Give Love a Chance - 1994 Miata

Patrick said:

I messaged spacecadet, it’s not the right thing for me to do right now.  I really need to focus on the last credit cards and then saving up to rebuild the house roof and add on to the garage

I’d offer to trade you my Miata in exchange for putting a roof on our house, but truthfully I like the car better. 

A couple of good things here. First, it's not like Miatas are rare, if Patrick wants one in a year they're still out there, and on the flip side of that Spacecadet's car is a pretty nice example of a clean southern NB so selling it shouldn't be hard. Second, there's a set of tires headed to Patrick's house that should get the car up to "drive the kids around safely" standards so the family can enjoy it until I can get my ducks in a row. They were $29.95 a piece with free shipping on Amazon so I'm not expecting great things out of them, but they'll get us back to a 185/60 r14 that the car was designed around. Going for an old school NA feel here. At this rate the Patrick clan is going to get to drive around until the snow flies, and as I always say, other people's Miatas are the best Miatas.

Pete Gossett said:

Patrick said:

I messaged spacecadet, it’s not the right thing for me to do right now.  I really need to focus on the last credit cards and then saving up to rebuild the house roof and add on to the garage

I’d offer to trade you my Miata in exchange for putting a roof on our house, but truthfully I like the car better. 

berkeley roofing i’d rather buy a car

pretty sure you probably ordered the same tires i just put on the front of the datsun a few weeks ago.  They too were $30ish from amazon, and they’re fine by my testing.  We’ll see how they hold up to 120+ mph quarter miles hopefully very soon

Patrick said:

I messaged spacecadet, it’s not the right thing for me to do right now.  I really need to focus on the last credit cards and then saving up to rebuild the house roof and add on to the garage

I'm glad you took the time to ask. got me to get the ball rolling on an Ad and get photos together of it. I need to work on those more. 

You also didn't drag me around as well, which is nice. I wish you could have ended my sale quickly but Not a big deal. 

EDIT 10/22/2018: The 99 Miata is sold to a buddy in North Texas and it is no longer in my possession 

Tars.

Confirmed same exact tires i ordered from amazon a few weeks back for the datsun.  

They are indeed black, round, hold air, and have treads.

So they're race tires then? Excellent! I look forward to vigorous testing. 

Seth, 

Tossed you an E-mail on some NA parts I'm cleaning out. Just let me know. 

In reply to bmw88rider :

Annnnnnd......replied! Thanks!

Looks like a set of low grip Miata drift wheels to me. 

Also probably way smarter choice than driving it from Ohio to Texas on race tires or the ancient tires on the car.  $120 is cheap peace of mind.

$120 for all four shipped to your door still blows my mind. Thanks for mounting them Patrick, you're the best. 

In reply to Patrick :

it has cruise, right?  and it "works", right?

In reply to sleepyhead :

Haven’t tried yet.  I can tell you the heat works and when you hit the AC button the engine revs from idle to 2500 and back repeatedly on its own when not in gear.  

In reply to Patrick :

I have it on good authority* that two consecutive burnouts with the A/C on will clear than problem up

*I just want to see video of this doing a burnout

I think the clutch doesn’t have a ton of life left in it, so i’m not looking to finish it off with a burnout attempt.  Maybe if i can find somewhere with steel plates on the road and some K-Y on the back tires.  

Don’t expect much during the week, working an hour from home and traffic is bad enough from 2:00-7:00 that it is faster to take surface streets and be an hour and a half than to go sit in one lane construction traffic.  I really need to try and get the camaro running too so it can vacate the trailer because there are only a handful of test and tune nights left before winter sets in and I need to prove to myself that the tired 5.3 needs to come out of the Datsun in favor of the 400+hp 5.7 aluminum block LS1.  

I put a lightweight flywheel in it.  I don't remember if I bought a new clutch for it when I put that in or not.  If not the clutch should still have had a decent amount of life left when I put it back in.

The A/C did work when I was racing it but I have not done anything with the car in 2 years.  So all the parts should be there even if it does not work.

I never tested the cruise control when I had it.  I assume it has it based on the other options. 

New tires finally on.  I mounted two a couple weeks ago then have been nonstop late work days.  Today it was hot and about a billion percent humidity so it was a great day to get them put on the car and mount the other two.  Went for a ride to get the dog’s meds and all shakes are gone.  The clunk is still in the Lf.  Nothing failed the visual or grab and shake test, upper strut mount may be the culprit but nothing imperative.

fixed the blank spot on the back bumper, and also made the camaro run today 

Let's see..... picked up four 15 inch Miata wheels with snow tires at the Challenge. Put insurance on the car yesterday. I have a 30 day tag that goes live Saturday morning and.......oh, a plane ticket to Patrick's local airport. 

My tool kit for this adventure consists of a cell phone with data and you guys. You'll get me home, right? 

If you want to take the really long way home, you can swing by my place and I'll give you a free leftover Miata parts

I can let you borrow a small tool set to be returned at the challenge next year 

I think the longest trip I've taken in my Miata is right at 400 miles in a day. I don't remember it being anything horrible. What's your trip plan?

In reply to Stampie :

Drive home. I think it's right about 15 hours door to door which makes it difficult for one driver in one day. Besides, if I mentally prepare myself for two days then I can hang out with Pat Saturday morning and look at his cool stuff.