Shoulda Gone To Midas

That thing I was waiting for showed up not long after I finished the last post. So naturally I decided to put the new muffler on right then and there. I was ready. I’d watched a couple install videos and I even ordered a set of muffler hanger removal pliers from Amazon.

The muffler is attached to the car with 4 rubber muffler hangers and two studs on the muffler that attach it to the mid-pipe. I squirted soapy water on the rubber hangers for lubrication and to give it time to work, I got out a pair of jack stands and jacked up the back of the car, so it would be easier to get at everything. I laid down the flattened muffler box as a pad so I wasn’t laying right on the driveway. Next, I unscrewed the nuts on the studs, one nut and spring came off while the other stud came right out of the muffler flange. So, I was left with this:

Because the studs reside in the muffler itself, they both need to come out so that they can go into my new muffler. The same thing happened on the installation video I watched as the manufacturer included it on the muffler’s order page. The fellow got out his vice grips and twisted it right off. I went and got my vice grips and try as I might that sucker was not coming off. I jumped in the Mini and drove over to Autozone to get some liquid wrench, thinking that’ll do the trick. Nope, several soakings and hammering away had zero effect.

Another option would be to try the ol’ jam nut trick, but I needed another of the right sized nut. There was one right in front of me on the stud that did come out, but unfortunately it was stuck on the stud with the same intensity as the stud that didn’t come out of the muffler. I took the stud that came out, put it in my pocket and headed to Lowes to get a nut. I screwed the stud into the handy panel they have by the drawers with all the loose hardware and found that I needed a M10x1.25 size. I open up the metric drawer and the only M10 nuts they had were M10x1.50. Shit.

Do I chance it and drive 5 miles east to Home Depot to see if they have a M10x1.25 nut? Which is probably unlikely, or do I throw a Hail Mary and drive 5 miles west to the Mazda dealer? I headed west. Even though the odds of the Mazda dealer having one of those nuts or even another stud were just as long as the Home Depot, at least when I get there if they don’t have it, they can order the genuine Mazda parts for me. They didn’t have the parts in stock, so I asked them to order me a stud and a nut. Being a belt and suspenders guy, I said, “Better yet, order two of each.” They’ll be here Tuesday.

When I got home, I looked at the back end of the Miata provocatively hoisted up in the air on jack stands and contemplated leaving it that way for the next 5 days. I thought it would be better sitting on the ground so I started to gather up all the tools and such underneath the back of the car. Look back up at the photo above, do you see the stud in the muffler with its nut off and the stud that came out with the nut still attached? Do you also see the 2 springs that give the muffler mid-pipe connection a little play? Well, I could only find one of those springs. Where could it be? I looked all over the driveway. I checked to see if it rolled down towards the street. I check in the grass next to the driveway. I checked in the shed where I’d been in and out of looking for the right nut in my 20-year drawer. I looked in the car. I looked in the house. I looked in the Mini. Nowhere.

Instead of another drive, this time I called Mazda and luckily the parts guy I was dealing with was still there. I told him that I now have a missing spring and that I’m blaming it on squirrels. The local rodent family and I are in a battle to get to see whether they can live in the little gap between the shed and the house (this is a future blog post hopefully.) Could he order me 2 of those springs as well. He did and they also will be here Tuesday.

When I hung up, I remembered that I couldn’t leave the Miata sit there. I would need to move it to have the driveway clear, because on Friday folks are coming over to pick up the hospital bed we had for Donna. The bed, along with nearly everything else she needed, I have been donating so it can get to another ALS patient who needs it. Crap. I needed to put the stock muffler back on the car. I put the nut and spring on the stud that stayed in the muffler and the screwed the springless stud in and that will have to be good enough for the quick move out and back in the next day.

I Don’t Even Take My Own Advice

I am patiently waiting for the UPS driver to arrive. What I bought requires a signature, so I can’t leave the house until that Big Brown Truck pulls up outside. What am I waiting for? Well, first let’s start with, I don’t even take me own advice.

It is that RoadsterSport muffler I waxed poetically about in that same post linked above. I bought the twin-tip version to match what the stock exhaust looks like.

I haven’t joined the local Miata Club, but I did start reading the Miata.net Forum, specifically the ND section that applies to my current generation. Ostensibly so I could learn more about the car and all the new fangled stuff on it that didn’t even exist when my last Miata, the CTBNL, was made.

But, sadly, it is not just the muffler. I was looking to get a stubby antenna to replace the stock one and I found a recommendation about one called, appropriately, The Stubby available from Cravenspeed. While checking out the antenna I noticed that the company is located in Portland, Oregon. Wait a minute, I live there now. So I scrolled through their stuff and found a couple other items that I just had to have, a side mount for the front license plate and the soundtube delete kit. A road trip was planned and executed. Money was spent.

I’m probably going to take a drive over there again next week, I have decided I’d like to get their clear wind deflector to replace the stock plastic basketweave looking one.

Sport, Off-Road, Touring

Gray Is The New Silver Edition of SORT
As of Monday, October 21, 2024 at 4:00 PM pacific time:

Sport Off-Road Touring
1972 Datsun
240Z		 1991 Mercedes-Benz
Unimog		 1958 Cadillac
Series 62
Ever since I purchased that Aero Gray Miata I see an awful lot of vehicles painted in various shades of some sort of non-metallic grey. I was going to have the car wrapped in bright shade of blue, but after the reactions from all the folks at the Mazda dealer to see the car in this color. I think I’ll just leave it gray, because gray has become the new silver.

Here is what last week’s cars sold for, or bid to (if the reserve was not met):
Sport: 1968 Porsche 912 Coupe Sold for $22,500 on 10/16/24
Off-Road: 1978 Ford F-250 Ranger Sold for $23,500 on 10/17/24
Touring: 1953 Chevrolet 3100 Pickup Sold for $25,550 on 10/16/24

George L. Smith State Park Again

I subscribe to the Microsoft Bing Wallpaper app and everyday I get a new background for my desktop. When I saw todays image I thought, “That looks familiar.”

That’s because it is. I took the picture below on a visit to a state park in Georgia while on a geocaching hunt. I liked it so much I uploaded to Radio Paradise for them to use in their slideshows while music is playing. Even though that was 14 years ago they are still using it and every few months I’ll see it.

Another Sunday, Another Post Office Safari

I set out with a planned route that would net 7 more Portland Post Offices. It didn’t take long for the plan to fall apart.

Not A Post Office Anymore

My first stop was at the Portland Airport. I had tried for this post office once before by following signs that said post office with an arrow and it put me somewhere where I had to back out. This time I used Google Maps in satellite mode and saw where I went astray the last time, then dropped the little man to make sure that image matched what was on the map page. And when I got to where the post office was, that is exactly what it was, was. The building is still there and you can see the address numbers up on the wall. And just to the right of that is the ghost outline of the official Postal Service metal signage.

Not A Public Post Office

I plugged in the address of my next target and headed off. Not long after driving along the route I spotted a nice big piece of granite with the words “United States Postal Service” engraved on it, so I pulled in. The parking lot out front was huge, but the only way in said “Employees Only.” I turned around and started driving to the other side, but was not an entrance there either. The building was twice the size of the parking lot. This must be the sorting facility for all the mail that gets flown in, not where I could go and buy a stamp.

The next two post offices were right where Google Maps said they would be. My loop was now taking me back into the heart of the big city. Turns out my next stop was smack in the middle of a very young hip happening place. I had to loop the block 3 times before I just gave up und headed for the next Post Office on the list. Back home I figured out what happened here, when you type in the address, Google shows you the map and on the left there is a static street view shot of that address. It showed the building I was looking at, but that building is not there anymore. That street view image is from 2019 and if you drop the little man and you will see what he and I saw, a new building where that PO was.

The next Post Office was the main post office for the big city and big it was. The photo I took of it shows a little more than half the building size. Then I missed the next two post offices altogether. I circled the block twice in each instance, but what I was seeing was not what I was expecting to see. I wonder those are the other place and those buildings have changed. I’ll give it one more try before I just shrug and move on.

It’s That Time Again

After 3 years it is time for some new glasses. I’m pretty sure the prescription has not changed that much, but tradition is tradition, so new glasses I’ll get. And I’ll add the current ones to the draw where the other last two pairs of glasses reside, so if I want a different look, they are there for the taking.

From left to right, the top row, Dawson’s in Azure Crystal with Oak Barrel (Current pair), the Vaughn in Eastern Bluebird Fade and the Sadie in Riverbed Tortoise. Bottom row, Santiago in Hudson Blue Fade, the Gillian in Teal Tortoise and the Newman in Shoreline.

The current front runner is the Santiago in Hudson Blue Fade because it is similar in shape and style to the current pair. But, I find myself leaning towards Gillian in Teal Tortoise because it is a slightly different shape and because of my love of all things Gillian Anderson.

Post vs. Kellogg

I got rid of Discovery+ because that was Donna’s jam. I cancelled the Premium & Ad Free levels of Peacock which saved enough for me to get Netflix as a replacement. I have no idea how long it will stay, but for sure there are quite a few new things I can watch. Plus there a lot of older shows that we might have seen and enjoyed, so they might be worth a re-watch.

I know I wanted to see My Next Guest Needs No Introduction With David Letterman. The first episode was with Jerry Seinfeld. The second one was with Former President Obama. Which reminded me of the Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee episode with then President Obama. So I started re-watching those Jerry Seinfeld’s CICGC shows. The ever helpful algorithm at Netflix recommended other Seinfeld stuff, the entire 9 seasons of the TV show or his stand up specials or the movie Unfrosted.

Hey, I remember seeing the trailer for Unfrosted and though it might be worth trying. It had a bunch of funny people in the cast too. I checked IMDB to see what rating it got, 5.5. well it can’t be half bad. Last evening I sat down to watch it, you know what, it was half bad. The only thing the movie did was make me quit somewhere watching in the middle and go to the kitchen to heat up a couple Pop Tarts.