Miatatude

Trunk Math

The good news is the trunk is fine, just the way I looked at it was off. This morning at work I walked out to the parking lot with my digital calipers in hand. I measured the gap on the right side of the trunk lid, near the front it read .196 inches and at the rear it read .151 inches. That I could see, so now I measured the let side which I thought looked good, near the front it read .165 and near the rear it read .209 inches.

Time to do some ciphering. The difference between front and back on the left is .044 and the difference between front and back on the right is .045 meaning the trunk lid sides are parallel, but it is installed crooked. If we add up the gaps at the front we get .361 while the back adds up to .360 inches. At this point we’ll go ahead and throw out that odd thousandth of an inch because of not measuring in exactly the same spots on each side. The gap between trunk and fender should be .180 inches all around. I guess tomorrow morning I’ll go out to the garage and loosen the 4 mounting bolts and see if I can it all lined up.

For fans of higher math let’s use a little trigonometry and see what the angle of error is on the freshly painted trunk lid. The error between front to back was .044 inches or the opposite side of our triangle. The distance between front back measurement locations is 22 inches or the adjacent side of our triangle. Using my favorite mnemonic, Oscar Had A Hairy Old Ass, I know the tangent of the angle is the Opposite divided by the Adjacent. I can divide .044 by 22 and get .002, now I just have to figure out what angle has a tangent of .002, or what is the arctangent of .002. The calculator that comes with windows does tangents, but not arctangents, so a googling I go. I am led to Carbide Depot.com and their free online trig calculator which gives me an angle of 0.11459140° or if you like, 0° 6′ 53”.

Not much of an angle, but noticeable (at least on one side) to me.

Started down, went up, back down, up again, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 181

No Bull

The Taurus is gone and the Miata is back. They fixed almost everything on my list and came close on the other two, so I got our car back and will learn to live with a couple of minor imperfections.

The trunk lid is off kilter by just a little. Funny thing is that the gap changes noticeably on one side while it is hardly perceptible on the other side. Is the trunk itself crooked? They bought it through the local Mazda dealer… The thing that worries me the most is the thing that is supposed to reassure me, a sticker on the inside of the lid that says “Mazda.” Like that really confirms it is a genuine Mazda part. After only a month or so with my original Miata in 1989, I got a cracked windshield from rock kicked up by a big truck. The glass replacement guy made a big deal of showing me the little white lettering that said Mazda to prove he was installing an OEM piece of glass. Neither of my subsequent Miatas had that white lettering on the windshield.

They got most of the scratches out of the shift knob, I think after a while I’ll not notice the leftovers. But it is now summertime and each afternoon when I get in the car and burn my hand trying to shift with that hot metal ball I think about getting something different anyway. I wonder if I could get an upholstery shop to cover it with leather? I really like the round shape.

Actually, all in all, it is better than when it went in because they fixed the two small dents and 2 small scratches on the right rear fender. Now that they are through fooling with the car I’ll go ahead and put the replacement Calvin & Hobbes sticker on the bumper.

Started up, went down, back up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 178

Great Company

Donna and I went to the local mall and did some shopping, a couple of shirts and a denim skirt for her, no action figures for me. After we were done in the mall she had one more thing she wanted to buy some place else, an ice cream cone. As we left J.C. Penny’s we noticed a ’95 M Edition Miata, that pretty Merlot color with the BBS mesh wheels, right near the entrance with its top down. Inside was a woman talking on her cell phone. I guess she wanted to finish her conversation while her driver was inside shopping. We walked all the the way out to the far end of the lot and got in our car, as we pulled out of the lot I could see that she was still on the phone.

A mile or so down the road we stopped to get that treat. The girl made a cone for Donna and filled a cup for me, then we went back outside, wandered over to a picnic table and sat down. A couple minutes later, what should pull into the ice cream shop’s parking area, but that same Miata. The woman was still talking on her cell phone. They parked and the man driving slowly walked around the back of the car giving the woman a few seconds to get out. When she didn’t, he opened the door then reached in and undid her seat belt all the while she is talking. At first I thought because of the way he was helping her she might be handicapped, but no, she finally stood on her own power and sauntered over towards the shop yakking away while he closed the door behind her. He managed to get half her attention with a question to which she nodded back at him. He headed into the store while she tried out a couple chairs looking for just the right one all the while with her cell phone glued to her ear.

A couple minutes later the man returned with what looked like two small sundaes. He placed hers down on the the arm of the chair she was in, sat down and started to enjoy his ice cream. At one point I think she braced the phone between shoulder and cheek to sneak a spoonful, but maybe not. By now Donna and I were finished, so we walked back to our car which took us right by the couple. As we passed I could see her sundae was untouched and his was half gone. When we got by, I asked Donna should I give him an MMC newsletter. She just shook her head no.

I started our Miata and he looked over, recognizing the sound perhaps, and gave us a thumbs up sign. I responded with a friendly wave and backed out of the spot. As we turned right out of the lot onto the main road, he was still looking and she was still talking on the cell phone. Maybe I should have given him the newsletter, because it seems like he could use some company that might actually involve him in the conversation.

Started up, went down, back up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 158

We Won

We WonToday the MMC held it’s 3rd annual TSD road Rally and Dona and I came in first. The first year we came in 3rd and last year we finished out of the money, but this year we knocked ’em dead.

There were 14 teams that started and we were #13 out of the gate. When Donna and I arrived at the finish we were the 4th car in. We knew that there a few cars that probably got lost, we had seen a few going the other way as we did the run, but 6 cars had fallen off the course. Turns out it was worse than that because the 3 that were at the finish ahead of us had only made it there by opening their emergency envelopes…

I guess this must have been harder than it looked to us because only one other team besides us finished with an intact envelope before the cutoff time. Four other teams didn’t open the envelope, but came in after the time allowed. Everyone who made it in cleanly got to pick something from the prize table, the top two teams also got a little cash prize to go along with their T-shirt or hat. We got a crisp piece of paper with a portrait of Andrew Jackson and the second place team snagged an Alexander Hamilton.

Started down, went up, went down, back up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 150

2-1/2 Weeks

Last Friday, May12th, the body shop guy said he needs a couple of hours to fix my laundry list of complaints. I told him that the Miata is my only car, so I would need a loaner. He said he’d call me back and let me know when he could arrange for a car. When he called me back he asked if the 29th was OK. With my always nearly empty social calendar, I instantly agreed. Later when I went to mark it on my calendar I realized that that day was the Monday of Memorial Day Weekend. It was too late to call back then and change it, so I waited until to today. When I told him of the conflict, he replied, “Well just bring it in the next day.”

Why did it take so long to reserve a loaner? Why was it 17 days in the future? If in the end he just goes bring it in one day later?

Were they hoping I would just give up?

Started up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 138

Mobile Bill Pay & Long Distance Lunch

Forget automatic debit, forget paying online, we do things the old fashioned way – with a check. But then we throw in a twist, we ride our bicycles around town and put those checks in the drop box at the cable company, the power company and the city (for water & sewage.) We tacked on a few extra miles by exploring some of the rapidly expanding sub-divisions on the southside of town and ended up going a little over twelve miles on the tandem.

In celebration of having our Miata back we decided to go to Maurice’s BBQ for lunch. Big deal you say, BBQ, well the closest Maurice’s is in Lexington, SC about 50 miles away. It was in the upper 70s with a bright blue sky and some fluffy white clouds for contrast, a day that was tailor-made for a convertible drive. One hundred mile trip at 25 MPG and with gas at $3 a gallon we spent twelve dollars to get a $14 lunch. You can bet the trip was worth every penny.

Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 127

Pre-Op

The Emperor gets goes to the body shop tomorrow, so this evening I detuned it a little. Not that I don’t trust the body shop or anything, but I decided to remove a few of the add-ons I have added on, so they won’t accidentally lose or ruin something. I pulled all the junk tucked into the little cubby on the left of the trunk along with all the little tidbits under the carpet surrounding the spare tire. I pulled out the CB antenna, the cute little net thing and the CD changer. While I was at it I went into the interior and emptied out all the little storage bins, the console holes and the glove box. For good measure I removed all the pins attached to the mesh on the windblocker and swapped out the EJECT cigarette lighter for the stock one. And in case some one gets in with greasy shoes, I put the cruddy cocomats back in. I was going to wash the car to get the dead bugs off the nose, but I got sidetracked and forgot.

Cross your fingers….

Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 122