The Miata experience: his and hers.

In review, we did 4042 miles in the motorhome and burned 538.8(!) gallons of diesel.  Low mileage for a fill-up was 5.5mpg and the high was 11.2mpg.  Low mpgs came with grades and wind, I have no idea how we managed 11.2??  I did visually confirm each fill, so every time we tanked it was filled to the same level.  Average over the trip was 7.5mpg.  In our truck camper setup, pulling the Jeep we would have averaged ~9.5mpg for the same trip profile so I'm actually impressed.

Now that I've got a little over 6k miles driving the thing, I have to say that it drives well overall.  It's definitely very different than a car, and requires more attention, though it's not really any worse than our camper rig.  Gusty winds and windy roads are not all that much fun, though.  You do have to plan much further ahead, as stopping distances are long.  It pulled the Jeep much easier than pulling the stacker, so plenty of power in reserve except for long, steep grades.  For those, you just gear down, and set the cruise at whatever speed keeps the boost and temps down.

This was our first time living in the motorhome for more than a weekend, and we spent almost a month in it.  It is definitely livable in a way that our truck camper never would have been and it's really very comfortable.  This experience will help us to develop routines that will work for longer travel, as we intend at some point to be spending as much as 2-3 months on the road.

As with any RV, there are some issues that I need to address, which will be much easier now that it's parked next to my tools.  At least it will be when I finish getting all my tools moved.

In reply to AxeHealey :

I had originally planned to be finished with the swap by now, but buying a house, moving and our recent trip took care of that.

While on our trip, I was debating the merits of continuing to run the car with the BP engine through the end of the year, but I've decided to tear it down to hopefully have it ready for the start of the season in 2024.  To do that, I need to finish moving the rest of my tools, and garage stuff to the new house... so that's the current priority.

And speaking of tools and the new shop, I decided to upgrade my tool storage.

My old 44" HF tool box has been overflowing for years.  When I built my fabrication bench I was able to get a bunch of stuff into those cabinets, but was still short of space.  With the new shop, it was time for a new tool chest, and HF just released their new 56" cabinet.  I pre-ordered a cabinet and top chest before we left on our trip, and got the call they were in (early) about a week before we got home.  Yesterday, I picked them up at the HF local to the new house.

Back when I got my 44" set, you could have any color you wanted as long as it was red.  These days, you have some choices, so I ordered blue to match the shop.  Some planning when loading them into the trailer allowed me to off-load them by myself at home, and I used my engine hoist to place the top chest.

Stylish!

I had also picked up a rolling worktop cabinet in blue before we left.  This will get most of my tools that come in the blow molded plastic boxes... ball joint sets, bearing pullers, etc.  I'm considering mounting my benchtop drill press to the top of it.

Hopefully I can sell my 44" chest locally up North and I won't have to move it.  I'll make a good deal for any GRMers in Northern AZ that want it! 

Took the Touring to a couple of C&Cs this morning...

First event was mostly muscle cars and rods.  Which of these is not like the others? 

The second was a new event, and had a smaller turnout, but some interesting cars... Like this Delta Integrale

And this Datsun 610 SSS-E Bluebird... according to the owner, one of 500, and the only one left that's running/driving!

I have seen 510 SSS Bluebirds before, but never a 610, which is unsurprising with the rarity.

Still moving... ugh.

Most of the stuff in these boxes came out of my old tool box... a couple of decades of accumulation and disorganization.  Trying to get it all sorted into better accessibility in the new space.  BTW, the boxes don't include sockets, wrenches and screwdrivers which are already in the new box.

On another note, the tiedown 'hat' and dolly I built for safe moving worked perfectly.  The new safe is in place.  Still have to move the old (larger) safe.

Most of my tools have found their way into their new homes in the shop.  As part of the re-organization, I mounted my benchtop press and lathe on a rolling cart.  The drawers will carry drill indexes, lathe tooling, tap & die, and other tools related.

I also put up a bunch of my old license plates to make it a little more 'homey'.  There's an inside story about the Winchell's sign that goes back almost 40 years.  The flag also has a significant backstory.

On the more mundane side of things, the trailer wheel bearings were overdue for greasing, and it's been getting a lot of extra miles this year with the move...  Big thumbs up for the Bauer power greaser.  Makes this about a 20 minute job for all four wheels.

Leveling up the shop organization today, with a couple of shelving units.

Before

After

99% of my tools and garage stuff are now at the new house.  Still have things to organize and sort out, but I'm at least at the point where I can actually do things in the shop.

Gratuitous shop pano...

I'm hopeful that in two more trips, we'll be finished moving.  I'll need one additional trip to bring the Touring down, but that will also give me the room for any last stuff from the house that didn't fit.

Jumped in the NB to make a Home Depot run, and had a battery light.  I had to put the charger on it after we got back from our trip, but thought it was from sitting for a month.  Nope... bad alternator.

So I got to use my lift for the first time, and I'M IN LOVE!  

Getting an alternator out of a Miata isn't really a difficult job, but requires jacking the car up, or some contortion to get to all the bolts.  This made it SO much easier.  Had the old one out in less than 20 minutes.

Picking up a replacement in the morning.  I had moved the NA, since I wasn't sure I could get the NB on the lift with the NA parked in the back of the shop, so in the meantime, I put the charger on the NA to stuff in some fresh electrons.  Turns out I could have done it without moving the NA.

Massively jealous of that shop.  

To tell you the truth, I'm a little jealous of myself! 

Picked up the alternator this morning, and neglected to look at it at the store.  Of course, it had a threaded hole where there should be a non-threaded hole for the long bolt... and the bolt wouldn't fit through.

A quick pass on the drillpress fixed that problem, and everything else went smoothly.  Why does everything seem to require some extra effort to make it work these days?

Anyway, NB is back in service, and the NA is waiting for some swap attention...

Another big load to the new house...

Gunsafe Prime was a tight fit in the trailer, but the transport gear worked again, and it's now bolted into its new home.

My sim rig made the move this trip, and even though it's still surrounded by moving boxes, it's set up in a temp spot and ready for the GRM races tomorrow night.

I converted one of my wife's to be discarded storage cubbys to a temporary bookshelf for the shop library.

We're almost done...  I'm hoping I'll need to take the trailer for only one more trip to move the Touring, the headboard/footboard from our old master bedroom bed, and a 65" TV.  Those are the last of the bulky items, and other than that everything else left should fit in the truck.  I'm hoping everything will fit in this trip, and then all I need to deal with is prepping the old house for sale and getting it listed.

Brought the last* load to the new house, and the Touring is now in it's new home.

* there's still a few things to go to the dump, a few things to go to Goodwill, and a couple things to come to the new house.  We also need to do some cleanup and a few other things before the old house goes on the market.  But at this point almost everything is MOVED, and I don't need to pull the trailer back to the old house.  I'm exhausted...

Made a bunch more progress getting the shop organized... and I got a bonus.

We upgraded our primary TV with the move, and we don't like TVs in our bedrooms (other than my sim rig), so the previous TV got handed down to the shop.  I've had a computer in the garage for a few years, and it's pretty handy.  You can display .pdf shop manuals, watch YT how-tos, as well as streaming music and racing.  Having a big screen display for that in the shop will be really nice.

And today I actually *gasp* WORKED ON THE RACE CAR!  

Not much, but it feels good to get "started" on something...

The NA got put on the lift for the first time

Which made pulling the airdam and splitter a 5 minute job, without even having to bend over.

I also pulled the hardtop and hood, to improve access to everything.

The ever faithful BP... this engine has been very good to me.  I plan to swap it into our NB at some point.

NA was back on the lift today to start prepping for removing the engine/trans.

Made another pile of parts...

Tomorrow, I'll work on getting all the electrical and fuel connections undone.

Did a test fit today and got three in the attached garage...

And, the BP is out...

Got the BP split from the trans and up on the stand, next to the K24.

The K is tall!

I also removed all the flourescent light fixtures from the 'office' area of the shop.  

Replaced them with the GRM favorite Barrina LEDs from Amazon.

Today I stopped by the local AutoX event.  Local SCCA affiliated club, partnering with local 'Vette club for this months event.  They have a brand-new venue on the pad built for the local/county LE/Fire EVOC training.  This months course was ~35-40 seconds for the faster cars.  AutoX isn't my thing, but I may try to make an event or two during the year to support it.  It's just tough to dedicate a full day to get maybe 6-8 minutes of seat time.  I also felt that the highest speed sweeper on the course was too close to the staging lines for comfort.

More shop organization.... picked up some shelving at the local Blue store. 

Before...

After...

And more incremental progress on the NA.  I pulled the front bumper cover, lights and pulled most of the stock wiring harness through the firewall.

Also pulled the dash so I could start pulling the interior wiring.

No going back now...

When I converted the car to Megasquirt and swapped in the NB2 engine, I constructed the harness to disconnect everything at the engine, so the engine could be pulled with all the wiring intact.  What I didn't do was make a bulkhead connection, so I had to either de-pin all the wires from the engine connectors, or cut the harness to get it through the firewall.  I cut it.

All the wiring is pulled back through the firewall, and everything on the passenger side of the trans tunnel is disconnected.  Just have to pull the factory harness on the driver's side of the dash, which will include the interior fuse box.

Man I can't believe how fast you jumped back into this after the move! With your meticulous work, that harness will no doubt come back better.

In reply to Deltabox :

It will have bulkhead connectors this time!

The original plan was to have the car back on track by now, but the move threw a wrench into those gears.  Now I'm hoping to have it back together for late January '24.  I've found working on the car every day helps... even if it's just 15-20 minutes, I make some progress and it keeps me motivated.

Harness is out... except for the driver's side harness to the rear of the car (fuel pump/ rear lights).

It's amazing how clean an engine compartment is without any wiring...

Many zip ties died to make today possible...

Yesterday, we had to go to Tucson, so I used the opportunity to pick up a rear finish panel that had been on Failbook Marketplace to replace the cracked one on the NA.

It's black not red, but it should look fine on the car.  If I ever have to paint anything else on the car, I'll match it up.

To my great embarrassment, the oil change warning went off in the Jeep during the trip.  Apparently with the move, and trip, and all the other stuff going on I've been neglecting some regular maintenance.  I normally change it long before the warning goes off...

I already had the filter in stock, but had to run to Wallyworld for oil, then up on the lift it went.  It just barely fit on the lift with the NA in its usual spot...

The 3.6 V6 in the Jeep is actually one of the easiest oil changes I've ever dealt with.  Drain from below, and the filter is a cartridge accessed from above.   I lowered it back down after draining, and discovered I couldn't put it in neutral to roll it back to make room to work around the front.  The electronic safety nannies won't let the trans shift into neutral without the engine running, and I needed to roll it back to put oil in...  great.  I managed to change the filter and get the oil in, but I'll remember that for next time.  I did eventually discover (via Youtube) that there's an emergency neutral lever buried in the center console.

Everything was good until I tried to pour the used oil from my drain pan into a 5 gal pail I use for old oil.  This was a new drain pan I had added at some point and I don't think I ever used it before.  It was impossible to pour out of...  If I kept it in the 'spout', it ran back underneath and dribbled all over everything.  Raise the other side another .5mm, and I got an 8" wide deluge all over the place.  What a PITA!  It went in the trash after I cleaned everything up...

After that mess, I didn't feel much like auto work, so I knocked a project off the list and fabbed up a quick and dirty rack for my dumbells out of some angle iron...