Jazz

[speedypenguin]

Wow, this is getting nicer and nicer.

Very classy build.stay-classy.png

lookin good

Thanks all!

Thank you for proving that a college kid can have a nice car! Seems like everyone makes an excuse in college to not have nice things.
Good looking car man. Really enjoying the updates.

Thanks! It's manageable, just have to spend money wisely and once in awhile treat myself and Jazz.

So...remember how I mentioned that Jazz' 11.25" ride height would come back to mess with me...? Well it did. I was driving around in San Francisco, and there was a lot of road works on the way out from SF. I was driving and came upon some massive metal plates (covering dug up holes I'm guessing) that were about 1.5-2 inches thick...I slowed down to 15MPH because I thought that would be slow enough...nope. There was a massive thud and Jazz shook insanely. Made it over the construction works...but then noticed a very noticeable "thunking" noise from the right rear of the car. At that time, I wasn't as knowledgeable with the Miata drivetrain, so I thought maybe one of the exhaust flange bolts sheared and fell out because there was also a noticeable exhaust leak afterwards. So I drove home to go to an exhaust shop back at home and while on the lift...saw this:





See that? Yup, not only did one of the axle shaft boots tear open...but one of the diff arms sheared completely.
At this point, I felt horrible. Jazz didn't deserve this...maybe I should have driven even slower? But then I realized...Jazz had gotten me back home from San Francisco...a distance of 50+ miles, essentially moving along with a mangled leg, on 65MPH freeways and got me to the exhaust shop...without breaking down. Not meaning to sound corny...but at that point my friendship with Jazz grew that much stronger. I decided. I would fix him.

So I proceeded to drive from the exhaust shop to a friend's shop to leave Jazz there to get completely diagnosed while I returned to school. But about 2.5 miles away from the shop, Jazz's diff finally gave in. The axle ball joint (?) came out completely, thus Jazz couldn't move and we coasted to the side of the road. My heart was literally aching while I was waiting for a tow truck, but luckily, we were within a driving range to my friend's shop that my tow was free!



I couldn't believe it. Jazz had gotten me so far, literally dragging a "lame leg" along, and finally tired out, just within reach. So off Jazz went to my friend's shop, to wait patiently till I could come back to fix him.