The Miata was kind of filthy after the rains of late last week and needed washing. (probably wouldn’t have been as noticeable on the Laguna Blue.) It was dry and sunny both weekend day afternoons, but the temps were close to 50, and not really warm enough for car washing. I couldn’t stand it anymore so, this afternoon I “washed” the car in the garage with Meguiar’s Quik Detailer and an old towel. Looks a whole lot better now.
Got a package from Mazda in the mail today. The Postal Carrier had to put it in the door because the 8″ diameter by 2″ thick plastic steering wheel replica wouldn’t go inside our mail box. When I opened up the package inside was some paperwork, a accessories brochure, a tire sales pitch, a cute little 3″x5″ eight page quick reference guide to the controls and a letter welcoming me to the “Emotion of Motion” (or a thinly disguised sales pitch to have my Miata serviced at the Mazda dealer.) After removing all of these bits of paper, what should I find in the bottom of the thing, but another bottle of touch-up paint.
If one is a very fine flirting act, two makes it an overt come-on and I’m not flattered, I’m frightened.
Dave Scott of CarArtz.com has got my new caricature almost finished. He sent me some sketches this morning to show me he was hot on my job. Last time he just sent me a completed proof before we ironed out the details. Really interesting stuff to kind of see the process. Here is the first step, a pencil and paper sketch.
From there he scans it in to the PC and gets the major lines on, then throws some color at it.
Next comes adding the details and then the highlighting. (I asked him to make the car face the other way so when I hang it on the wall the new car caricature and the old car caricature will be facing each other.)
I ask for some color changes in the car and seat color. Plus I want the carartz logo smaller and near the bottom. Here is the 99.9999% completed image. (I asked for a little more brown in the car color.)
I’m stoked. Think I’ll go wait by my mailbox for the tube….
Today I decided to tackle turning the OEM fog lights into DRLs following the instructions in the Miata.net garage article.
I found the relay under the dash (at least I thought I did) and pulled it free from the mount. I couldn’t figure out how to separate the relay from the connector though. I was going to pop out the red/yellow wire as instructed with its metal end still attached, so I could reverse the mod easy and not have to cut the wire. After struggling for a few minutes I though, what the heck, I’ll cut the wire. First I checked to see if I had some barrel splices to use, I didn’t. I figured I’d wait until I had everything else ready to go before I made a trip to the store.
Next task was to locate a +12v source that is only on when the ignition switch is in the run position. The article mentions he used the radio power wire, but totally fails to mention where it is. Hmmm. There are like 4 other relays in the same area, I don’t know what any of them are for, but one is bound to have a wire that I could use. Turned the key to run and checked for 12 volts. Got one, pink wire. Switched the ignition off, no power, bingo. I even started the car and the 12V goes away while the car is starting. Beautiful. I got a six inch piece of wire and a vampire tap and hooked into my new friend the pink wire.
Seeing as I don’t have any splices I don’t want to cut the red/yellow wire just yet, I’ll try testing it by just pushing my tapped wire into the red/yellow wire connector. I turn the key to run and sure enough there are lights shining on the wall. Yippee. I go around front to admire my handy work and, %@#$, the fogs aren’t on. But the low beams are!?! Now I check to see which page I printed out, as there are instructions in the garage on how to do just this, low beams as DRLs. Nope, I’ve got the right ones. Curious.
Well I wanted DRLS, I got ’em, let’s see if everything else works as advertised. Turn the stalk switch to parking lights and they come on and the lows stay on. Turn the switch to headlights and the lows stay on. With the lights on I hit the fog light switch, they turn on and the lows are still on. Hit the high beams and the fogs go out and the lows are still on.
Cycle thru the routine a couple times. A couple passes through is when I notice that when my new DRLs are on and I turn the headlights on with the switch the light on the wall seems marginally brighter. Can’t really tell how much because it is midday, but definitely brighter. This is something that the folks who have done the lows to DRL conversion complained about. In other cars the DRLs are the lows on reduced voltage so they are not as bright, but the Miata conversion ran the low beams at full power.
Here is where I start to wonder how much current is running through my little 22 gauge jumper. Do I have the right relay? Seeing as the red/yellow wire wasn’t cut, just where was I sending +12v? The instructions said it worked on a 2001 LS, did something change on the 03? So I unhooked the jumper from the red/yellow connector and taped it back. Going to call the dealer tomorrow and see if he will let me copy the fog light circuit diagram…
It didn’t make it to the 60 degrees as promised today, but that didn’t stop Donna and I making the trip to Augusta with the top down this afternoon. We went over to Rader to run the Master’s Miata Club “newsletter”, The Driver, through their postage meter. The word newsletter is in quotes because it was actually a postcard. Last month it was just a one pager that included the wrap up of our one get together in December and little else, I called it a Mini-Driver. This month because the January meeting consisted of nothing but event planning, all that needed to be disseminated was the February events. They fit on a post card I called a Microminiature-Driver. Next month, the Subminiature-Driver, readable only using a microscope.
The Splash Green Miata was still unsold and sitting on the lot. Good thing Rader is running a sales business and not an automobile shelter, or they would have euthanized that car by now. Of course, they shouldn’t feel like the Lone Ranger because a search of the inventory of every dealer within 150 miles of me turns up 12 more of these albatrosses still collecting dust. At least Rader doesn’t have any of the horrible 2003 Strato Blue Special Editions clogging up heir inventory like so many other dealers, another search turns up twice as many (26) of them languishing unsold within that same 150 mile radius.
Yesterday and today we took the Honda Civic to work and the Miata has sat in the garage. The reason for that is that Donna wanted to visit her mom in the hospital during lunchtimes and she didn’t want to have to drive the Miata. It has been over 2 months now and she still hasn’t driven it. She swears she won’t drive it until it gets it’s first boo-boo (door ding or scratch or something) so I guess secretly I hope she never gets to drive it. 🙂
I received a small bulky padded envelope in the mail today from Mazda North America. I wondered what they were sending me. A gift perhaps? Sort of. Inside was a bottle of touch up paint in my color code (5F.) It was there way of thanking me for filling out a survey they sent out wanting to get my thoughts and feelings on the car buying experience. I almost tossed out the survey when I got it, but figured, what the heck, so I filled it. Thanks Mazda, I’ve got a small spot on the hood from a rock or something that needs a bit of touch-up.