Practical Technology

Tonight going to get the garage ready for maintenance this (long) weekend, and assemble the engine crane if I have time.  Very thankful this cold has passed, feeling pretty much back to normal today. Feeling pretty good about the whole thing, just need to make sure the hose/tools I'm getting is compatible.  Without air tools...I would not be looking forward to this job.  :) Will do my best to take pictures through the process, but the highs are around 2-3C, so will be wearing gloves. Also put the hard top on for the duration of the winter last night.  Such a different car with that thing on.

Well, the only items left on my list are fluids, so all the hard-to-find stuff is in the garage.  Somewhat ironically, the local shop has been the least reliable so far (PROTIP: if you have email contact on your business card, customers will expect you to answer emails), so I may end up having to pay for shipping after all.  Granted I'm not ordering a lot (~$60 worth of Redline oils), but still...this shop was where I got all my car audio stuff back in the day.  Customer service has waned in favour of high profit/fast turnover items.  Sad, but guess it's hard to compete with online stuff.  There's your business tip of the day...if you are going to have a storefront, be sure you have a booming online store to match it. Still missing: Diff fluid (RedLine) Power steering fluid (RedLine) 303 aerospace protectant (not sure where to get this yet) Penetrating fluid (PB blaster) Will discover this item is missing at the 11th hour Anywho, clutch & flywheel  have arr

Got word from the distributor that the Flyin Miata/Moss parts have shipped, guessing they'll be here in a few days.  Heated seat kit also shipped the other day, although it probably won't get much use.  Nice to have, just in case.  (in retrospect, a wind blocker would have been a better investment) Also did some reading on miata.net, and turns out that the method I initially read about to do the clutch (drop trans out the bottom) is a complete nightmare versus pulling the engine and trans together out the top with a shop crane.  Kinda ironic that I helped my friend offload his (was being stored in my garage).  At the time the decision made sense. Handily (providentially?) enough, PA's hoist is on sale right now, so I put one of them on reserve (along with a leveler bar).  Another $300 or so after taxes, but if it's the difference between getting the job done (quickly) and not, not much choice.  Also, I needed one anyway for when the foundry furnace is built, so not

Just trying to sketch out ahead of time what order things should be done in so as not to waste fluids and/or time.  Haha, jeepers.  Better get a head start and clean the garage up tonight... I spoke to Sylvie at Robert-Piece-Auto yesterday, she said the FM parts have been ordered!  So probably safe to say it'll be at least next weekend before everything arrives.  Waiting on the FM/Moss stuff, another Rosenthal order, 949racing parts, and I have to get some more tools/miscellany. Preliminary prep work Clean floor around work area Lay out necessary tools Car onto jackstands - at least 18" clearance Disconnect battery Spray all bolts to remove with penetrating fluid & let sit overnight Transmission & diff fill ports Transmission bellhousing bolts Exhaust system bolts PPF bolts? Phase1 - Fluid drain Remove undertray Remove intake ducts Drain coolant Drain transmission oil Drain diff oil Drain engine oil Close all drain valves/bolts Phase2 -

Well, some of them, anyway.  Still waiting on all the phone bits, plugs/wires, and of course still have to order another Rosenthal chunk, Flyin Miata parts, and Moss Motors parts.  Yes, it's costing more than we'd expected...but darn it if the car won't drive like new when I'm done, should be good mechanically for the next 10-20 years.  :)  50k until I do timing belt (a little early, but will reset the maintenance cycle).  So 2-3 years. The list is hooge, so I'll just post pics, cuz everyone loves pics.  Not pictured are the KYB shocks...I'm sure they'll crop up in the suspension post. Rosenthal parts! Quite impressed they got here so soon...I think less than 2 weeks from 'click to order' to pick up at the post office.  Definitely saved some dough, even after the import/shipping charges.  If nothing else, I saved a ton of time with their MOST EXCELLENT website:   http://parts.arlingtonmazda.com/ Shifter refresh kit Rosenthal Mazda has a nu

So nice to have the car back together.  Racecar is fun and all, but interior trim makes a big difference to the feel of the cabin.  Still not sure why I didn't take a picture of the neat wiring through the center console...it was all so IASCA-ey. What's next? Wait for all parts to arrive Still waiting on FM to get back to the Montreal distributor so I can order some parts already.  (FM clutch happy meal!) Once parts are here/almost here, book a weekend + some days off to do all the work. Do the work. Drive the car! Cay-buls Ok, really need to either tap into accessory power or put a switch in.  Srsly.  Also, my fancy RCA->3.5 cable has not arrived yet, so can't wire it up.  (not to mention the phone mounts and chargers haven't shown up, either) Amp wiring So ghetto.  Embarassing.  But it works. Crossovers After some finagling with wires, I ended up just resting them like this in the old stereo location.  Eventually they'll be tied d

Yes, it is complete!  Ish.  Sort of.  Not really.  But I once again have a semi-functional audio system in the car!  It sounds way better than I'd anticipated, although I guess the components/amp are to thank for that. The actual amp install was pretty easy - the gas tank doesn't come near that part of the chassis, so was safe to drill/screw through.  I am not that happy with using 4ga wire...primarily since I had to cut it down to fit the amp's input terminals. After an hour's drive to work, amp was barely warm.  Granted was only streaming CBC.  Will upload some trance stuff, see how it fares with some thumpin'. My stereo tip of the day : When crimping connectors, use vise-grips.   Way better than the 'middle' section of the side cutters I've been using for 10 years.  Also better than a hammer. Items left to work on: Securing & tidying the wiring A non-ghetto solution to the remote switch A solid solution for mounting the crossovers (so