Miatatude

Just Means More For Me On Friday

Didn’t win the Mega Millions, but no one else did either. That just means more for me to win on Friday…

I have learned to live with the squeal that happens when the A/C compressor kicks in while accelerating, but now I’ve got a new noise. It’s a squeak and it comes when I hit a relatively sharp bump. It is coming from the driver’s side and I think it is from the back (you never know with sounds.) Naturally having just had the shocks changed out the inclination is to think that maybe we didn’t get everything tightened down on them. The trouble with that is when the squeak occurs. It only happens in the afternoon on the way home from work. Doesn’t happen on the trip into work and we just made trip to the store tonight and it didn’t make a peep. It seems to be getting worse, today on the way home it squeaked on smaller bumps making it sound off more often. It doesn’t make sense, temperature related?

Started up, went down, back up, down again, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 358

Not Actually A Mod, But More Like Service

Dutch HyroglephicsHad some new shock absorbers installed today. At 63k miles they were not entirely shot, they were definitely worn, judging by the improved feel on the drive home. They were yellow Koni Sport adjustable shocks, so they were not an equal swap, but more of an improvement.

When the shock replacement was being planned I considered purchasing some lowering springs to get rid of the fist sized gap between the tire and fender lip. After copious reading in the Miata Forum Suspension and Handling section I decided that because this is the “family” car and it is already a close call clearing dead possums in the road that I would choose function over style and keep the stock springs and their “high” ride height.

When I picked up the car after the install it actually looked like the ride height had increased. When I got home I measured it and sure enough the gap was now a 1/2″ more than it was before. Because that dimension is determined by the spring not the shock I was curious. So I asked over on the forum and got a reassuring response that that is normal and the car will settle back down to where it was in short order.

Started down, went up, went down, back up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 330

Carolina Car Trek

Intimate AnimalAiken had it’s Horseplay with painted horses and now Darlington County has it’s painted cars. While looking for the Post Office in Lamar, SC we noticed a painted car in front of the Library. Later in the weekend we noticed a couple more cars around. So when we got home, we looked on the internet and discovered that it was new this summer – Carolina Car Trek. There is even a contest involved that can win you a 2008 Darlington Raceway Package (whatever that is.)

I had to give a little blood this morning for my cholesterol check next week, so I had to not eat breakfast at home. This meant a stop at the New Moon Cafe for eats on the way in to work. Cranberry Peacan Muffin for me and an Everything Bagel for her.

Meal Cost: $2.89
Tip Jar: 11¢
Spent Today: $3.00
Year to Date: $1512.70
Meals out, 86 of a possible 591

A couple of new links on the sidebar tonight, 1) A New Miata? in 143 days and B) Spenser?s Crime Buster Rules.

I found another place that is raffling off a new Miata, or MX-5 as Mazda would have you call it, the International Motor Racing Research Center. The IMRRC is in Watkins Glen, NY and they are selling just 2,500 chances on a 2007 Touring Package car. $35 each, two for $60 or a quartet for a C-note. I opted to take 4 chances at getting a new Miata about 1,088 days sooner than planned.

After finishing re-reading Spenser book #3 and finding another rule, I broke down and created a page for Spenser’s Crime Buster Rules. I only have 32 more books to go to get all of the rest (if there are any more…)

Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 282

Champagne Edition

Practically every year since 1992 the folks at Mazda have released a special edition Miata. Usually unique in color and loaded with extras. Some of these are particularly sought after, especially the 1993 Limited Edition black with red interior and the 1999 10th Anniversary models. For 2007 there has been an SE in Japan and England, but not the US. It is similar in color to my car, but more like the 2000SE with a dark purple exterior and light beige interior.

The Japanese market is lucky enough to get a lot of other stuff that we don’t get over here. The best is something called Web Tune where you can order your car online after customizing it with all kinds of goodies that you can’t get here.

I found an image of a Mazdaspeed MzTuned Roadster on the web somewhere and it has been my PC’s wallpaper for a while. The car is in silver and it is kind of boring, so during a dull moment today I played around coloring it. They have made Miatas in a bunch of colors including a plethora of blues, several reds, a bunch of greens, most primary colors, including three shades of white, but they have never offered any kind of beige. I think this color I call Champagne would look pretty good on a Miata. Maybe it will be next year’s special edition color?

Tonight was the May meeting of the MMC, but at the last meeting they though it would be a good idea to meet at 7:00PM. This is later than Donna and I like to eat so we stopped on the way home from work and picked up our usual 14″ pie at Ferrando’s.

Meal Cost: $15.83
Tip: None
Spent Today: $15.83
Year to Date: $943.50

I think they have adjusted the crust to something thinner than they used to do, it was still good pizza, but slightly different. We ate 2 pieces each finishing half the pie. The second half is earmarked for Saturday lunch.

Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 140

Spontaneous Debadging

The Emperor has been surviving on sponge baths, AKA Meguiars Quik Detailer, for a while now, but today after work I gave him a proper washing. Then I decided to lay a coat of wax on there too. I used some Meguiars paste cleaning wax I had under the cabinet. Looks a whole lot better now, but the finish doesn’t feel baby butt smooth. Maybe tomorrow when I get home from work I’ll put another layer of wax on. I have a bottle of something else under there, I think it is called Black Magic and maybe that is what I used last time. If one layer is good, two have got to be better. Right?

While I was taking off the wax, getting it off around the edges of the chrome Mazda logo on the back end, it came loose and one side fell down. The badge is held on by 2 pins and one was broke, so I pulled the badge off the car. There are usually these fancy one way push washers on the pins, but there wasn’t one on the non broken pin and there was some adhesive behind the lettering holding the badge on. What the heck, I might as well take off the MX-5 Miata badge on the other side too. On my ’95 the Mazda was held on by two pins, like this one, and the Miata was just held on by double stick tape. I went in the house and got a piece of dental floss to “saw” through the adhesive. The floss broke three times in about the same spot. That is when I realized on the ’03 the MX-5 Miata badge was held on by two pins as well. I wrapped a screwdriver in a rag and pried off the badge. Turns out it was held on by no adhesive and only one push on washer.

I now have 2 small holes on both sides of the license plate. With the dark color car they are hardly noticeable, but I think I may fill them in with something and then use touch up paint to hide them better. When I debadged the rear on the ’95 I replaced both badges with hand cut replicas made of blue reflective vinyl. The blue on blue was very subtle in the day but really stood out at night when headlights hit them.

Now, as I write this, I know why the badges were held on so haphazardly. The body shop weasels did it when they repaired my little trunk bender from last year. The adjuster put in the cost of new badges when he did the estimate. Satcher Ford’s Body Shop reused the old badges and charged the insurance company for new ones.

Started up, went down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 135

Small Pickup

StuffedFinally hosed off the screened porch this evening. Even with a good vacuuming, the cushions on the patio furniture still looked a little yellow. Plus they were also getting a little tired looking. Hey, this is the furniture we have had out there since we built the deck back in 2000. A command decision was made to go to Lowe’s and buy some new cushions.

We got about a 1/4 of the way there when Donna asked had we determined whether we needed mid back or high back cushions. I made a U-turn and we came back home to measure our existing cushions. They were 46″ long, high back.

We had pre-shopped online the other day and had picked out some cushions we liked, now we hoped that our local store had enough of what we wanted in stock. We have a big table for 6, a chaise lounge and two rocker/swivel chairs, meaning we need 8 seat cushions and one chaise cushion. We were in luck as they had just 8 of the chair cushions and a bunch of the chaise cushions. We picked this pattern because it is reversible and we could use one side for the six chairs at the table and use the other side for the chaise rocker grouping.

All those cushions take up a lot of space. Mmmm, should we call our friend with a pickup or our neighbor with a pickup. Ooops, forgot the cell phone. I am fond of saying that the Miata is as good as a pickup on a sunny day and now it is time to see just how true that is. I was disappointed. I could only get 5 chair cushions and the chaise cushion in the car, so I had to make 2 trips. If I had a couple of bungee cords I probably could have gotten all the cushions in and on the car, but I still would have had to make two trips because I would have had to go back to get the wife.

Started down, went up, back down, back up, down again, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 130

Don’t Forget NaviGirl

SuperheroesAll Donna could do after reading last nights post was shake her head. (Wait’ll she sees this one.) What’s a good superhero without a sidekick? While Garnetman can drive like the wind, spot the apex of a curve in a flash, the big picture of proper course is his Achilles heel. He needs direction, so who reads the maps that keep him on trajectory? NaviGirl, that’s who.

Why Garnetman might have starved this very evening had not NaviGirl led him to the golden doors of the China Palace. Sizzling Rice Soup for two and a serving of Double Fried Pork split down the middle. Water to drink.

Meal Cost: $13.50
Tip: $2.50
Spent Today: $16.00
Year to Date: $834.49

Once again I “borrowed” the superhero images from The Art of Andy Smith. I did email him to see what he’d charge for his You be the Superhero! program. We’ll see what he says. Of course if he finds this site first and sees the liberties I’ve taken with his art, I may hear from his lawyers instead of him.

Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 110