Stimulus Check Miata

In reply to Dusterbd13-michael (Forum Supporter) :

I'm sure some stuff will migrate to the X, if only hardware and seat type stuff, but if all else fails, I can at least run this junker in 2021. I play to loose.

As Keith mentioned , earlier NAs ride just a scoche lower than '97s, as such, Ol Bucky donated springs to the M. After a short delay (Koni forgot to put the hardware in one box), I got the new beauties put together.

The shocks off the white car seem OK. Bonus.

So, yeah, I had to take a couple of weeks off so Covid could kick me around, but I've been picking here and there when I felt well enough.

Got the springs and shocks on.

After a 30ish mile drive, the front settled down pretty well. Hopefully the rear comes down a bit more.                                                                 

I put the wheels and tires from the parts car on, since I haven't gotten the thing aligned yet. They're IRONMAN brand, with a 420 tread wear rating. I wouldn't have bought new tires if I had these then.  

Also, the parts car donated swanky two piece visors, and I put FM top safety latches in. 

I'm glad to hear you're feeling better and back at it.

Just stumbled into this thread... brings back lots of memories!   

Isn't it amazing how quickly a bunch of "cheap" parts adds up... 

So, I've been enjoying the car, taking afternoon romps around the surrounding countryside, sort of like I'd do with a motorcycle. Running the same few routes over and over again. As Covid travel restrictions eased, SLF and I took a week off in front of our 3 day Memorial Day weekend. We drove the 150 mile trip to Middle TN, from where we moved, and where our long missed families still live. 

About 30 miles shy of my Mom's house, a spark plug blew out of the head. I disconnected that injector, and drove to our destination. Shame of shames, I had to have my Mom run us back, and we returned this last weekend with a heli-coil kit. I used the ole shaving cream in the cylinder trick, but still managed to get some shavings in the bore. I'd be remiss to omit the part where I was sucking raw fuel, rubbing alcohol, and metal out of cylinder #2. Good times.

Oh yeah, I had an ancient box fan propped up in the engine bay, helping evaporate the solvents. When I unplugged it, the force of the air no longer held it in situ, and it fell over, shattering its dry rotted cover all over the top of the engine, and, in fact, down the open spark plug holes. By this point, I'd used two full bottles of rubbing alcohol, so I switched over to witch hazel, and Mom's dry only vac with a straw taped in the end. 

Disgusted with myself, I got everything as clean as I could, and buttoned it up. I know some plastic stayed down there, and I'm fully prepared for some metal to ruin that cylinder. Oh well, I avoided a tow, and I've got a parts car with a good running engine. 

It hesitantly fired up, and I stomped out a quick Italian tune-up, then we hit the road. The car ran great all the way home, and I'll probably see if I can borrow my buddy's bore scope in a few weeks.

To complete the update, let's go back some weeks to another scene of my stupidity. Picture seriously related:

See, what happened here was I had a 1/2" slab of steel, maybe 2'X4', and I hit a wheeled computer rack. I maintained control of the steel. This left me to watch helplessly as the rack fell on the poor Miata. Need I mention that it seemed to happen in slow motion? How about the mental "Noooo!" slowed down until it was 3 registers down?

The dent was 8" long by 3" deep, and Just like Steve Irwin pulling the fateful barb from his chest, I immediately started punching and beating the dent out, as If I could keep it from ever having happened. Then I spent 2 weeks cursing myself.

So, I'm really making the car mine. I don't like to think of myself as incompetent, but overfilling a new engine with oil, over (under?)-tightening spark plugs, and knocking a berking set of shelves over on a car that I have spent so much time and money on are making me reconsider how I view myself. It sucks, but I'll just fix it. The car needed paint anyway to be perfect, blah, blah, blah.

Don't be like me, kids- unless it's the laughing at yourself when you do something stupid part. That's OK

Ahhhh that sucks. Bad things come in threes?

These things are pretty hardy so fingers crossed the engine is all good - and you can't see the rear quarter from the driver's seat, so you have that going for you at least.

I've been taking romps (reading back over this, I seem to really like that word. How one dimensional) when I can on a local circuit called the Devil's Triangle. Think of it as my own Tail of the Dragon, minus the infamy and traffic. I can leave home, and do an intense drive like I used to do on motorcycles, and be back home in an hour. I am slowly creeping up on my capabilities, if not the car's. I'm glad I didn't get sticky tires, as I have to really work to break traction (proof I have a long way to go as a driver).

  I also jam the stereo, and unsurprisingly blew the door speakers I glued together some time ago. So I put new ones in today.

Other than that, despite my efforts to sabotage the poor car, it continues to simply run. I don't seem to be burning oil, though I sometimes smell it, and my heli-coiled spark plug seems fine. I'm gluing stuff to get some of the interior squeaks and rattles to a more manageable level, and painting speaker grills and the like. Just a little thanks for not blowing up, car.

Today the Safelite people came out and put a new windshield in.

I'm letting it sit for a day, then I've got some sweet new windshield wipers to put on. It's the little things.

A week or so ago, I was mercilessly caning this thing through another circuit of The Devil's Triangle, when at the end, it started missing badly. Dejected, I limped it home and parked it, mentally preparing myself to swap the engine from the parts car in. Last weekend, I finally took a look at it, and...a spark plug lead had come loose. We're back to running great. Yes!

Glad it was just a simple spark plug lead. These things are pretty reliable, so you are bound to fix all the gremlins so you can just flog the hell out of it and park it for day. thease are not British sports cars that need to be serviced after every drive, thank God!

I have just been enjoying the car. No reliability issues, other than an aging battery. TN weather has cooled a bit, and I'm dropping the top and just commuting. Somewhere along the way, I added Flyin Miata door bushings, which do stiffen things up noticeably.

Casually, I've been looking for the right set of 15" wheels to come along, and today they did.

They are the same style 15X6s that originally came on the car. I looked at flashier, pricier, better wheels, but upon seeing these on ebay for $320ish to the door, they just seemed right. This will aid me in my quest to keep this thing as close to survivor/original as possible.

Does anyone have tire suggestions in 195/50/15?

Honestly, I've enjoyed the "hard" Falken Sincera 185/60/14s I've had on the 14X6 NB wheels currently on the car because I can break them loose with stock power in a fairly undramatic fashion. Read: I don't need 200TW.

I don't even mind that they're a little rough, just like the rest of the car.

The first round of cleaning up the wheels started today. Here's how they look now:

The corrosion wasn't insubstantial.

And there was a fairly major problem.

I have contacted the ebay seller to give them a chance to make it right. We'll see where that gets me. 

In the meantime, does anyone know a wheel straightening service? If that ends up being the way forward, I'll likely start a thread asking the hive, so as to get as many eyes on it as possible. 

OK, this guy got a new computer a few months ago, and he's just now figuring out how to post pictures. This one is a test.

Michael (Dusturbd) was good enough to sell me some seats for the car. At $200ish, these vinyl beauties certainly beat out the GRAND+ I'd have to spend to get new covers for the stockers. Bonus: almost zero labor. Thanks, Michael.

Those look fantastic in there. 

I really like the darker tan!!

In reply to Dusterbd13-michael :

Bonus: The seat color matches the dog!

I stretched out the holiday weekend, bookending the 3-day with an additional day off on each end, for a total of five days off. This was spent working on a repair for the deck, and giving the Miata some love. 

Of course, not much of the stuff on the car was photogenic, so I took a few in general. 

First, I replaced the heater core. It has been stinking for a l-o-n-g time, fogging up the windsheild, and generally giving me plenty of warning that it was preparing to E36 M3 the bed.

Yep, that was ready to pop. Conversationally, despite this kind of kicking my ass, I have never more easily replaced a heater core. Kudos to Mazda. As always, the more I live with a Miata, the more I appreciate the exhaustive engineering that went into these cars. I mean, who ever heard of replacing a heater core without removing the dash, much less in a car this small. Bravo. I'll supply details if anyone is interested.

Additionally, I retrieved some vestigial stereo wiring, Aired up, and rotated the tires, and pumped through new brake and clutch fluid. 

Why does the clutch fluid get so nasty so quickly? I replaced everything. Oh bother.

So, yeah, gave the thing the once over twice, and feel great about crossing the heater core off the check list. Gratuitous picture because this forum loves pictures.