Fab Fours

1 – Four is the only number in the English language for which the number of letters in its name is equal to the number itself. 2 – People have four canines, four incisor and four wisdom teeth. 3 – Four is considered an unlucky number in Chinese, Korean, and Japanese cultures because it sounds like the word “death.”
4 – In tarot, card No. 4 is “the Emperor.”

The cockpit of the Miata is a warm place to be. A known issue is the fresh air venting. It draws air from the cowl area and by the time it gets from there to the interior of the car it is considerably warmer than the outside air. I’ve tried nearly all the suggestions on Miata.net, but the air is still warm. Some one on the forum did something about it and created this neat little air scoop thing that mounts on the windshield header when the top is down. Maybe next spring we will invest in one of the Cool Breeze Scoops, $41 with shipping.

For now I have invested $25 in solving the other source of unwanted interior heat, the transmission tunnel. The exhaust pipe and premuffler run right along underneath the tunnel on the driver’s side and after an hour or so of driving you can toast Pop Tarts between the tunnel and the driver’s seat cushion. This morning I pulled the seats and console out of the Emperor out. I folded back the carpet, so I could line the transmission tunnel and for good measure most of the floor pan with Reflectix using shiny foil duct tape. It took a couple hours to cut and tape around the seat mounting points, E-brake, a couple of wiring harnesses and the rubber shift boot.

Speaking of shift boots, mine was cracked/ripped and this also lets in heat big time. Not only was the large inside boot in need of replacing, but the smaller boot that seals the transmission turret to the shifter was blown as well. This is another reason the Cool Breeze Scoop will wait, it’ll cost $46 to buy replacements for both these rubber pieces.