Hello All, I just bought an NB I'm going to tear apart!

[exo2k]

Just thought I'd do the normal introduction.

Hi. I'm James. I have a 2000 Miata with 5k miles on it that I'm planning to tear apart and rebuild.
I know this is a MEV forum and I'll admit that I'm building an Exocet Sport - but I still thought this would be a good place to hear from people with a lot more experience than I have.

Also, since my Miata has zero wear and tear (it was garaged for it's entire existence and then sold when the owner passed) I was wondering how to best go about parting it out and selling said parts as easily as possible.


Hope you are all doing well and your cars are either smoothly running or taken apart for improvements.

[o55ie18]

Morning James, welcome to the forum.
I thought it was a typo error when you said 5k miles until I carried on reading. That really is still more or less unused, amazing.

We normally choose to tear them down and build the Exocet to keep them alive when the bodies have rusted too much, so normally, the panels that we would be selling on (panels, seats, dashboard, carpet, lights etc) would normally have much more wear and tear on them so we just sell them on the online market places etc but you may be best finding a specialist as the parts would be worth a lot more I would think.

Have fun building the Exocet and there is plenty of help and info on here

Kind Regards
Jason

[phaeton]

If it is such a low mileage car which has been garaged all its life why are you parting it out, forget the emotional side, why not sell that car as is, then buy another to tear apart, that surely would be more financially beneficial?

[hutchey]

May 9, 2024 6:53:30 GMT phaeton said:

If it is such a low mileage car which has been garaged all its life why are you parting it out, forget the emotional side, why not sell that car as is, then buy another to tear apart, that surely would be more financially beneficial?

Absolutely. You'll get far more for it as a whole, especially if there's next to zero rust on it.
Then buy a cheap rusty as hell one and use that for the exo

[exo2k]

Phaeton: In short - My biggest worry is 'Will I bite off this project and not complete it' and not 'Can I save 8k by buying an old parts car over a brand new one.'

I was torn between creating a kit from a donor car versus a full kit (I was leaning towards a SL-C) where I have to buy a crate engine / diff / brake setup. I'm mechanically inclined and I've built a lot of thing, but I've never dipped into car repair or modification - so going from Working -> Torn down -> Rebuilt seems to make more sense than starting from 0 -> Built. This is why I chose the Exocet as a kit.

Then, my next concern was "How will I know what needs fixing if I buy a worn out donor." I wanted the 'Working' state to be as close to perfect as possible so diagnosing things was easier. Money isn't a complete non-issue: I want to be aware of what my spend is. But I feel like I will spend more time trying to get it to turn over and run if I don't start with a Miata that's as close to perfect as possible.

Finally, I've insured it and I'm enjoying it now as is. This is while Exocet preps my order to ship to me. If I'm not satisfied with my tenure as a Miata owner then I'll hunt for a cheaper donor before gutting it - otherwise I'll pass on my parts to someone else so they can revitalize their car.

[exo2k]

hutchey: There isn't next to zero, there is zero rust.

imgur.com/a/7KRDegZ

I'm pretty sure that I'll get some pushback from the Miata community about tearing this apart - but it gives me the best chance of starting and finishing the Exocet.

[wishful4444]

"But I feel like I will spend more time trying to get it to turn over and run if I don't start with a Miata that's as close to perfect as possible.
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It seems perverse to sacrifice a good car to build another car.

If you are so concerned about your abilities consider:

1 Should you be attempting the build?

or

2 Buy a donor car that does need you to learn.

If you run into problems there are probably members who can assist you or you could call in a mechanic.

Even with a perfect donor you are still going to have to deal with problems. It will not be straight forward.

Whatever you do I wish you well with the project.

[phaeton]

May 22, 2024 18:14:43 GMT exo2k said:

Phaeton: In short - My biggest worry is 'Will I bite off this project and not complete it' and not 'Can I save 8k by buying an old parts car over a brand new one.'

I was torn between creating a kit from a donor car versus a full kit (I was leaning towards a SL-C) where I have to buy a crate engine / diff / brake setup. I'm mechanically inclined and I've built a lot of thing, but I've never dipped into car repair or modification - so going from Working -> Torn down -> Rebuilt seems to make more sense than starting from 0 -> Built. This is why I chose the Exocet as a kit.

Then, my next concern was "How will I know what needs fixing if I buy a worn out donor." I wanted the 'Working' state to be as close to perfect as possible so diagnosing things was easier. Money isn't a complete non-issue: I want to be aware of what my spend is. But I feel like I will spend more time trying to get it to turn over and run if I don't start with a Miata that's as close to perfect as possible.

Finally, I've insured it and I'm enjoying it now as is. This is while Exocet preps my order to ship to me. If I'm not satisfied with my tenure as a Miata owner then I'll hunt for a cheaper donor before gutting it - otherwise I'll pass on my parts to someone else so they can revitalize their car.

Your car you do as you please, but I still maintain it's going to cost to more in the long run, this immaculate car will still need all the 20+ year bushing replacing, just like one that has done 100K, you also currently have a very sellable item which has a huge following, you are going to turn in a thing with a very niche market, not sure exactly what it is you are worried about by buying a well used model, all the pars which fail & rust depending where you live are thrown away & the items of longevity are kept, but as I said it's your car to do with as you please but I would not go down the road you are intending to take.


Over here I can buy a 1.8 with rust for £400 about $500, what you currently have would fetch at least £5000 roughly $6500, so to me you're sinking $6000 into a build that you don't have to.