Take The Long Way Home
Nice break in the weather today. it was still warm after work, so this afternoon, Donna and I took the long way home.* It will be back to winter by Friday as the temps will fall into the upper 20’s overnight.
Miatatude
I’ve Been Framed
After Donna and I had lunch at our “favorite” place we walked over to Advanced Auto and I bought a nifty thin black metal license frame and the matching screw caps. Ever since I came home with the dealer plate on the back with it’s dealer black frame I kind of wanted a frame for the real plate. every time I went in a department store or auto parts place I looked. Today I found what I needed. Looks pretty good there.
The Miata plate is held on with only 2 screws at the top so the bottom holes are just there staring back at you. Well I fixed that. The screw covers came in sets of 4 so I epoxied the other two to the bottom of the frame for a more complete look. pardon me while I pat myself on the back….
The word favorite is in quotes up there because we have a love hate relationship with Popeye’s. The service is dreadful and the food is hit or miss, but when it hits it is great. Today, like a Vegas slot machine, they paid off with a hit, hot food. This minor success of a visit will make us forget all the other past failures and probably get us to go back again (when we will get cold food no doubt, and the cycle will start anew.)
FM
Today while over running the Master’s Miata Club‘s newsletter through the postage meter at the dealer, I mentioned the ugly spots on the outside rearview mirrors to the salesman and he said, “I know just what you need.” We walked around back to the detailing area and he grabbed a white bottle with no label on it. Poured some clear viscous fluid on a white rag. We went back over to where the car was parked and he swirled some on the mirror, let it sit while he swirled some on the other mirror. Got a clean rag and wiped/rubbed off the stuff from both mirrors. Spots all gone.
When I asked him what it was, he said, “I don’t know, we call it ‘water spot remover’.”
I call it Fucking Magic
Minty Fresh
When I posted my query about the permanent water spots on my mirrors over on the Miata.net forum I got one response: “I used Meguire’s Number 7 polish followed by Meguire’s Gold Class car wax.” Having neither of these products, but it got me thinking, what else I could use? I remembered that toothpaste is a very low abrasive that can be used as a light polish. So I took a tube out to the garage and swirled away for a while then washed with Windex.
I don’t think it worked very well, but at least my mirrors smell minty fresh. 🙂
Baby Gets A Bath
Finally bought some car wash soap and gave baby a bath. After only a month it has outgrown the kitchen sink so I had to do it in the driveway. Several neighbors stopped by to say, “Oooh, nice car. Is it new?”
Noticed a bitsy paint chip missing off the hood, so small you’d hardly notice it, but it is the first scar it’s gotten while in my possession. I also noticed that the outside rearview mirrors look like they have water spots all over them. At first I thought it was because I didn’t dry them off after the wash, but Windex nor 409 removed them. Hmmm. Acid rain spots? I wonder if the mirror is actually plastic? The car finish doesn’t have anything like that on it.
Low Fuel Light
Up until model year 2003, if you wanted to start a nice little flame war over on the Miata.net Forum all you had to do was ask why the Miata doesn’t have a Low Fuel Light. On one side you had the pro camp who wondered aloud about how come the cheapest Hyundai has one. The con camp consisted of the sports car purists or the ones who actually use the normally included gas gage.
I guess Mazda figured if it sold a half dozen more cars they would add it, so in all 2003 Miatas you now get a low fuel light.
I was on my way to the local gas station this evening to fill up as the needle was about on ‘E’ when mine came on. Filled up the tank and I managed to get 10.4 gallons in there. The total capacity according to my brochure is 12.7 gallons, so I had 2.3 left to burn. Even at the lowest EPA city mileage of 23 MPG I still could go over 50 miles before actually running out.
Shift For Brains
After much deliberation, tonight I removed the short shifter. I really liked the shortened shifts and even the slightly higher effort with added snick-snick, but the little whirring, spinning noises (only noticeable with the top up) were making me crazy. I’m sure they were there in the old car, just didn’t hear them, what with the older cars higher ambient noise level. Shifting is back to longer, but smoother and quieter.
Afterwards Donna and I went out and tested it of course. 🙂 It is about 60 degrees tonight and a beautiful night for a topless cruise. At one point Donna said it is a little brisk maybe we should raise the windows. When she mashed the switch, nothing happened. Rut-Roh! I must have messed something up, because you have to remove the switches to get the console out to change the shifter. I thought it took a lot more pressure to hook back up. I hope I didn’t break a pin. Turns out I did bend one, straightened out, hooked it up and now the windows fly up and down on command again.
I’ve got a question for the Miata.netters. Remember how I complained about there not being any oil in the turret? While reading in a post about notchy shifting 6-speeds, someone made an off-hand statement that you need to remember 6-speeds trannys don’t have oil in the turret. Huh?!? Did they stop putting it in 5-speeds too? If so, did putting some in muck up the works?
After Donna and I got back from our evening top-down drive (it’s like 60 degrees outside) there was a sticky note attached to my monitor, “Tim called” it read. My mother-in-law had taken the message. I guess Tim just said, “Tell him I called.” I only know one Tim, and he is a rare caller, so I tried his number. No answer. Hmmm. Did she mean some one else? Jim? I know a ton of Jims. Whoever it was, it must not have been important as he never called back.
Better send myself an email at work so I’ll remember to ask Tim if he did call me.