Bad Car-ma (Rant)

I've been having terribly luck with the Miata recently. It's just been one thing after another.

Two weeks ago, I bashed the hell out of my exhaust. Now I need to fix or replace that. Last week I autocrossed and discovered my alignment wasn't aggressive enough, so I put way more wear on the outer tread on my good tires.

So today... today... I decided to put the different top hats on my shocks and redo the alignment. Got the new tophats on the rear, and discovered that the floor of my dad's hangar wasn't nearly as level and even as I thought, and that his iPhone was not going to work well enough as an angle finder (grr...).

Then, backing the car up a couple of feet to settle the wheels, I had my door open when I'd had it closed pulling in. I run my door into a big industrial scissor lift that my dad rented. And I break my window. So now I have not driver's side window, and my door won't latch. And we aren't able to pound it out enough to sit flush to latch! Argh!

The job did not get finished today. I'm going to pick up a better angle finder/level to check the camber. Then string the car to do the toe.

I guess ultimately I haven't lost too much more than time. I'll probably just have to buy a new driver's side door from somebody parting out a Miata. I've just had a lot of frustration with little things on this car recently. Grrr...

ouch man... but I hate to say it (and I have been there) all these things seem a bit self inflicted. You need to slow down, take a deep breath, and make sure everything is right before continueing.

Prior planning prevents piss poor performance.

People dont plan to fail, they fail to plan.

Those things being said, I often want to punch the guy who does all that planning in the face because it takes him too long to produce results.

LOL, I guess the best recipe is one part planning, 1 part having more tools available than you think youll need,and 2 parts do things by the seat of your pants and improvise like youre on a burning plane and theres no chutes

hope the best of your past with that miata is the worst of your future

Happens to the best of us. Sounds like your frustration level is getting high. I'd lay off it a bit until you're able to work on the car with a clearer head, if you can. This may be your DD in which case you may not have the luxury of taking your time.

I have hear a rumor that all car related karma can be reset by selling me your miata for $0.50

Yeah, I know these things are my fault. I just had a feeling yesterday before starting the job like I didn't have everything quite right before starting, and so I ended up not having my head in the game, and making mistakes.

Today I'm getting the tool I actually need to finish the job, and there's someone on the local Craigslist parting out another white Miata, that I should be able to get a replacement door from.

So at the end of the day, it will have cost me about $20 more to align the car myself than to have taken it to a shop. But at least I'll have the tools I need and a better idea of what not to do next time.

Salanis wrote: at least I'll have the tools I need ... and a better idea of what *not* to do next time.

most valuable tool EVAR

If it makes you feel any better, I did something similar to my driver door and a tree, though my window stay intact, just became an amazing pain to close because I bent the track slightly. This was 2 months before, during a routine timing belt change, I sheared the crankshaft bolt off the crank, necessitating the evential replacement of the entire crankshaft. So yeah, I feel your pain with bad car-ma. Luckily, it comes in cycles and if you persevere, you'll get through this rough spot and balance with the automotive universe will be restored.

4cylndrfury wrote:

Salanis wrote: at least I'll have the tools I need ... and a better idea of what *not* to do next time.

most valuable tool EVAR

+1

If it makes you feel any better, I had my Miata out in the driveway today giving it a thorough Spring cleaning when a little storm whipped up out of nowhere. In my haste to get it out of the sprinkles and wind, I backed it back into the garage.............right into the lawn mower I had pulled out. Big thud............my son comes running out to see what happened. We carefully went over the whole thing with lights and couldn't find any damage at all to either so I dodged the karmac auto bullit this time. Hope that helps.

Stuff happens. No one's perfect. I wasn't paying attention. This is how you learn. Learning pretty much always costs. Fortunately it's not going to cost that much. Most of the cost will be in wasted time.

I'm kicking myself less for needing to do something about the door, and more for ignoring my judgement at the start of the job. I had a feeling like the tools and facility I had weren't going to cut it for the job. I didn't feel prepared enough. I was really ready to call it a day and postpone doing the work until later. Maybe just spend an hour hanging out with my dad and drive home. But I had driven the 45minutes out, and felt like I'd be wasting my time and gas if I didn't get something done. So my head wasn't in the game, I made mistakes, and got the result I should have expected.

Eh, I guess the time really wasn't totally wasted. I got to spend a day with my dad wrenching on a car. It was good bonding.