Mini Washings

21,000 Indian Blankets


Day 4 of our 2018 Jumbo Road Trip.

Tyler, TX. to Abilene, TX. Like avoiding big cities, another hallmark of a Bogardus road trip is at least one meal a day at a local spot and today because we were at a regular Holiday Inn instead of an Express1, we drove a couple miles down the road to a place called The Diner. We highly recommend eating here if you ever find yourself in Tyler and if you go for breakfast, you absolutely need to try the Banana French Toast2.

Instead of geocaching along the route today, after breakfast we headed over to a local park in Tyler that had a walking trail with a bunch of caches. On our mile and a half walk we found 4 of the 5 we looked for.

On FM2114 between Laguna Park and the town of West the road was lined along both sides wild flowers. Finally I could stand it no longer, so I found a spot that led to a ranch entrance and pulled off to take a picture. While I was circling the car looking in a field of Indian Blanket flowers for the image I wanted, Donna was inside the car taking pictures of me. Not too far west of West, Texas, which is now my second favorite town name, right after North, South Carolina, the Ladybug rode past its twenty first thousandth mile.

I would like to tell you we gave the car a bath when we stopped for the night in celebration of this milestone, but it was really for washing off the bird blood off the hood and windshield. About 15 miles outside of Abilene on I-20, with Donna at the wheel, a bird decided to fly right into the front of the Mini. For the record I still lead in bird kills 2 to 1 having scooped one of them up in the mouth of the Miata back in 2008 and 2015.

Curiosity (Nearly) Killed the Mini (Part I)

Last week I mistakenly thought the falling pine pollen was through for the season, so I decided to wash the several levels of yellow that had accumulated on the Mini. When drying the car off afterwards I raised the hood to towel up any water that might have settled under there and might drip down the exterior when next driven. Because this is like only the third or fourth time I have had the hood up, the first couple were battery related, I looked around a bit.

The battery sits on the left side up against the firewall, under the windshield, and to see it you have to lift a plastic flap. Well, there is another little plastic flap on the driver’s side too. Hmmm, I wonder what’s under there. I unsnapped the top and there was a small reservoir. Looks like it could be for windshield washer fluid. I unscrewed the cap and as I was lifting it off it slipped out of my hand and dropped down. It wasn’t for washer fluid, it was for brake fluid. This became obvious to me when I looked down to find where the cap was, it was tucked neatly underneath the brake booster.

In every other car I have owned or worked on this would not be a problem as the master cylinder and booster have been there in the wide wide open space in front of the firewall. In the Mini there is an enclosed area that runs along the whole firewall that hides the battery on the left and the brake componentry on the right. There was no way to retrieve the cap through the small opening of the flap, there was barely enough room to unscrew the cap.

The plastic cowl cover is in two pieces. The passenger side piece where the battery sits is about 1/3 long while the driver’s side piece covers the remaining 2/3. It tucks under the windshield at the back and at the front it snaps into the plastic front wall of the enclosure and a rubber gasket is pressed onto that to seal the elements out. This picture is not of the Ladybug, but it close enough to show what I’m talking about:

To get in there I needed to pull off the rubber seal, undo the two nuts that hold down the cowl on the driver’s side, separate the top plastic piece from the front one by pulling up hard to unsnap them, then squeeze my arm down in between to blindly poke around hoping to find the errant cap. There was just enough room to get in there, but not enough to get to where I needed. To do that I was going to have to remove the driver’s windshield wiper.

Try as I might it wouldn’t come free. So instead I pulled the passenger side of the cowl off hoping to free the left end so I could get just a little more room. That is when I discovered that the front plastic piece could be lifted off enough from the left side that I could actually slip my arm in to grab the cap. At this point I was bleeding in a couple of places on each arm from scratches with only one requiring a band aid.1

With the cap back on I was no longer swearing under my breath, and occasionally out loud, about selling the %#$!@% car. Then, when I went to reach for the 13mm socket wrench to put everything back together, I nudged the plastic case of the socket set just enough to knock it off it’s convenient resting place on the exhaust manifold shield and spill the entire contents into the engine bay. Double %#@$!

To be continued… in Part II

The Past 4 Days

Things that have happened in the past 4 days, listed in no particular order or level of importance:

  1. I managed to get two photos posted to Instagram.
  2. The Mini got a bath.
  3. Managed to bike ride to work on Friday.
  4. Donna got a flat on her bike ride home.
  5. Watched Up in the Air on HBO – again.
  6. The Miata got a bath.
  7. Bad breakfast sausage?
  8. Got 5 more pairs of glasses from Warby Parker.
  9. Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue

Hope Springs Eternal

After our latest two day trip to Hendersonville and back, with a couple of quick trips into the mean streets of Asheville, we have come to the conclusion that the leather seats wouldn’t have helped our comfort level at all. This got me thinking, “What is the big difference between the CTBNL and the Emperor?” The shocks are the same, slightly newer even, but the lowering springs are different. The Emperor had Flyin Miata springs and the CTBNL is sitting on Racing Beat, both trusted long term Miata parts purveyors, but further investigation reveals that the hive knowledge on the forums vastly prefer the Flying Miata units.

The secret is in the spring’s strength numbers. When you shorten the spring length you have to increase its strength to prevent bottoming out. The Miata’s stock springs are rated at 162 lb/in & 118 lb/in (front/rear), the Racing Beat springs that lower the car an inch all around are rated at 195 lb/in & 145 lb/in a slight increase. The Flyin Miata springs, which drop the car about three quarters of an inch, are rated at 318 lb/in & 233 lb/in which is nearly double the stock units.

The Racing Beat springs would probably be just fine if you ran only on race tracks or all smooth roads, but we live in the real world. South Carolina has very cheap gas because we have a very low state tax on it and this translates into plenty of deteriorating roads. Just on my little 6 mile commute there are several places I need to slow way down to cross railroad tracks or traverse drainage dips or edge real close to the center line to avoid burgeoning pot holes or pine tree root bumps. And don’t get me started on the transitions between asphalt roads and concrete bridges…

From my memory the Flyin Miata springs, even though they are stiffer that the stock (and the Racing Beat) shocks didn’t really ride that harsh and they would definitely keep me off the bump stops on the sharp hits of roughness. Today was Suspension Sunday as part of Flyin Miata’s Black Friday sales event with $60 off their springs, so I took the plunge. Not being sure how the Racing Beat bump stops are configured, I went ahead and added the FM bump stops to the order as well. So, in a couple more weeks the CTBNL, with the existing Koni shocks, will be riding on the FM Stage 1 Suspension Package which is the exact same setup as the Emperor had.

This afternoon, both cars got a bath. Didn’t take long to do both, they are small and they were covered only in a bit of road grime.

Wash Day

We have a friend who can make vinyl stickers, so I had her work up a small angry ladybug for the back of the big Angry Ladybug.

Yesterday both cars got bathes. The Miata needed one to wash off the mud and grass from parking along the side of South Carolina roads on a rainy day and the rest of the weekend’s road grime. The Mini was not nearly as filthy as the Miata, but a recent rain had left easly noticable spots all over the gloss black flat roof.

The Miatas have never gone through an automatic car wash because, not only the convertible thing, but it is small enough that by the time I realize this is a chore it is over. The Sonata on the other hand was just big enough to be annoying, so more often than not we spent the $10 to take it to Lulu’s. The good thing about downsizing from the Sonata to the Mini is now I wash both cars in the driveway in about the same amount of time it took to hand wash the Purple Whale.