Too On Point

Allison Hemdrix as Judas

Every time I look at you
I don’t understand
Why you let the things you did
Get so out of hand

Alison Hendrix sings this in the role of Judas during a rehearsal of the Scarborough Community Theater production of Jesus Christ Superstar in the current episode of Orphan Black. This is right after we see her give up the location of our protagonist Sarah, leader of the Clone Club, to the evil Neolutionists. Too on point? Yes, because that is exactly what the show wants you to believe. She of course is just sending the bad guy into an ambush.

You’d have managed better
If you’d had it planned

Is this too, too on point? I’m beginning to think so. The first season of the show was awesome and at times since then has been very uneven. With all the weird plot holes, changing bad guys and weird swapped allegiances I’m not too sure the show runners even had a plan for more than the original 10 episodes. It seems almost Lost-like in its ability to create questions and not ever get around to answering them. If it wasn’t for the magic that is Tatiana Maslany I might have quit watching by now.

Now why’d you choose such a backward time
And such a strange land?
If you’d come today
You could have reached the whole nation
Israel in 4 BC had no mass communication
Don’t you get me wrong

And ever since I watched the episode on Friday evening I have had this song stuck in my head…

Only want to know

Orphan Black
Orphan Black
What are you? Where are you leading me?

Orphan Black
Supershow
Do you think you’re what they say you are?

Fun With VVT

Frustration with the Miata has got Donna to the point of suggesting that we leave in the Kroger parking lot with the keys in and walk away. Me, I wanted to take it to Panic Motorsports and let the experts figure it out. So I emailed Steve and gave him the run down of what is going on and asked when could I bring him the car. His response:

I’d check the gap on the crank sensor, replace the VVT oil control valve, and throw a cam sensor at it in that order. MAYBE an ECU if I got real desperate.

Solid advice from the Master, so I wrote back:

Steve,

I see what you did there – trying to teach a man to fish. So I tied a hook to my 3/8 drive and dug right in…

After reading several threads on Miata.net I would have bet $100 the chuckleheads at the local shop just replaced the crank angle sensor and didn’t bother to align it.Good thing I didn’t, as it measured right around .049 inch which is in between the .020-.059.

If by oil control valve you mean this – YIKES! – that’s pricey (around $300.) I tested it as best I could per the folks at M.net instructed and it passed. Resistance between terminals, 7.5Ω which is between the 6.9-7.9Ω they mention. I slapped 12v to it and it fully opened. Disconnected the 12v and it returned to the starting point. I think I’ll take it to work tomorrow and have the guys in the lab apply a variable voltage to see if it moves along its travel path.

The Cam Position Sensor I can swing ($60 from a seller on Amazon), but the oil control valve or heaven forbid the ECU and it may be time to quit throwing good money after bad…the ND is looking mighty tempting.

While I had the wrench in my hand I pulled the actuator thing off the valve cover to check the o-rings inside. They don’t seem to be as dry and brittle like some of the photos I found on the forum. I’m tempted to buy the kit that MiataRoadster sells with all the o-rings and then some.I guess I could pry the o-rings out and measure them, I work at a place that makes valves and we use a ton of o-rings, including viton ones.

Thanks for the advice, I’ll keep you posted.
Brian

I’ll keep you posted…the valve is a 2-position deal, no sliding, just on or off. I’m thinking this ain’t the problem. Those o-rings, we didn’t have them at the Valve Store(TM), so I did order the kit. Its coming from California via USPS so it won’t be here until next week sometime. ‘Til then, the Emperor sits .

P0012 Number 3

Less than a mile from home on the way to work this morning the CEL came on again. Donna said turn around, so we went back and got in the Purple Whale to finish the commute.

Got home tonight and scanned for the code and it was the ol’ favorite P0012.

Checked a couple other things that I had found on the forum that should be tested to see if they might be the cause. First up was the VVT actuator. Measuring across the coil contacts should yield 6.9-7.9 ohms and it did. Then you pull the actuator loose from the valve cover and apply 12V across the contacts. No matter the polarity, it should fully actuate, and when removed, it should return back – it did. Next thing was the oil line filter and I had to read through several threads mentioning how easy it was to check before I found one that led to its actual location – it was clean as a whistle.

I guess the high detergent oil didn’t do the trick. I’m supposed to change back to regular stuff after a 1,000 miles, but we’ve not driven more than a few hundred so far. I think tomorrow I’ll just go a head and go back to the regular 5-30 Penzoil. Cleared the code and we’ll see how long it takes to show back up again.

Happy Memorial Day

Camo Miata

3M makes a vinyl wrap in a digital military camouflage too.

We had a nice holiday off, hope you did too. Started with a nice 4 mile walk in Hitchcock Woods this morning, followed by lunch at the Mellow Mushroom. The afternoon was spent in the traditional holiday manner, shopping. Donna and I both snagged a new pair of sneakers and both bathrooms got new mats/rugs. Oh, and I watched the Red Sox beat the Orioles 7-2 on MLB.tv. Tonight, who knows, maybe a drive in the non-camoed Miata with the top down…

Color Theory

The specter of a new Miata still hovers over the House of Bogardus, and it now seems inevitable, but there is the further trouble of color. The base (AKA, Sport) model is all we need and it comes in only white, matte white black & red. Of the four, Donna would pretty much accept only the red which as it turns out, is the only one I really don’t want.

Back in November of 2014 I said if the 4th Generation Miata came in a bright blue I would be seriously tempted to buy one, so my solution is to buy a brand new car and spend more money by having it vinyl wrapped in blue. But yesterday on our way back from North Augusta Donna told me she was tired of blue and said, “How ’bout that color?” She was pointing at a Dodge Journey SUV in Copperhead Pearl. I thought aloud, “That would look pretty good on a Miata.”

While the Copperhead Pearl color seemed just right to the both of us, a perfect blend of red, orange and brown, that exact shade is not available as one of 3M’s 1080 films. There are a couple of copper-ish colors and for a mere buck apiece you can get a 3″ x 5″ sample of the vinyl from a supply house called Fellers in Oklahoma. So I ordered 3 orange samples and as a back-up, 3 blues:

Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 06/25/15: 174

Another Country?

Cool Vehicles - Old Chevy (I think)

Donna spotted this one on the way home from her allergy shot yesterday, so she said, “Turn around.” So I circled the block. The category is called ‘Cool Vehicles from All Around the World’ with a sub-heading of ‘Your car alongside sweet rides from 10 other countries’. This is definitely a cool car but is it from an other country? Its from an other country from the car we are driving, so I’m good with it. Note that Donna is wearing a shirt in a color that nearly matches the car.

The day before we went on vacation I noticed the right fog light was out, so yesterday we picked up a pair at the auto store and I changed them out after dinner. I did save the working bulb for the next burn out.

Started down, went up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 06/25/15: 173

Motoring Challenge Points 1, Approx Miles Driven 0
Totals So Far: 57 points & 970 miles

Seattle Souvenir

(c)Tom Schelfaut 2016

©Tom Schelfaut 2016

Donna’s brother Scott gave me the above little trinket while we were visiting with them last weekend. It is something that the place he work at makes. It came as one big flat piece that needed to be bent in two places to form the business card card holder you see. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with it as I don’t really give out business cards on a regular basis, I thought, ‘What the heck, I’ll give it to somebody who could use it.

From: Bogardus, Brian [INDAUTO/ASCONUM/USAK]
Sent: Tuesday, May 24, 2016 7:29 AM
To: Fab Guys – Carlos; Keith; Rob; Ian; Tom
Subject: Seattle Souvenir

All,

I have a souvenir from Seattle, that trust me, will make you the envy of anyone who sees it, but because of the expense, I only have 1. So, I have written a number between 1 & 50 inclusive on a sticky note and placed it in a hermetically sealed mayonnaise jar on Funk and Wagnalls’ porch since noon yesterday. Reply to this email before noon today with your guess and the person closest to that number will win. In case of a tie, a coin flip will be used to pick the winner, the runner up will receive a somewhat less impressive item, but still be more than anyone else has.

Brian

After I had gathered all 5 co-workers guesses, the winner was obvious and I sent this out:

From: Bogardus, Brian [INDAUTO/ASCONUM/USAK]
Sent: Tuesday, May 24, 2016 11:25 AM
To: Fab Guys – Carlos; Keith; Rob; Ian; Tom
Subject: We Have A Winner

All,

No one got the number exactly and there were no ties, so there is only one winner – Tom Schelfault!

Tom guessed 30 and the actual number was:
image002
Be sure and stop by Tom’s cubical to see his fabulous prize. And if those of you who didn’t win the grand prize would like I have enough of the runner-up prizes to go around – sticks of spearmint gum bought at the Seattle airport.

As an interesting note (at least to me it was) here are the guesses in the order in which they were received.
Carlos – 2
Keith – 5
Ian – 17
Rob – 22
Tom – 30
Those numbers correspond to the first 5 numbers in the Bernolli Sequence exactly. Take a guess what the next number would be…

Brian

Started up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 06/25/15: 171