We parked my gf's Kia and one of my cars in front of our condo building for like 5 days to hold the 2 front spots for our moving truck... constant people dropping off food deliveries or people around those 2 spots even though they're no parking/no stopping... sure enough her Kia has a huge scrape on the back bumper. It's crazy how many people hit other cars and don't have any moral compass for owning up to it, just drive off like it's not their problem.

So before I moved to Calgary, I had 6 cars and sold 2 of them... a 1987 BMW E30 325e and a 2003 Lexus IS300 SportCross. Now, I've always wanted a NC Miata specifically a 2008 special edition in icy blue with the dark brown leather interior after I saw a younger girl at autocross driving one once and learned about the model. They only made about a hundred for Canada all of them I believe are PRHT and a couple had popped up recently in Ottawa, 1 with only 22,000ms on it but some weird repaints and leather damage... the other one rusty as shit and high mileage. Then I got an autotrader notification and there was a 3rd one for sale and it was in.... CALGARY. Well, that's obviously the universe trying to tell me something, and since I was down to 4 cars which is like... the unlucky death number and all, I set about contacting the (elderly) owner and, with the help of my best friend who lives in Calgary, buying it remotely.

When I arrived in Calgary, I was able to register it and get AB plates pretty easily despite having a BC license and just anecdotally telling the girl at AMA my Calgary address with no real proof at all lol...

Long story short, I love it. There are some niggles to address, like the NC1 has this awful hard plastic and ribbed elbow rest on the both the door and centre console and, inexplicably, the door cupholder is placed in exactly the right place to dig into your thigh, so I've got a NC2 door panel and centre console pieces en route to swap those over.

That said, the first thing I did with the car after getting it is run it to 9/10ths of its capabilities keeping up with a group of supercars on a very entertaining indirect drive to Kelowna and back with my best friend and some other guys he knows that I had never met. Obviously the Miata did NOT fit in with that quality of cars, but in the absence of my Supra which hasn't made its way to Calgary yet, I had a lot of fun. Check out my post in the Travel forum for details on that.

How the trip started:
https://i.imgur.com/XbJRzdW.jpeg

How the trip ended... you got a dirty little mouth Miata:
https://i.imgur.com/oRxmT1N.jpeg

:ahwow:

Went down for Toyotafest at Griots and won best subcompact and rhd. Also swapped over the set of TE37 that came with my Yaris


https://i.postimg.cc/X7Q7zdfP/PXL-20...2180-NIGHT.jpg

The stock suspension is garbage and it's a well known issue. Pick up some coils and a tune the car will be amazing.

^^ this a million times. And don't just bandage fix it with sway bars -- it won't do the car justice, and you'll end up needing to put some coilovers in anyway LOL~

NC1 at this age could likely need a little TLC to keep it in good running conditions. Off the top of my head:

- coolant reservoir -- if the OEM plastic unit looks yellow, replace it asap. The more yellow it is, the more urgently you need to replace it, either with another OEM plastic unit, or with an aftermarket metal unit

- clean your drains -- it's probably less of an issue with PRHT cars, but still, clean your drains.

- cowl water leak prevention -- watch this video, and just seal the plastic thing with caulk / sealant:


- probably a good idea to change the diff fluid

- Don't use a GL5 tranny fluid even though the owner's manual says it's OK. It isn't. Make sure it is GL4.

Have fun!

Yah gonna go over it in the winter, it only has 58,000mms on it so it’s pretty clean but also 16 years old already lol

Wow, that's awful.

What happens if someone were to use GL5 vs. GL4? Are there known documented reports of bad symptoms? I presume factory fill is GL4.

I was reasonably well versed at one point in time why GL5 was not a good idea in the NC transmission, but the exact reason has eluded me now. A quick search on Miata.net suggests that some owners might have experienced pre-mature synchro wear because of certain additives in the GL5 fluids. Might have had something to do with the GL5 additives sticking to brass synchros causing them to more easily slip or something? I don't really remember. GL4 does not have those additives, and they are only slightly more diffiult to find than GL5 fluids.

I seem to remember using Motul Motyl Gear -- a GL4/GL5 fluid -- in the car for a year, and in the cooler months, shifting from 1st to 2nd was pretty difficult until the car/tranny warmed up. No such thing ever happend once I started using the Motorcraft / Redline GL4 fluids.

Ford Motorcraft Synthetic Transmission Fluid, part # XT-M5-QS is a favourite among NC owners, and I love it for the buttery smooth shifting I get from it. But it doesn't stand up to track use all that well.

Redline MT-90 is not as smooth in cold temps as the Motorcraft fluid, but it stands up better to track use.

Amsoil has a GL4 tranny fluid too, and a friend uses it on his NC. But I have never tried it myself before, so I can't comment on how well it works.

XT-M5-QS unicorn juice. I used it in all my Mazdas

It’s a shame. I’m just gonna see how much of it buffs out and see if I can live with it. Wait the 2 years before fixing it just in case some jackass decides to not pay attention.

I am personally not a huge fan of Redline gear oil on street driven applications. It sucks when cold and takes a while to warm up, and that’s only when it starts to work.

https://i.postimg.cc/2jXsLnBd/20240920-183010.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/VkXphTZ4/20240921-142226.jpg

Down in Ocean Shores for the weekend for the annual MR2 thing.

^^ is it gonna rust now

Next owner's problem... lol

I thought you drove it to the beach to let the ocean swallow it away. :suspicious:

Isn’t that a g90 ? That Bentley fighting Korean thing a ma bob that’s like 120k ?!?! You treat it like trash!!!! (I approve)

after seeing a clean example in-person, this is one of only 2 NC exclusive colours i want, congrats

also thanks to this page i got a bit more motivation this week to finally use the ford unicorn tears sitting there for a year so lol

I want an NC in yellow. That's the only one I want. I think they only made it in PRHT though which is a bummer because I don't want PRHT

According to someone on Miata.net:

I love that colour - my second fav next to the original Velocity Red LE version (2006).

https://i.ibb.co/fNvQyHq/IMG-1930.jpg

Anyone want to buy a minty motorcycle? :D Looking to move up to a litre-ish bike.

Sweet Jesus :sweetjesus:

Im pretty sure I can hear your exhaust from Richmond.

At least it’s better than this fuck face kid in my neighborhood who rides this ghetto blacked out ninja 250 with no exhaust. It sounds like ass and it’s loud as fuck. If I ever find him I’ll shove a potato in his hole

Baffle out is bloody loud...but my wife can hear me coming home from a half km away and opens the garage door for me :fullofwin:

https://i.imgur.com/fqQqINE.jpeg

Got a front splitter installed.