1997 Miata Original Options
 

My mid-life crisis Miata was purchased on ebay a few years back and it has been a great car to bring back to near-new condition. A previous owner had installed a "style bar" but I have decided to make it go away. Unfortunately the installation butchered the mounting and trim. These affected trim panels were found and purchased online at a reasonable cost, so now I need to find out IF this model had a body brace as an option. I have seen photo's of this bar and it looks like it attaches to the same trim as did the style bar.
Anyway, van anyone confirm that this WAS an option? Better yet, where could I locate this part?

It was standard on the '97. All NA's had it from '93 or '94-up I believe. Junkyard should be full of them. I'm not sure if I still have a spare one but the shipping would be more than the local "u pull it" junkyard would want for one.

Thanks SixShooter
 

Thank you for the validation of this part. I went online and found a used one on Ebay for a very reasonable price and snatched it up. I am for sure taking the old style bar out and putting this brace back in place until I can afford to put in a Hard Dog roll bar. I do not use this fun little car for anything more than "spirited" driving on twistie roads with our SOCALM ( Southern Calif. Miata Club ).

The Hard Dog rollbars are very well made. The special high density padding kit and cover are a MUST to keep from cracking your noggin open if you are ever rear ended and are very well done.

Roll Bars
 

So SixShooter, how difficult is it to install one of these things? I do have some mechanical abilities and a pretty good tool box. I understand some drilling through the floor is part of this install, so do I need to beg, borrow or steal a heavy duty drill or will my good old Craftsman plug in work OK? One or two man installation? Thanks for your good input, btw, on the brace. I picked one up on E bay for about $33 incl. shipping. I assume it will be an easy install.

The brace bolts right in.

The rollbar installation is pretty easy. There is a little trimming of package shelf sheet metal and plastic trim necessary. An angle drill attachment for my Craftsman drill proved helpful in one spot. Step drill bits can be useful as well, but aren't necessary. Getting a hand lifting it in and out of the car during installation is better than doing it alone.