Category: miata

Mr Miata

On By stefrobrtsIn miataLeave a comment

Mr Miata lives in the garage, where he is warm and safe from the elements, and only tippy toes out on beautiful days to romp around the countryside.

I got lucky when I bought him, in pretty much bone-stock condition, and I immediately dropped a couple grand into catching up on his maintenance, so now he is in really good shape, and doesn’t need much work done on him. Which is good, because while I used to enjoy working on cars:

(Photo for proof)

I no longer enjoy working on cars too much, what with smashing my knuckles and swearing at bolts that won’t come off, so I try not to do that.

So now it’s mostly sunny day driving…

Visiting with friends

Hanging out with the cool kids (play Find The Miata – I was the only one there!)

Comparing him with others (LOOK HOW SMOL!)

And playing dress up 😀 I found a great deal on a hardboot for him. My last Miata had a hard boot and I loved the way it looked. I had to remove the rear windblocker to get it in, but I like more wind in the cockpit anyway. I bought him so I could feel the wind! It’s not like I am taking it for long highway drives.

I spraybombed it white, and I really like the look. Nothing fancy. I wish I could do the whole interior in white, but I priced it out and it was quite expensive to get new seat covers and door panels and all that.

Navi approves!

I did replace the steering wheel this year. It came with an aftermarket wheel the previous owners had installed, but they included the original wheel and parts to return it to stock. I had it in the shop for the last bit of maintenance work in the spring and asked if they could swap wheels for me, and my mechanic came back and said one of his guys wanted to do it in exchange for the ricer wheel, so I was like ‘of course!’ Good deal, and sometimes mechanics don’t like to mess with aftermarket stuff like that, so I was happy for that. And I was really happy because that ricer wheel just didn’t feel right to me. It felt like cheap, slick plastic, and it stuck out so far I had to take my hand off of it to reach the turn signal stalk. The original wheel is bigger, wrapped in leather, in the position the designers intended when they built this nearly perfect car, and has an airbag. Good trade!

The other things I did to it this summer were to rebuild the shifter with new bushings, fresh fluid, and new rubber seals – a job I have done so many times I don’t even consider it working on my car, and so I didn’t think to take pictures. And replacing the original radio for a new one with bluetooth, because I listen to all my music off my phone.

This was my first time poking around inside the dash. I’ve done this many times on NA Miatas, but this is my first time on an NB, so there was a little learning involved. And this project happened before the shifter rebuild. Look at that deteriorating rubber shift boot! I wonder if it was original? Anyway, that’s when I realized I had to refresh all that before I buttoned everything up again.

But back to the radio, that thing should have easily slid out after inserting the Ford Radio Removal Tools in the holes and squeezing the pins open. I watched a bunch of videos, and tried over and over again, and could not get it out.

Dave even came out to help lend a bit of brute force (and Mighty decided to sit in his lap while doing it). The longer it took, the more ‘brute’ it got, until we pretty much just got in there with a screwdriver and pried and bent things and forced it to come out!

It turned out some of the clips were broken! I’ll bet the PO had had an aftermarket radio in there and just popped this back in before he sold it. Luckily none of the wires were cut, so it was easy to plug in a new adapter, which I had wired up to the new radio’s plug.

And look how thin the new radio is! It’s just a radio and bluetooth, so it doesn’t need the depth to accommodate a tape player or CD player.

It all went back together and looks like it belongs.

I also had a little run around with a check engine light coming on. Of course the first time it came on I was driving out to Moulton Falls, which is way up in the hills, with no cell coverage, and it scared me a bit. He was still running fine, so I drove him straight home, watching the gauges the whole way. Scott loaned me his code reader and we figured out which sensor it was, which turned out to be a cheap and easy fix, and it was located on top of the valve cover, so it was even easy to get to, so I did that myself. Then I took him for a nice long drive up to Amboy and back, just enjoying the sunny weather!

But summer was over way too soon, and I love driving Mr Miata, so I still sneak him out on dry sunny days, even if it is inappropriately cold.

And that was my Miata summer. Here’s to many more!

Peak Miata!

On By stefrobrtsIn miata1 Comment

Mr Miata has finally reached ‘peak Miata’. I had a vision of what I wanted him to be when I bought him, and over the past few years I have slowly achieved that goal – turning him into a modern rat rod for reliably bombing around town.

Most important to me was using stuff I would have used on a ’90 Miata back in the day – the Racing Beat hardboot cover, the genuine Mazda tail, and +1 wheels – Cragar lacy wheels, no less!

Inside I’ve got handmade red vinyl door panels, a plastidipped center console and tombstone, and igge seatcovers. Oh yeah, and a pool ball shift knob! And a lighted rearview mirror salvaged out of a camaro convertible. I also gave it an upgraded set of door mirrors off a newer Miata.

Under the hardboot cover is a cloth soft top with a glass rear window. A big improvement from the torn top it came with when I bought it.

Most important is that almost all the parts I put on it, were scrounged up on craigslist or in junkyards, or trading with other Miata club members. Second-hand parts for my second-hand Miata! I’ve also done all the work on it, fixing little things as they came up, most recently replacing the alternator all by my little self. After someone stole my iPod and garage door opener out of it last summer I wired in a secret garage door opener button I soldered together myself and installed in the console.

It’s a fun little ride, with 212k miles and still going strong, but it’s been overshadowed lately by the Challenger, which is also a lot of fun to drive, and much more civilized. And as you can see in the garage, the Mustang is still waiting for me to get down to business and finish it up. So much to do. I’m tempted to sell the Miata before I spend any more money on it, but Dave says I would just go buy another one later. This is #4, after all.

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Mr Miata – Spring Spruce Up

On By stefrobrtsIn cars, miataLeave a comment

The rear bumper on the Miata was looking pretty bad, with a cracked and peeling clear coat. One sunny Saturday I got in the mood to do something about it. I also have these Rod Millen Motorsports side skirts I bought for it a couple years ago, so I decided to paint those as well.

Primed…

Satin Black, same as the tail and the mirrors.

I love the way it looks. I wouldn’t mind doing the whole car in Satin Black.

I didn’t install the skirts yet though, I’m still not sure about them.

After a sunny day exploring the Gorge. Such a happy little car!

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Miata Show!

On By stefrobrtsIn cars, miata1 Comment

I don’t do this very often, but our local Miata club was holding their first show at the Mazda dealership in Beaverton, so I decided to give The Squirt a bath, put on our snazzy red hard boot, and head on over there.

There were about 40 Miatas there, from mild to wild.

I drooled over some fancy interiors!

And an actual ’93 LE, which is what my Miata wants to be when it grows up!

There was even a car with teddy bear wheels!!!

I won a raffle bag, got a sunburn, and a great time was had by all! It was so much fun to be surrounded by other people who love these fun little cars!

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Wag that tail!

On By stefrobrtsIn miata1 Comment

What’s happier than a Miata? How about a Miata with a tail?

Dave helped me work through a backlog of Miata projects today. I installed power mirrors, a new antenna, a new shift boot (black leather with red stitching), and best of all – a tail!

I have always wanted one of these rear spoilers on my Miatas. Finally! I got the piece from a junkyard on eBay and spray-bombed it stain black.

A couple weeks ago I finished up a couple big Miata projects as well. I pulled the crappy old radio and installed a new ipod-friendly radio, so I can finally listen to my tunes.

 And since everything was apart for the radio install I decided it was time to plastidip the console and ‘tombstone’. Two cans of red plastidip did the job.

I think this looks pretty nice with my red vinyl covered door panels, especially when the red hardboot is on. Unfortunately today we had to put the hardboot up in the rafters for the winter. I sense top down days are going to be in limited supply very soon.

When we bought the car there was no pocket under the radio, so you could see wires under there, and it basically looked like someone had already stolen the stereo thanks to the gaping hole Now everything is buttoned-up and civilized looking! And of course the other big addition this year was the glass-windowed top. This is turning out to be a pretty nice Miata, especially considering the odometer just rolled over 200k! For less than $2k, I’m having a LOT of fun with this little car!

Next comes the red wheels. Soon, I hope!

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Mr Miata gets a new top!

On By stefrobrtsIn dave, miata1 Comment

My bargain Miata came with a wrecked top when I bought it, so before last winter hit I put a junkyard top on it. It wasn’t a permanent solution, but it was cheap and it kept the car dry inside. Still, the more times I put it up and down, the worse the tears on it got, and it was very hard to put up when it was cold at all. I had resigned myself to getting a bargain top for it, and learning to install it on the frame myself, because I couldn’t afford to have it professionally done.

Saturday turned into a Miata day. Dave and I went to the gym, exercised and then hit the pool, and then as we were driving home enjoying the wind in our wet hair, I mentioned that the Miata should get an oil change, and Dave said ‘why not now?’ Since we had nothing else to do we headed up to Tire Factory and had them do an oil change, and then when that was done asked them to give it an inspection to see what needed to be fixed under there. I figure if you buy a Miata as cheap as this one, there’s bound to be something needs fixing, and I thought the ride was a little rough.
Well they came back and said not only did everything look fine, but it looks like a nice aftermarket suspension under there, so the rough ride is actually normal! Well, that’s a relief! Also the brakes were practically new so nothing to fix there. Basically we got away with nothing but an oil change and good news. And that’s part of why I trust the guys at Dick’s Tire Factory in Battle Ground, WA – they could have told me I needed new struts, that’s what I came in suggesting, and instead they sent me home happy! 
Saturday night I decided to check Craigslist one more time before bed and in the auto parts section under Miata someone had just posted a cloth soft top off a wrecked 2005 miata with a glass rear window – for less than I would have to pay for a bargain vinyl and plastic top new! I emailed them immediately and went to bed too excited to sleep! The next day he emailed back and lucky me, I was first in line. We picked it up that afternoon, brought it home, and Dave helped me swap it onto Mr Miata. It only took us about 4 hours, even taking breaks because it was so hot! And the result…

..is FABULOUS!!! I did not think I would get a top this nice! It looks like new, and the glass rear window is so much nicer than the old plastic window. I’ll have to run new wires for the defrost if I want to hook that up sometime, because ’90 Miatas don’t have that wiring. This is just a super find, I’m so happy I was lucky enough to get it, and that Dave helped me get it all installed. 

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Our new Ford Flex

On By stefrobrtsIn airstream, cars, miata1 Comment

There was a time when we horse-traded cars all the time, cars would come and go so quickly we’ve forgotten we owned some of them! But recently we have settled down and lived with a few cars that we really liked
Dave’s 1993 Dodge Stealth
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My never-ending Mustang Project (Immobile since 2005 – and still NOT going strong!)
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Mr Miata (1990)
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And the mighty 1995 Van – which has done a mighty good job pulling the Airstream since we bought it in 2003, and has also set a record for length of stay. I don’t think we’ve ever owned a car for 10 years straight without once having even thought of getting rid of it.
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Unfortunately, all our functional cars have something in common – the newest one is a 1995 – and it’s 2013! The Stealth is coming up on some major maintenance that will probably cost more than the car is worth. So we decided it was time to replace the Stealth. My priorities were something that could handle gravel roads for getting to the trailheads for all the hiking I’d like to start doing, and something with 4 doors that would make it easier to load the dogs. Dave’s priority was something cool with lots of horsepower.
As we started shopping, it appeared that anything we got with the ground clearance and passenger capacity we wanted would be pretty big – almost big enough to pull the trailer. I spent months fussing over towing capacities and reviews of towing performance on the crossovers we were test driving. I wasn’t very happy with any of them. Seemed like if we just went a little bit bigger we could replace the Stealth and the Van with one car.
Then this showed up on the internet search at a Ford dealership in Portland.

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It’s a Ford Flex! Silver with a black leather interior, and even with 68k miles on it, it just about looks perfect from end to end. We couldn’t have asked for a nicer car. We had already been to test drive a 2013 with 15k on it (it was a former rental car) and liked how it drove, but the $26k price tag was too rich for us. Then we saw this 2009 on a local ford lot, and it was $17.5k, which was much better. We only needed to get them to knock off the 500 to get down to $17, and we felt it was a fair price, especially compared to the other ones available. The carfax was clean, and showed it spent one year as a rental, and then the next three years with a family in Vancouver, so it was a local trade in. It also isn’t loaded down with goodies we don’t need (though it’s still plenty loaded compared to the cars we are coming from). The sales guy knew nothing about it, told us all sorts of stuff that was wrong, didn’t know how big the engine was, said it had 7500# tow capacity (it will have 4500# capacity after adding an oil cooler)! Luckily we had done our research and already knew all the info we needed.

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Check out that cushy black leather interior!

The only problem we had was that we had gotten pre-approved from our credit union, and wanted the dealer to just give us a purchase order, and we would go get the check and come back with it the next day. But 1) they want the sale closed NOW so you can’t change your mind, and 2) they want the financing to go through them, so even if they get the financing through your credit union, they will get some kickback. However, we didn’t want them running credit check on us – it wasn’t necessary. So Dave steadfastly refused to fill out a credit app, and they just would not give up. It literally took an hour to get them to relent and send us home with a purchase order. They said, oh we can’t hold the car for you (that’s ok, we’ll risk it), we can’t take a deposit, it’s against the law (really? I find that hard to believe), Here, you tell us the info and we’ll fill it out for you (you’re really not getting the point). Finally, FINALLY, they decided to give us the purchase order and let us go. So they brought out a blank purchase order and said ‘here you go, sign this’, and we were like, we can’t sign this, it has no info on it! I don’t sign blank contracts! They said, it’s ok, we’ll print everything on it later. We said fine, go print it on it NOW, we’ll wait. So they went away and then came back and said they couldn’t do that, so they made the salesguy write it out by hand – I think it was just to make it as painful as possible for not filing out their credit app!

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I love the ‘ribs’ on the sides and back, giving it that retro station wagon look! (This picture was taken after we got the hitch installed)

The next morning at the bank we found the guy had totally screwed up the VIN, but luckily we could pull it up off their webpage and got all the bank paperwork filled out. Columbia Credit Union was great to deal with, didn’t try to push anything on us, helped us figure out the best payment, got 5 years and well under $300 a month, so I was happy. Took the check back to the car dealers where they made us awkwardly sit around and make small talk for about a half hour with the sales guy, then finally went in with the finance guy. So we have a purchase order, a check, and printed instructions on where to send the title to the Credit Union. By the time we get to the finance guy he has lost the piece telling him where to send the title! Then he starts asking us about our credit score to see if he can get us a better rate (again, no thank you, and our credit score is none of your business), and THEN tries to sell us on ‘gap insurance’ and a warranty!

Finally – about 2 hours later – we drive off with our new car. Salesguy offers to help us setup the bluetooth, and we say no thanks, I’m eager to get back to work, and we finally drive it home – yay! Later, when our friends are helping us try to set it up, it turns out, the car doesn’t even have Bluetooth! I swear that kid didn’t get a damn thing right about the car!
The final insult, on our way out the door they hand us ONE key – sorry, that’s all they have. We should have argued the point (or found this out earlier in the negotiations), but since we are coming from 1990’s vintage cars we had no idea that the key has a chip imbedded in it and needs to be programmed. If you have two keys you can program a third, but if you only have one, you have to let the dealer program it, and it costs about $150!!! Let me put a few more exclamation points on that – $150 FOR A KEY!!!!!!!! What a flipping rip off!
It’s such a shame that to get the car you want, sometimes you have to deal with car dealers because they really put such a massive amount of ‘suck’ into the whole experience.

But none of that matters, I shall put it all behind me (except for remembering to never, NEVER go anywhere near that dealership again), because we already LOVE our Flex! It drives so nice, it has good power, it’s smooth, it’s so quiet you can easily talk in it. Last night we went to a play about 45 minutes away, and took our friends, and the backseat was comfortable and we chatted the whole way. I even took my whole department to lunch and fit everyone in it – with two adults in the third row – they said it was reasonably comfortable! I can plug in my ipod and listen to Christmas music 🙂 It’s just awesome.

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It’s a little bit shorter than the van, both in length and height. Since it did not come with a factory tow package,we had our tire guys install a Reese tow hitch, now we just need an oil cooler and then it will tow 4500#, plenty for our 3000# trailer. And look at all this room in the back for hauling stuff – and that’s with the backseat still up!

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Oh, and all-wheel drive, so it shouldn’t get stuck on wet grass like the van used to. Can’t wait to get that all setup and try it in the spring! I think the silver Flex and the silver Airstream are going to look great together!

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The worst part is that after finding this awesome Flex to replace the van, we have decided the van is just too useful to get rid of yet, so we’re keeping it – for now anyway. There’s no way I would let anyone put plywood or gardening supplies in the back of my beautiful Flex!

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Mr Miata’s red interior

On By stefrobrtsIn miata1 Comment

Ever since I saw a 1993 Limited Edition Miata on the lot in ’93 when I was shopping for my first Miata, and had to pass on it because it was out of my price range, I have wanted a black Miata with a red interior. Well, all these years later now I finally have a black Miata, so it’s time to get to work on that red interior.

Step One: door panels. This isn’t too hard, and I actually did this to my last red Miata. It starts with about $30 of red vinyl from the fabric store.
I had picked up a couple extra door panels from the junkyard when I bought the used top. To cover them in the red vinyl just requires a glue gun and a lot of patience.

I leave the original vinyl on, and use it as a pattern to follow the curves. Plus it has padding on it, so it looks nice when it is done. The extra thickness isn’t noticeable.

Here is the driver’s side ready to be installed.

And here is how the passenger side looks in the car. It has a few wrinkles but those should disappear as the material relaxes. I left the trim, including the speaker covers, black.
For my next trick, I plan to replace the shift boot with a red one, and paint the console and radio surround red, though I may have to wait for warmer weather for painting.
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