New Old Interior

Friend of the blog, previous owner of the CTBNL and my Fairy Godbrother, David, had an idea on how he wanted to customize the car when he first bought it in 2015 and preceded to buy up parts to do just that. Before he carried out that original direction, he changed his mind and went another way. Some of those parts were stuffed in a storage space and forgotten about. Fast forward to this year, David is pulling up stakes in our old home town and moving, so guess what he unearthed?

Those forgotten boxes full of Miata goodies. He and I think alike in that the selling unused or unwanted items is a colossal pain. The lookie-loos & lowballers of Craig’s List or Ebay are frightening. Giving out your phone number & meeting with random strangers from the internet, scarier still. Yard sales? Forget about that hassle. Giving the items away to someone who’ll use and appreciate is the way to go. So David texted me and asked if I was interested in a full Nakamae interior for the CTBNL.

I was very interested in the door panels because they are basically flat and I have to be careful when bending my left leg for comfort on trips as it barely fits between the stock molded door pull and the steering wheel. I was unsure of all the rest of the items, because I felt it would be too much diamond quilting. But I said send them anyway, I could the stuff in and if it was too much, I could always take it back out.

UPS dropped off two big boxes on Monday afternoon, so you know for sure, Tuesday right after breakfast I was down in the garage.

First I went in for something easy, the trunk liner. I was amazed at how much “essential gear” I was carrying around in there… After removing the cargo net, the padded “carpet piece”, pulling all the stuff out of the pocket on the left and the things hiding around the spare tire I was ready to put the quilted goodness in.But, not yet, I had to remove the spare and jack to vacuum out the cavity. I have to say it took a lot of jockeying to get the jack to lock down because of the padding, but I got it.

While it looks really good there was no place to put the jack crank arm that used to be attached to the piece that covers the battery or to hide the lug wrench. Plus under there I hid a small tool kit and the tire pressure gage. The cargo net that held the spare ball cap, the Bluetooth OBD reader, the extra CAS, a nut driver for installing the CAS and the stock headlight bulbs (I recently upgraded to LED) looked awful there, so I decided to keep the trunk the way it was before. The Nakamae trunk stuff would look good if I was driving a show car and I think it might have been a nicer item if it just covered that flat stock piece… On the brightside I did clean off the spare tire and pump it back up to the required 60psi from its existing meager 35.

After a quick coffee break I started on the interior in earnest. The first thing to go was the driver side sill piece and then I started in on the driver’s door. I am an expert in taking off the door cards, having done it before a few times to lube the window tracks, all except for the tweeter connector. I always stumble on the, just a bit too short wire, to get the panel oriented to press the tab. You have to take out two small screws to remove the tweeter, so you can put in the flat Nakamae panel. You also have to remove two plastic angle pieces that hold the back of the stock panel. These items are easily installed on assembly because they have an expanding pin that snaps into a hole, but there is no way to get to the back (inside the door) to squeeze the pins to get them back out. I used a big screwdriver to pry them out by breaking them. This required peeling back the plastic sheet, held in place by black tarry goo, that keeps water out of the car’s interior and saves the fiberboard door cards to get the plastic pin piece out so it wouldn’t rattle around in the door. Suffice to say latex gloves and Goo-B-Gone are required here.

The driver’s door took me literally an hour and a half, but the passenger door took maybe 20 minutes because I knew what to do. Did mention that the minimal instruction sheets, with a total of three small photos, were in kanji? The passenger side sill piece was a two minute job. Just the quilted door card in combination with the sill piece was looking very sharp.

Next up was the console. To make this job easier I opted to remove the seats from the car (as a bonus I could vacuum out from under them.) I pulled out the stock console and dropped the retro looking Nakamae piece in its place. Hmmm. Not really feeling that look, plus it would mean losing the cup holders and a small storage bin which we do use (also need that to hold the stuff that was stored in the OEM door pockets.) So, I’m sure in a move that would have made the JDM/retro purists on the Miata.net Forum cry out in anguish, I pulled the quilted piece off the fiberglass base. I lined up the bottom edges of the upholstery on the bottom of the transmission tunnel and cut a slit right down the center. I then carefully trimmed out a section of the middle, leaving just enough, so that I could put our stock console back in its place.

Before putting the seats back in I put in the Nakamae back wall piece and the strip that goes around the back under the convertible top. The only thing left is the back shelf piece, but as I said that will wait until I can get it to an upholstery shop to get it cut to fit around the roll bar. I was worried about the ZeroMotive checked mats not looking good with the diamond quilting, but I think they do go together pretty well.

Couple of not so quick related installation stories:

Underneath the trunk carpet right next to the spare tire was my favorite small putty knife. When we got here I discovered it missing and I was bummed. I bought a new one here and it just wasn’t the same… I remember purposely not wanting to ship it because I wanted to use it to patch all the holes in 778 Boardman Road, but couldn’t ever figure what happened to it.

When the Miata arrived back in January everything was fine, but the stubby radio antenna was missing. I figured it got pilfered while on the cross country ride on an open bay truck. No big deal, so for $10-15 I bought an even stubbier one (I never listen to radio, so what does it matter if it actually works.) Well guess what I found in the driver’s door card pocket.? Got it one, the original stubby antenna… Three possibilities, with the first being the most likely; One, I put it there so it wouldn’t get stolen, two, David it so it wouldn’t get stolen, or three, the transport truck driver did for the same reason.

I was doing this in the garage in just my stocking feet and somewhere while traveling back and forth from the workbench to the car I accidently stepped on the passenger door card as it lay on the floor. I did absolutely zero damage to the card. It was laying flat with the side that goes to the door facing up. The bottom of my right foot was not so lucky. I stepped right on one of the plastic expansion pins that would lock it in place. Owww. I came away with about a quarter inch long gash. After two minutes of direct pressure to stop the bleeding and a makeshift bandage of paper towel and duct tape I kept working until lunch. The only casualties were one sock and my ability to walk around barefoot in the garage anymore.

Sport, Off-Road, Touring

The Early Autumn Edition of SORT.
As of Monday, October 5, 2020 at 9:00 PM pacific time:

Sport Off-Road Touring
1961 Mercedes-Benz 190SL 1983 Jeep CJ-7 2009 Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG Wagon
Was in Central America somewhere, has a Montana title and it’s located in Miami? The only one nicer would be the 1979 Jeep CJ-7 Levi Edition the Wheeler Dealers just finished. Hope I win this auction, it’ll be the perfect excuse to visit Maine to see the fall colors.

21 Questions (from Brian’s Daily Rant)

From the archives: Back in 2003 I had three separate, count ’em 3, different blogs running on Blogger.com: The Miata Diaries, Photo of the Day & Brian’s Daily Rant. When I made the jump to a web home of my own I combined all of them, this article never made the transfer and has sitting in a file folder for the past 17 years. I don’t remember who Myla was, probably someone I swapped CD Mix discs with, and her website, A Parrot’s Meow, probably also on Blogger, is gone in the wind. Keep in mind that this was 2003, so some of the answers might be dated. For #15, the places I haven’t been to are e) & k)

I, along with a select few of the world's elite bloggers, have been chosen to participate in a questionnaire conceived and written by the talented and lovely Myla of The Parrot's Meow. Without further adieu:

1. Show your favorite digital photograph here:
Taken by hanging my arm down along the side of the car while driving & just snapping.
Miata In Motion

2. What is your motto?
Ya buy cheap, ya get cheap.

3. If you could meet any two people (living or dead), who would they be, and why?
    a) John F. Kennedy - I want to ask him if he really was boinking Marilyn Monroe.
    b) Zefram Cochrane - To ask what made him so sure his nuclear missile turned warp drive would work.

4. Creative Writing 101 (Just 5 minutes of what is on your mind.)
Five minutes of what is on my mind? This is going to be dull - and short. My high school typing class final grade exam consisted of 16 words with three mistakes. Of course that was a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. We were supposed to be learning touch typing and my heart was just not in it. Something I regret everyday now as I think I would be a lot faster at what I do if I could actually type with out having to visually pick out a key, have my brain determine which finger is closest to that key and then place that finger over that key and press down. Of course I have been doing this modified 4 finger hunt and peck method for a while and I've gotten better at it that I might just be able to better that test score. And if I'm typing a repetitive phrase I can really get a roll going. One mistake though and the clicking comes to a grinding halt, where I must grab a mouse and go back to highlight the mistake to allow corrections to take place. Damn, times up? I was just getting ready to tell you such an interesting story too.

5. What you want to be most remembered for?
...not blowing up the world.

6. If you wrote a book, what would the first line be?
The crescent moon hung there, halfway up the sky between the peach colored horizon and the cobalt blue of zenith, he had a light jacket on to ward off the slight chill, it was a perfect early morning for a drive with the top down, for a drive away from it all.

7. If you were King for a day, describe your first proclamation.
All trips of less than 7 miles would have to be carried out by bicycle. I would probably rescind this proclamation after a few months. Just long enough for every subject of my Kingdom to experience what it is like to ride a bicycle in traffic, so that perhaps they would have a little more compassion for me later when I'm riding along on the road.

8. If you could change one thing about yourself, or your situation, what would it be?
I would be independently wealthy. I blame this shortcoming on my parents, if they had worked a little harder...

9. There's no genie, but you've been granted three wishes.
    a) I would make the weather everyday here in Aiken just like it was last Sunday, sunny with some clouds, high of 80 degrees, low of 55, humidity of 30% and a 5 to 10 mph wind.
    b) Computer viruses would only damage the computers of their creators.
    c) Ice cream would be good for you.

10. Last trip "out of town" you took, and when. . .
Hilton Head Island, returned just a week ago.

11. Find a word in the dictionary that you never knew before and post the definition to it here:
es·ti·vate 1- To spend the summer, as at a special place. 2- Zoology. To pass the summer in a dormant or torpid state. Kinda like what we did at Hilton Head Island.

12. What is the most daring thing you've ever done?
Get married 27 years ago.

13. Name something positively amazing (besides your birth) that happened the year you were born.
Disneyland opens in Anaheim, California.

14. Name your favorite Beatle.
George Harrison, the quiet one.

15. In 250 words (or less), answer me this:
"If money were not an object, and you were to leave tomorrow to travel around the world in 100 days, name your preferred method of travel and at least a dozen destinations you'd visit."
World, smchorld. I'd spend those 3 months acquainting (or in some cases, re-acquainting) myself with the good ol' USA via, what else, a Miata. "Hmmm, I wonder if you could hit all 48 contiguous states in just 100 days?"
    a) Highway 1 in California
    b) Vegas, baby, Vegas
    c) Grand Canyon
    d) Monument Valley
    e) Old Faithful
    f) Devil's Tower
    g) Mount Rushmore
    h) Crazy Horse Memorial
    i) Carhenge
    j) Gateway Arch
    k) Wrigley Field
    l) Niagara Falls

16. Name of the last book you read, and list your favorite passage from said book:
"That's a hell of a shiner."
Savard bolted at the sound of the voice. She wanted to turn her back, but realized it was too late. Embarrassment and shame flooded her. Anger and resentment rushed in their wake. She grabbed the sunglasses and put them back on.
Kovac stood just inside her door looking like something out of a Raymond Chandler novel: long coat with the collar turned up, hands stuffed in the pockets, an old fedora slouching down over his forehead.
"I suppose getting popped in the face is a common hazard of working IA" (Police Internal Affairs)
"If you want to see me, Sergeant, make an appointment," she said in the chilliest tone she could manage.
"I've seen you already."
Something in the way he said it made her feel vulnerable. As if he had seen something more than just the physical evidence of what had happened to her, something deeper and more important.

17. Last funny thing a child said to you.
Pass. I interact with children so infrequently that if one of them has said something funny to me, I've since forgotten it.

18. Put down one stanza from your favorite song lyric, one that has particular meaning to you, one that, had you thought of it first, would have written yourself.
They got Mount Rushmore on a cup
Everybody needs one of those
For a dollar more they'll fill it up
You can drink out of Lincoln's nose
They got the Hard Rock t-shirts, they got Elvis, too. And sooner or later, mark my words
You know they're gonna get you
Souvenirs, written by Gretchen Peters and performed by Suzy Bogguss

19. Put down your favorite movie line.
    a) Joel, you wanna know something? Every now and then say, "What the fuck." What the fuck gives you freedom. Freedom brings opportunity. Opportunity makes your future. Curtis Armstrong as Miles in "Risky Business"
    b) I've got a bad feeling about this. Almost any of the main characters in the "Star Wars" movies
    c) I distrust a close-mouthed man. He generally picks the wrong time to talk and says the wrong things. Talking's something you can't do judiciously, unless you keep in practice. Now, sir, we'll talk if you like. I'll tell you right out, I'm a man who likes talking to a man who likes to talk. Sydney Greenstreet as Kasper Gutman in the "Maltese Falcon"

20. Name the actor you'd want to portray you in a movie based on your life.
Timothy Busfield <-----------------------> Me

21. Professionally speaking, if you could do anything at all, what would you do?I have always said that I'm doing what I always wanted to do and pretty much that still holds true. I'm a draftsman and ever since my first drafting course in high school I knew. I'd like it to be a little more old school though, I sure miss putting pencil to paper.

Sport, Off-Road, Touring

The Birthday* Edition of SORT.
As of Monday, September 28, 2020 at 9:00 PM pacific time:

Sport Off-Road Touring
2006 Ford GT Heritage Edition 1983 Mercedes-Benz 280GE 1955 Chevrolet 150 2-Door Sedan
When driving what is basically a race car on the street it is required to sport a racing livery. With this we can get priority evacuation if ever a wildfire does break out close to us. This car is as old as I am, but it has had some nice updates, I should be in as good of shape.

*Yesterday was my birthday and if you didn’t send a card or at least a text, your name is coming off my Christmas Card List…

Track 20 – Stairway to Heaven

This is the last track on my Quintessential Burn II “album”, so I’m not sure what I’m going to put here next Saturday, maybe I’ll have to actually right something…so I’ll just leave you with this acoustic guitar cover of a Led Zeppelin tune you may be familiar with:

25 Years Ago – Fall 1995

Instead of reprinting an article from the Miata Magazine’s usual gang of contributors this one caught my interest because of the Oregon connection. From the places and roads mentioned, I am guessing this takes place around Eugene which is around 150 miles northwest of me as the crow flies. The community college mentioned is more than likely Lane CC and currently there is no one there named Ben Hill. There is a Tami Hill that teaches Social Sciences that I suppose could be some relation… I then googled Magomet Tavkazakov and found a guy who was the head of a Russian juice company that Pepsi bought in 2008, but from the TASS photos he looks a little old to have been in a community college in 1995.

Miata Post-Cold-War Diplomacy

– by Member Benjamin Hill

Teaching math in an Oregon community college, the most exciting part of my work day is generalaly the commute – a winding nine miles of pine-studded foothills in the cockpit of my ’92 Miata. But the college grew more interesting recently, with the arrival of an exchange teacher from Nalchik, Russia, one Magomet Tavkazakov.

Students and staff were charmed by Magomet’s good looks and mischievous smile. Despite his not quite perfect English, he was an engaging conversationalist, and began dropping by my office each morning, eager to chat about geometry and metaphysics, or to marvel about life in America.

When an Oregon miracle occurred (sunshine on a winter weekend), I called Magomet at his exchange host’s house. “Want to go hiking?”

“Okay.”

Magomet was surprised when I arrived in the Miata, top down and resplendent in my motoring cap. “Wow,” he exclaimed, but recovered deftly, producing in rapid succession from his knapsack a pair of dark glasses, a jacket, and a bootleg Beatles cassette. He fastened his seat belt, inserted the cassette, and we were off and running to the cries of George Harrison’s guitar.

Exiting town by back roads, we skirted Fern Ridge Reservoir, roared up Greenhill Road to a gorgeous view of the Coast Range, then headed south on old Lorane Highway, famous for its scenery and switchbacks. Alternating pastures and hills gave the drive a catchy syncopation, speed counterpoised to cornering with frequent quick gear changes. Traffic amounted to occa­sional ranch trucks, providing perfect excuses for high rpm passing.

When the Beatles tape ended, Magomet replaced it with Russian rock n’ roll. For miles he was mostly silent, but when he did speak, it was to praise American geography or Japanese engineering. He voiced his heartfelt approval of motor travel “open to the environment,” and I nodded in total agreement.

In an hour, we rolled through the town of Cottage Grove, then headed toward the Cascade Range. Pastures gave way to tree farms which in turn gave way to groves of second growth fir. The road passed through former mining outposts of Disston and Culp Creek, then narrowed to a single lane with turnouts, plunging deeper into the forest as the air grew sweet and humid. Though narrow, the road was well-engineered and dry. The Miata ate it up. We met no traffic, but the possibility made an enjoyable challenge of blind curves. I approached each 60+ mph, breaking and downshifting, then accelerating through the arc on a disciplined line while prepared to react in the face of an oncoming log truck.

Ten miles of slalom curves later, a hand-lettered sign marked the fork to Bohemia Saddle. The road crossed a rickety bridge, turned to gravel, and began to climb radically. On steep coarse gravel, the Miata was out of its element. I pressed ahead anyway, maintaining steady speed and praying not to “high-center.” As the Miata churned along, I was reminded of North Dakota duck hunting trips taken years ago in a 1970 Super Beetle. The Volkswagen was a nightmare on those rutted, muddy roads. But it redeemed itself the time I sailed through an unmarked T-intersection, making a sort of foamed runway landing in a field of plowed mud. A heavier vehicle would have foundered in that bog. But with its sealed underbelly the Bug doubled as a sled. I blocked the accelerator at half-throttle, opened the door and pushed with my left foot while working the clutch with my right, and sort of swam out of that field. Now here I was, swimming through gravel in a freshly waxed Miata. What an idiot I am! – that is what I was thinking.

But the roadster was game. In a few minutes we emerged at the top of a ridge, and were rewarded by a view of volcanic snowcaps. I pulled onto a turnout, stopped the engine, and reached behind me to unsnap the canopy boot. I enjoy raising the Miata’s top while still behind the wheel, with a single over-the-shoulder right arm maneuver both macho and yogic, albeit less gentle to vinyl and flesh than the method described in the manual.

With the car secured, Magomet and I set off along the ridge, moving through stands of tall trees, and catching stunning alpine view. Traversing a patch of snow, we passed the base of a waterfall, and paused to taste edible sorrel plants. As we continued to walk, we exchanged geometry brain teasers:
•Why does a mirror reverse left and right, but not up and down?
•Where is a lost explorer who walks one mile south, one mile east, and one mile north, returning to the point where he began?

Back at the car in a couple of hours, we snacked and drove slowly back down the loose gravel grade. “I like your car,” observed Magomet, for the fourth or fifth time. “Do you have a car back home in Russia?” I asked. “I had one, but I sold it.” “What kind?” He smiled. “You will think this is funny. It was a Ford Granada I bought in Germany.”

When it came, solid pavement was a relief. I pulled over, killed the engine, and handed Magomet the keys. “You drive.” Over his half­hearted objections, I chased him from the passenger seat and hinged back the top. “Maybe I shouldn’t,” he said, but he was already adjusting the mirrors.

Magomet drove, cautiously at first, and then with more confidence, his grin widening with every gear change. Our conversation touched on mathematics again, but this time the humble mathematics of proportion: “1597 cc displacement per 1225 kilograms.”

Later that month, American and Russian astronauts would rendezvous aboard the Russian space station Mir. But as we glided along with Magomet at the wheel, I couldn’t help feeling that by way of post cold-war adventure/diplomacy, my friend and I took a back seat to no one aboard my Japanese roadster.

Copyright 1995, Miata Magazine. Reprinted without permission.