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I have been working the Miata To-Do List. The first order of business was to replace the wheels and tires. The car came from its previous owner with Z-Racing wheels, which are BBS knock-offs and actually look pretty good, but I was set on the König Rewinds, which I have liked ever since I saw them in Grassroots Motorsports’ 2004 SEMA coverage from last year (GM, Feb. 2005). The new wheels will also allow more tire under the car. I will be going from a 185/60R14 Fuzion HRi M+S(!) to the 205/50R15 Falken Azenis RT615, which is a DOT approved R compound tire. I haven’t driven on them yet, but I expect the increase in grip will be incredible.

I ordered the wheels from Good-Win Racing for $95 each and the tires from Vulcan Tire for $72 each. I ordered online from both companies and the transactions went perfectly. As usual, I took everything to Discount Tire for mounting and balancing. They said it would take about an hour, so I ran off to Borders for the latest Grassroots Motorsports. I also picked-up a Miata project book, which had really nice descriptions and photographs of some of the very projects I have on my to-do list, like the rollbar installation, brake replacement and timing belt service. Later, I found out that the Grassroots Motorsports just so happened to feature a lengthy article highlighting the Miata, with details about its history, model changes, upgrades, and resources. The article was written by Keith Tanner, who also wrote the Miata project book that I had just bought!

I picked-up the wheels and tires from Discount, went home and mounted them on the car. I also took time to weigh each combination. The added grip would come at a price. The 14″ combination weighed 32.8 lbs. and the 15″ combination weighed 35.6 lbs. An increase of 2.8 lbs. per corner really isn’t bad considering the advantage of the increased tire width, but because of the Miata’s low weight and low power, it is very sensitive to unsprung weight. There are wheels available that would have allowed this change in size and actually decreased the unsprung weight at each corner, but those wheels are more expensive, aren’t legal for Spec Miata racing (wheels must weigh at least 13 lbs.), and most importantly, I simply wanted these wheels because of how they look. I must say that I am very pleased with how they look on the car, though the car looks to have a stock suspension as tall as an Audi stock suspension. It might look as though the wheels stick-out from the body, but they do not.

I will post driving impressions later, as well as larger, more fashionable photographs. The tale of the tape:

• Z-Racing wheel (14×6, ET30): 13.8 lbs. (extrapolated)
• König Rewind (15×7, ET40): 14.6 lbs. (König) 
• Fuzion HRi (185/60R14): 19 lbs. (TireRack)
• Falken Azenis RT615 (205/50R15): 21.2 lbs. (Falken Tire)

In further To-Do List news, I have confirmed that my brake pads do need replacing, so I have ordered a set, which should be here this week. Also, on Friday, I purchased a used Hard Dog Sport Rollbar, which will be installed at a later date. Today, if I can gather all of the materials that I need, I will try to repair the Miata’s rear plastic window.

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Random Notes:

• The A6 has buttons on the steering wheel to control the stereo. The Miata has buttons on the steering wheel, too. Unfortunately, they are for the horn. So, every time I try to turn the radio up, I honk at somebody.
• Every woman to whom I have shown my car has called it cute, despite my insistence that sporty might be a better descriptor. One woman called it adorable. Sheesh.
• Have I mentioned that this car is fun? Crazy fun. I love it!

To Do List:

1. Wheels and Tires - I sold my Oettingers to finance new König Rewinds and Falken Azenis for the Miata. They should be mounted later this week. When I have the wheels off, I’ll check the brakes. The previous owner said they needed to be replaced, but the wear indicators aren’t screeching and the brakes feel fine to me, although the handbrake probably needs to be adjusted.
2. iPod Mount and Stereo - I worked on the iPod mount this past weekend. The prototype is almost ready, but it looks like I will need to get a new head unit and adapter for full iPod integration.
3. Timing Belt Service
4. New Plastic Rear Window
5. Fix Glove Box - Storage space in the Miata is already horrible and the glove box won’t open. Even a CD can’t fit in the center console storage box and there are no map pockets anywhere. Now that is just silly. How much would it have cost to have added a couple of pieces of cargo net to either the doors or the bulkhead behind the seats? Maybe I’ll do that myself, too. Update: I dismantled the glove box last night and pulled the locking latch mechanism. Sure enough, the plastic latch itself is broken. I reassembled everything without the handle so that I can at least use the glove box until I get a replacement part.
6. Dent repair and full detail 
7. Hard Dog Roll Bar
8. Hard Top

There are other things, but these are the priorities. I should be able to knock-out a few of these over the next couple of weeks, though selling the A6 will be the highest priority.

jimmy

I drove the go-kart to work this morning for the first time. What a thrill! I put the top down and let the wind tug at my hair. I leave so early in the morning that the temperature was comfortable, even here in the hottest part of the Summer. I even turned off the a/c (which was like hitting a boost button, by the way).

Of course, the thrill of driving a new car, especially one as fun as the Miata, is always tempered a little by the initial curve of learning the feel of the controls. I had a few missteps. Obviously, the Miata has a brilliant gearbox - one of the best ever on a production road car. The lever has extrememly short throws into tightly grouped gears. Unfortunately, I’m used to shifting in more of a row-row-row your boat kind of fashion with long throws and questionable engagement. So, it took some time for me to adjust. I had some difficulty shifting into fifth gear, but I seemed to be better by the end of the drive. Worse, on two occasions I made a “money shift” from fifth to second, while trying to go to fourth. That’s really, really bad. Luckily, I caught them quickly before the engine over-revved.

I was also ham-footed on the throttle while attempting heel-toe downshifts. I’m used to heavy Audi flywheels, so when I blip the throttle, I really give it a good poke. The Miata’s throttle just needs a little tap to get the job done. This definitely calls for more practice, but I’m up for it!

This car is so…much…fun.

jimmy

The A6 wouldn’t start Friday morning. It’s the first time the car has ever stranded me. Luckily, it stranded me at home. I suspect it’s the fuel pump or maybe just the fuel pump relay. I tried to check the relay, but I couldn’t seem to pull my lower dash off all of the way and I don’t have a Bentley manual to tell me how to do it without breaking something expensive. I did manage to squeeze my hand behind the dash and pull my Servotronic relay, which is something I have been meaning to do since I have owned the car. The Servotronic relay overboosts the power steering, so that the car can be steered with a pinky finger. This seriously diminishes any sporty feel the car has. The removal of the relay keeps the power steering at a more reasonable assistance level. I did the same modification on my UrS4 and liked the result.

I called Clinton at the dealership and after I described the symptoms, he agreed that it was the fuel pump. I had Ken order a new pump, which we will install during our normal Wednesday work night.

Anyway, I took Friday off and decided to start addressing some of the other problems that have accumulated on my car. A couple of weeks ago, on the way to see Miami Vice with Kim and some friends, a piece of plywood got kicked-up by the car in front of me and smacked my right headlight. It broke a piece of trim and left a small scrape on the fender, which can probably just be buffed-out. The impact also dislodged the orange side reflector, which was left rattling around inside the light housing. Fortunately, the removal of that reflector is actually something that I wanted in order to improve the aesthetics of the car. In fact, we had looked into removing it before, but the procedure seemed difficult (we even practiced on a housing Ken got from a junkyard), so we gave-up on the idea. Now I had to get it done, because the reflector was rattling around inside the housing, blocking part of my headlight, and worse, potentially scratching the reflective coating on the inside of the housing, which would ruin it.

While I was removing my headlights, Les Marshall, my neighbor from across the street walked-up and asked what I was doing. I explained, throwing-in a few disparaging words about the A6 for good measure. Then he told me I should see his new car. I looked across the street and could see the new, gleaming white Lexus. I congratulated him and he told me how quiet the car was.

“Oh, I guess you were driving the Miata?” I asked.

“Yes.”

I didn’t see it parked at his house and my heart sank. I had always thought that I would take a look at it, if they were ever to sell it, but now I was thinking that perhaps they had traded-in the car.

“Do you still have it?” I asked.

“For the time being. We just put it on craigslist.”

My mind raced. I knew better than to get too excited, so I stayed cool and said something offhand about having friends who might be interested. As soon as Les walked back home, I ran inside and looked-up the ad. I sent the link to Mrs. Pribble and waited.

  

A photo from the craigslist ad. I can see my house!

As if there weren’t already several miracles already in play, Kimberly called me back and said that she agreed that the Miata might be a good idea. Whaaaat? So, here is what we have: the Marshalls put their Miata on Craig’s list at a very, very good price, but Les has eye surgery, so he has to stay home on Friday and he can’t show the car, even though their email and vmail is flooded with interested parties. The A6 won’t start Friday morning, so I decide to stay home and work on the car. Les sees me working on the car, walks over, tells me about the Miata which I otherwise wouldn’t have known about, I tell Kim, and within a couple of hours we ask if they will let us jump ahead in line and buy their car, even though we can’t pay them until next week. They agree. By my count, that’s about eleventy-five miracles. And that is how I came to buy a girl’s car.

Because they actually need to use the car temporarily, I won’t take delivery until later this week, probably Friday. A full initial report will follow, though a thread has already been prematurely started on the local Audi forum here:

Jimmy’s Miata

jimmy