One year on

I've owned my MX-5 for a year now.  I took delivery on January 25, 2016.  One year on, I've put 7,956 miles on it, used 246 gallons of gas and averaged 32.17 mpg.

MX-5000

I recently hit 5,000 miles with my ND Miata.

Some statistics:

Last fill up: 9/17/16
Mileage: 5,168
Average mpg from new: 32.35
High mpg: 34.88
Low mpg: 30.75
Gallons used: 159.8
Dollars spent on gas: $433.59

Gianni's Cars Part 15: 2016 Mazda MX-5 Club

The MINI replacement.

Gone

I sold my 2005 MINI Cooper S today.  Owned it for almost 12 years.  Vaya con dios el MINI.

Waiting in the dealer lot, January, 2005

Ready for the Craigslist ad, July 2016

MINI at 11

My 2005 MINI Cooper S is turning 11 years old this month.  I ordered it on 11/18/2004.

Here's a picture that the salesperson took of it on 1/11/2005, when it arrived at the dealer in Ohio.  Since there were no dealers on the west coast that were taking orders (or had a 9 month wait), I ordered it at a dealer in Ohio and had it shipped out to me in Seattle.  I wonder what happened to the MINI parked next to it.

Gianni's Cars Part 14: 1997 Mazda Miata

My son and I went halves on this one.  It is his driver until he finishes his AA and then I will sign the title over to him.  It's a '97 with 124K on the clock.  Two owner car, the original owner owned it up until last year, when their neighbor bought it.  They decided that a two seater with two little kids wasn't the best idea.  Most of the maintenance has been done by the dealer for a pretty penny.

Gianni's cars Part 13: 2015 Mazda CX-5

After 11 years it was time to part with our 2004 Toyota Sienna "Mini" van.  Our 14 year old Siberian Husky got sick in the back and we and a professional detailer could not get the smell out.  Without going into specifics, here's a recreation:

So we traded it in on a 2015 Mazda CX-5 Grand Touring.  It was a local CPO car with 7,800 miles on the clock.  It was interesting to run the CARFAX's on CPO cars.  Some were rentals, Some came from out of state, some came thru auctions.  Although I would not trust a CARFAX to reveal if a car has been in an accident, it does provide a valuable history of where a car has been and how many owners.

We got the Grand Touring since my wife wanted to go back to having leather instead of cloth.  We decided not to get another minivan since we wanted something smaller now that our kids are solidly in their teens.  We wanted AWD as we are skiers (my daughter skis on a team), so we are up on the pass from January 1 thru March.  We did 11 years with the Sienna, which was fine with a set of Blizzaks on it, but the WADOT is getting more and more cautious about throwing the "chains required, except for 4 wheel drive" flag and I hit my limit with chaining up by the side of the road and getting to the ski area soaking wet with aching fingers.  

We looked at a few CUV's and the Mazda was the best choice as far as driving dynamics.  Also, the Honda CRV seems to be grandma's favorite and the RAV4 is for people that don't really like cars and will just automatically default to Toyota (There are 4 RAV's in my wife's family - they were surprised that we didn't just buy one) Plus we could get it in "Soul Red".  There are too many grey cars on the road these days!

OT: All Better

Got my Miata back from the shop after the jackass hit and runner bent the front fender.  All better and even better, it still has the parts it left Hiroshima with.  Millen Autobody did the excellent work.

NA meets ND

Had a pint with my friend and fellow Bothell resident, Terry at the Hop and Hound.  He just took delivery of a 2016 MX-5 Launch Edition.

Miata at 50

Our Miata hit 50,000 miles on the way into work this morning.

Hit and Run

Some asshole hit my Miata in the Kirkland QFC parking lot Sunday afternoon.  Of course they left the scene of the crime without leaving a note.  You can't tell me that they didn't realize they hit my car.  Bastards.

I called the Kirkland PD and spoke to an officer, but there isn't really much they can do without a witness.  At times like this, I really hope there is something like Karma.  I hope Karma is giving the perp what they deserve and giving to them hard and often.

6/8 UPDATE:  So I went to Queen City Auto Rebuild this afternoon for an estimate.  They work on the local exotics and did my 164 and GTV in the past.  The estimate:  $2,000!  Anyone have any recommendations for something a tier or two below Queen City on the Eastside?

6/12 UPDATE 2:  Went to Millen Auto in Redmond. $2K from them as well. Bodywork is expensive!  Tuesday I visit the Allstate claims adjuster. We will see just how good the hands really are. I think after this I'm going to move it to a Hagerty classic policy. 

OT: The streets of Tombstone

The hazard/headlight switch was starting to fall into the dash of our 1991 Miata.  I'm not sure, but I think someone was re-enacting the old "Headlights go up, Headlights go down" routine from the Regular Car Reviews Miata review.  Anyway, to fix it meant removing the "tombstone" from the dash.  To remove the tombstone, you need to remove the two eyeball vents at the top to expose the two screws that hold the tombstone in.  The factory shop manual says to loop some string in between the grills of the eyeballs and pull them sharply out of the tombstone.  That seemed a little too violent for me, especially on some brittle 25 year old plastic.  Each eyeball is held in by two metal clips at 3 and 9 o'clock.  I had read on miata.net that you can use a cut up 2 liter pop bottle to wedge between the tombstone and the eyeball and pop the clip and the eyeballs just fall out.

Not having any pop bottles around, I used some sparkling water that my wife drinks.

To make the removal tool, I sliced the top off the bottle where it transitions into a cylinder and then sliced that in half to end up with this:

Wedge the bottle tools into the 6 o'clock position between the vent assembly and the tombstone and then work it up to the 9 and 3 position and under the clip.  If all goes well the vent assembly should just fall out.  The drivers side of mine came out easy.  The passenger side required a fair bit of wedging to get it under the clip, but nothing like the string method.

You can see the brass metal clip that holds the vent in here and the philips screw that holds the tombstone on.

Next, unscrew the shift knob and the 5 philips screws that hold on the center console.

When you take the top screws off the tombstone, stuff a rag into the vent holes and be VERY careful not to let them fall into the vents.  You will never see them again otherwise.  Our tombstone had only one screw holding onto the bottom left.  I think there should be two, one on each side.  It looked to me like the right side might have been broken off.  Maybe when the factory radio was swapped for an aftermarket Pioneer.  Someday I may see if I can get a factory radio to replace the aftermarket one.

I assumed that the switch was screwed onto the tombstone, but no, it snapped onto two posts on the tombstone.  The bottom post of ours was broken off in the switches snap.

If I was a craftsman I would have modified it so that the switch used two self tapping screws to hold it onto the tombstone, but I'm not so I epoxied it on.

Assembly, as they say, is the reverse of dis-assembly.

Hopefully, that will hold it.

OT: 100K's of MINI

My 2005 MINI Cooper S just hit 100,000 miles.

OT: Tales of the nitrile glove - MINI motor mount

The passenger motor mount on the MINI decided to puke out its oil a while back.

I had been keeping an eye on it - watching for signs that the inner rubber was collapsing.  I hadn't seen any evidence, but with the car 500 miles away from 100K, I decided not to tempt fate any longer and ordered a new mount from Pelican Parts.

First step was to get the car off the ground and onto jack stands.  Someday I will have a lift...

Next step was to disconnect the ground strap and a few other hoses and clips.  The bottom of the mount is held on with a TORX E10 torque to yield bolt that is one time use.  I thought I might be able to remove it with just a 10mm socket, but no joy so it was off to McKlendon's then O'rielly's for the special socket.  The second stop had it, but I had to buy a set and expand my tool collection.  Once I was sure I could losen that bolt I removed the top engine mount after supporting the engine with a trolley jack and a 2x4.

Here's the grubby old mount with dried oil running down the side.  Under it is the funky E10 bolt.

Assembly was the reverse of dis-assembly as they say.

The E10 torque to yield TORX bolt was interesting.  You torqued it to 41.5 ft-lbs and then tightened it an additional 90 degrees.

I'd like to say that the car doesn't vibrate as much (it wasn't vibrating to begin with) and shifting feel has improved (no shift issues before either), but I can't.  It wasn't a hard job or time consuming (except for the two store stop to find the TORX socket).  Hopefully it's good for anther 100K miles.

Gianni's cars part 12: 1991 Mazda Miata

At the end of September we bought a 1991 Miata with the "A" package.  It is a stock, two owner car with 46K miles on it.  The previous owner owned it for the last 10 years.  I wanted one when they came out in late 1989, but there was no way I could afford a new car.  All we have done to it has been change the plugs and ignition wires, replace the 10 year old tires, remove the "baby teeth" and upgrade the horn to an air horn after an SUV almost took me out on 405 on the drive home after buying it.  Other than that we've just been driving it...