Miatatude

Smooth Ride

Took advantage of the frighteningly scarce sunny afternoon weather we had today and went for an aimless drive around the back roads of Aiken County. After about 150 miles of driving, I’m liking these Toyos more and more. Haven’t really had a change to challenge any serious twisties with them, but from the few tight curves locally I’ve attacked, they seem to grip very well. Plus, even pumped up to 35 PSI, the softer side walls smooth out the rough roads nicely. The old Bridgestones were rock hard at 29 PSI and had a tendency to trammel all over the lane at the slightest provocation from any slant in the pavement surface.

Purchased Today: $0
Money spent since 03/03/03: $705.02
Started up, went down, still down.
Top Transitions since 02/02/03: 124

Jacking Up

Washed off the car in the garage using some Mequiars Quick Detailer. Vacuumed the car out. Washed the windshield. Even touched up the scrape marks on the front air dam with some semi-gloss black paint. Why you ask, because we were going over to the Sno-Cap Drive In for a Miata Club gathering. About 15 minutes after we got there the rain started and didn’t quit until about an hour after we got back home.

Money spent today was for a hydraulic jack at Wal-Mart. A 2-ton unit with two jack stands, 2 wheel chocks and a shiny chrome cross lug wrench. According to the instructions on Miata.net I’ll need to put a groove in a length of 2 x 4 so I can lift one whole side of the car at a time. Downside to this is I may have to drive up on some 2 x 6 to get the required clearance to put the jack under. It is a step in the right direction, maybe after 5 or 6 years I’ll be ready to step up to the $200 aluminum race jack.

Purchased Today: $31.55
Money spent since 03/03/03: $705.02
Started down, went up, still up.
Top Transitions since 02/02/03: 123

New Tires Get Mounted

$50 was spent on getting the new tires mounted and balanced. For future reference the mileage was 116,050 at the change. Fourteen twenty-five was for petrol. Made a lot of transitions today. Rain was all about and there were extended stops for work, tires and shopping. Sears had a 2-1/4 ton hydraulic jack on sale for 50% off making it just $19.99. I finally decided to break down and get a nicer jack. For ever I have been using the scissors jack that comes with the car and when I did the brakes a couple of weeks ago I decided that that was enough. They were all gone when I got there. This started me on a hunt for a jack. The first place I looked was for advice on the Miata.net Tool Talk forum. Lots of advice there, so much so that I’m now convinced that I should buy an aluminum race jack for $170 from Harbor Freight. Or I should just go to Wal-mart and spend $60 on a jack and some stands – Jeez, thanks guys.

Purchased Today: $64.25
Money spent since 03/03/03: $673.47
Started up, went down, went up, went down, went up, back down, up, down, still down.
Top Transitions since 02/02/03: 122

Missed Me

Went I came up back up front to my office this afternoon I was met by a friend who said, “You better go put your top up. Russ already did.” (Russ is the other Miata owner where I work) I went to my desk and fired up the Weather Channel’s radar and after watching the radar loop for a bit almost decided not to go out. But something told me to go ahead and do it, just in case. Good thing I did, about 5 minutes after I did, it rained big time. Too much for the cockpit cover to have held back.

While rummaging around in a draw looking for something, I stumbled onto some Miata logos in blue reflective tape I had hand cut out a few years back. I already have some on my car, so if you would like these (two 7″ and one 4-1/2″ long) let me know and I’ll mail them to you.

Purchased Today: diddly
Money spent since 03/03/03: $609.22
Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Top Transitions since 02/02/03: 112

Tires Arrive Alive

My new tires are HERE! They will probably get mounted on Friday. That is the day we have a half-day off because of working 9-hour days Monday through Thursday.

Purchased Today: nothing
Money spent since 03/03/03: $609.22
Started down, still down.
Top Transitions since 02/02/03: 110

Blue Sky

Had a real nice turnout for our Meet and Greet with the writers from the German Miata Magazine, Blue Sky, with dozen cars and about 18 people. We hung out and chatted while Eberhard took photos of the cars. Afterwards most all drove into Augusta to eat pizza at the Pizza Joint. On our way back to our cars Rudy said too bad we didn’t take them to the Blue Sky Kitchen a few blocks back. The only thing that salvaged us from this major missed opportunity is that after checking the web page Blue Sky Kitchen isn’t open on Sundays.

Purchased Today: nada
Money spent since 03/03/03: $609.22
Started up, went down, still down.
Top Transitions since 02/02/03: 110

One Man’s Trash Is Still Trash

This morning was Adopt-A-Highway trash pick-up day with the Aiken Bicycle Club. we got about half of 3 block area picked up when the rain started.. No problem as we brought an umbrella because of the weather. I held the umbrella and bag and Donna picked up the bits of stuff on the median. There were 4 others helping us out and 6 people is just fine for our little stretch. Best piece of trash today was a tie, 2 different plastic hub cap/wheel covers from 2 different cars.

Purchased Today: $zero
Money spent since 03/03/03: $609.22
Started up, still up.
Top Transitions since 02/02/03: 109