Ronald the Crappy Miata

In reply to spacecadet (Forum Supporter) :

Hell, if it was half the cars I buy it wouldn't have one. 

In reply to Professor_Brap (Forum Supporter) :

I had faith it was there.. car saw a lot of time driving in the dirt for rallyx.. 

Bolts hadn't been touched in years... But Seth and Mononix both had no real need to.. the car started and ran.. can't blame them for that.. 

Ronald got spotted when i went out for groceries tonight. 

And I want to explicitly say RONALD got spotted.. 

Apparently more people read my thread than I realized.... 

I saw that on the facespace and immediately pulled up GRM to check on the build thread.

Love it. One of the reasons I wish this forum had a views counter - although I guess that could go the other way too, if nobody posts in my threads because they're actually too boring to read at all!

that's the filter that came out

this one went in

I went out for ice cream in Ronald. on my way home pulled up next to a massive tow truck. I hear someone hollering down from above me from the truck..crack the window down

"nice miata man! done anything to the motor?"

 nah just the crappy miata we beat on and have fun

"that's awesome man, have a good night!"

also my neighbors walked by the other day and said nice things, and a guy from another neighborhood on a bike with his kid stopped to chat cause he runs at ECR and complimented the car... 

I'm really enjoying this. I drive the car and enjoy it now, and people say nice things instead of shooting me bad looks and disgusted faces... 

it's really nice to have all the work I've done validated. 

A moment of silence for a fallen comrade..... Ronalds factory radio died tonight in the middle of my drive.. I don't know if it's just a fuse of something simple. I'll go check tomorrow.. it was already dark when this happened..... 

They may appreciate the work you put in, but i miss the silver fender

i don't think i ever told you guys about the time I thought i was going to get pulled over in ronald with fictitious plates.  When i had it, i slapped the historical tag from the chevelle on it and italian tuneup'ed it everywhere.  Making sure it would drive from cleveland to houston and whatnot.  So colin and i are in the little town i live at the border of.  Turn off main road there's an incline and that road is 40.  So i'm foot down full brap winding it all the way out screaming at the top of the hill and there's a cop sitting in the church lot running radar.  I was like "crap kid we're getting pulled over in a car we don't own with plates that belong on something else" and i looked down and we were only going like 39

In reply to Patrick (Forum Supporter) :

I appreciate your love for the car as a POS toy. 

but for me, cars can't be like that for an extended period of time. hazmat's paint situation was allowed to exist because it's so common in Texas. 

Ronald had character, but for what I need from the car it didn't send good messages and that's why it needed to change. 

and I love your story, the car has a good bit more pep now, but yes, miatas are slow. 

Something something....

miatas are practical.... 

I ran out of space in the primary moving vehicle for tomorrow.. so I put Ronald to work... 

Ronald has been faithfully serving my DD needs without issue... 

But today was a good day.... I've been thinkg about getting back into cycling and I have been hesitant because i have to start from scratch...

Well now one step is done.. I pulled this bike rack out of the empty dumpster behind my apartment when i went to take out my trash tonight. 

Literally in damn near perfect shape

No fraying on any of the straps and the design is such that the trunk is still operable without removing the rack... So I'm pretty pleased with the find! 

I took Ronald out to Rallyx Saturday for the first time in forever. 

It was awesome. The conditions were nuts and it was a crazy day.. 

I shook the hell out of Ronald with bumps and now my AC doesn't work... But hey! My buddy Jorge got this badass video of Ronald.. and me having a fantastic moment behind the wheel 

In reply to spacecadet (Forum Supporter) :

Does Miata a/c ever really "work" in TX heat? Mine could barely keep up in IL, I haven't even tried to get the a/c in my 90 working here on the coast. 

I used to hate how much power turning the a/c took away so I only used it when it rained. 

Pete Gossett (Forum Supporter) said:

In reply to spacecadet (Forum Supporter) :

Does Miata a/c ever really "work" in TX heat? Mine could barely keep up in IL, I haven't even tried to get the a/c in my 90 working here on the coast. 

Yes Ronald's AC works great! It's not blowing cubes all the time, But it makes a huge difference over not having it 

In reply to spacecadet (Forum Supporter) :

Wow! Ok, I guess I should add that to my list for the Miata.

looked like hilarious good fun

Pete Gossett (Forum Supporter) said:

In reply to spacecadet (Forum Supporter) :

Wow! Ok, I guess I should add that to my list for the Miata.

AC is great on my NB. Biggest reason it took over as the daily as quickly as it did. 

love seeing that thing in the dirt!  great shot in that video too, you rotated it around that cone so perfectly.  

i'm super jealous...rallyx season is just getting started where i am.  bah!

First thing I would check for the A/C would be the AD FAN fuse in the engine bay.

moxnix said:

First thing I would check for the A/C would be the AD FAN fuse in the engine bay.

Missed that before.. but just went and checked it and it's still fine... Relay should be here Thursday. 

Daylan C (Forum Supporter) said:

Pete Gossett (Forum Supporter) said:

In reply to spacecadet (Forum Supporter) :

Wow! Ok, I guess I should add that to my list for the Miata.

AC is great on my NB. Biggest reason it took over as the daily as quickly as it did. 

In my 94 I always attributed the crappy a/c to being converted to r134. That's why I never bothered vacuum testing or charging the system in my 94. It sounds like it would be worth spending a few dollars on it though, as I'd be much more likely to drive it if the a/c works. 

Ronald is a 94 Miata... Imagine my surprise when I pulled the AC relay off to inspect it.... And it's not got the correct connector.... Turns out a previous owner swapped in 99 Miata relays!

This is the relay that i bought.. that's actually the correct one for the car.. 

New oil pressure sender also arrived today. Shows much higher and more consistent pressure than the old one.. 

Pete Gossett (Forum Supporter) said:

Daylan C (Forum Supporter) said:

Pete Gossett (Forum Supporter) said:

In reply to spacecadet (Forum Supporter) :

Wow! Ok, I guess I should add that to my list for the Miata.

AC is great on my NB. Biggest reason it took over as the daily as quickly as it did. 

In my 94 I always attributed the crappy a/c to being converted to r134. That's why I never bothered vacuum testing or charging the system in my 94. It sounds like it would be worth spending a few dollars on it though, as I'd be much more likely to drive it if the a/c works. 

My '90 still had the R12 and you could hang meat in that car. I recall Knurled saying that the NA/NB Miata A/C system was cribbed from another car in the Mazda lineup and has more capacity than it needs, which is why they have pretty good AC. I deleted mine when I went to the Rotrex blower though, because I got nervous about cooling with a radiator, condenser and charge air cooler stacked up in the nose, plus my engine bay really would have been a nightmare to work in.