ratio, and more. I know it's supposedly by far the best ECU for Miatas that you can get, and tuned by one of the best in the country. --- When back on 91 or 93 pump gas, it's recommended you keep the boost between 7-9. Obviously, the lower the boost, the less heat generated, and the safer things are, but I've consistently run at 8psi in the summertime with no problems.* Clean Title of course* Very recent oil change* Recent Alignment* Dash-mounted boost / vacuum pressure gauge for Turbo Readings* Upgraded Kicker Component Door Speakers and Pioneer Head Unit with CD, MP3, Sirius, Aux.* Recently replaced and upgraded motor mounts, Inner/Outter tie rods, control arms on front and rear.* Brand new Duralast battery still with warranty* New alternator*ALL mods have less than 7k miles on them, chassic itself (and ODO) has approximately 165k, and engine itself has 66k.* Folder with receipts and paperwork come with the car
**** In terms of maintenance and who worked on the car, it was a certified Miata EXPERT working with Motion Lab Tuning and Undeground Racing. This guy has made a living traveling around and working on JUST this car. This is all this guy works on, so he knows this car better than his own mother. Needless to say, it's been done right. It's hard to find cars like that nowadays. I bought the car BONE-STOCK and replaced the engine right away, then basically passed it off to him, so he had a clean canvas to start on.
On the street it's civil, shifts nicely with no "racing clutch jitter" at red lights, doesn't scrape over normal bumps, can be surprisingly quiet when short-shifted, not bad on gas at all, and simply a blast to drive. Sun on your face, wind in your hair, 60 mph in 5th gear... a quick heel-toe downshift to 4th, give it some gas, the turbo spools, whistles, gets louder as it surges up the revv range and you give it WOT.... "PFFFFFFVVVVV" goes the blow-off valve as you press down the clutch to shift back to 5th. Try not to smile. The purists dream car for under 10k. Truly intoxicating. It makes all the turbo noises that you want it to make, and it's not modest about it. I wanted the turbo noises to be louder, and the exhaust to be a little bit quieter. I didn't want that typical "Civic 4-banger bees-in-a-can" exhaust noise, but I wanted to hear everything the turbo was doing.
No expense was spared with the work done to this car. All work was done at a well-known shop in Charlotte NC called Motion Lab Tuning. They primarily produce 10-second Evo's and STI's, and they work on most of the Carolina Panthers' personal cars. Again, over $13k. I mean I used the highest price oil on oil changes, always put premium gas in even before I modified it, used Lucas oil additives and treatments on every oil change and nearly every fill up to keep those new RX8 injectors at 100% efficiency. The car has a brand new battery as well. I replaced stuff on this car way before anything went wrong just because I loved it so much and had the means to do it.
Now, that all being said, please keep in mind this is a nearly 20 year old car, and it does have a couple things that are not perfect. I recommend whoever buys this car be mechanically inclined, because with all this custom work done, you're going to pay a lot of money to a performance shop to dig through this custom work and diagnose an issue if down the line something does mess up and you have zero mechanical experience. Cosmetically, I've had the paint wet-sanded, buffed and re-waxed by professionals to bring the "pop" back to the paint job. This car really does tend to draw a crowd.
That being said, be prepared to meet and have lots of conversations with total strangers in traffic, at the gas pump, parking, etc. Countless times I've walked inside the gas station and come back out to find a couple of people standing around it, trying to look underneath at the intercooler, and waiting to talk to you about it. It's really very fun. I've had people just stand around and wait for me to start it up because they want to hear it blow off.
The soft top is generally in very good shape - I conditioned it regularly, but it does have a little bit of wear (no dry rot, just little creases from sitting down for long periods of time. The rear window came a bit unglued from the top recently and I hadn't had time to deal with it. It's not bad, just needs to be re-glued to the top. I always garage-kept it, so I didn't have to worry about weather, pollin or thieves. In fact I don't think I ever drove the car in the rain - not once. Also, the passenger's side mirror also has a crack (came out of the grocery store one day and found that). On the interior, it's very good for a 20 year old car, but there is a bit of wear as you should expect. Nothing specific, just generic. Anything that is a minus on the car would be cosmetic and easily fixable.
In terms of the car's function, it's a 10/10. The basic stuff like pop-up headlights, cruise control, etc, it all works perfectly. And, of course, clean title. If there's something I'm forgetting to talk about and you have any questions, please don't hesitate to just message me. Bottom line, no expense was spared on this project. I got tons of calls from Motion Lab saying, "Hey, we noticed 'this', and we recommend replacing 'that'." My answer was always, "just do it." So if it made sense to have done to the car for performance, reliability or safety, there's a 99% chance it's been done. I had the money at the time to do it, and I made sure it was done right by the best people. Motion Lab is very proud of this car, and they will definitely remember it if called and asked. All the mods on this car have less than 8k miles on them.
*** Side-note: Motion Lab Tuning is well-known for taking on the "smaller" projects that their neighbor, Underground Racing, doesn't bother with. Unerground does the Lambos, GTR's and Vipers while Motion Lab does the STI's, EVO's, R32's, GTI's, and once in a while - Miatas (mine was the 4th they did I think). They also have a deal with the Carolina Panthers NFL team and they do all of their cars for them as well. Their lobby is full of autographed pictures and cool stuff. It's a pretty badass shop.
I've only taken it to the track one time, just to test it out and prove to myself that it really is the real deal - and trust me it is. 13psi may not sound like a lot on any other car, but this car weighs like 1900 lbs, so that's like 22psi on an STI or EVO. This car out-performs cars that are 4x the price easily. If you are looking for a "lady in the streets, freak in the sheets" car, this is it. Perfect for gorgeous days to go top-down, laid back cruising on windy back roads or highway, but when it's time to get serious, it's ready.
I'm currently living in downtown San Diego, CA, that's why I'm selling it. The car is currently being stored at my mother's house in Burlington, NC 27215. I'm very quick to respond to inquiries and communication, so don't hesitate to message me. Whether the car is shipping or picked up, we'll make it happen. Serious inquires only. No 16 year-olds please. I had one person come to try and test drive it and they told me, from the driver's seat, that they'd never driven a stick before, lol. Never again.
Also, please note, car does not include the hard top that is shown in one of the pictures.
I've owned a few great cars in my life, this one is by far the most pure and fun driving experience I've ever had. It's been babied and loved, but also occasionally allowed to stretch its legs when the time feels right, and I hope that continues onto the next owner. Contact me for a test drive, again, serious buyers only and must at least know how to drive a stick and handle a serious performance vehicle. Thanks!! View more great items

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