Miatatude

Cockpit Cover Saves The Day

All this week the Weather Channel has told us there is a 30% chance of afternoon thundershowers. Yesterday we put the top up and it worked merely to ward off the rain. Today I used the cockpit cover and it acted as a rain magnet.

Not too long after our lunchtime walk the skies opened up big time. It didn’t look too bad during the walk, so I was surprised by the intensity that I heard on the roof over my head at my desk. It rained hard for at least 30 minutes. The cover has saved the Miata interior on several occasions in the past, but it has always been on the old car. It fits the new one alright, but because the seats stick up a little higher (Surfboard Fan Club maybe?) there is a slight gap left near the windows. I was worried that this might lead to less protection for the interior.

While it was raining lightly I borrowed an umbrella and made my way out to the north forty to see what I could see. When I peeked under the edge at the inside it looked perfectly dry. Instead of just walking away I decided to put the top up. During the brief seconds the inside was unprotected, between tossing off the cover and raising the roof, a little water managed to get in, but it was dry by the time we walked out to go home at 4:00.

When we got home I stuck the cockpit cover in the dryer on low and dried it out. It shrunk a little, but I have it stretched over the car now to help it get back to normal. I just hope that spinning experience hasn’t diminished the water repellency…

Most Fun In The Miata Since…

Today we had more fun in the Miata since, well, Donna would just as soon I didn’t blog about that. 🙂 A couple in the Master’s Miata Club put on a time/speed/distance rally for us today and it was a blast. Maybe I’m just saying that because we finished 2nd and didn’t have the humiliation as others did of having to open the emergency envelope.

Clutch Shudder

Go over to the Miata.net in the NB Forums and search for the term “clutch shudder” and you will get a million hits. Here is a good example. When I first started going in there after buying the new Miata I read quite a few of the posts and at first it got me worried and I was always in the back of my mind looking for this thing to show up. Occasionally when first driven about 1/2 from home when I got into 3rd gear the car would do a bit of shaking, but it would disappear in less than a hundred yards. Was this the shudder or something else? Although this clutch has never been as smooth engaging as in the previous 2 Miatas I’ve owned it is not really a problem, but more of a quirk.Yesterday morning the clutch seemed especially hard to engage smoothly for the first half of the trip to work. This morning though, any doubts I had that this was my clutch developing the dreaded shudder, were put to rest by confirmation. When backing the car out of the garage there was noticeable bucking and accompanying noise to go with it. Even Donna said, “What’s that?” “Clutch shudder,” I replied. I paused at the end of the driveway to let a car pass and when I backed out the shudder was there again just as bad. The trip to work was fairly normal after that.I guess I will wait it out a bit more before saying anything, see if it get any worse.

8000 Miles

Turned over 8000 miles this morning on the way to work. I have the scheduled 7500 mile check up for this Friday. I’m not too worried about being over mileage, I changed the oil in the car a couple of hundred miles after I got it and then again close to the half-way point.

Miata Pickup

I swear I’ve mentioned this before, but can’t find the post…the Miata is as good as a pickup on a sunny day. Finally finished painting the bedroom this morning, so to finish off the room we decided we needed a new area rug. Off to Home Depot, then to Lowes, where we found something that fit what we were looking for: 8’x10′, mostly tan with a hint of maroon & cheap. Put the rolled up carpet into the passenger’s footwell, poked it out between the seats while resting on the windblocker. Good thing it is a short trip, that flapping plastic is kind of annoying.

For Future Reference

Just turned over 6,000 miles on the car today, so we are getting close to the first Mazda recommended service at 7,500.When I do take it in, probably after vacation, don’t let me forget a couple things. Have the them oil the trunk hinges as they are starting to creak when opening and closing the lid. Also, I noticed a couple of those plastic pins that hold in the splash liner in the right front wheel well are missing when I washed the car the other day. Nothing is going to fall out or anything, but hey some engineer thought they ought to be there and he must have had a good reason. The driver’s top latch still feels way to easy to close, no leaks or wind noises or anything, but something is not exactly right (maybe the passenger side is too tight?)

Toilet Paper On Your Shoe

Donna and her Mom usually go grocery shopping for the week on Sunday. Yesterday Mom was cooking Easter dinner, so I went with Donna. We took the Miata and because the trunk is a lot smaller than the Civic’s it was a lot fuller. No real problem fitting everything in there, but careless tucking in of the bags left us with the automotive equivalent of toilet paper on the bottom of your shoe, a couple inches of one of the plastic grocery bags stuck out of the trunk and flapped in the wind as we drove down the street. If the store had been more than the mile away it is, I might have pulled over and tucked it in, but we just continued on home hoping no one we knew would see us.