Month: July 2007

I added 24 pictures to the 2007 Northeast Trips Gallery on page 3 (4-1=3)., but if you are a regular reader there is not too much new for you to see.

If you never got over to the Flickr! page where I posted the photos of my godson Gnorm’s visit to the Gnorthwest this year, I added a gallery here that consisted of 24 (4×6=24) images showing what a good time he had.

We had dinner at Maria’s Mexican Restaurant tonight. It was their 1st Anniversary and to celebrate we had Carnitas which came with 3 tortillas. (1+3=4)

My 4 tickets to my next Miata arrived today. I hope 13 is my lucky number (1+3=4) because I have tickets numbered 0311 through 0314.

My 4 new Koni Sport shocks shipped from California today. If they take four days to get here I’ll have them by this weekend.

We took the Miata back to the dealer on Tuesday for them to adjust the accessory belts to eliminate the squeal. They almost got it. We aren’t taking it back to Columbia for them to have another crack at it. When the service rep returned the car Donna questioned him on why it squealed and what did they do to fix it. He tried to explain that they had to adjust the belt by making it tighter so it wouldn’t slip. But that they had to be careful that they didn’t tighten it too much or they could ruin the bearing in the accessories. He said if it still does it, just bring it back (I guess he thinks we live around the corner.)

It still squeals, but only briefly when shifting while driving the car spiritedly. When you floor it with the A/C on, the A/C will cut out until you let up to shift, at which point the A/C clutch re-engages and chirps the belt. We didn’t notice it until later in the week and we for sure aren’t going to take it back to them. When I get Clunk & Thunk to help me with my shock installation we’ll try and tighten it up a bit more.

I wish I had thought of it at the time Mr. Lazywrench was explaining their belt adjustment period, because I should have asked, “So, what you are saying is that after making over 800,000 Miatas, Mazda’s service manual for car says that to adjust the accessory belt tension, You need to make the belt so tight that they don’t squeal, but not so tight that you ruin the bearings.

From a Miata Forum member red-in-la (I removed the metric stuff.)
Drive Belt Deflection Check
1. Verify the drive belt deflection when the engine is cold, or at least 30 min after the engine has stopped. Apply moderate pressure 22 ft/lb midway between the specified pulleys.

What do you think? The technician didn’t have the right tool so he just winged it? Or manual, who reads the manual?

We went to the New Moon for breakfast this morning instead of Sunday to beat the crowd. We had two muffins and a bottled water.

The above numbers reflect tomorrow’s meals as well because we two extra muffins for Sunday’s breakfast. If we eat out for lunch or supper tomorrow I’ll change the totals.