After the demise of my 1990 Miata I bought a 2001 Midnight Mica Blue Miata
So far I have made the following improvements:
Momo Leather Shift Knob
K&N Air Filter
Yellow Brake Caliper Paint
Detachable Luggage Rack
Enthuza M2 Exhaust
Leather Brake Boot
Leather Shift Boot
Hard Dog Roll Bar
Interior Courtesy Lights.
The only problem that I have had is the dreaded clutch shudder problem which was recently fixed under warrantee. Other than the clutch problem the car has been 100%. I have added a few goodies and I have a few more ideas for upgrades up my sleeve.
A Little Bit About My Upgrades...
I wanted to help my Miata breathe a bit so I got a K&N air filter which is supposed to have better air flow and clean more crud than the stock filter. Not a very expensive item, I may upgrade to a monster flow intake. In order to get the bad air out, I recently replace the stock muffler with an Enthuza unit. This thing is great. Installation is a snap, it looks great and sounds even better. They claim a 5 HP improvement, to boot. The unit is not really much louder than the stock unit, but it has a deeper clean sound to it. Much better than the wimpy sound of the stock unit, and you won't wake up your neighbors when you come home late at night. Highly recommended upgrade.
I thought it might be a good idea to protect my noggin just in case. A added a Hard Dog Hard Bar for this. It also looks great. The installation is very simple and does not require any metal work, although you do have to cut some vinyl pieces that cover the seat belt mechanism. I hope I never have to test its efficacy, but until then I think it looks nice.
I got yellow brake caliper paint to spruce up the brakes since they are so visible. The product is an epoxy based material, you mix the two parts and it hardens into a very tough coating. It's not really paint in the usual sense. It is supposed to protect the metal from corrosion, but it is mostly a cosmetic addition in my case. Applying the paint is a real pain, but with a little patients and a couple of hours, I got it right.
I added a leather brake boot, it is the "loose fit" one from Moss. A pretty nice unit, reasonably priced. I wanted the shift boot to match, so I replaced the stock vinyl one with a leather one. A subtle but definite improvement, and it should age better. I also added a Momo leather shift knob which is a HUGE improvement over the stock unit. It's pretty much the same size as the original, with a kind of bulge to the front, it looks like it really belongs there, the original knob was a pretty good size and shape but the material looked kind of cruddy. The knob also feels great. Momo knobs use little screws to lock it in place, they don't screw on like the stock. It takes quite a bit of futzing to get it on right, but its definitely worth the effort.
I added interior courtesy lights, also from Moss. These lights are fantastic. There are already holes in the console for them, you just snap the lights in. I don't know why Mazda does not have lights in there in the first place. All I can say is, if you have a Miata, get these lights. You have to spend some time upside-down with you head in the dash to get get to the power source, but other than that the installation is a piece of cake.
I wanted to be able to carry something larger than a shaving kit, but didn't want a permanent rack. I got a removable luggage rack, once again from our friends at Moss. It's a very nice unit, and goes on and off in about 10 minutes or so. Now you can pick up somebody at the airport, or buy stuff at the store. I believe the rack maker has a thing you can get that allows you to mount skis. I think driving the Miata in snow would be more intense than most black diamond trails, however.