Finding a parking spot in NYC is so easy with a car the size of the Roadster.

New Parts Purchased!

In preparation for next weekends project I picked up the following items today. 4x Denso Iridium spark plugs, Fel-Pro valve cover gasket, gasket maker, and blue Dupli-Color engine enamel. Next weekends project is going to be to replace the valve cover gasket and paint the valve cover.

There were quite a few options when it came to gasket maker when I was at the auto parts store; blue, black, grey (possibly a few others). I settled on the grey because of a blurb written on the back of the packaging, "Engines with closely spaced bolt patterns (typically foreign) exert higher torque loads on gaskets..."

You may be wondering why I went with the Deso Iridium plugs versus a standard spark plug. The element used, Iridium (Ir), has advantages over high performance platinum plugs. "6 times harder, 8 times stronger, and has a melting point 1200 degrees higher than platinum" (http://www.densoiridium.com/faq.php). Denso also uses a U-groove technology which produces a more concentrated and hotter flash. Read more about their technology on the above site. Also, have a look at their racing involvement here (http://www.densomotorsports.jp/) and here (http://www.densoaftermarket.com/). Not to mention the Denso Supra that races Super GT, is beyond amazing.

Rear Window Restoration

Our rear window was one of only a handful of flaws that we have learned the car had. In an attempt to remedy the problem, we were recommended Novus polish (http://novuspolish.com/) by the fine people at miata.net. Dad spent half an hour applying the product this afternoon. Lo and behold the results, they truly speak for themselves.

Before:
After:
The results are simply stunning!

Engine & Transmission Oil Change

Yesterday I changed the engine and transmission oil and installed a new oil filter. Thinking this would be relatively quick, I alloted a few hours to complete the project.

Changing the engine oil went smoothly. I used 4 quarts of Castrol Syntec 10W30 synthetic motor oil. I used a K&N high performance oil filter, this was a bit tricky to install. Removing the oil filter was not possible with a filter removal tool. The method I found to be easiest was to remove the front under protect and reach up from underneath the car. Grasping the filter firmly one can twist it off and install the new one. The oil that was removed from the engine was black as night.

The transmission fluid was considerably more difficult to change. Draining the fluid was easy but I was reduced to using a hand sized oil pump to refill the transmission with a little over 2 quarts of 80W90 oil. As a note, the bolt that needs to be removed to access the filler hole is square. This should save some fumbling around trying to fit a socket onto it.

After the mess was cleaned up I took the car for a test drive. The engine was noticeably smoother and felt much less gritty. The transmission shifted much easier and the stiffness and clunkyness that was apparent going from 1st to 2nd and 3rd to 2nd gear was gone.

It's Legal!

Well, it's finally legal. The Roadster was registered today and got brand new license plates. We have 14 days to have it inspected since it is an out of state car.

Derek and I took the car for a spin up and down Rt. 3 which was fun. Noted tonight for things that will need to be fixed: the passenger side speaker seems to be putting out some static. Also, the headlight beams bounce around when the car goes over a bump, hopefully that's a simple bolt to be tightened.

The Goodridge High Performance D.O.T. Brakeline kit that I ordered showed up today. That was lightening fast shipping considering I ordered them on Sunday. They look great and feel very high quality. Hopefully we'll be able to install them on the car this weekend.

The Roadster begins to look more aggressive

Volk TE37 and Rays Extended Lug Nuts

This morning I took the Volk TE37s that I had in storage in the garage from the Honda Fit and put them on the Roadster. I was a little concerned that the fitment wouldn't be right but they fit just fine. The Volks are 15x7, +35 with Yokohama AVS ES100 195/50 tires. I also removed the Rays extended lugs that were holding on the Fits stock wheels and put them on the Roadster.

Acceleration is signifigantly faster and throttle response is a lot better. It makes sense, the wheels that were on the Roadster were 14x6 solid-spoke wheels (http://www.miata.net/faq/wheel_weights.html#weight) that weigh 11.5lbs each. The lug nuts that were on there weigh 2.1 oz (0.131 lbs) each. Now the TE37 wheel weighs 9.15 lbs (http://www.miata.net/faq/wheel_weights.html#weight) and each lug nut weighs 0.8 oz (0.05 lbs) (http://www.upgrademotoring.com/wheels/lugnuts.htm).

Stock: (11.5*4)+(0.131*16)=48.096 lbs
TE37 & Rays Lug Nuts: (9.15*4)+(0.05*16)=37.4 lbs Down 10.69 lbs!

So we saved a total of 10.69 lbs with this upgrade. Although that may not be a massive weight savings, the key here is that it reduces the unsprung weight. Simply put, less mass to spin up means better acceleration, braking, and handling. Read more here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unsprung_weight

Here are some pictures from the day:

The Roadster Arrives at Home

We picked up the Roadster today from Warwick New York at 1:00PM. The roughly 50 mile drive back was wonderful. I got a chance to truly get to know the car. Here are a few impressions:

• This is a truly raw feeling car. I was aware of this the very moment I drove a Roadster.
• The most fun place to drive the car is on local twisting roads. We had a chance to drive through some pretty rural farm towns on the way back from Warwick with some great bends in the road.
• The car is very well refined. Even though it is purly a sports car, the car is very well made and looks quite elegant, especially the interior.
  

This car is damn near flawless. I'm serious, there really isn't a single flaw on the body or the interior. My dad waxed the exterior and we both worked on the interior. It was cold outside (-32F, no doubt) so we couldn't get a full wash on her but a quick interior cleaning and some spray on wax worked wonders.
Here are some pictures from the day:

NA8C Mazda Miata Purchased

My father and I purchased our 1996 Mazda Miata 5-speed this past Sunday. The NA8C has the popular equipment package, and leather package. The car has ~80,000 miles on it and is located in Warwick New York. We will be driving it home this Saturday.