Cars, Coffee and California...

[oldgrayleather]

Thanks for the nudge MX5Wisher, its about bloody time I updated the thread! To assist with that, this weekend youngest son got out to help me wash up the SB and continue to reinforce the family’s affinity for the Roadster.


Nice and clean back at home:

We had a killer sunset that my new potato managed to do a decent job of capturing though I’m still amazed at the capabilities other non-Apple phones have for focus, aperture, etc, etc.



For what’s next? Received some missing hardware from a friend and fellow nut in Washington for an upcoming project Also, was blown away when the good folks at RDB welcomed me to their tribe with a pair of decals Now just need to find a good spot to mount em.

I’ve also been busy polishing a lot of things…

And crossed probably the last milestone with the current set-up
(before anyone gets their hopes up, the KGW cluster and RS needle caps are already destined to go onto the BRG.)

Speaking of which, BRG (pronounced Berg) is back after six weeks from the accident (damned adjusters and insurance company delays). Very happy with the new fender and Rev9 flare, paint blending (also got the mirrors done at the same time) et al. The report back was that there was no damage to the frame, just the fender itself. The replacement pair of Mark 2’s have been ordered but have been quoted a lead time of 4 months (!!) so did swap back to the Enkei’s for now. Feel lucky to have the option, other than the 100% stock SB think it would be very hard to go back to driving on daisies for either BRG or the Smurf. Actually, especially for the Mariner given the flares.




I let my eldest son pick up and install a set of smoked markers front and rear to minimize the amount of colors going on. Never bothered me but don’t mind him having a say on where that car goes. We closed out the weekend installing one of Joe’s Rspeed rear lips



Tough to tell with this lighting but a perfect complement for the front. I secured an OEM R-lip for Benny which had been painted and was pretty badly scraped. I’d thought they were urethane and didn’t realize they were actually painted so was surprised when the small side piece I was removing paint from ended up white! Will install another one of Rspeed’s when it arrives and figure out what to do with the OEM one later.

My silent little protest I suppose but I continue to post all my updates first on MR.Net given I believe the growth of other, more superficial social media is hammering the forums too much (only exacerbated by photobucket). Maybe its time for MR.net to join the Instagram party or Facebook groups while still ultimately directing people back to the site? Amazing for me to see the change from 2016 to 2017 in terms of the 10x engagement.
Best nine 2016:

Best nine 2017:


Would love to find ways to bolster this site as its been both an amazing resource for me to learn all things Miati as well as somewhere that’s facilitated engagement with fellow nets which has lead to some incredible friendships.

[— Phatmiata —]

Would love to find ways to bolster this site as its been both an amazing resource for me to learn all things Miati as well as somewhere that’s facilitated engagement with fellow nets which has lead to some incredible friendships.

we are on IG and FB but I feel it really takes members away from the forum vs sending new members here. It also feels rather fake and you can't get a feeling for the person with just a bunch of random photos, but I could be wrong, however I'm open to any / all ideas

[oldgrayleather]

100% agree with the limits of FB/ IG for building community but believe the draw of instant gratification/ superficial touch points only seems to be gaining momentum. Have some idea I’ll PM you about separately. This site and its awesome members has educated and fueled my passion. IG/ FB could never have accomplished that and only gives me another touch point with many of the same nuts .

[MX5Wisher]

Awesome! Kinda like the gold RPF1's on the BRG though... lol. Glad to see it back on the road! I kinda like the coloured side markers for the exact opposite of why your son dislikes them... anyway. Glad to see progression and more awesomness being added!

[HarryB]

Great updates as always Peter! I am in both IG and FB, and although their format makes it easier to share photos, I am more of an old-fashioned forum guy. There's pretty much no way to have a structured, traceable discussion or build thread in any social media nowadays, which is frustrating.

[oldgrayleather]

Even though its 80 degrees today in Southern California with zero chance of snow, it’s actually starting to feel like the festive season is upon us once again. Yesterday’s mail call highlighted an unexpected surprise from a very kind ihatecars. Considering he’d already helped me anticipate and work through the challenges of installing the Barchetta front I couldn’t have been happier to receive another pair of awesome stickers for my collection. Need to figure out the best place to put these…



I’ve been picking up stickers pretty much from the beginning – wonder how many others out there have been amassing their own personal collections? The irony is I typically don’t like many stickers on a car but the ones that have significance should be there. I’m long overdue for adding some RevLimiter branding along with figuring out a solution to the KINOD stickers that only last on my roll bar for a month at best. Hopefully one of the easier projects to tackle over the break,


Anyways, back to Christmas, the other thing we did on the weekend was start to get the house ready for the holidays…



The stockings were hung by the chimney with care
In the hopes that EMS deliveries soon would be there..



In looking at the living room and thinking back on the year I really wanted to give credit to my wife who’s truly the most incredible supporter of my habit.. erm hobby. When she saw the Silverstone map on my office wall (leaving gift from my old team in the UK) she thought it was amazing and asked if we could put it up at home. I’d just presumed she wouldn’t be remotely interested in having my car hobbies extending past the garage. She also loved the idea of using the Laguna Seca anniversary blanket I picked up at MRLS on our sofa for the cool winter evenings (my plan was to put it to good use in the man cave attached to the garage) and more often than not our countertops are covered in parts I’m refinishing or working on that I don’t want subjected to the dust in the garage.

I’m sincerely hoping all of you and yours are safe and happy and starting to wind down for a restful winter break filled with much joy.

[oldgrayleather]

Hoping you all have had or are still having a fantastic break with friends, family and of course your Miati.

Mrs. Claus may have had some help tracking down the last missing KGW parts from Alan in the UK which meant I’d be able to get to work on Christmas day to change up the interior.


I remember when Randy installed his Nielex vents which I thought were a stunning complement to the Nielex tombstone I’d found on YJA. It was pretty worn but managed to get it all polished up after removing years of grime, a few stickers and a coin holder for toll routes. The brushed metal doesn’t at all match with the RS Products HVAC panel so had found a used AWD HVAC set (unfortunately missing the ring).


Bayley had already sent me the hardware so we were ready to get to work…




YJA also helped me track down a complete AWD cluster with gauges, needle caps, etc to which I added some RS Refine rings from a friend in the UK.


Before




Much, much more shiny and certainly less inconspicuous than before.

Also took the time to finally put on some stickers:




Eldest son wanted a shorty antennae which found its way into his stocking with some vent rings from YJA along with a set of H4 headlights and bulbs from Rspeed to help improve BRG’s visibility at night. The hand-me-downs from Benny gave us both plenty to work on so the two of us hunkered down in the garage with some eggnog and got to work. The last bit was swapping out the black RS HVAC panel for the silver one and we called it a day. A pretty damned successful and wonderful day where the two of us and the roadsters were thoroughly spoiled. Of course the best bit was getting to spend the time together tinkering while we visted.

[— kung fu jesus —]

I have that same antenna on my NA. I like it.

[speedypenguin]

That is awesome to know that you and your son are spending time together with the Miatas. I'm excited to see how the BRG will turn out with your son, and to see how much more epic Benny is becoming.

[MiataQuest]

Quite the transition this car is going through, great updates!
Even better that your son gets to participate. Not only for father-son bonding, but to develop his mechanical aptitude.

My son went on to college to be an engineer, got a job, got married, and now I have two grandchildren. Working on his car through high school and summers from college really helped him with his career.

He still has his high school car that we worked on together. It has been sitting in the garage since he went off to college.
This may be the year to re-new the father-son bond and get it back up and running.

[— Phatmiata —]

Looks great!

I think i "might have a spare ArtWorks Dewa A/C button trim ring if I can locate it to help complete your look.

You can still order the Blue High Beam bulbs from KGW, that is what I did to replace the bland looking white bulb in the center of the ArtWorks Dewa panel.

I plan to swap out the RS A/C Panel on my tombstone as well, just as soon as I figure out where I put the old one.

Looking great though! Keep it up! Thank you for rocking the MR sticker on your window too!

[oldgrayleather]

I'm excited to see how the BRG will turn out with your son, and to see how much more epic Benny is becoming.

Thanks my friend. Eldest son has his own points of view and dreams of a Pitcrew front ended, GV rear and proper flares housing a nice fat set of Watanbe's just like yours. Clearly he's pulling his influences from the right places!

This may be the year to re-new the father-son bond and get it back up and running.

My hopes for you both is that this is the year! My dad taught me a lot about woodworking but didn't know much about mechanical/ electrical things. I still have a load of knowledge with wood but am loving learning about the oily bits alongside my son. Hoping it continues with the younger two and for many years to come!

Looks great!

I think i "might have a spare ArtWorks Dewa A/C button trim ring if I can locate it to help complete your look.

You can still order the Blue High Beam bulbs from KGW, that is what I did to replace the bland looking white bulb in the center of the ArtWorks Dewa panel.

I plan to swap out the RS A/C Panel on my tombstone as well, just as soon as I figure out where I put the old one.

Looking great though! Keep it up! Thank you for rocking the MR sticker on your window too!

thanks Randy. The MRNet sticker is the first one I ever placed on the smurf given the sheer amount of influence this site has had on what I know and love about our roadsters. Not surprised you have many goodies you have lost track of. If you find a spare ring, please count of me being incredibly interested!! Ironically, the blue (purple) lens from the KGW when the brights were on was something I never warmed up to. I didn't like the frosted cover on the AWD but actually love how it looks lit up.

[oldgrayleather]

So maybe someone with an insanely large collection of parts may have just found the missing AWD trim ring so really looking forward to tying up that loose end. Back on the vents that Mrs R got from the UK, a bit of a debate kicked off as to their origin. Randy's Neilex ones look notably different but there were 2-3 camps for who else may have produced. Several people that have had them had conviction/ religion they were from KGW. Then a few dissenters claimed they were from IL Motorsports and shared this link

That group noted that IL historically carried parts from other manufacturers and didn't always give credit and had dug up a scan from Road&ster and claimed they were in fact made by Hayashi...


I'm sure that the knowledge exists here to settle this. Any takers?

In other news...
Mrs R and I enjoyed a fantastic drive to finally dine at my favourite Italian restaurant in Santa Monica (Capo) top down there and back. Spoiled to be year round convertible weather here.

Hit 75k miles (25k since I've owned it during which time the "daily" has done less than 6k).


The kindest guy in our whole roadster community surprised me with a shipment of stickers for KINOD and to commemorate our road trip to MRLS (poignant given MRLS won't be under the Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca moniker). We've been stickerless for ages and the group went bonkers for them. Adam truly is the best..


Fuel up on the return trip from KINOD


And had the chance for some sunrise shots of a few of my favorite details



(well I had to take one for myself, right?)

[— Phatmiata —]

That Roll bar needs a Blue MazdaRoadster Sticker hahahahaha


Your car looks amazing man!!!


As for the settling the debate on the vents, the First offered was by KGW, Nielex, and Jack Hayashi, no offense to opposing views but it was common knowledge back then that someone copied the Jack Hayashi version in Europe and then IL came out with those near identical vents a year later.

The IL vents look great too, but if we are talking about who created them first I would argue it was Jack Hayashi of Bodyshop Hayashi Japan. Quite sure I can find some VERY old magazine publications to back up my argument.

I have all 3 vents, KGW, the Jack Hayashi and the Nielex vents here in my stash of parts, the Nielex are Aluminum, the KGW are Chromed Plastic, and the Hayashi are some type of metal that had been Chromed, all of them came out in the mid 1990's

[oldgrayleather]

Your car looks amazing man!!!

Thank you Phat!

As for the settling the debate on the vents, the First offered was by KGW, Nielex, and Jack Hayashi, no offense to opposing views but it was common knowledge back then that someone copied the Jack Hayashi version in Europe and then IL came out with those near identical vents a year later.

I was hoping that knowledgeable somebody would chime in! Now the killer question.. how do you tell the difference? Mine are chromed metal and heavy. Definitely not chromed plastic and not aluminum. Is there a way to tell the Hayashi's apart from the IL Sport rip-offs?