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When we left the Kroger store parking lot to go buy some gas for the still fanged Emperor, Donna asked, “Are the lights on?” I said, “Yes. It just looks like they aren’t on because we are in a well lit parking lot.” We filled up with gas and headed home. About halfway there I noticed that we seemed to be missing the right headlight. That was confirmed when we pulled into the garage.
This is the first time I have ever had a burnt out headlight in a Miata. Not just this one, but in the first two either. Twenty two years without a headlight going bad. Watch, one of the new ones will burn out in a week and I’ll never go another year without one or the other headlights going bad.
Went back out in the Purple Whale and drove to Advanced Auto to buy a new bulb. Before I went I checked the Owners Manual to see what bulb I needed, low beams on my year car are HB4. At the store there is an aisle full of bulbs and I searched and searched , but couldn’t find an HB4 bulb to save my life. I checked a cross-reference guide they had there and it said I needed a 9006 bulb for that application. Those they had plenty of, just not in single packs. I ended up buying a pair of Sylannia Silver Star 9006 bulbs and left the store $38 poorer.
I sure hope I’m wrong about what I wrote in the 2nd paragraph.
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The Emperor returned to his throne room this afternoon after a 2 day trip to the spa. His timing belt and water pump were changed, along with all his vital fluids at 122,970 miles.
Notes to self:
Call the embroiderer tomorrow.
Pick up the dry cleaning.
Schedule the Purple Whale’s 7500 mile service.
Started up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 1074
On Sunday I noticed the passenger side fog light was out (only one reflection in the shiny back doors of an SUV.) Tonight I popped on down to Advanced Auto and bought a new H1 bulb. I briefly considered a fancy new LED replacement, but they are roughly 3 times the cost and the LED portion is sometimes longer than the standard bulb, making fitment problematic.
As I sat on my butt on the garage floor removing the front right tire, so I could access the fog light housing, I had a distinct sense of deja vu. And it didn’t seem like too long ago that I was doing this same thing and to this same fog light. So to see if this a regular recurring thing I’ve added a “Fog Light Bulb” tag for tracking purposes.
The Emperor got the spa treatment today after work. Not just to wash the north Georgia bugs off, but the interior needed vacuuming to find a couple “dropped in the cockpit” items. At the Tallulah Gorge Overlook earthcache I lost the stylus for the Ipaq and it was presumed to be inside the car. Also, on the drive back from Hendersonville I dropped a maple covered peanut. Didn’t find the stylus, but did find the peanut.
And finally, because it is October, I remounted the Vampire Teeth in the mouth of the Miata.
Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 1071
Came home from work and plunked in the new battery in the Miata. I had to set the clock to the correct time, make the one radio preset for the CD Changer, set the radio volume leveler for top down motoring and took the Emperor out for a spin.
Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 1046
Spent a couple hours in downtown Augusta this afternoon. The Emperor was getting his hat repaired. On Monday we made a quick run to Jones St and Remond’s Upholstery to get an idea on what needed to be done about the delamination of the top’s fabric behind the passenger seat. Randy thought they he could do a fix that might get me another year before I had to replace the whole thing. He needed more time than any of us had that night so we made arrangements to return today.
Because he was who I bought the top from and did the install, he felt that I should have gotten more than 2.5 years out of it before it failed, so he offered to fix it for nothing. Because he wouldn’t take any money, Donna decided to bake him some of her famous chocolate chip cookies as payment. He glued a large piece of fabric over the tear area, covering it entirely, and extending it beyond where either of the top bows might move over during transitions. The fabric he used was a little “slipperier” than the top’s current lining. To make it even he did the same to the non-ripped driver’s side too. You can hardly pick out the repair work unless you know what you are looking for.
We dropped off the car and the dozen cookies and walked a few blocks south to the Mellow Mushroom for lunch. Afterward we walked along the Riverwalk. We were going to do some caching and attempted an Earthcache along the Riverwalk, but one of the requirements was a picture of us at GZ and the camera was in the trunk back at the upholstery shop. We tried one more, but because of where it was and the logs of those before us, we didn’t try very hard before giving up.
Started up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 979
Donna and I piled into Joan’s car this morning and drove back to up to the Modoc Trail in McCormick County to find the one that got away last weekend. We had received an unsolicited hint from the CO after he read our DNF log. We might have just chalked this cache up to a loss and moved on, but this is the first stage of a multi with about 16 stages that takes you on a tour all around the state of South Carolina. We figure we have lived here long enough that just maybe it is time for us to explore the place a bit and see what this state has to offer.*
*Imagine this sentence rendered in the sarcasm font.
The hint turned out to be no help because it told us to look somewhere we had already looked, but we had to give it try anyway. Seeing as we drove all that way and came up empty handed we tried a couple more caches over by Thurmond Dam. The first one we looked for was listed as kid friendly, so we figured we shouldn’t have any trouble with it. Wrong, apparently it was adult un-friendly as we came up empty handed.
There was one other cache, a short three stage multi, that was also on the South Carolina side of the base of the dam. Stage 1 was easy, but at stage two you needed to get a date that was to be found on top of a stone column for the coords for Stage 3. Unfortunately there was no plaque on top, just a metal lid with a padlock covering the column. We got the north coordinates by counting the flood gates, but still needed the two digits of a day in July 1980 to add to the last three digits in the Stage 1 west coordinates to get the final stage’s west coords. Being patriotic Americans we started by plugging in the number generated by using July 4, 1980. That took us to the middle of the parking area for a boat ramp. Hmmm, no good. So I created a waypoint for the first of July and then another for the 31st. Because we had the north coordinates the cache had to lie somewhere on a line between July 1st’s waypoint and the 31st’s waypoint. Knowing that, and reading the clue, it allowed us to make the find, with Joan making the actual grab. Time constraints sent us home after this so we could up our Find/DNF ratio.
This afternoon the Emperor got a transfusion and had his socks swapped with his gloves (oils change and tire rotation.)
Started down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 956
Changed the oil and rotated the tires on the Emperor this afternoon. I used the California Duster to remove the road fur from yesterday’s trip and washed all the windows. Sprayed a little Quick Detailer in places to get off some random gunk and treated the tires so they shine. Even vacuumed the interior.
As long as we are doing the Georgia State Park Challenge we might as well do the the GA County and GA Delorme Challenges as well. There are 42 State Park caches, 159 counties and 59 map pages, but you really need 63 caches because this challenge requires you to find a cache on the page inserts too. That would be 264 unique finds, so unlike in South Carolina we are going to take the easy route, any cache found, can and will be, used towards multiple Challenges. So right now we have 4 State Parks, 19 counties and 17 pages.
On yesterday’s trip there were several caches along our route we didn’t even try for because of time and motivational issues and there was one in particular that I’m glad we didn’t get, Cache Across America — Georgia. That’s right, a challenge with the requirement to find a cache in all 50 states and not just any cache, but the 50 picked out just for it.
Started up, went down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 893
This morning as I opened the garage door there occurred a loud BANG! Over my head the garage door spring banged into the support bracket. I was headed out to wash the car, but instead I made a trip to Home Depot. Bought new springs and a couple of new eye bolts. I really needed just one to replace the one that got mangled when the spring smashed into it, but figured why should one new spring be jealous of the other over an old eye bolt.
Inside the box with the springs were two long pieces of wire that were probably there as some sort of safety thing, but the instructions on the box didn’t really spell out how they were to be used. I installed the new springs and because they were a little shorter that the current ones I had to adjust the cables a little. It wasn’t until then that I figured out how the cables worked. Trouble was to install the safety cables I would need to totally disassemble what I had just completed. That was not going to happen. I may have to engineer something to retro fit the safety wires. I got lucky this time because I didn’t have the safety wires and the spring broke on the end it did. If it had busted on the eye bolt end and not the pulley end it might have hit the door and bounced around instead of just slamming into the support.
The reason I was opening the garage door was to go out and change the Emperor’s oil and rotate his tires which I now proceeded to do, just a couple hours later. While I had the car up on jack stands with the wheels off, I did a couple of maintenance items. I have had a high pitched chirping noise that was only noticeable in the early morning when driving through our quiet neighborhood. It would totally disappear when I pushed in the clutch pedal. The most common cause of this is the clutch actuating fork vibrating against the slave cylinder’s operating rod. The cure for this to slap a bunch of grease on the fork where the rod hits it. Luckily I had some bicycle wheel bearing grease in the cabinet that fit the bill. The other thing was to check and see if the brake slider pins needed lubricating.
Last year when I had the stuck pin someone at work recommended using a copper based lubricant instead of the usual tube of whatever that you get at the auto parts store. I checked with the hive knowledge of the Miata.net forums and while I didn’t get a unanimous opinion that it was a great idea, I didn’t get enough negative comments to rule it out, so I decided to run a test, one side got the usual lube and the other got the copper stuff. Today when I checked them one side was fine, but the other was stuck pretty good. Guess which one was bad? Go ahead guess. Right, the one where I used the non-traditional copper based anti-seize lube. I could back out one pin by twisting and pulling. The other was going to need more persuasion, so I unbolted the bracket and locked in the bench vise. I grabbed an open ended wrench and a hammer and started to tap on the wrench to force the pin out. After about 3 or 4 taps is wasn’t moving, so I decided to hit it a bit harder when BANG! I hit my thumb. I did a little dance accompanied by some vocals before returning to the task where I did get finally get the pin out. I now have a pencil eraser sized black spot on my left thumbnail.
One pin was pretty scarred up and the hole in the caliber bracket the pin slides into wouldn’t come clean either. To fix this I cleaned up the easy to remove pin, a pin I had extra from last year’s brake job and I re-used last year’s bad bracket (which had been cleaned up and saw a brief stint as a napkin holder.) After getting everything all buttoned up I made a tour of the neighborhood to test out the brakes, they worked just fine. I am going to take the scarred up pin and bracket into work and drop them on the desk of the fellow who suggested the copper lubricant…
To finish off the Emperor’s spa day I gave him a bath and an interior vacuuming tonight.
I bet you’re wondering how we did geocaching today. We didn’t have a single DNF, of course we didn’t have a single find either because after our extreme up and down days on Saturday and Sunday we figured a day off might be good for our mental health.
Started up, went down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 717
 We were 5 of 7 in geocaching this morning. This afternoon I finally did change the oil and rotate the tires on the Emperor. While I was at it I gave him a bath too. He got quite dirty yesterday when Donna had me drive up and down the local dirt roads trying to catch a glimpse of horse drawn carriages.
Before yesterday’s running of the first “jewel” of Aiken’s Triple Crown (the flat races) there was supposed to be a carriage parade. Seeing as we were not interested in the races and too cheap to spend the $10 a piece to get in and watch the actual parade, we guessed at the start point and cruised the dirt roads looking for it. Alas, there was no external parade, the carriages came to the horse track in there own good time. We stopped near the entrance where Donna jumped out to take a couple photos of the two carriages already inside the grounds and then we drove down a rutty, muddy road looking for more. we did find two more making their way to the track, including these two ladies all dressed in purple.
Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 557
This was our Friday afternoon off and I put it to good use by replacing the back brake pads on the Emperor. Donna put it to good use by having the time to try out a shrimp salad recipe she saw on a Barefoot Contessa cooking show.
I spent the evening plotting out caches along routes for the two statewide challenges we are doing. Now we just have to hope that on Sunday we don’t get the 60% chance of rain, but fall into the 40% no rain range. And she spent the evening watching Food TV looking for other meals to try out in case we fall into the 60%.
Started up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 392
I bought the Samsung HTIB today and when I got it home it talked to the TV just fine. I can now turn on the surround sound system, leave it on, set it to D-IN and the TV remote controls the volume…apparently this is a standard function of the HDMI interface and each manufacturer calls it something different.
On a slightly different note, when I reset the TV to factory defaults the other day, I let it auto tune in all the channels it could find. It found some digital channels along with the regular ones. Most of the channels come back as “scrambled” and show nothing, but the music channels, they come in just fine. I wonder if Atlantic Broadband knows this?
Changed the Emperor’s oil and rotated his tires today. While I had the back wheels off I relubed the slider pins on the discs brakes. I had been getting a slight moaning sound when backing up right after coming to a stop. The right rear top pin was getting kind of rusty, but it cleaned up good, so I hope i won’t be sounding like I’m running over cats anymore. Oh, and the back pads were getting real thin, gonna have to replace them sooner than I thought.
Started down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 382
 We went for a nice little hike in Hitchcock Woods this morning, that is until we were stumped for the second time trying to find the Crazy Creek Cache. We tried three weeks ago and trampled the heck out of the hillside where this thing is located without finding it. Today we were confident that it wouldn’t elude us again, unfortunately all we did was delude ourselves. Also we didn’t know it at the time, but it set the tone for the rest of the morning. We tried two other caches more near downtown Aiken after we exited the woods and were stumped by both of them.
When the going gets tough, the tough go shopping, so we went to Kroger to get our weekly supply of groceries (at least there we found everything.)
I changed the oil and rotated the tires on the Emperor after shopping.
This evening we drove with some friends to Lexington for some deep dish goodness at the Uno Chicago Grill there. This is the very antithesis of last weekend’s pizza in Hendersonville. Donna and I knew better, sensing a large meal, we split a salad and a pizza for one. That was just enough, but regrettably when Rudy and Patti offered me a slice from their large pie, the still lingering great taste in my mouth overruled my common sense and I ate the tendered piece. It tasted great but sat heavy with me for the next couple hours.
Started down, went up, back down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 221
The correct parts for the Emperor’s brakes arrived at work this morning and within an hour and a half after getting home, major stopping power was returned. The first time I stepped on the pedal during a circuit of the block for testing, it was eerily reminiscent of the first time I drove a car with power brakes, an unexpected demonstration of Newton’s First Law of Motion.
More madcap ways to place a photo of you inside different images — Fun Box Photo.
My favorite:
Although this one is more appropriate because the photo I used is from my 1978 passport:
Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 156
…for baseball season. At least the FRS may not be. Last night I posted that they were tied with the MFY 1 to 1 in the 8th inning, well in the bottom of the inning the Yankees scored 6 runs, unearned runs mind you, to win the game 7–1.
I am ready for tonight’s episode of TDTVS.
I am also ready to get the brakes fixed, but that ain’t happening until at least Friday night now. The parts got to the dealer on Tuesday, but I decided I didn’t want to deal with driving 60 miles with the last 8–10 in hectic capital city traffic, so I had them ship the stuff to me. Parts arrived today and wouldn’t you know it, they were the wrong ones. I called the part’s guy back and he said, “Oh yeah, there are two kinds of brakes for your year car, you must have the hard suspension. I’ll get the right parts and ship them right to you and they should get there Friday.”
Started up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 152
We rode the tandem in to work today, and with Wednesday’s trip on it as well, this is the first time we have commuted by bike twice in one week in a looong time.
That bike ride was the highlight of my day. I managed to only finish half of the front brake job I had planned for the Emperor this afternoon. The left front went fairly easy. I say fairly because after 6–1/2 years and nearly 90,000 miles the brake rotor and wheel hub become very fast friends. The folks who make cars know this and they put a nice threaded hole through the disc so you can separate them by cranking down on a bolt screwed in there. But, it takes a scary lot of torque on that bolt before you hear that satisfying pop when the two pieces of metal finally separate. Also one of the caliper slider pins took a bit of coaxing to go back in because with the lube spread on it, the little noise abating rubber sleeve tended to slide out of it’s groove, preventing the pin from fitting in the hole.
On the driver’s side I got the pads off, pulled the caliper and then the bracket off, the second rotor came off easier than first, but then I hit a snag. The top caliper pin was frozen solid in the bracket with corrosion. I sprayed some penetrating fluid on it. Cleaned and lubed the other pin while I waited for the magic. I hammered on the pin and tried backing it out with a 17mm wrench with as much force as I felt comfortable with to no avail. I might have upped the force level by 50% or more, but I didn’t want to break the pin or bracket because we are a one car family and I needed to at least be able to put the car back together and have it operational.
Calls to the Augusta Mazda place, a Miata.net sponsor dealer and Advanced Auto asking about a replacement caliper netted me quotes of from “Can’t Get It” to $185 and we can order it. I then tried the Mazda dealer in Columbia where they still have to order it, but they will sell me just the bracket and pin for less than half the other guys wanted for a re-manufactured caliper and bracket.
I reinstalled the old parts back on the right side and took a drive around the neighborhood to set in the new stuff on the left. The car stops fine, but there is about 4″ more pedal travel. I’m attributing this to the increased travel the left caliper needs to make up for the nearly worn out pads on that side. Still I’ll be taking it easy though until I can get the new bracket and pin on Tuesday.
If that wasn’t bad enough, the motion sensing light quit working again. 
Started down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 147
We had to wait around the shop for an hour and a half past the promised time while they finished up the top install this afternoon. It is a Robbins Streamline Top and it looks a lot cleaner than the OEM unit because it lacks the top seams and the extra panel around the back window. The top is a different shade of tan, a bit darker and browner, but unnoticeable to probably everyone but me. That sucker is as tight as a drum and it took two guys at the shop to get it closed, so we’ll probably leave it up for a couple days to stretch out. Because the old top had stretched loose over the years it had become easy to ignore the fact that the passenger side top latch is broke, but now it is going to need fixing. The latch itself works, but the locking tab that keeps it shut has worn making it possible to come undone if I hit a big bump or something. Guess it is time to buy a new one…
Started up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 0
 Episode #22 is Kate-centric as she tries to get off the island on Micheal’s raft we find out more of her off island back story and just who belonged to that little plane and what happened to him.
Tonight the Emperor got a transfusion and a new kidney. While he was on the table I swapped his gloves with his socks. Friday he gets a new crown.
In one way I’m glad I live in a very red state, no robo calls bad mouthing the other guy clogging up my answering machine.
Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/08: 388
I made an attempt to eliminate a couple of unwanted sounds that the Emperor has been making tonight.
First up was a high pitched ringing or whine that it seems that only I and possibly certain breeds of dogs can hear. I’m hoping that this is what it was in the past, a singing clutch actuation fork. A bit of grease needs to be applied on the fork where the slave cylinder rod touches it. It seems like there was still some grease on there, but I applied some more and worked it around a bit.
Second was the annoying belt squeal, mostly brief when the AC kicks in and occasionally long, loud and embarrassing on damp morning start ups. I’ve been treating this issue with belt dressing with limited success and decided it was time to attempt to tighten the offending belt. I have been avoiding this because I didn’t think that I could manage it without making it worse. Turns out in the intervening 25 years since I last tried tightening an automotive belt they have made it easy. Once you’ve loosened the mounting bolt, there is now a fancy screw that you can tighten with a wrench which increases the tension. Heck, if I’d known that, I wouldn’t have had to listen to that squeal for the past year.
When I finished the maintenance I pulled out Meguiar’s Quik Detailer and gave the car a sponge bath.
Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/08: 326
 My first attempt with Version 1.0 my new Photojojo BikeCam. They advertise it as all it takes is $10 + 10 minutes to make a camera mount for your bike. The cost was free because I actually had all the bits and pieces laying around, but it took about 15 minutes to find all the bits in my *20-year draw.
Half way through the ride I found a bug that I will have to fix for Version 1.1, the camera started to rotate because the vibration of the ride had loosened the nut on the clamp. The fix should be a simple matter of swapping out of the plain washer for a locking kind.
I want to take a sort of strobe movie of our commute to work, you know take a picture every couple of minutes and make a little animation out of it. May have to do it on the way home though because the ride in is on the ragged edge of dawn.
Changed the oil and rotated the tires on the Emperor tonight about 800 miles past my usual maintenance point (oh well, better late than never) in preparation for a possible trip to Charleston. We were going to leave in the morning right after the MMC July breakfast, but we are now going to wait to make a decision until after the Tour de France coverage around lunchtime. It is going to depend on what happens with a storm that is just off the coast.
Started up, went down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/08: 256
 The floor is back in the second bathroom. The tub is in and the backer board is up around two sides, but the third side will have to wait until some plumbing work gets done. The new tub is about 4 inches taller than the old, so the old knobs just barely clear the new tub.
Came home from work and changed the Emperor’s oil. Rotated his tires too. 75,576. Yesterday when I decided to change the oil, I looked under the shelf in the garage where I keep a stash of OEM Mazda oil filters and didn’t see any, so when I bought the oil I picked up a PureOne filter (somebody was supposed to remind me not to.) After changing the oil, as I was putting away my drain pan and funnel, I noticed that stacked just to the left were three Mazda filters. Normally I keep the stock of filters inside the oil drain pan, when I checked yesterday, I didn’t see any in the pan, so I figured I needed one. Wrong.
Someone remind me next time that the filters aren’t in the drain pan (somebody other that the person who was supposed to remind me not to buy a PureOne oil filter…)
Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/08: 124
 I headed over to the closest LTS this morning to get the tire plugged. I walked up to the unmanned desk and spun the tire to get the nail facing up. When I did this I noticed a tear in the sidewall of the tire right to the inside of where the nail was. Yikes. The nail was a long framing nail and after puncturing the tread area (the initial clicking that went away) it must have gotten bent and worked its way over and punctured the sidewall (the squirming and rapid deflation.)
When the desk guy came out and asked if he could help, I told him, “Maybe not any more.” I showed him the sidewall and told him I realized that eliminated the easy fix. I asked if he might have a used tire in my size to tide me over ’til after the holidays. He searched and couldn’t come up with anything, so I asked what he had in stock in 195/15 x 15. He had a Michelin Raptor for $75. I thanked him and said I’d let him know.
When I got home I checked the Michelin website and could find no mention of a tire called Raptor. Searching the web led me to a Riken Raptor made by Michelin, but it doesn’t come in 15″ sizes, so what was that guy thinking? Next up I started calling the other 5 tire stores in town and discovered that 195/50 x 15 is not a popular size in these parts. I guess if it doesn’t fit a pickup truck or an SUV… Two of the local tire stores had something in that size, first place had some Kuhmo AST tires for $65 a piece and the second had some BF Goodrich g-Force Sports for $82. A little research let me toss out the Kuhmos as the AST is an all-season tire. The BF Goodrich’s were listed as an Ultra High Performance Summer, much better.
Headed off to Miata.net for more in depth research. A few tires got the best reviews, my current, but holy, Toyo T1R, The General Exclaim UHP and the Bridgestone Potenza RE750. I widened my search area and started calling Augusta tire stores. Nobody had any of those top three or anything else in my size. I checked in at TireRack.com for some reviews of the g-Force and was pleasantly surprised, it ranked 7th of all the Ultra High Performance Summer tires they sell
Merry Christmas your Highness — four new BFGoodrich g-Force Sports.
Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 497
At 23:30 hours last night, 68,278 miles from Earth, we lost contact with the Luminix probe after it’s last pass of the moon Bownce. All attempts to re-establish communications have failed. It is a great loss for the scientific community and we won’t be seeing any more of those cool photos.
Tonight in my driveway, just beating the darkness, I transfused the Emperor’s oil and did a kidney transplant. I also swapped his gloves with his shoes. Coincidentally the car’s odometer read 68,278.
Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 458
Or Robert Parker’s name for my home town of Aiken, SC. At least that is what he calls it in Spenser novel number 20, “Paper Doll.” Not nearly as exciting as the movie “Who’s Your Caddy” (which opens this weekend) that was filmed in Aiken I know, but it ranks right up there in my little life.
–> Bloggus Interuptus < –
Early in Chapter 12, “Never go unarmed on a murder case.” This one was not numbered and was just called one of Spenser’s best crime-buster tips. Guess I’ll just add it to the list at the top. and see what happens.
Took the Emperor back to the doctors as much as I hated to do the traveling, but they didn’t do something right, so they ought to fix it. Besides as Donna said, “This way I don’t have to cook.” We spent almost more time doing paperwork than the technician did adjusting the belt and about a half an hour later we were gone.
I had picked a Japanese place, Tsunami, off the web as a dinner spot for something different. We were off course early (5:30ish), which is how we like it, but apparently that is not a good time for the restaurant. Walked through the door and stopped at the hostess station. After less than a minute a Paris Hilton look-alike with a white top and black skirt came our way. Good, we were thinking, this must be the hostess. She walked right behind us and shouted down to a couple of waitress types, “Can I get a server up here.” One of the waitresses shouted back something like, “I told Name to go to you.” Dona and I looked at each other and said, “Guess we won’t be eating here.”
So we went across the street to Jimmy John’s Gourmet Sandwiches. We wanted to eat at a place that we didn’t have in Aiken and this was it. Turns out it was just a sub place, good and just a little different. We split a Vito, some chips and a Sprite.
Meal Cost: $7.48
Tip: 0
Spent Today: $7.48
Year to Date: $1561.64
Meals out, 90 of a possible 609.
We we left the car I locked it up. I have been doing this ever since we went up north a month ago. I’m hoping someone will slit the top to steal something out of the interior, so that the insurance company will buy me a new top. This one is going to develop a hole soon and if I can get them to foot the bill it would be nice. Donna says, “Why don’t I just cut it myself.” I can’t do the crime, facilitate a little I’m OK with, but I can’t commit it.
Started up, went down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 290
 Changed the oil in the Emperor and rotated the tires. I did it a little early in preparation for our driving trip to the northeast starting next weekend. Then later in the day we changed our plans for the trip for the 8th and final time. We’re now flying into DC and renting a car. I say final because we are now locked in to some non-refundable airplane tickets. Two days in our nation’s capital, two days of who knows what, two days visiting my family in CT and two in NJ, before driving back to DC to get on a plane for SC.
I may get a second chance to sign the Ultimate Drive northern fleet’s signature vehicle that I forget about last Thursday in Columbia because they will be in Sterling, VA on Monday, April 8th. Its a mere 30 miles from where we are staying in DC.
We went for a tandem ride after I got done with the car. Cruised through some neighborhoods and hit a couple places to shove some bills into slots and then the Post Office to mail the rest. We ended up tallying over 15 miles, which is about 5 more than the last few rides and it felt pretty good. A few more weeks of 2 rides per and we’ll be ready to tackle a 25 mile loop. We have gone so far as thinking of adding some rack to the tandem so we can try to ride it to work some Fridays.
I re-upped for citizenship in the Red Sox Nation tonight. It was supposed to happen automatically, but they had the number on file of my comprised card that is no longer valid, so it didn’t happen. Tomorrow is opening day for the FRS in Kansas City, but the real season doesn’t start until Friday the 20th when the Bronx Bombers come to Fenway.
At approximately 9:40 PM my wife made the mistake of flipping through the channels and pausing long enough on USA for me to recognize what was showing — TDPM.
Will Turner: This is either madness… or brilliance.
Jack Sparrow: It’s remarkable how often those two traits coincide.
In other exciting news, with the 20% off coupon from Bed, Bath & Beyond that was in today’s paper, I got a new pillow for sleepy time. We bought a new one for Donna too.
Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 106
For the first time this year we went for a bike ride. Fifteen miles and by the time we were done we were glad to get off the thing. Amazing how easily you fall out of shape if you don’t do it often enough. If Donna and I actually verbalized, or in some other way memorialized, our New Year’s resolutions, every year this one would be right up there at the top — Bike Ride More Often.
This afternoon I took advantage of the warm weather to do a little Miata service. I changed the oil & filter at the 52,788 mile mark. Remind me to never buy a Pure One filter for the Miata again. One thing is that the filter wrench doesn’t fit it, but more importantly and maybe it was just this one, but it didn’t have the little rubber gasket that seals it to the engine block. This is something you don’t want to find out like I did either, after you have drained all the oil out of the engine in the only car you own. Makes it kind of hard to take it back to the parts store and complain. Fortunately for me the gasket from the Fram filter I took off, was an exact replacement for the missing one. I definitely have to go back to buying a six pack of OEM filters from a dealer.
The Emperor also got his monthly bath. When I looked in the car wash bucket I realized I was out of car wash soap. I didn’t feel like driving somewhere to pick some up, so I substituted. No I didn’t use dish soap, I know that it is too harsh and will remove all your wax. I used clothes detergent. Yeah, it probably is even worse for the finish of the car, but I was desperate and I was sure it would be OK for the cloth convertible top. At least I didn’t use Rose Petal scented bubble we have in the house, although in hindsight…
Started up, went down, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 19
 Yesterday morning when I fired up the car in the garage I could see that one of the fog lights, AKA DRLs, was out. On the way home from work we stopped at the local auto parts store and bought a new bulb. At first I thought, to be safe, I should change out both bulbs under the theory that if one goes the other can’t be far behind. Then I referred to the wealth of knowledge that only the internet could house, the blog known as “Life of Brian.” In July of 2005 I changed just the left fog light bulb and now a year and a half later the right one bit the dust. A decision was made to go ahead and replace just the bulb that burnt out.
Changing the bulb is the not so simple matter of jacking up the front of the car, removing the front wheel, removing a 10mm bolt, taking out 5 weird plastic screw/snap fasteners and bending back the fender liner. Then you unsnap a spring clip, twist to unfasten the bulb base from the housing, unclick the wiring harness connector so you can get the base & bulb out where you can see it and pull the bulb out of the base. reverse everything you just did the put it all back together. It takes about an hour. So if you had the dealer do it, it would set you back about $75. That’s just the labor, they would add about another $20 for the six dollar bulb…
Yesterday I wrote about my leave covered yard, today I posted a picture depicting just that. Yesterday I changed a fog light bulb in the car, today I posted about that. I guess I figured if that whole non-linear story telling thing worked for Tarantino in Pulp Fiction, why not for me here?
Started up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 496
 After breakfast in the condo Donna and I drove over to Roebling Road Raceway outside of Savannah, GA to see a couple of friends race in an SCCA Solo1 event.
John is a heck of a driver that I hate following through the twisty roads on MMC events, because I know if I try and keep up with him I’ll end up getting in trouble. On the road he drives with what seems like abandon, but he always keeps in on the pavement. On the track he is a terror and usually once an event he manages to find the dirt, but he still has wrapped up first place in the southeast region in the CSP class. The car he drives, and consequently the race team, was christened by his wife the day he brought the well used red early model Miata home from the dealer, POS (and I’m betting you can figure what those three initials stand for.) After these last few years POS now has an alternate nickname, the Money Pit. Hey, it keeps John off the streets, literally.
Today when we got to the track John made me an honorary pit crew member by giving me a ball cap embroidered with the words POS Racing and a small red Miata complete with his car number in the white meatball on the door. I’m not sure if you get to pick your own number, but John’s is 54 and I wonder if it has anything to do with his propensity to leave the track and Officers Toody & Muldoon.
When we got back from watching racing this afternoon I changed the oil and rotated the tires on the Emperor. At 48,840 the car was about at the halfway point between Mazda’s recommended service points of 45,000 and 52,500.
Started up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 446
 We did a little jean shopping this morning followed by a lunch ribs at Tony Roma’s. This afternoon was spent changing the oil and rotating the tires.
Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 350
My father wasn’t much of a presence and I’m not one at all, so today is pretty much just another Sunday.
Donna and I did take advantage of the nicer morning weather and go for a short walk in Hitchcock Woods. I took the camera and snapped a couple of uninspired images. I realized that I had started a gallery for one image from the woods per month and I was a couple months behind. I posted a shot from today and because May was a total wash out due to weather and chemo, I added a May photo from last year. Sorry, but the thumbnails in the gallery are still not working, so I’ll just link you right to today’s image: Palmetto Ride.
I did spend a little quality time with the closest thing I have to a son, the Emperor. Pulled the vampire teeth back out of the mouth as they had served their purpose. Changed the oil as it had served its purpose for the last 3000+ miles. I usually rotate the tires at this point, but these are only a couple hundred miles into their lives so I left them on their respective corners. I did take them off the car though. The center caps were starting to turn yellow, so I repainted them with some Duplicolor silver wheel paint. This was a known issue with these center caps, as in 1998 when they first appeared on the Miata, there was an undocumented TSB as the caps were turning yellow within a few months. I know the history of these wheels and they were replaced under warranty way back in late 1998. So the replacements have held up pretty well, needing retouching only after close to 8 years.
Started down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 210
In spite of their past mistakes, I went over the my LTS and had new Toyos installed on the car. Except for a brief interlude of the OEM Turdenzas on the Emperor when it was new, the last three sets of Miata tires have been Toyo T1-S’s in 195/50 x 15. An excellent summer tire with tons of grip, wet and dry, fairly light weight and pretty affordable. The T1-S is no longer made and has been replaced by the T1-R.
With the new tire purchase I decided to try and kill a couple of birds with the one stone of a set of T1-R’s in 205/50 x 15. The 205 is the width of the tire in millimeters and the 50 is the sidewall height expressed as a percentage of the width, so this means that the tire should appear to fill the wheel well better with its .2 inch taller sidewall. Second, according to the Miata.net tire size calculator, my speedometer will now read 1.7% low. This is a good thing because the stock speedometer appears to be almost 7% high right now and a little compensation the other way will help make it more accurate.
The LTS was busy and they told me it might be an hour and a half before they would have my car done. No problem I told them, I brought a book. True to their word, it took almost exactly that long. When I handed them the keys I reminded them the torque spec for the lug-nuts was 75 ft/lbs and asked them to at least start the lug-nuts by hand before they impacted them on because last time they stripped one of my studs. To which the guy behind the counter replied, “When you do as many tires as we do you are bound to strip a few.” Jeez, nice attitude.
When I got home the first thing I did was check the torque and it seemed about right as I loosened them all, at least I didn’t need a breaker bar to get them off. I then re-torqued all 16 to 75 ft/lbs. Next up I checked the tire pressure. The door jab sticker says that Mazda recommends that they be inflated to 26 p.s.i. I’m guessing they inflated them by counting off so many seconds, one Mississippi, two Mississippi…because the pressure ranged from a low of 34 p.s.i. to a high of 42. I used to run 29 p.s.i. in the T1-S’s, but these are supposed to have a slightly stiffer sidewall so I took them all down to 26 and we see how they feel. While I was doing tire things, I decided, what the heck, to go ahead and clean the tire installer’s greasy hand prints off my wheels. I don’t even want to get into the whole leaving the thin foil tire label on the treads so that they would slowly flake off leaving a trail right to my driveway from the store.
Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 194
We don’t get the Miata on an Interstate much and the last few times we did it showed some tire shimmy at 60MPH and again around 80 or so. Rotating the tires didn’t eliminate it totally, but did change its feel and speed of appearance. Seeing as we are doing a road trip this weekend that will encompass a good chunk of interstate I went to a different LTS and had the tires balanced. The Miata is fairly sensitive to balance issues because of the light weight wheel/tire combination and taught suspension. I’ll let you know how they did.
When I had the ticket written up I left a big hint that the torque spec for my lug nuts was 75 ft/lbs. I had tried that tact with the last place, but they didn’t get the hint (which is one of the reasons I’m at some place new.) These guys did good on this account as I checked when I got home in the driveway and the lug nuts were easily removable with the regular lug wrench. I then retorqued them back down to 75 ft/lbs.
They did made a weak attempt to sell me some new tires before balancing. The Toyos are nearly worn out, but I think I have another month on them. They were installed in October of 2004 when the car had a touch over 16,000 and we are fast approaching 40,000. That would mean I would get a respectable 25k miles on the set with this weekend’s trip and another 30 days of local travel.
Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 160
It doesn’t really qualify as a real wash, but yesterday morning before embarking on our little trip, I gave the Emperor a quick de-dirtifying with Meguiar’s Quik Detailer.
Changed the oil and filter this afternoon. And as I usually do I rotated the tires. It was nice not to have to tippie-toe around the partially stripped thread of the right rear wheel stud and lugnut this time. They were fixed a couple of weeks ago at the MMC Tech Day.
Changed the oil and rotated the tires today at 38,500ish, or about a hundred miles overdue. And for the second time in approximately 50 Miata oil changes I used a non-OEM filter. I realized I needed to change the oil somewhere on the road home from FLA last weekend, but the fact slipped my mind until like Friday night. By then it was too late to order it from my usual on line haunt and I just can’t bear to travel the 50 mile round trip to the nearest dealer (for several reasons) to buy one. On our Saturday morning shopping trip we went in to Advanced Auto and picked up 4 quarts of 10w30 Penzoil and a filter. Some schmo was monopolizing the jumbo book of filter compatibilities, so I asked at the counter. I gave the man the particulars and he asked which brand I wanted, “Fram, Puralator, Mobile1…” I said, “Whatever, they all filter oil, right?” I got a Fram, I think because it was first alphabetically.
After the Miata servicing we had just the right amount of daylight for a walk in the Woods. To change things up we drove to the other side of town to enter at a different spot. We had walked this particular section a couple times or more, but when the trail turned right to head further into the woods, Donna said, “Let’s go straight.” To which I replied, “That’s no a real trail, it ends right there.” But as I spoke she kept walking and I had no other choice but to follow her down the rabbit hole. The map I carry showed no trail, but sure enough, what looked like the end, merely resembled one as it turned into a narrow, windy, little used path down a hill. I was no too worried about getting lost as we were traveling along one edge of the woods and the railroad bed that was to our left was still there, just that it was now 30 feet above above trail level when it was once slightly below it. The map showed if we continued only this route we would come to a trail spur that would lead us back into the woods proper or if we continued past that we would come to the eastern edge of them and several officials trails. When we hit the spur we thought in for a penny, in for a pound and continued along in the uncharted territory. Unfortunately after only 50 yards or so we were confronted with an ugly 20–25 foot drop-off to a stream with a corresponding steep climb out on the other side. We quickly returned to the spur trail and finished our walk in a civilized manner.
Had I realized the Top Transition count was going to end where it did I just might had gone out in the garage and put it up before calling it a night.
Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 399
It has been raining lightly all day. I put up with it on the way to work. I suffered through it on the way home from work, but couldn’t take it anymore so I dropped Donna off and headed to Advanced Auto. The squeaky windshield wipers just had to be replaced.
I had contemplated buying some made out of silicone in hopes that I could get some that would last more than 6 months before starting to squeal, but the high cost was holding me back. It would cost a little more for one silicone blade than it would for a set of regular rubber ones. Plus there is lingering doubt in the back of my mind about their effectiveness. Admittedly it was 6 years ago and they have probably worked out the kinks, but I didn’t have any luck back in 1999 when I was given a free sample because I was the MMC President at the time. Read about it if you want.
Caution! Not work safe. The Pirelli Calendar. And depending on your spousal unit, may not be safe for home either.
Started up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 372
Did the 30k service this morning. Donna and her mom went out to a couple local festivals and I put the Miata up on jack stands under the awning where mom’s MSV usually resides.
Changed the oil and filter. I have been changing these items in my Miata every 3 months or so for nearly a decade and a half and it never ceases to amaze me how much oil will drain out of a horizontally mounted filter. Even more puzzling is that I try and place an old t-shirt in the same spot in an effort to catch this flow and occasionally I succeed and others I stain the concrete driveway in several, sometimes large, spots.
As usual I rotated the tires while I change the oil. Checked their air pressure and topped off at 29 psi (60 in the spare) where required. I even sprayed the tires with some ArmourAll foaming tire cleaner. As an experiment I sprayed the inside of the wheel wells with the foaming stuff too. Worked a lot better, blacker, than when I use a sponge in there when washing the car.
Changed the air filter. It was quite dirty. The manual says clean it at 30k, but I think the 8 bucks for a new one is the least I can do for his highness.
Changed out the spark plugs. The old ones didn’t look too bad, I probably could have re-gapped them and put them back in, but a fresh set of NGKs is, like the air filter, cheap medicine. I also installed 2 new spark plug wires. That’s right two. On the old Miatas there was a coil pack with the typical 4 wires running to the 4 spark plugs and the OEM ones were notorious for starting to break down after 20 to 40k. The 2001–2005 Miatas have a coil directly mounted to two of the plugs and a standard wire from those coils to the other 2 plugs. Recently I have been noticing a slight bit of engine roughness in the mornings when the car is cold and it seemed like new wires were called for.
I also dumped a half a bottle of fuel injector snake oil into the gas tank.
For good measure I “washed” the car using some Quik Detailer and a towel.
Tonight when Donna and I went out for a drive and some clothes shopping, the rough running was gone. Was it the plugs, wires, fuel injector cleaner or a combination of all three?
Started down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 347
Changed the oil this morning. As always I took this time to rotate the tires too. Jacked up the car and put it on 4 jack stands. This makes it easier to get to the drain plug and the filter. When spinning off the filter I always tuck a rag under where the filter is so the oil left in the filter will drip into it and not on the ground. Well, today I learned that khaki pants don’t do well when used for this job. The old cotton t-shirts absorb the oil, while khaki pants absorb a little and then act as a conduit for the oil to pour all over the underside of the car and then drip on the driveway. At least the tires rotated without incident, even the semi-mangled lug stud and lug nut cooperated fully.
After I put the car all back together, I went ahead and washed it. Had to use some bug remover on the nose to get off the stubborn bug guts off, so a quick bit of wax applied to the area. I keep reading about using a clay bar on the car and wonder if that would completely clean everything off the paint. But because it seems like such a production, maybe an all day affair, that I have been avoiding it. Maybe a fine fall Saturday could be set aside for that project.
Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 256
I’m not so sure how long it has been out, but someone told on my way out of the work parking lot tonight that one of the fog lights was unlit. I thought I was pretty conscious about checking to see if I could see two lights reflected in some surface of the car in front of me, but I guess I took it for granted that both lights were working in recent times.
The fog light bulb are standard 55 watt H1 bulbs, but for some reason the first two places I checked (Advanced Auto & Walmart) didn’t have them. Oh, they had the expensive Sylvania Silverstar bulbs for $18–20 each, but I wanted no part of them. Not only have they gotten a slightly bad rap on Miata.net, but if I bought just one the light from the fogs would be different from one another. I just wanted 1 plain ol’ halogen bulb for around $5, not 2 hoity-toity bulbs for $40.
Store number three, Autozone, was the answer. They had one left on the self for $5.99. They only fly in that ointment was the counter help was overwhelmed with customers and no one could break free to check me out. After several minutes a clerk asked if she could help me, but when I said I needed to check out, she said, “Oh, I can’t use the register.” About this time I was tempted to walk out, but considering what I went through to find this bulb, maybe the last one in town, I stuck it out a while longer. Cooling my heels I even considered tossing a ten spot on the counter and walking out, but before I could do anything rash, a certified register professional appeared as if by magic from the back and rang me up.
It took about 45 minutes to replace the bulb because you have to jack up the car, remove the front wheel and unfasten a half dozen screw and bolts to peel back a plastic wheel well liner to allow access to the bulb. If they had 2 bulbs I would bought both of them and changed out the passenger side as well. In my experience they usually go in pairs because they each are on for the same amount of time. Plus because I use the fogs as daytime running lights they are on whenever the car is on during the day, so they get quite a bit of use.
Started down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 239
Decided to go ahead and do my own 22,500 mile service today at 22,204. The Owner’s Manual lists 3 items for this interval, replace oil, replace oil filter and lubricate locks and hinges. Done, well all except for the lock lubrication, I don’t have the correct lube for them, so they will just wait until next time.
As I usually do, I rotated the tires while changing the oil. Well I got them half rotated. One of the lug nut nuts on the right rear tire must be stripped. I got about 5 or 6 turns out and it started to be hard to turn. I applied a little muscle, but after about another turn I feared for breaking something, so I stopped. Tried to spin it back on, but it wasn’t going that way either. Funny thing about that wheel, that is the one I thought I had a slow leak in about 6 weeks ago, and my friendly neighborhood tire store had it off and on a couple of times during that visit. The ever cynical me figures they mucked up the stud and/or lug nut, so guess where I’m going during lunch tomorrow?
Started down, went up, back down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 90
It made it to the middle sixties today. wOOt! It had clouded up by quitting time, but it was still warm enough for a trip home with the top down — no coat required. On the way home I stopped in to Autozone and picked up 4 quarts of Penzoil 10–30. Rotated the tires and changed the oil at 18,813 miles. Grandpa Mazda recommends changing the oil every 7500 miles, but I like to do it halfway between as well. This way the Emperor gets some nice clean blood every three thousand seven hundred fifty miles. I lifted the car up and put it on 4 jack stands, this way after removing the front right tire I can get to the drain plug easy enough. While the oil drains I go ahead and get 3 of the 4 tires rotated. Before putting the right front back on I swap oil filters. Takes about an hour and a half from start to finish.
I think my friends at Rader, they changed the oil last, used the impact wrench on the drain plug, as it was a bear to get off. Because the car was full hot I expected a little resistance in removing the plug, but my usual ice cube trick didn’t seem to help much. Even after melting 2 cubes on the head of the drain plug it still wouldn’t come loose. I had to resort to gently tapping on the end of the wrench with a hammer to get it off. I wonder what the torque spec for the oil drain plug is?
The answer is 22–30 foot pounds
I’m cheating here. I actually did buy and install some new windshield wiper blades on Friday, I just didn’t get around to blogging about it until Saturday. Through the magic that is post-dating this will appear in its proper order in all things blog-like.
I also applied some Rain-X to the windshield. Bring it on, Mr. Bad Weather.
Just dropped off the Miata at Rader so that tomorrow they can fix the clutch shudder issue per TSB 05–001/03. Cross your fingers for me and/or pray to the deity of your choice that they don’t screw up more than they fix while doing this. I’m hopeful that things will be swell, seeing as for the 15K service I didn’t have to get out the breaker bar to loosen the lug nuts and I only had to use touch up paint on one little spot near the hood opening.
Comet Incubation Period: 5 days
$183.15 is what Rader Mazda charges for a 15K service on a Mazda Miata. My owners manual says that at 15,000 miles you change the engine oil and filter, you inspect and clean if needed the air filter and you inspect the A/C level and compressor. I guess my mistake was going in and just asking for a 15,000 mile service, because then they were free to do the Rader designed service and not just the plain old Mazda recommended one.
This sounded a little high to me so I called around to a few other Mazda dealers in the area. Andy Jones Mazda, which is about 15 miles closer to me wants $169.88. When pressed for what they did for that much I got the Mazda list, plus rotate tires, service the (maintenance free) battery, and some other quasi unnecessary stuff. Next up I called Wray Mazda in Columbia which is about 20 miles further than Rader and the quoted me $133.00 for the 15K service. Cheaper, but still sounds like a lot. Then I tried one in Orangeburg, SC, Whatley Mazda. When I got through to the service department the woman who answered the phone said, “Oh that’s an oil change and rotate the tires, $40.87.” She forgot the other inspection items, but even when you add those in it is going to be well less than $100. Guess who might get my business when 22,500 miles rolls around?
Enough negatives, the good news is they agree that my car needs the TSB for the clutch shudder and will replace the disc at no charge to me. (It was so easy that it is probably costing them less to do it than Mazda reimburses for the work.)
Comet Gestation Counter: 58 days
Today was the 7500 mile check up on the Miata (done at 8010.) An oil change and a tire rotation basically. I had a couple of things I want them to address while we were in there too. The trunk was creaking when you opened and closed it, there were a couple of missing plastic fasteners on the splash guard on the right front wheel well and the driver’s side top latch was looser than the passenger’s side. We have always been treated right personally by the folks there. We even got a loaner car to do some shopping when the service was taking longer than expected.I’m not so sure about the car. When we got back in the car to drive away there was this almost overpowering smell of solvent or cleaner. We opened the windows the first chance we got and that helped a lot. By the time we got home I kind of figured that it was lube for the trunk hinges. The car is in the garage with the trunk open now hoping the lube will be all dry and the smell gone by morning. Past experience with tire changing at any place other than my driveway requires checking the lug nut torque. Sure enough, the lugs were replaced using an impact wrench with out any sort of torque limiter. I had to use a 2′ long breaker bar to loosen them up (and on a couple of them I feared for the longevity of the breaker bar.) Good thing I didn’t get a flat on the way home, I’d have never gotten the wheel off with the puny lug wrench in the trunk.…..and because tomorrow is a Master’s Miata Club’s TSD Rally, I washed off the car to make it pretty.<>
Got a package from Mazda in the mail today. The Postal Carrier had to put it in the door because the 8″ diameter by 2″ thick plastic steering wheel replica wouldn’t go inside our mail box. When I opened up the package inside was some paperwork, a accessories brochure, a tire sales pitch, a cute little 3“x5” eight page quick reference guide to the controls and a letter welcoming me to the “Emotion of Motion” (or a thinly disguised sales pitch to have my Miata serviced at the Mazda dealer.) After removing all of these bits of paper, what should I find in the bottom of the thing, but another bottle of touch-up paint.
If one is a very fine flirting act, two makes it an overt come-on and I’m not flattered, I’m frightened.
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