Mazda Miata MX- 5 Performance Projects [Paperback]

Keith Tanner (Author)

Book Description

Series: Motorbooks Workshop | Publication Date: December 2003

The Mazda Miata MX-5 has been a popular car among automotive enthusiasts for more than a decade, and hardly a single one of the more than 500,000 sold has not been customized by its owner in some way. This book provides specific how-to instructions through approximately 35 projects that include both maintenance and modification procedures. Each project is treated separately, giving readers very specific information about the commitment in time, tools, money, and talent for each project.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Grassroots Motorsports, December 2007

“This one is a great handbook for any Miata owner … In fact, the DMV should hand these out to anyone registering a Miata.”

 

Hemmings Sports & Exotic Car, January 2008

“Anyone who owns or is contemplating buying a Miata would do himself a service by picking up this book.”

MX-5 club of New South Wales (AUS), June 2007

“It enables the history of this amazing car to be contained in the one edition. For new buyers, here is an opportunity to obtain the complete history of the MX-5, from NA to NC, in the one volume.”

 

CoreMazda.com, Nov. 4, 2007 (views per month unavailable)

“Its great loads of great pics and tips and things about spec.”

About the Author

Keith Tanner has been working on Miatas for over a decade and works as a technician at Flyin' Miata. He spends his days modifying, repairing, dismantling, and providing technical support for Miatas. He's published two other books in the Motorbooks Workshop series; Mazda Miata MX-5 Performance Projects and How to Build a Cheap Sports Car and has also written a number of magazine articles.

Product Details

• Paperback: 112 pages
• Publisher: Motorbooks; 1st edition (December 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0760316201
• ISBN-13: 978-0760316207
• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 8.2 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #171,678 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #71 in Books > Professional & Technical > Automotive > Trucks & Vans
  • #75 in Books > Professional & Technical > Automotive > Customize

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great for all levels of Miata Enthusiasts, December 23, 2003

By 

"gumballmiata" (Ottawa, ON Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mazda Miata MX- 5 Performance Projects (Paperback)

Keith Tanner knows the Miata and he is great at passing along his experience and knowledge.

I'm no mechanic extraordinaire but I have always wanted to have a fun car to work on so I bought a 1990 Miata. Since purchasing the car I have been through several of the projects listed in his book. Each time it was Keith's guidance and experience that made me feel comfortable with what I was doing. It is really nice to have re-assurance when you are drilling holes in your car and or bashing parts of it with a hammer. The older cars like mine don't always give up easily like the newer ones.

Thanks to Keith my car has achieved a level beyond stock that I'm very happy with. The overall cost/effort involved was quite reasonable and that was important. Keith does a good job letting you understand the cost (money, effort, etc..) versus reward (power, responsiveness, etc..). This lets you pick the projects that help you change your car into something that better suits you within limits that suit you.

I strongly recommend this book to any Miata owner with an interest in maintaining/modifying his own car. With this book in hand it is very unlikely my near 14 year old car will ever be back in the dealer shop again.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Don't work on your Miata without this book, July 20, 2007

By 

Brian Lopez (Bayonne, NJ USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Mazda Miata MX- 5 Performance Projects (Paperback)

For those who don't know, the author works at Flyin Miata; the premier Miata performance supplier in the US. His knowledge is extensive; so much that I consider him the most knowledgeable Miata enthusiast around. It shows in this book.
The book is well written, easy to understand, and effectively helps the reader tackle projects normally left to a professional. The most common projects are covered.
A must have for those who want to save money and work on their cars on their own.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book for services or a summary, March 24, 2007

By 

K. B. Hollund "neXib" (Norway) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mazda Miata MX- 5 Performance Projects (Paperback)

If there's anything you want to do with your Miata it's probably in here. It doesn't go into heavy detail on each job, but it sums it up well, lists the needed tools and tells you about things you might encounter and how to handle them. If you are absolutely clueless about mechanical work you can't use this alone, but it's very nice for something Miata specific and how to do things easily well described by an expert that have done it many times. Keith Tanner uses easy to understand words and it is all basic enough even for us that haven't got an engineering degree. I recommend it for all Miata owners, worst that can happen is that you just look at the pictures.