You are not alone in this.
Who, and under what conditions came up with the idea of grinding corn for instance?
Or, cultivating olives.. They are beyond horrible right off the tree.
I can understand accidental inventions like cheese, but there are so many weird processes...

Hunger.
Hunger will drive you to try anything.

Turkish soldiers in the trenches would suck on their boot linings to suppress hunger.
That was back in 1915, during the battle of the Dardanelles.
Typical meal was boiled dry grapes and stale bread, when they could get a meal.
(Diehard smokers would whittle railroad ties and stuff them in impromptu pipes to smoke, but that's another story.

 

[QUOTE=Joe Perez;1364612]Serious question: do people smoke cigars in their car?QUOTE]

I work with a guy who smokes a cigar on the ride home every day - 45 minute trip.

There used to be an older guy I would get stuck behind once in a while - drove a clapped-out Cherokee and smoked cheap cigars on the way to work in the morning. Following him was like started your day dodging a CS attack.

 

$215 per month lease. I typically use $200 in gas per month which I now get free. Other than it being ugly, seemed like a no brainer to me.

 

I've always heard that FM's shipping prices were ridiculous, but $20 to ship a $20 tool that would fit in a big envelope goes a bit beyond.

 

Been a while since businesses figured out they can actually make money off shipping.
Profit off product sold + profit off shipping = profit.

 

One time they had a special on the NA undertrays for like $60. Then they wanted $65 to ship. I called the local dealer and they had me one the next day for $65+ tax.

 

Just depends. If you want good insurance and tracking, then UPS and Fedex can get expensive quick for a small business.


In other news, I had to drive 3.5 hours round trip today for work, and the weather was beautiful, so I went home and got the Miata for the trip. Ran perfect on the way there, and perfect about halfway back, when it started stumbling occasionally. I noticed it first on an on-ramp, shifting up into 3rd and the engine just went flat, no power for 1 to 1.5 seconds before picking up again. The rest of the way I played around and found that I could usually induce the stumble with some off and back on throttle. Upshifts seemed to induce it frequently as well, but that's also kind of an off-throttle and then back on throttle sequence. Finally, I noticed that sometimes with the right amount of throttle application, I could induce a kind of rhythmic stumbling...closest thing I could compare it to would be when someone learning to drive a manual transmission gets the car bucking forward and backward.

Thoughts? I'll be searching through m.net later but figured I'd try the easy button here first. For reference, this is the no-longer-that-smelly 1994 R-package. Drivetrain is unmodified.

Things that have crossed my mind: fuel filter, fuel pump, plugs, wires, coil pack. Maybe alternator, vacuum leak?

 

Spark.

 

Could it be a bad spot on your TPS?

Pretty easy to check if you can get your hands on a graphing DMM.

 

I tend to agree, as those were the symptoms before I changed out the coils. But, before anything else, make sure the throttle cable is adjusted properly and moves freely.

 

+1. I had the same deal with mine, except it would also misfire badly when deep into the gas.

 

So i'm replacing the soft top this weekend. Any tips? I watched a video that says to take off the braces and do it off the car. Is the NA and NB procedure the same or is there difference? All the guides i see are for the NAs.

 

Pretty much the same. I find it easier to do it off the car. Differences are more the brand of top you buy, like how the front is attached.

 

Just had this email roll in...

Hahahaha. I find this way to funny.

 

I've done it both on and off, and both NA and NB.

Certain of the little trim parts / fasteners towards the bottom of the frame are hard to do while on the car, and at 6'2", I find it a little difficult to maneuver inside the car. That said, I also found it difficult to get the material to lay on properly while the frame was limp on the floor of my living room, and wound up doing the final fitment with the frame loosely bolted back onto the body. The only part that's genuinely taxing is getting the nuts back onto the studs at the base while keeping everything lined up properly, and that's going to suck the same amount regardless of whether you did the rest of it on-body or off-body. Overall, off-body is probably easier.

Don't drink alcohol during the process. Stay hydrated with water / Gatorade, etc. And know when to take a break if you're getting frustrated. Doing the top can be one of the more frustrating tasks on a Miata if you get impatient with it.

NB isn't much different from NA. If it's genuinely OEM-style (eg: Robbins) you'll have a hard time getting the two back straps on the correct stud the first time if you thread them through the pockets. You can install them outside of the pockets, give it a few months to stretch out, and then re-do them. Or if you're like me and never un-zip the window, you can just say "**** it" and leave 'em out. Doesn't affect the operation one bit.

Getting the top closed and latched the first time is extremely difficult. No, you didn't **** anything up, they just cut and stitch the material really tight so that it'll lay properly after it stretches out. Cold weather doesn't help. Once you finally get it latched (you'll have to dial the adjusters fully out), leave it alone for a month at least.

Buy a white paint marker at the craft store and use it to label everything (on the backside) as you remove it, with L and R labels, 1,2,3 labels for the chrome bits and weather seals at the side windows, and arrows which point up and forward.

While the top is off, take the opportunity to clean out the drain tubes. I use a combination of straightened wire coat hangers, a jug of water, and an air compressor with the dust-off nozzle thingy. All kinds of weird **** will come out- dirt, acorns, cat hair (even if you don't have a cat), leaves, glitter, etc. There's a sort of check-valve inside the tubes near the bottom of the tubes that you'll have to forcibly push through with the coat hanger.

 

After 3 years my saab is finally back on the road. So much fun it just destroys the tires when the boost hits. Never had a car that would break loose at 50mph before lol Anyone have any recommendations for a light 17x9 wheel with a 5x112 pattern? Need to get better tires on this thing.

 

For all you odd cat lovers... LICKI BRUSH | Lick Your Cat. Like a Cat.

 

 

So i did the soft top today. What i did was I laid out the soft top on the living room floor, took out one side of the old top, pulled it towards the other side, then i put the new top on the exposed side and then I did the other side.
Reasoning was so I can look at the way the old top is mounted if i run into trouble.

One thing i screwed up was I put the head liner over the last brace instead of around it. Is it possible to fix it or do i have to take out the soft top completely again?

 

Egh. I need a top and Im considering just paying someone to do it. Or buying a hardtop, but then it will just get stolen.