Miata Washings

Back From The Land Of Twisty Roads

Been back most of the day, but I’m just now back computing. Installed the second half of my birthday present to myself this afternoon. I’ve got the basics loaded back on the fresh new hard drive, so I’ve still got a lot of software left to install. Those will happen when there is a requirement to use them.

While XP installed I went out and washed the car. It was quite dirty because at least 50% of the roads we traveled this weekend were wet.

Sorry if something is misspelled something, haven’t put that in yet…

Started up, went down, back up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 299

Wash Day

Washed the car this morning even though the intent is to get it dirty tonight with bugs. Afterwards I washed the windows in the car too. While the car finished drying I made a quick trip to the local auto store and picked up a can of Meguiar’s Cleaner Wax. Old school paste wax in a can that went on easy and came off the same.

While the whole car washing thing was going on I was doing the clothes washing too. My job is to load the washer, then swap from washer to dryer and load the washer again. Donna does the folding, mostly. I’ll help with that too if I’m not busy with other things like this morning.

Car Morning

Changed the oil this morning. As always I took this time to rotate the tires too. Jacked up the car and put it on 4 jack stands. This makes it easier to get to the drain plug and the filter. When spinning off the filter I always tuck a rag under where the filter is so the oil left in the filter will drip into it and not on the ground. Well, today I learned that khaki pants don’t do well when used for this job. The old cotton t-shirts absorb the oil, while khaki pants absorb a little and then act as a conduit for the oil to pour all over the underside of the car and then drip on the driveway. At least the tires rotated without incident, even the semi-mangled lug stud and lug nut cooperated fully.

After I put the car all back together, I went ahead and washed it. Had to use some bug remover on the nose to get off the stubborn bug guts off, so a quick bit of wax applied to the area. I keep reading about using a clay bar on the car and wonder if that would completely clean everything off the paint. But because it seems like such a production, maybe an all day affair, that I have been avoiding it. Maybe a fine fall Saturday could be set aside for that project.

Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 256

Any Man Who Falls Behind, Is Left Behind

Decided to go ahead and wash the car. I couldn’t use the excuse that it might rain anymore, I’ve used it for the past week or so, and the weather forecast was for more of the same for the next tens days…

I knew I shouldn’t have watched the game. The FRS lost to the Yankees tonight on ESPN. They lost on Thursday as I watched on ESPN2 and then they lost Saturday afternoon on FOX with me on the couch. The Sox won big, 17-1, on Friday when they weren’t on TV, I didn’t even listen. So I shouldn’t have watched them on TV tonight, they probably would have won the game.

The only thing that saved the night was right after the game I found TDPM playing and it was only an hour in. 🙂

Barbossa: Why thank ye, Jack.
Jack Sparrow: You’re welcome.
Barbossa: Oh, not you. We named the monkey Jack.

Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 228

Letter Sweater

Looking for the perfect 50’s college nostolgia? How about a letter sweater just like dear ol’ dad wore? Get a duplicate of the one the moths ate or make one up of your very own at lettersweaters.com.

Letter Sweater
Here is Doug Neidermeyer’s letter sweater from Faber U.

Or if you would like that High School Letter Jacket you missed out on back in the day, because they didn’t award them to members of the AV Club, you can get one at their companion site, American Letterman Jackets.

Started down, went up, went down, back up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 191

Washing In The Rain

No postings here tomorrow as we are spending the night in a motel in Beaufort, SC. We are heading that way with a few of the Master’s Miata Club folks to meet up with a bunch of Low Country Miata Club folks to go to the drive-in there. So you can share in some of my furor, I’m going to let you in on the two movies we will be seeing tomorrow: The Adventures of Shark Boy & Lava Girl in 3-D, followed by Madagascar. Damn, I’m all a tingle with excitement.

As I do for any Miata gathering I participate in, I wash the car before so it will look nice. Afternoon showers were popping all over the area, so I tried to time my washing just right. I almost made it. I had at least finished washing it before the next shower passed through. I was under the awning in the driveway that is for the MSV and drying the car off when it started raining. The top, hood and trunk were dry, but the sides kept getting wet down with the splashes of the heavy stuff. I waited a bit and when the rain intensity slowed some, I quickly backed out from under the awning and drove into the garage where I finished drying off.

Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 172

Shiny & Quiet

Took the afternoon off to do some car stuff. First up was to try and get rid of my gingling sound when going over bumps. I removed the brake caliper, its mounting bracket and the rotor. This was as far as I had gone before and sure enough the noise was still there. Here is where I ran into a bit of trouble. The next thing that needed removing was the nut on the axle, I don’t have a wrench big enough to tackle the job, plus once I got it off I would have totally exhausted my knowledge of car guts. What the heck, I have all afternoon, buttoned it back up and took it back the the local tire store which caused the noise and let them have it. I took one of the technicians for a ride and pointed out the sound. When we got back he pounded on the tire with his fist and could get it ringing, he said, “Give me a few minutes” and disappeared into the shop. 20 minutes later he came back and told me that when the last guy replaced the lug he didn’t get a shim in the right spot behind the bearing and it could move around causing that noise. He fixed it up and now I am noise free again.

After I got back from the LTS I washed the car. It wasn’t real dirty, but there is a Master’s Miata Club event tomorrow and I couldn’t show up in a dull car. I had intended to wax the car after the last washing a couple of weeks ago, but didn’t get to it, so today I did. As it happened at the end of December when I last waxed with Black Magic Wet Shine Liquid Wax it went on real easy, but came off a lot harder. When I was using my old skool paste carnuba wax it came right off with a towel. I’m actually thinking of getting a random orbital buffer to take this new fangled stuff off. The gurus over in the Car Care Products section of the Miata Forum swear by the Porter Cable 7336 which is about a hundred and a quarter. A can of paste wax would be a heck of a lot cheaper…

Started down, went up, back down, back up, down again, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 147