wfooshee
O, Woe is me!!
Years and years ago I dated a lady who had a '91 or '92 red 5-speed she'd bought brand new. I really miss that car...
More recently, in 2004, I kept my son's '93 red 5-speed while he was deployed to Iraq. Little bastard took it back when he returned!
Fours weeks ago today I gave an airman at Eglin some cash for a '99 car in pretty decent condition. Runs great, has some "pieces" on it, and I now have my very own Miata 5-speed that nobody can take away from me! He bought it just for the time he was at the base, the way military guys do. He has a family back home and the car isn't much use with the kids.
It's a '99, which makes it simultaneously the oldest car I've ever bought, at 19 years, and the newest car I've ever owned, being a 1999 model!
Only my 2003 FJR is a more recent model in my stable's history.
Arriving home, after driving through one of the heaviest storms we'd had in a while!
Later that night, after the rain finally stopped:
Some of the "pieces" I mentioned before are a cone filter intake, drilled and slotted rotors, the car is slightly lowered with adjustable coilovers (no damping adjustment, just ride height and preload,) front upper arms with camber slots, and the seats. Also spacers on the wheels to bring them out about an inch.
It has a new top, the previous owner had gone through it pretty well when he bought it, with new rad, new hoses, he painted the valve cover when he removed it for a new gasket (no oil in the spark plug galleys,) so it's all purty and stuff.
The seats are an issue because the shoulders are wider than the stock seats, and interfere with the seat belt tower behind the door openings. That means that while I have enough leg room to work the pedals properly, I'm sitting more upright than I'd like and my arms are still a bit jammed up, and my head rubs the top, eventually removing what hair I might still have.
When I bought it, the camber was slapped all the way in as far as it would go. Last week I brought it in just by eye, to get a more reasonable street alignment. Before:
and after:
Doing that pulls the toe in a bit, so I took it to an alignment shop here and had them measure and set. My eyeball camber was -1 degree on both sides, not too bad if'n I sez so m'self. But it had HALF AN INCH of toe-out!! There's no telling how much toe was in it before I brought the camber out! Perhaps this has been explained (inside shoulder at the right):
The shop was great, completely old-school, measuring the toe with a big metal bar, no lasers around anywhere!
More recently, in 2004, I kept my son's '93 red 5-speed while he was deployed to Iraq. Little bastard took it back when he returned!
Fours weeks ago today I gave an airman at Eglin some cash for a '99 car in pretty decent condition. Runs great, has some "pieces" on it, and I now have my very own Miata 5-speed that nobody can take away from me! He bought it just for the time he was at the base, the way military guys do. He has a family back home and the car isn't much use with the kids.
It's a '99, which makes it simultaneously the oldest car I've ever bought, at 19 years, and the newest car I've ever owned, being a 1999 model!
Arriving home, after driving through one of the heaviest storms we'd had in a while!
Later that night, after the rain finally stopped:
Some of the "pieces" I mentioned before are a cone filter intake, drilled and slotted rotors, the car is slightly lowered with adjustable coilovers (no damping adjustment, just ride height and preload,) front upper arms with camber slots, and the seats. Also spacers on the wheels to bring them out about an inch.
It has a new top, the previous owner had gone through it pretty well when he bought it, with new rad, new hoses, he painted the valve cover when he removed it for a new gasket (no oil in the spark plug galleys,) so it's all purty and stuff.
The seats are an issue because the shoulders are wider than the stock seats, and interfere with the seat belt tower behind the door openings. That means that while I have enough leg room to work the pedals properly, I'm sitting more upright than I'd like and my arms are still a bit jammed up, and my head rubs the top, eventually removing what hair I might still have.
When I bought it, the camber was slapped all the way in as far as it would go. Last week I brought it in just by eye, to get a more reasonable street alignment. Before:
and after:
Doing that pulls the toe in a bit, so I took it to an alignment shop here and had them measure and set. My eyeball camber was -1 degree on both sides, not too bad if'n I sez so m'self. But it had HALF AN INCH of toe-out!! There's no telling how much toe was in it before I brought the camber out! Perhaps this has been explained (inside shoulder at the right):
The shop was great, completely old-school, measuring the toe with a big metal bar, no lasers around anywhere!
