NA Miata Build Series Part 1 – Classic Rust

Welcome to the first in a series of posts on our NA Miata project build!

I’d like to introduce everyone to this 1997 Classic Red (or Classic Rust?) Miata. It’s definitely a project, and I think it will be a great source of DIY and repair information for this website, and you’ll get to follow along with the restoration! As you can see… it needs a lot of work.

If you’re wondering how a car gets patina like this – it’s simple:

1. Have a Miata that needs paint
2. Start process of painting it (ie – stripping it to bare metal)
3. Park the car outside for a few years and let nature do its thing

As bad as it looks, I think this car still has lots of life left in it. Rust-wise, most of what you can see in the pictures is just surface rust as a result of bare metal being exposed to the outdoor elements. It should all sand off pretty easily. While I’m not a body guy (and this isn’t a bodywork blog), I will go through the process of priming the car to help prevent further damage, and do some prep work before sending it off to the real professionals for paint.

Mechanically, the car was able to start with some fresh gas, a new battery, and some hammering on the starter motor, but it doesn’t run great, and it’s in need of fresh fluids all around. The status of the timing belt is unknown, so that will be getting replaced eventually. The suspension looks generally “tired”, and most likely is all-original, so that will be overhauled as well.

Look out for more posts, and more DIY guides as we bring this poor neglected Miata back to life!