Miatatude

The Triumphant Return of the King

Actually came back on Thursday evening, but on Friday he rested because we rode the tandem to work and later went grocery shopping in the “big” car.

Took a drive today to a friends house. After the first couple of hard turns under acceleration and getting a loud clunk as the new springs settled onto their perches, it was smooth sailing. Car handles like new again. What we thought was the main rear seal doing all the leaking turned out to be mostly valve cover gasket with the rear seal being a minor contributor. Just recently the Emperor had started leaving a small spot towards the rear of the car to go with the big one up front. Turns out it wasn’t a muffler-fluid leak like I suspected, but the rear transmission seal was the culprit, which the fine folks at Panic Motorsports replaced for me.

Got a new clutch and associated components and I swear it feels better than new. It took me only a moment to get adjusted to its new release/engagement point, after the replacement it is an inch or so closer to the floor than than it was. Steve @ Panic sez it is a simple fix to move that point up or down in the travel patch of the pedal. I looked up on the Miata.net Forum and it looks dead simple. so I might just give it go to see if I can get it back to about the middle of the travel where it has reside for the last dozen years.

While they had the car on the lift they marveled at the bumps and bruises the car has accumulated in its 150,000 mile life so far. Steve actually wondered if I had hit any bowling balls. There was a bent rear sub frame brace that they replaced and they also had to re-weld the resonator (Mazda calls it a presilencer) back onto the exhaust pipe. I also somehow managed to get a large dent in the muffler in a nearly un-accessible spot. In my defense I’m usually very good at distances and spacial relationships, but for some reason I have a terrible blind-spot in judging the height of road debris compared to chassis clearance.

Started down. went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 1515

Launch Edition

Launch Editions

They say a picture is worth a 1,000 words, this photo is worth a 1,000 Miatas.

Mazda has always been quick to throw a new color on a Miata, add a geegaw, slap a badge on a car and call it a Special Edition or a M Edition or an Anniversary Edition. Well this year with the launch of the 4th generation of the car, they’re getting on the bandwagon early and launching a special Launch Edition.

The first 1,000 people in the U.S. to get an example of the 4th gen car had to pre-order it. They will be getting the top of line Grand Touring with every possible option checked off in Soul Red with a tan leather interior, the only choice they had was stick or auto. Its this color combo is what will make it unique, that and a badge stuck on one fender panel.

The photo above was taken by Mazda and it shows, I think, all thousand of the LEs waiting to be loaded on the boat(s).

Started up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 1514

Breakfast at Betsy’s

Breakfast at Betsy'y

Donna and I arrived at Greg’s Gas Plus about 15 minutes early, so we would be there before anyone else. We were, but not for too long as Hal and Trudy Scott joined us. We chatted for awhile about the usual stuff while we waited for other Miatas to arrive, but mostly marveled at the shear amount of traffic that stopped at Greg’s and 90% of it was pick up trucks. The mix was 50/50 with lawn care trailers headed south to the lawns of the cities and boat trailers headed north to Clarks Hill Lake.

At one point the lot was so full that a truck hauling a boat stopped directly in front of us. The passenger disembarked and headed into the store for ice, a rest room break or maybe just a cup of coffee. The driver came out and called to us, “You guys don’t need to go anywhere in the next 5 minutes do you?” So I asked, “What time is it?” He dug into his pocket, pulled out his phone, unlocked it, pulled up an app and said, “Seven thirty-seven.” “Actually, we probably should be gone already,” I said, “But you don’t have to move, we’re small and can get around you.” He got back in his truck and by the time I finished a quick Drivers Meeting1 and the four of us got in our cars, he was fully out of our way, so we drove off with a wave.

We arrived at Betsy’s about 10-15 minutes later than advertised and there were three Miatas already parked outside. Inside we found John & Pat Clark, Rita & Larry Garner and Tom Varallo at a table with enough empty seats for the 4 of us plus a walk-in2. The nine of us ordered our food and in typical Miata Club fashion one plate was slightly late, one plate needed to be returned for fixing and a couple of dishes weren’t piping hot.

Counting today’s group we had a total of 14 people for Breakfast at Betsy’s if you count the 5 members who ate there last week too after I published the detail’s of this month’s breakfast on the front page of the web site without the date in the post.

All and all, Betsy’s is a splendid spot for breakfast in Aiken on a Saturday morning3, the food is good and the prices are not that expensive.

1 I handed Trudy a map she didn’t need and told them, “Follow me.”
2 No one did.
3 The only day they are open for breakfast.

Here Is Proof

High School Drafting Transcript

Over the weekend I decided to clean out the 2-tier file basket that is on a table in the computer room. I’ve been dumping stuff on the top level for quite some time, mostly the monthly, semi-annual and annual statements from State Farm with updates on all of our policies we have with them. The pile had grown taller than the basket and the top forms were sliding out onto the table. Every single one of the Sonata’s 6 month bills were in there, which was 8 documents of 6 pages each. The Miata’s stuff of similar size went a little further back than 2011, plus the homeowners policies and life insurance policies, it was a mess. I keep the most recent of each and shredded the rest.

In the other tier of this basket was a treasure drove of stuff that I had forgotten I even had. Including the copy of my high school transcript proving my post from the other day. I blurred out everything but the Drafting grades as there is some stuff I’m not too proud of there. The grades reading from left to right are the 4 semesters and the fifth is the average grade for the whole year. Where I’m from high school was only three years, so they tacked on my final year of Jr. High in the upper left (no drafting there.)

Another great find was in a business sized envelope were the cardboard templates for the Pigs In Space sweatshirt I made back in the 80’s. I may have to recreate this. I’m going to need a different medium though, the original was made of felt pieces layered on top of each other then sewn on and we don’t have a sewing machine anymore.

I also found a Calvin & Hobbes Time Machine sticker that I didn’t know I had. There used to be one on the rear bumper of the Emperor, but it went away when the back of the car had to be repainted after the Great Dented Trunk Lid Incident of 2006. I must have had two made … took the newly resurfaced sticker out to the garage and applied it on the Emperor’s rear.

Plus my Junior College transcript was there too, so tomorrow’s treat will be a glimpse at further proof my drafting prowess.

Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 1479

Monochromatic Miatas

We still don’t have all the details on the US version of the new Miata. We’ve got most of it, but there isn’t a configurator online to start building your ideal car yet. What we do know is that the color palette is pretty monochromatic. There are seven “colors”, including a white, a pearl white, a white-ish gray, a dark gray and a black. There is a blue, but it is really a medium gray with blue undertones, leaving the only real color something called Soul Red. And it is a metallic paint, so on cloudy days or in the shade it will darken right up.

Taking a cue from our German friends, (cough, cough…BMW…cough, cough) Mazda is going to start charging extra for metallic, mica & pearlecent paints. In the UK the Soul Red is a thousand dollars extra. The only color on the chart that is free is the Arctic White, the rest are an extra $800. I have seen on the Miata.net Forum that the Soul Red will be extra in the US, but not sure if the other paints will be more too.

Once these 7 colors were basically confirmed as the ones the new car would come in a thread appeared on the forum on the lack of real sports car colors. This thread has peaked at 32 pages compromising of 778 posts. The agreed upon solution to fix this – vinyl wrap your new car. So don’t forget to add about 10% to the cost of your nearly thirty thousand dollar new car to get it in the color you want. Your options are now wide open, take your pick from this chart of over 60 colors, including several hues in the now trendy matte finish. If you are buying a car for wrapping, here is a hint, buy a black one. This way when you open the doors or hood or get a peek inside a panel gap, the original red or white original color doesn’t pop out.

Me, I’d more than likely go for the Gloss Intense Blue (CB-169) or the Gloss Metallic Bright Blue (CB-162).

Started down, went up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 1474

Miata Profile Icon

NB Miata Profile Picture

For the longest time I have been using a Mad Men style profile picture for my user login on Win7, both at home and at work, but after viewing those line art ND Miata images from the electronic owners manual I posted the other day, I thought maybe Mr. Miata should have a Miata as his profile picture.

I couldn’t use one of those as I don’t have a 4th gen car, but I did have a plain line art image of a NA (1st gen) that I made when the MMC was thinking of redoing the club logo. I re-colored it to resemble the previously owned Laguna Blue car and used it for a day. Didn’t feel right, so I made up one of the NB2 (face-lifted 2nd gen) an colored it in like the Emperor.

Here are large white versions of each generation for you to color and use as your own: – NA – NB2 – if you don’t have a paint type program, special requests accepted.

Brief Respite

We pretty much brought back the northwest weather pattern with us last weekend as ever since it has been mostly cloudy and rainy. Fortunately the temperatures in the 50s remained back in Washington state.

Last night for the first time since we’ve returned, we backed the Emperor out of the garage and went for 45 minutes of a pleasant dusk to dark drive. Good thing too, as today was a total wash, figuratively and literally. Sigh. At least the rest of the week looks decent and maybe, just maybe we might get to ride the tandem to work for the first time in 2015.