Sitting In An ND II

ND <= NB

Now having had to spend big bucks twice to get the Emperor running in the last month, we thought maybe we should go check out the new Miata once more to see if this could be an option for the next time we have to pony up half the Kelly Blue Book of the car to get it running right again. Eight months ago we sat in a new one, with mixed feelings, but didn’t drive it because it was an automatic transmission. I understand why a lot of folks choose one, but for Donna and I a Miata has to be a row your own.

We arrived at the Gerald Jones Megaplex1 and made our way through the lot to the Mazda area. Parked near the street end of the lot somewhat close to a couple of Miatas they had near the entrance to lure in buyers. And because we didn’t get there until 11:00 AM or so there lots of potential customers wandering the lot with salesmen cruising around in golf carts trying to herd them into a cubicle in the showrooms. No one zeroed in on us so we walked over to the dark gray and the white/gray and I looked inside, both were automatics. We then made our way towards the buildings to find somebody to get a car to drive. During the 50 yard walk still no on approached.

Close to the showroom was a Miata in a shade of blue (called Reflex Blue that is really a medium gray with blue undertones.) I looked inside it and it was a stick. Donna said, “This is a pretty blue.” And comparing it to the two grays we saw already and the black Miata right across from this one, she was right, it was the nicest looking Miata we’d seen so far, but sort of in the way of it being the most attractive of Cinderella’s ugly step-sisters.

It was unlocked, so I opened the door and got in the driver’s seat, Donna got in the passenger seat and we tried it on for size. I pointed out the awkwardly placed cup holders. Explained the no glove box thing and opened the cubby between the seats to show the spot that is supposed to replace it. I unlatched the top and threw it back. Nice. We got out, walked around the car and changed seats. After another minute or two with still no salesman approaching, we headed into the showroom.

The gatekeeper asked us what we were looking for and I said a Miata to test drive. He send somebody off to find somebody else. Soon Wade appeared, after handshakes all around, I said I’d like to drive a Miata with a manual transmission. He started walking out towards the two Miatas near the lot entrance and after a few steps I stopped him, telling him they were autos. Wade turned back towards the showroom, so I pointed towards the blueish one we had sat in before, “Oh, that one is sold already.”2 Then he turned towards the black across the way, I had peeked inside that one too and it was another automatic, so I let him know.

He said wait here, and went inside to check their inventory. The only stick they had on the lot was the Club on the showroom floor and told him I wasn’t interested.3 “Well, we have two sport models coming that have manual transmissions, I’m not sure exactly when, but would you like me to let you know when they get here?” I said, “Sure,” so we traded business cards. After rereading our experience from last August again, this is the exact same thing the salesman told me then and I never heard from him.

We have now sat in the new ND Miata twice, but still have not driven one.

Beefed Up Butt

Political Yard Sign

The Emperor is back home this evening filling up the our garage after us filling up the coffers at Automotive Workbench.

Not really wanting to spend what it would cost for the new LSD for the Miata I did a little research over the weekend and came up with a couple options. The first was a new aftermarket unit from Flying Miata and a used unit from Treasure Coast Miata. I called them up on Monday and asked them to try and get the used unit first, failing that, go for the newer more expensive one.

In the afternoon the mechanic1 called back and said the used unit was still available and on its way. After we hung up I went back and looked at the Treasure Coast Miata ad again and I noticed it was from a Mazdaspeed Miata. That is when I thought I remembered seeing somewhere that that model LSD was beefed up some to accommodate the increased power from the turbo. I did some research and discovered I was right. The axle used with the Mazdaspeed unit are a couple millimeters larger in diameter at the differential end. My stock ones wouldn’t work. Ruh-roh! Am I going to have to buy some axles? How much is that going to cost? Then I went back to the ad and saw that they were including the axles in the deal. Phew.

On Tuesday Holley called me again. This time to tell me the Emperor needed a new battery. He had to jump start it both days when he needed to re-position it around the shop. Seemed like I just bought a battery. Yep, did, but it was for the Sonata. This is the third battery for the Miata in its lifetime. The OEM lasted 5-1/2 months The genuine Mazda replacement lasted two months longer than its 2 year warranty. This one was from Autozone and it equaled the longevity of the OEM at about 5-1/2 months.

No call on Wednesday, but Thursday afternoon Holley called again to tell me that my rear brake pads were getting low and did I want him to change them while he was in there because it would be cheaper than if I brought it in later. I declined because that is something I actually can do myself. But his question got me to ask, “Does that mean the differential is there?” Holey said, “Yeah and I should be done tomorrow afternoon.” He was and Donna and I stopped by on the way home to pick it up.

Started down, went up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 06/25/15: 161

1. The fellow’s name is Holley and I wonder if he was predestined to become an auto mechanic after being named for the famed carburetor company. I didn’t ask, so it could just as well be an old family name.

Wilder Squall Blue Fade

 

 

My evil plan to create my own Frankenstein Eyeglass Frames has failed. I’m probably correct in assuming that not every one of the Warby Parker frames can have their eyepieces and temple pieces swapped around, but none of the five I just got could could have.

In the end, it didn’t really matter because just holding the blue temples up to sides of the clear eyepieces, even if they were interchangeable, they didn’t look as good as I’d have liked. And one of the frames that I wanted just for the blue temple pieces turned out to be a winner.

Unlike what I’ve done in the past I did not subject my co-workers to an eyeglass fashion show asking for opinions this time. Only three people saw me with all five frame on my face, me, Donna and the woman who cuts our hair, and all three of us picked the same frame.

The one you see above – Wilder in Squall Blue Fade.

Post-apocalyptic Walk

Old US301

The past week or so we’ve had a few people take a walk on the the Old US301 Nature Trail and look for our geocaches there. Of the eight caches we have hidden out there, we had 1 DNF, 1 wet log and 1 note telling us 1 doesn’t seem to have been found since last August. So today we took a drive down there to do some checking.

The DNF was right where it was supposed to be and the wet log was as dry as a bone. The one that hasn’t been found since August may very well have disappeared the day after it was last found because it was not there at all. It was called Twin Stumps because it was hidden behind a couple of sawed off close to the ground trees. Both of them were turning to sawdust and especially the one the cache was supposed to be behind, so instead of trying to hide something again right in that spot, we looked a foot or so away and there was an inviting log to hide a replacement under.

Every time we come here and take a walk I marvel at how nature is reclaiming this narrow roadway since they stopped using it in 1965 and sometimes when there is no traffic on the replacement road 50 yards parallel to the north it so quiet I almost expect to stumble on a couple of shuffling zombies.

Crap!

To quote another famous person1 whose personal work included the words ‘Life of’ in its title, “What a revolting development this is.”

I followed Donna back home from Wayne’s Automotive the other day and when I turned into the driveway, she said to me, “The Miata sounds horrible.” She’s right. For the past couple three months there has been a metallic scraping sound that directly corresponds to the car speed. It started out very light and has slowly gotten louder. To me it was getting to the point where it was becoming really annoying, but when Donna noticed, that was the signal that it was time to get it looked at.

Having eliminated Wayne’s as a place to go, I wondered where to try next. I vaguely remember someone in the MMC saying they had good luck with the Automotive Workbench, so I called them and made an appointment to bring the car in on Wednesday.

I already like the owner as he came out and shook my hand, instead of just letting the desk clerk check me in, plus his name is Brian. We went a few miles down the street, he drove while I rode shotgun. He actually owned Miata for a while in the past and still has a 1.6 to 1.8 engine conversion in a 91 going on in the background. After the drive he had a couple of ideas what it might be, but needed to get it on a lift the next day to really troubleshoot it.

At the end of the workday yesterday I noticed a message light on my phone. It was the mechanic and he asked me to call back and he’d let me know what the repair would be. I tried calling, but got their answering machine. The place is practically on our route home, so I didn’t try and call again, we just stopped in.

Of course, of all Brian’s possible reasons that the noise could be, it had to turn out to be the most expensive one. The bearings are going bad in the limited slip differential. Used ones, if you can find them, run $800 to $1200 while new ones go for $2500.2

This morning I called the shop to let them know there was a place in Florida parting out a 2003 Miata and had a bunch of stuff listed for sale on Miata.net, including an LSD. I gave them the phone number and they said they’d check. Late in the day the mechanic called and let me know it had already sold. He had a line on one for the $1200, that came with a six month warranty and he would try them and let me know. I said if you can’t get that one, just go ahead and order a new one. He never got back to me today, so I guess we’ll find out the verdict on Monday.

Started up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 06/25/15: 159

1. Chester A. Riley.
2. This figure does not include the multi-hundred dollar installation cost.

Jeepers Creepers

I can’t make up my mind on my next set of peepers.
When we last left our indecisive hero he was trying on five different pairs of glasses from Warby Parker…

While, I still really like the idea of the crystal frames, Donna thinks I need some color, so of the 5 tried on back then the Haskell with blue trim is the clear1 front runner. When I look back at those pictures I still like the all clear Chamberlain best.

Then the other day I was watching a video review2 of the new Miata by a French auto journalist and he had on clear frames with bright red temple arms. Whhaaaat?!? Me likey, but not red. Maybe blue? Coutless internet searches have garnered no results worth anything. This got me thinking, what if I could create my own by mixing two different frames. Off to Paint Shop Pro.

You can’t tell from the photos online if any of the frames would be compatible with swapping arms, so I dashed off an email to help@warbyparker.com: “Is there any other frame with blue color temple pieces would fit on the Haskell frame?” Their answer: “The only temple pieces we carry are silver and you can find them on our Winston frames here. We do not carry frames that come with blue temple pieces. Sorry about that!”

I’ll save you a link click, the Winston are black and look like the frames Steve Reeves wore as Clark Kent in the old Superman TV show. Ain’t no silver there.

Maybe I’ll do another Home Try On and order those 4 frames, plus a 5th wild card, and see if I can can get any of those blue arms to adapt to one of the crystal frames…

1. See what I did there?
2. I can’t remember where it was or I’d have linked it.

4 Years Later

McLeod Museum

We took a drive on Saturday to scout a route for a future MMC event, but we didn’t take the Miata, it was just a little too cold (and windy) for a convertible drive. The picture above is from the destination, the McLeod Farms Antique Museum.

It was even colder today. We got up this morning for our usual Sunday morning breakfast bike ride. Our first stop was downtown at the ATM because we didn’t have any cash and after were going to go another dozen miles or so before eating. The temps were in the upper 30s with the wind chill near freezing. We both felt uncomfortably cold in the 15° below normal, so after the ATM we just rode home and got in the car to drive for breakfast. Post breakfast we did the weekly grocery shopping and we have not been outside since.

This afternoon we sat glued to the couch watching the only golf tournament we ever watch, the Masters.

I have been seeing Dr. PCP twice a year forever for him to run my cholesterol numbers and I can’t believe it has been 4 years since I put up the numbers…Maybe because they looked pretty much like this latest batch of results, cholesterol & LDL within limits and my triglycerides too high with my HDL not high enough.

  Chol HDL LDL Trig
Goal 80-199 40-110 30-130 30-150
03/31/16 170 37 95 180
10/10/12 196 36 128 160
04/10/12 193 39 121 166
10/10/11 162 43 88 155
04/04/11 155 38 96 107
12/06/10 176 41 114 105
05/18/10 151 38 91 109
12/15/08 167 41 92 171
03/21/08 164 37 104 115
12/12/07 175 38 104 165
07/17/07 185 36 117 162
03/05/07 195 39 123 167
09/19/06 167 37 103 135
04/06/06 168 37 106 126
12/08/05 182 35 120 137
07/28/05 177 30 113 169
06/17/05 164 31 85 238
05/06/05 174 27 108 194
01/10/05 176 33 110 167
09/21/04 209 24 131 271