Miata

Congratulations Mr. Bogardus, It’s A Girl

Buckie

Two months ago I went to the DMV to register the 2001 Miata, and I wanted to give it personalized plates. Because the car had the infamous clutch chatter issue that made 1st gear buck until it was fully warmed up, I wanted something to reflect that. Plus, Santa Fe Sally and her fascination with Buc-ees had already started calling it Bucky even before I realized it had that issue.

You are allowed 6 letters with an additional space or hyphen in there somewhere. Because the regular state plate has a large fir tree right in the middle, that is where I opted for my space. On the form you get 2 options, so I wrote in BUC KEY and then BUC KIE.

I mentioned to a few people that if I got KEY, I would consider that a male name, and if I received KIE, that would be female, so the car’s pronoun would going forward reflect that. Today I found out which one I got. Congratulations Mr. Bogardus, it’s a girl.

Face Back On

My eBay headlight arrived last night. It wasn’t nearly as nice as the 10,000-mile one. It was a used headlight with a decent amount of aging, so I opted to do both headlights with the restoration kit. Felt bad when I sanded that almost perfect 10k-mile light, but I wanted them to look sort of the same.

Step 1: Go watch the instruction video again.
Step 2: Follow the instructions.

It probably took about two hours total, and one hour was at the end, spent waiting for the finish coat to dry. Now that it is done, the two headlights don’t look exactly alike. The eBay one has a little bit of yellow oxidation that can’t be removed by the kit. It is impossible to tell in this photo because one headlight is in the shade and the other in the sun. Probably one in ten will notice the difference in the real world.

I Was Bored Today

I’ve been running the NB’s 16″ wheels on the ND for about 6 months and because I had nothing better to do today I put the ND’s 17″ wheels on the NB, just to see. And if you like that type of look, it is not that bad. The downside is that this combination will really mess the with feel and handling of the car. Those OEM 17″ wheels and tires weigh in at 38.4lbs each. This is nearly 10lbs of extra unspring weight per corner compared to the 15″ FM Kogekis and Yokohama ADVAN Flevas at 28.4lbs that I put right back on the NB. Oh the humanity.

Bucky’s Big Day Out

I’m finally going to get him registered and get the title in my name versus the Bring-A-Trailer seller. Hard to believe, but I won the auction for the car nearly 7 months ago. I’ve even decided to try and get a personalized plate. You get six letters, so I’ve asked for BUC KEY or BUC KIE with the state’s base license plate that features a tree in the center. Odds are probably kind of slim though; the mascot of Oregon State University is a beaver…the only saving grace is the mascot’s name is Bennie.

After the DMV I’m dropping him off at my friend’s at PDX Wraps to have some side stripes put on like I mocked up back in July. Here is the proof they sent me today. We’ll see when I get there. When I mocked up my stripe on it sat a little higher; theirs shows it lower, and I’m wondering how well the thinness of the stripe at the back end of the door will hold up.

Side Stripe Design Proof

I’m also going to get them to put a 4″ or so dark black tint along the top of the windshield. Even though I spent money on the old-school folding visors from the first-gen cars, I might be able to eliminate them altogether with that tint.

And there is one last modification (or so I’m telling myself) to be done: a set of custom gauges from Revlimiter. We are ironing out all the details as we speak; it is based on a combination of his Spyder faces and something I’ve had sitting in my Miata folder for a couple decades.

Custom Gauges Go Here


 

A Day At The Races

I spent the day at Portland International Raceway with a small subset of the Mt. Hood Miata Club. We met for breakfast at a Holiday Inn close to the racetrack before heading over to over for the SpeedTour that incorporates several different classes of car racing.

It also included a Hagerty: Cars & Caffeine, which is a car show for all kinds of automobiles in about 7 or 8 different classes. This is how we got in the event, at a cost of $50. That might seem like a lot, and it sort of is, but it included admission to the track for all 3 days (Fri, Sat & Sun) of the event for 2 people and your entry into the car show. The Miata is in the “sports car” class for show judging, and there were too many much cooler cars than our relatively “new” cars for us to win anything. My only chance at winning a prize was if there was a category for most stickers on the inside of a trunk lid.

I enjoyed myself and will probably go again next year.

Bucky Update

I’ve addressed those maintenance issues I mentioned last week. I greased the turn signal & wiper stalks, and they are quieter now. The turn signal one may need a bit more grease, as it isn’t as silent as the wiper one, but that’s for another day. The driver’s door power mirror not working was because the wire connection from mirror to door was not hooked up.

I took Bucky down to the folks at PDX Wraps to pick out the color that I wanted the stripe to be. We hashed out the color and location, so now when I’m done at the DMV next Thursday, I can just drop it off and Uber home. Reverse that on Friday afternoon and drive it home.

While we were on the driver’s side of the car, he noticed what looked like a light scratch. Upon closer inspection it appears to be a line of excess paint drips. The Carfax showed no accidents, but I am beginning to think, with this excess paint and unconnected mirror wires, that it was in a fender bender of some sort and it was fixed off the books. Not a big deal, but still every time I turn around there is another surprise with this car.

Excess Paint?


 
Speaking of surprises, when I went to restart the car at PDX Wraps, it was hard to start. It was a hot day, so that could be the issue, but it wasn’t that hot. So now what? It could be the 25-year-old fuel pump, regulator, or fuel injectors, or a couple, three of them. This car has really become a money pit, and I’m starting to reconsider the plan to keep Bucky and sell the new Miata plan.

Miata World ’99 Revisited

Getting the Shot at Miata World ’99 in Dallas


Back in February of this year I took a photo album from 1989 off the shelf and scanned the photos I liked. I then used them to create five separate posts of content out of it.

Today I jumped ahead a decade to 1999 and scanned some images from the photo album of our trip to Dallas to a national Miata event. Most of these photos aren’t nearly as scenic as the 1989 ones. If you are new around here you might assume that all that Roadside America stuff from the recent April-May-June trip was something new, au contraire, I’ve been making road trips “meaningful” that way since the end of the last century. Postcards also played a crucial roll in this trip as well. See the – Slow Miata to Texas Tour