Miatatude

The little dark blue swirls are not as noticeable nor as plentiful as I first imagined, changing my course of action from hurry and clean/re-wax to “watchful waiting.” I mean if this was harmful in a permanent way they still wouldn’t be selling this stuff. While I was doing Miata stuff yesterday I also replaced the two (upper & lower) shift boots. Both of them were broken and cracked horribly. I guess there is less cockpit heat…. While I was in there I notice the oil in the turret was brown and very thin. I guess it is time to change that out. I think that maybe I will buy a couple of quarts and go ahead and change all of the transmission fluid while I’m at it. Maybe next Saturday’s project.

Started down, still down
Top Transitions since 02/02/02: 255

Put the top down for the trip to work, but almost didn’t make it. After we came back out of the bagel place it was sprinkling. Got going in a hurry and for a second there it came down hard enough for us to consider finding a place to put it up. Passed out of the rain and by the time we got to work it had stopped, so we threw on the cockpit cover. Keep in mind the weather channel insisted that the only chance of rain was a 30% afternoon variety. We discovered on the 10:00 walk around the parking lot that sometime during the morning it rained enough to really wet the pavement. The cockpit cover worked wonders this time, the inside stayed totally dry. The top went up this afternoon because Donna went swimming by herself and the clouds still looked ugly. This evening the skies cleared up enough that we went back out for a drive under the nearly full moon.

Started up, went down, went up, back down, still down
Top Transitions since 02/02/02: 255

Made it to work with it down, but put it up. It did rain for most of the day, thereby negating the wash job, but what did I expect. Got an email from Moss Motors, the short shifter kit is on backorder and they don’t have an ETA on the next shipment, so they cancelled my order. I think that it is a good thing. I read some of the reviews on Miata.net and now am slightly confused as to which way to go. The Brainstorm one sounds like the right one except for the disclaimer on their site about letting in more transmission noise. Shift boots came today, guess I’ll just put them on this weekend as the research continues….

Started up, went down, went up, still up.
Top Transitions since 02/02/02: 252

Washed the car this afternoon even though it is supposed to rain tomorrow. It was just too filthy not to. It was covered in an even coat of gray, except where I had placed the little RoadsterChat & Master’s Miata Club magnets, it was perfectly clean under them.

Ordered the short shifter kit from Moss. They are proud of their Shipping and Handling department – $15 to UPS that 2 lb. shifter….

Started down, went up, still up.
Top Transitions since 02/02/02: 250

The car is way filthy from driving around in the rain all weekend. I couldn’t wash it because Donna needed it to go swimming. Busy after work week, so it may be all the way until Friday before it gets washed. Ordered the 2 rubber shift boots that go on the transmission under the leather boot you see. When I installed the leather a few weeks back I noticed that the top one had a big tear in it. I didn’t place too much emphasis on it until I was lurking over on the Miata.net Forum and discovered that those torn boots would lead to extra heat in the cockpit. It was then that I put 2 and 2 together. The transmission has been radiating heat for a while now, I just thought it always did that. Now I think that after reading the procedure for changing these boots I will have to move up the purchase of the short shifter kit so I don’t have to do the job twice and potentially pay for the bottom boot twice.

Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Top Transitions since 02/02/02: 249

More rain dodging on the return trip. We left early and it was raining so we put the top down after filling up with gas. The top was way wet from sitting out overnight, so I tried to dry it as best I could before putting it down. Seeing as I was filling up with gas, I thought that I could try using the window-washing squeegee. I tried it and while it got a lot of the water off, because of the pebble grain on the vinyl it left a lot behind. To get as much of the left over water I used those blue towels they keep right there. While not completely dry, it was good enough for now. When we stopped to put the top up at a later time I noticed that there was lots of light blue fuzz all over the top. I guess those little towels are not lint-free.

Started up, went down, went up, went down, went up, went down, still down.
Top Transitions since 02/02/02: 247

It was spritzing lightly as we started out for our morning drive, so only Rudy had his top down. When we stopped at the Crossroads of Time for a couple of folks to gas up, everyone else put their tops down for the run through the gap. If you have ever owned a convertible, you know that in a light rain as long as you can keep moving you stay dry, we used this principle throughout the day. The tops did go up a couple times during extended stops. With the roads mostly wet it kept our speed down through the gap, which in a way was a good thing, as I got to study the turns instead of just reacting to them. About 3/4 way through the Honda S2000s started passing by in the opposite direction. There was a group of 50 or so from all over the country in town to do what we were doing, drive the gap. When we got to the gravel lot at the end there were still a few of them there. We chatted a bit with a couple. Saw one that I’m going to get when I win the lottery, light blue metallic exterior with a dark blue leather interior….sweet.

Started up, went down, went up, went down, went up, went down, went up, still up.
Top Transitions since 02/02/02: 242