Month: September 2017

Another CTBNL Modification Removal

When I bought the CTBNL from my Fairy Godfather (thanks again David) he had done a few tasteful mods and when he took off a stock part, where he could, he kept the removed item. This is why when we I bought the car I also got a bunch of parts in a box, a few larger things that went in the shed in the back yard and some others went on the departing Emperor.

Now that Donna’s retired, the CTBNL is my daily driver and this means that over the summer I have driven home in a few gully washing type afternoon thunderstorms. When this happens, I will invariably have to drive through a few puddles that have formed along or on the road from the overflow of washed gullies. This then washes the underside of the car causing the accessory belt(s) to squeal in protest (they must like water like cats like baths.)

One of the mods David did was replace the large plastic engine undertray (#13 on this Moss Motors page) with a fancy Beatrush Aluminum Underpanel, so one of the large things in the shed was this huge hunk of plastic. I tried to sell it to members of the MMC, but got no takers. I was going to put it up for sale on the Miata Forum, but opted against it because I did not want to have to figure out how to ship it. Now I’m glad I still have it.

The Beatrush panel is slick looking, if you are laying on the ground looking up at it, but I doubt there is any reduced wind turbulence compared to the OEM plastic piece as they claim. The thing is even heavier than the plastic undertray, so that’s not a plus. The only advantage I see is that it extends past the stock unit to cover up the oil pan and on a lowered car this might be a benefit. But the negative aspect is the sides are open, thereby allowing water to bathe the bottom of the accessory belts when fording impromptu bodies of water. The original plastic piece curls up at the sides sealing off the bottom of the engine compartment better.

So when I jacked up the car on Labor day to rotate tires and change the oil, I put the jack stands one notch higher than usual so I could get under the car easier to take off the Beatrush Aluminum Panel and put the OEM plastic piece back in its place. I’m hoping that this might eliminate the squealing of belts when driving through puddles in the future.

Laborious Day

Monday was Labor Day and the Valve Store was taking a holiday, so I didn’t have to work, but I did do some Miata work. I was a few hundred miles past oil change and tire rotation time, so in the morning when Donna went off to the gym, I jacked up the CTBNL and went to crawling around under it.

First I took off all the tires and rolled them to their new locations. When rolling the left front to the back I noticed that there was a lot of wear on the tire’s inside edge compared to the tire that just came from there. The tires on the right both looked evenly worn and good for several thousand more miles. The left front was not that bad and could go that long. The now left rear has probably only got a couple months to go before crisis time.

So now I’m tire shopping. Really, really love the Toyo R1R and have sworn that when the time came I would replace them with the same. Now, when it comes time, I start to doubt that declaration. There are 8 results when you search for summer tires in 195/50×15 tires on the TireRack.com. I have personal experience with 3 of them and experience with a newer model of tire that replaced one I previously owned.

I have to say the Toyo R1R are the best of the lot, but they are the most expensive tire of the four at $125 each. My second choice is the newer Bridgestone Potenza RE-71R. I ran several sets of the Potenza RE-11’s on the ’95 Miata and was very happy with them. They are $9 cheaper than the Toyos and there is even a current rebate deal that would take the price down to around $100 each. But, the tires are the noisiest of the group in reviews and they have a fairly stiff sidewall which won’t mix as well with the stiffer suspension of the CTBNL.

The cheapest of the bunch is the Yokohama S.drive’s, they were the last tire we had on the Emperor and they handled well, but were the noisiest tire that I can remember having on a Miata. The BFGoodrich g-Force Sport COMP-2 were the tires on the Emperor just before the S.drives and I don’t really remember them, but I must not have liked them much because I didn’t buy another set when it came time to replace them.

After trying, and failing, at really talking myself out of buying the Toyos, I’m a cheapskate at heart and will probably end up with the Bridgestones. First I need to get an alignment…

Welcome Your 2017 Purple Whales

This afternoon was Draft Day for the EZEFFL. It was the league’s 8th year, my 7th and my 5th & last as Commissioner.

Rnd# Pick# Player Team Pos.
1 Keeper Rob Gronkowski NE TE
2 13 Jay Ajayi Mia RB
3 36 Terrelle Pryor Sr. Wsh WR
4 37 Christian McCaffrey Car RB
5 60 Emmanuel Sanders Den WR
6 61 Kirk Cousins Wsh QB
7 84 Ameer Abdullah Det RB
8 85 Martavis Bryant Pit WR
9 108 Tevin Coleman Atl RB
10 109 Cardinals Ari D/ST
11 132 Willie Snead NO WR
12 133 Mason Crosby GB K
13 156 Carson Wentz Phi QB
14 157 Giants Nyg D/ST

Mother Would Be So Proud II

On Friday I did something that my mother would routinely tell me to do after I did some sort of stupid thing or another while growing up – I had my head examined.

Remember the earache steroid episode from back in June/July? Well, after the doctor ordered the second round of steroids to clear hearing issue he also scheduled an MRI. Two weeks after finishing the steroids and a week before the MRI my hearing is fine so I think I’ll just call off the scan. But I waited another 6 days, until the day before, to call and cancel.

Wouldn’t you know it, but on the way home from work on the Friday the MRI was scheduled for the left ear acts up again. Not only that, it sort of sounds like the right ear going a little wonky too. Naturally by the time I get home and call on a Friday everyone has gone home for the weekend.

I called the imaging place on Monday and ask if I can reinstate the MRI appointment that I had cancelled on Thursday. The nice lady said that she’d be happy to reschedule me. But – uh oh – it looks like the Southside Imaging Center’s MRI machine was down for maintenance. I asked, “Well when will it fixed?” “November,” she says. “You can have the scan done at the hospital,” she says, “They have an MRI machine.” “Great,” I say. “Let’s see when I can get you in…” “How about September 1st?” It is now the third week of July. “Wow,” I say, “If that is as soon as I can get in, I’ll take it.”

The left ear has been good and bad, off and on ever since. The last few days it has seemed fine, so does that mean the MRI won’t see anything up with the auditory nerve? But more importantly will they be able to locate the source inside the brain that causes me to do those stupid things or anothers?

Here is Part 1 of Mother Would Be So Proud from 2006.