Back in Miata seat again.

mr2s2000elise said:

That green color is pure sex on the snake 

I love it but a lot of people think it is over the top. I wish I could have found an ACR in the solid snakeskin without the stripes but they have grown on me over time. I think I have the only remaining wide stripe ACR left in the US. I know one was totaled and there are allegedly two in Dubai now. They made a grand total of 4 with the wide black stripes as it was only a 2010 option. The early ACR's got the narrow fang stripes which I don;t particularly like. The new ones are mostly Striker Green and not Snake Skin. Its a different look with less flake and a much deeper green.

With the SSG it means that if you paint the accents it really pops.

Color is absolutely stunning 

having owned mostly yellow, orange, red cars all my life - I need me some purple or lime green 

color me jealous 

Keith Tanner said:

Alarms are designed to make cars not work. Every install is a butchering :)

 

I took it to mean it was a plug-n-play installation vs someone actually hacking into the existing wiring harness. 

And now we have tires and a real alignment. The front was positive 0.6 with no toe. Like I am not sure how that happens. The rear was 0.2 and -0.6. Again with no toe. So did a modification of the standard Miata alignment. -1.0 in the front with 1/32 toe and -1.6 in the rear same toe. Tracks clean and straight and turns quite well now. Did this after tires. Tires were so bad they cracked a bit on having them pulled.

Took a few hours off and cleaned the car up, clay bar'd it and then sealed it with a quick all in one filler/protectant. no more swirls I cut the paint back a bit a day or so ago. 

This was how clean the suspension was before cleaning.

this is after clay bar. polish and sealant.

Interior cleaned up a little bit more.

Found a cassette tape aux in the garage which somehow still works

You have a 2 post and a 4 post lift.  My hero!

The underside of that car is insanely clean.

kazoospec said:

Before you move off from 14's, take a look at the Falken Azenis 615K+.  I had them on my previous Miata and they fit well on 14 inch stockers, had a nice footprint (they are a WIDE 195) and decent grip.  Roughly the same price point as S Drives (which I can also recommend based on my experience with them on my Yaris).  The only thing I can't speak to on the 615's is longevity.  I sold my NA when I only had about 1500-2000 street miles and 2 or 3 autocrosses on them, but they were showing almost NO wear at that point.  I got mine on a stupid cheap Discount Tire special, roughly $70 a corner by piling a DT sale on top of Falken's rebates.  My Yokos were $10-15 per corner more.  (Current Tire Rack prices are roughly the same for both, but S.drives don't go down to 14's)  Dunlop Star Specs are also available in 14's at a higher price point.

Different sort of tire. The Falken is in a higher performance category. Good for grip, bad for life. I haven't tried the K+, but historically the Azenis tend to have some pretty stiff sidewalls which is not the case for the S.drive. Great for autox turn-in, bad for ride quality.

Just wow. 

That's clean.

Over the top? Of course it is. It's a Viper.  Duh.

docwyte said:

You have a 2 post and a 4 post lift.  My hero!

I HATE working on the ground its bad for your back its just bad all around for you. IMO.

Now having said that installing it them myself was a bad idea and it took a few night to really get them dialed in right.

Could observations.

Buy the aluminum ramps for the 4 post. Makes it so much nicer. Also get the drip pans fo the entire length. The jack is nice but not required if you have a two post.

The two post the most important thing is the cement depth. I have 9-11 inches depending on the pour in my garage and drilling 12 5 inch deep holes was a huge pain even with a hammer drill. They have to be perfectly straight to really work well. I got mine to expand then epoxy filled mine as they only had a seating depth of 3 inches give or take after stretching them and tightening them down. I still get nervous when I get under a car with it though. I tend to buy the factory pucks if they are avaliable to make it perfectly safe.

Also this one is rated for 11K lbs. Which is bull E36 M3. I bet it would hold 7-8K and only for a while before the pins failed. They jack the rating up on these things like crazy .

Like Doc, I too am jealous of the lifts 

however I am more jealous you get to live in San Diego AND have cool toys AND have room for them .... usually hard to maintain all 3 of these things . Lots of people have cool toys and live in states that make a 3rd world country laugh in relative comparison of real estate prices ... 

you sir have managed everything in life! 

bravo ! 

mr2s2000elise said:

Like Doc, I too am jealous of the lifts 

 

however I am more jealous you get to live in San Diego AND have cool toys AND have room for them .... usually hard to maintain all 3 of these things . Lots of people have cool toys and live in states that make a 3rd world country laugh in relative comparison of real estate prices ... 

 

you sir have managed everything in life! 

 

bravo ! 

No responsibilities and a wife who prefers I smell like motor oil then cheap perfume. As they all do. Plus she has her hobbies as well  

In all truth I know just how luck I am. 

I have a 4 post lift but have to live with bridge jacks, etc.  I use race ramps to get the cars on/off the lift deck, they're awesome!  I also have full length drip pans but none of my cars leak oil, so don't really need em.

Just seems that if you have both a 4 post and a 2 post you've got all circumstances covered...

In reply to wearymicrobe :

Responsibilities killed most of my dreams :(

got it all smogged and titled this week. I love this thing. I am going to be sad to see it go but for now the wife and i are driving the tar out of it. Need to bleed the clutch and add better brake fluid. Needs better sway bars as well.

I forgot just how joyful a low power momentum car is when they are setup well. This thing just brings out the smile and I am so unsure of what to do about it. I have been wheeling nad dealing for so long and have huge $$ and power cars but when the sun is out and I have some time I keep getting the keys to the Miata over everything else.

The way the pix and text lined up I read it that you clay bared the suspension and brakes. I was like dam that is a clean car. Lol. 

Good bye sweet Miata. Had a ton of fun with it but making 3K on something is more fun to me I guess. Going to regret this one I can tell. Lent it out to some friends and we did a big trade cars thing for a day up in the hills. Got to drive some fun stuff that I would never have even looked at. Also found a line on another French flathead block on the drive so that works out nicely as well for some of this cash. 

So the wife loves it, I love it its just a great car so what stopped us from keeping it. I drove a ND and its a NA on steroids and my carcass fits in it without modifications. So it will be the SWMBO next car. ND coupe with the wheel and seat package if we can find a good deal. 

I after the drive am going to get an Atom next to fill the garage space or a RCR replica 917K. I really like the atom in lower power configurations, I had only been in the crazy versions before but a gen II with a standard powerplant and no aero is a blast and ~40K give on take used wth SB100. Its definitely a better car then the few Exocets I have been around, not sure its 25K better but its darn close.  

^^^

We think alike (though my wallet can't come close to yours). I keep toying with the idea of replacing my 11 year old Elise (I ordered and bought new) and replace with an Atom. I had gotten a ride in David Woolery's Atom in LA, when he got it new (Maybe 12/13 years ago), and I have been hooked ever since. I didn't want it then, as I didn't want the Chevy ECOtec motor.

Let us know how far you get with the Atom purchase.   Congrats on the NA sale, and hope you get the ND soon. My Mrs. had a NC2 (we have had too many miatas), but these days we are done with them.