Miatatude

After having been stuck driving around all weekend with the top up because of the winter type weather, Donna and I scheduled a lunch time drive. It was supposed to reach the lower 60s and be sunny, so a nice short brisk ride with the top down would have been nice. But alas the weather folks missed the high temp mark again. It was barely out of the 40s at lunch, so we called it off, hoping that after work we might sneak in the 6 mile drive home with it down. Didn’t do it then either, we are working 9 hours days this week, so by the time we got off work the sun, and with it what little warmth available, was fading fast.

I had an appointment with fellow Miata Club member, Leroy Delionbach, to snap some photos of his car for the Club calendar right after work. Because of the impending sunset we ended up in a field just across the street from his house (the same one I used for Andrew Miller’s car picture.) Leroy’s car is the same color as my old car, the beloved Laguna Blue. It is still the best looking color for a 1st generation Miata, but I am no longer sad that I don’t own one in that color.

The short shifter mod has introduced a few minor little noises to the cockpit, besides the snick-snick I expected. Little faint whines and spinning sounds. There was a thin black foam with sticky on one side that fell off the big outer boot when I took it off. I placed it back in a groove that was on the bottom of the boot, but now I’m not so sure that is where it went. There was some on the outside of the ring and maybe that is where it all goes. I’ll try that when I open her up to add some turret oil next week (or tomorrow.)

The verdict is still out regarding the short shifter, and I think I need to take this car on some twisty roads soon so that I can get this perception of new refined car out of my head. It is a Miata and it is meant to be DRIVEN, not just driven. Part of the problem is it doesn’t sound like a sports car, it is too muffled. Even Donna notices this and has even commented on it. I know this is a perfect opportunity to get an aftermarket exhaust, but fear of getting something too loud is paralyzing me (that and the $300 price tag.) Although we don’t have a payment until January, if we buy a muffler of roughly the equivalent cost we can just think of it as payment number 61.

We decided to run over to the DMV after work and see about transferring the license plate over to the new car. According to the SC DMV web site I knew I needed to complete Form #400 and have several pieces of paper pertaining to the purchase of the vehicle.

When we got there the first hint of possible trouble was the front parking lot was full and the back nearly so. When we got inside the place was teaming with humanity. I wanted to back out then and there, but Donna said, “We’re here, let’s try.”

First stop and 4 people deep in line is the triage desk. This women makes sure you have what you need or gives it to you to fill out first. No one gets into line unless their paperwork is in order. I had the paperwork already filled out, but I didn’t have a Title or Manufacturer’s Certificate of Origin. I explained that the tag/title clerk at the dealer told me I didn’t need it as she had taken care of that for me earlier in the week. We are waved into the Vehicle Services line.

4 back in line again here. There are 3 clerks for our line, so it shouldn’t be too bad, hopefully (one clerk was tied up with the same people the whole time we are in the building.) We get lucky and the other folks in line in front of us have easy things because we get to a clerk in like 10 minutes.

She takes my completed Form 400 and enters the VIN into her computer. Asks who my insurance carrier is and says, “That’ll be three bucks.” She prints a receipt and my new registration card. She hands me back all the papers and says bye. She didn’t look at any of the stuff the web site said to have. I could have filled out just that one block of the form and it would have been enough. It was all in the computer. Probably would have needed more stuff if the dealer hadn’t registered for the title a couple days before.

I got home and removed the temp tag. I briefly contemplated leaving the dealer’s frame around the plate, but didn’t. I may still put it back or add a different one, the stark mostly white plate needs a black border I think. Maybe one of those thin metal ones. Christmas is coming…

Today I did the 10th modification to the new Miata, front & rear mud flaps, but it was only the second mod I spent money on. The other eight were leftovers I removed from the Laguna Blue car before I traded it in. If you ever want to see what I’ve done, just click on the BtR Equipment Package link over to the left.

I’m sure the mud flaps would have been quicker to install on a lift in a well lit garage, but in my cramped quarters with just a drop light, I figure an hour and a half wasn’t bad. The second flap always went on a lot faster that the first, so with that familiarity I’m sure I could put on a set tomorrow in under an hour. I wonder how long the dealer’s book says it should take?

Electronics Technician – Ha! My statement in last night’s post was way off (sorta.) Swapping the red and black wires is not the same as actually tapping into the ground wire and cutting the hot wire. Once I sat down and drew out the circuit on paper I could see just how different they were. So the instructions that Lynn has on the sheet for correcting the non-blinking situation doesn’t work if you don’t have the black wire tapped into the ground.

Ray came over this evening and we had him up and flashing in a matter of moments. I’m not sure how to solve Lynn’s instruction problem though, there just doesn’t seem to be a way to make hooking this up foolproof if the fool doesn’t have a multimeter to actually correctly identify the ground wire.

At the Miata Club Holiday Hoe-down on Saturday I managed to sell a couple of Lynn’s Brake Lite Blinkers. One fellow couldn’t get his to work no way, no how (even blew a couple of fuses trying.) He came over this evening and we tried a couple of other units and had the same results. I told him to let me try some on my car (haven’t done this mod yet) and if I got some to work I would write down how I did it and we would do it on his car.

My first attempt was like he tried, green as ground (so the black blinker wire hooked to them) the yellow to the light and the red to the wiring harness, it didn’t work. I tried swapping the red and the black wires as per instructions and it still didn’t work.

Black is ground on my car and probably will be on his car too. When I hooked the black wire from the blinker to my black wires in the car with the yellow wire to the light and the red to the wiring harness they all work as advertised.

Don’t ask me to explain why this worked because I can’t (and I was an electronics technician in the Navy for 10 years) because the second set up is the same as the first setup with swapped wires. So if that didn’t work, this second option shouldn’t have either – but it did.

Mine is up and running, hopefully tomorrow so will his.