Had the car out today, if the noise is still there I couldn't hear it. So I'm thinking the rear brake adjustment helped - there was a bit of a scritch as I spun the rear wheels on the lift, but I didn't think it sounded quite right. Of course, that was at about 6 rpm. The adjustment might have moved the rear pads slightly away. I'll keep an eye (ear?) on it, if it comes back I'm pretty sure I have a spare set of rear rotors around I can swap in to test for deposits.
Big upgrade! Since I installed the CD player, I no longer have a little cubby for my phone. This is particularly a problem since the Bluetooth modification as the phone is the source of my music and audiobooks. Usually I put it on the passenger seat but it rarely wants to stay put.
Meanwhile, years ago I flipped the lid of the giant ashtray around. Makes it into a cup holder...sorta. Not a great one and I figured I could do better than the ugly aftermarket ones that have been around forever.
I drew up a new cover for the ashtray that works either as a decent cup holder or a phone holder and printed it out of ABS. It's a perfect fit for my phone. I even managed to keep the little green light that glows when the interior lights are on.
A silly little thing but it makes me happy.
Looks nice! That print is begging for 'fuzzy skin' to help it blend in with the rest of the interior.
In reply to Keith Tanner :
Nice print, do you have the print file? A friend of mine has been looking for something like this.
In reply to cghstang_chris :
I'll look into that, I've never used it. I might get one printed on our work printers, they have very good surface finish. I might also play with this one to see if I can sand it or bead blast it or do something with acetone since it's ABS. I'm generally more interested in the actual model than the surface finish but this one may be an exception. The lighting emphasizes the lines, we'll see how it looks out of the garage.
In reply to Paris Van Gorder :
It's a very specific design. The phone recess fits a 2020 iPhone SE with a Spigen case perfectly, it won't fit anything else properly - certainly not a bigger newer phone. You also might want to remove the "Miata 338" text :) But if you're interested, PM me and I'll send you a copy of the Fusion file that can be modified.
I could also add wireless charging to the phone recess, that might be an interesting update. Not that I spend THAT much time driving, but the phone does have a pretty weak battery these days.
Keith, as always, a great read. Thanks for opining on the NA Miata in this way. Your Dad would be proud.
You know, that cubby is the same size as the ashtray port in a '79-80 RX-7... hmm.
I know this because people would upgrade their RX-7s to have cupholders with NA parts.
I've been perfectly content shoving my phone between the transmission tunnel and the passenger seat for the past decade. I haven't yet made bluetooth work to the factory radio yet; mine has the Jeff Anderson aux-in cable mod, and while wedged next to the seat, the cable sticks out and the connector is also protected. It was more and more frequently slipping down to the bottom of the tunnel, but when I recovered the seats last year, the new thicker leather solved that problem. Everything was great, but then...
The state of Colorado has decided that it's now illegal to use a phone for any purpose while "holding" it. This means I can't skip podcast ads, or pause the music, or do anything at all with the phone unless the phone is "mounted" in a hands-free device. I think your solution counts as mounted? Definitely considering it.
338's 36th birthday was on Sunday, and the weather was glorious. But I was playing in a hockey tournament so the poor car had to stay in the garage all day. We won the championship at least, but I had been hoping to do something to celebrate.
Instead, we shall revisit 338's Big Track Adventure from the week before. The photographer was mostly interested in getting good shots of the FM fleet with their more overt branding, but he did get a couple of snaps of the car with someone else behind the wheel. So we'll just have to call that the birthday outing.
Hmm, looks like i need to do a bit of processing on the pics. I'll come back to them.
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