My Miata - fix up & hopefully better mileage!
 

Say hello to my little friend!

http://i346.photobucket.com/albums/p...ps1gorhggw.jpg

http://i346.photobucket.com/albums/p...psbnnezzn5.jpg

Hopefully she's not shy, or I'll never hear the end of it...temperamental? Perhaps! Wants attention? I've never met one that doesn't!

No, I didn't just buy her. I've had her probably 5 years or more. 2 years ago, she was running a bit rough, noticeably at night...I assumed she didn't like the cold and was showing her age. She's got a bit over 300k kms on her. Thought it pretty safe to assume the original engine in her was getting tired. Right? Made sense to me at the time. So when I bought my Firefly, I parked her when the insurance ran out. Put some fuel stabilizer in her, and that was that.

The real nail(s) in the coffin came when the battery croaked and the master cylinder leaked out, leaving her with no brakes. Despite interest a year or so back in having her going again, I wasn't interested in working on something that would only run like a turd, even after the $$ and hours thrown at it. No thanks. She was worth too much on paper to just throw away, though. I kept meaning to get her ready to sell and let someone else deal with. Never got there, though.

I wanted to tinker on a car this past weekend, so I grabbed my spare battery for my Firefly, stuffed it in the Miata, and for a lark, went to see if she would start. She fired right up!! :eek::eek::eek:

Well, $#!^. If she's going to play that nice, I guess I should give her some attention.

She still idled rough, just as I remembered. My head had 2 years to forget most of my theories as to why, so I was able to on her with "fresh" eyes. I started with the basics. I pulled the spark plugs to tell me a tale of how she is running internally. Plenty of carbon, so she has been running rich and/or not getting decent combustion. Might as well check that plug gap while I'm there. Oh. Dang. It's waaaay out. Closer look shows the electrode is decently worn. Easy to notice with the V-groove. It was more of a v-groove. No wonder it isn't running well.

All 4 spark plugs were the same. All 4 got adjusted. Stuffed them back in and...she practically purred compared to before. D'oh! My bad. :o I put so few miles on my cars and always put fresh plugs and such in them when I buy them...I've never worn spark plugs appreciably in any other vehicle in the past 15+ years. It never really occurred to me that this car would wear them down in 15k. Apparently it will, though! :rolleyes:

Going over the brakes shows she eats through those in a hurry too. Hungry beast! Explains why I was always scrubbing brake dust off the front wheels.

Anyway, I put insurance on her that morning and have been driving her all of two days. She's loud and unruly, but I am thoroughly enjoying it after all these years of driving a lethargic Firefly and more recently a heavy Jetta TDI. I've gone from frowning every time I look at her to smiling again. Fun little cars. You should get one! :thumbup:

Nice color :D

After the brakes, it was time to tackle cleaning the engine grounds. There are 4 of them that I am aware of:

Main ground strap:
http://i346.photobucket.com/albums/p...ps3nqkqali.jpg

Easily accessible, near the brake booster. Looks like I need to deal with the surface rust from where brake fluid ate the paint.

Multi-ground point:
http://i346.photobucket.com/albums/p...pspnknlxoj.jpg

Hiding directly under the brake booster. Complete pain to get at. Not convinced it's for the engine.

One beside the FPR:
http://i346.photobucket.com/albums/p...psyamu3s6k.jpg

And one below:
http://i346.photobucket.com/albums/p...pswyjt5olk.jpg

The first one also bolts to the head.

The second one I relocated, because it's dang hard to get at.

The third and forth both bolt to brackets which are in turn bolted to the head, so to ensure a clear path for the electricity you need to clean the brackets too. The wiring harness is in the way, and just happens to turn a fairly easy job in to a pain.

All connections were cleaned and coated with protectant, so they should be good for years to come.

And holy heck, what a difference! Smooth idle, restored power at low rpm, and no more hesitation/struggle when the alternator gets heavily loaded at slow idle. I can now cruise in town in 5th gear! :thumbup:

Why is it always something simple? And something you keep putting off? :o

What's next? Well, I've addressed all the pressing issues. It's time for something more frivolous!

LEDs!

I started simple with the interior lights. No dome light on these things, just footwell lights. As soon as I started mucking around with it, it stopped working altogether. :mad:

Pulled it out and found the + connection solder joint had come off, even though nothing I had done up to that point would have put any strain on it. Also discovered someone had butchered one of the wires and when he crimped it back together, he tangled it in the main wiring harness, so even unplugged, you couldn't pull it out. Had to pull said wire apart to do it.

Before:
http://i346.photobucket.com/albums/p...psdwwgorsd.jpg

After:
http://i346.photobucket.com/albums/p...psswws0s4z.jpg

And finally with an over-sized bulb pressed in:
http://i346.photobucket.com/albums/p...psmyeyzhlq.jpg

Said bulb is pinned in place between the tabs and the light's plastic body, and isn't going anywhere. It's 39mm instead of 31mm. Why? Because it was the brightest that I had on hand. You have to have access it from the back as well as the front to get it in there like that, or it will end up slipping out through the hole in the back.

And, for comparison's sake, LED vs incandescent:
http://i346.photobucket.com/albums/p...psg57zgpyc.jpghttp://i346.photobucket.com/albums/p...psudefnepa.jpg

Great for seeing your feet in the dark! :p

And this morning it was on to exterior lights. Not that I have the bulbs that I need, but there's something to be done first...modify the flasher unit.

You need to swap out this little 5.6kΩ resistor, R1:
http://i346.photobucket.com/albums/p...pshwxwfviw.jpg

For a 1MΩ resistor. Thus:
http://i346.photobucket.com/albums/p...psnswodvwu.jpg

And viola! Your flasher unit no longer cares if there's too little or too much resistance/current going through the bulbs. It will just flash at it's steady rate, whatever bulb is or isn't in.

And, hey, it works! Even if I only had 2 bulbs on hand to put in at the moment. :thumbup:

Hello, and subscribed!

Coincidentally, I just started tinkering on the MPGiata a couple of days ago (Cuba-franken-style radiator replacement -- ie. cobbled together with parts from unrelated cars :D ).

Nice! Mine did too, surprisingly quickly. And with much less valvetrain clatter than the last time it was woken up, after a 1+ year slumber. It was only 4 months this time.

Yup, they are definitely smile-inducing. I just want a nerd gear, for when I'm up to speed. Silly high RPM.

Question: do you think cleaning the grounds helped, or was it mostly spark plugs?

I'm going to say they were both about equally important. She was driveable again after adjusting the plugs, back to about what she was always like for me before. She always felt a bit like she was carburated...you know, gutless...until you get the rpms up a bit. I always blamed the aftermarket header, assuming it was hindering things at low rpm.

I was wrong, as I discovered on my drive to work yesterday. And, more noticeably, on the drive home, in the cool wee hours of the morning. Which I assumed was the problem...not the fact that I would have the electrical system loaded up at night, even though you could feel an added vibration when stopped at a light with everything turned on and the indicator blinking. The vibration came every time the indicator would blink on. I was aware of this and meant to clean those darned grounds, but never did, because the next day I'd go for a drive - no lights on - and she would be fine and dandy.

Anyway. They're both important. And I'm an idiot for not cleaning those ground connections years ago. Anyone with an older car should go clean theirs ASAP. If you want a happy, healthy engine, anyway.

I'm looking forward to getting through the old gas and seeing what kind of gas mileage she'll get now.

OTOH, perhaps if I cleaned the ground connections first, the spark plug gap wouldn't have been such an issue. It would have presumably been easier to jump the enlarged gap if it had better power. Still too large of a gap, though!

Do you have any play in your wiper linkages? (I imagine they might have gotten more of a workout through the years on the wet coast than here.)

Mine was very sloppy, and I just looked into it this evening: the nylon bushing that connects the link arm to the motor was completely disintegrated. (To the point the previous owner had wrapped it in duct tape to keep it from popping off!)

Another Miata pops up, cool.

Mine isn't for MPG (Dispite me driving it easy right now because the Insight is down). I have larger tires (205/65r15?) and I'm hard pressed to get 30mpg, but I can take a hairpin at 30 and hook up good :P.

No, I haven't noticed any play in my wipers. I'll double check by hand, but they run smooth and park properly, so I've had no reason to check them.

Hopefully you can buy jsut the bushings. If not from mazda, there are generic "Help!" ones out there that might fit.

I' guessing you're not running tires that big. That's about 12% over-sized!

I've either got 195/55R15s or 205/50R15s, either of which is pretty close to stock in diameter.

I'd be content with 30mpgs out of it. It's always come in around the 24 mark. Bigger, heavier wheels and tires probably don't help. She had other issues that I resolved already that would have been dragging down the fuel mileage. Hopefully they all add up...

Yea that's the size, 205/50R15. I'm running DZ102'S. When I bought the car everyone told me to get them, so I did. Even at 42psi I'm amazed how well they grab the pavement. I dodged a possum the other night at 60mph that I probably would have lost control had I been in the insight.

Looks like I have both! 195s on the front, 205s on the rear. Nothing-special brand. ;)

Going back a bit...

I bought her on a whim however many years back (5+). She popped up on Used.ca (like Craigslist) for $1700. Guy I bought her from had, apparently, bought her with the intention of converting her to electric, but never got around to it. She had sat for a few months or maybe even a year. He was smarter than me and had taken the battery out, so a charge was all it needed before being put back in and she fired right up.

I took her around the block. She rode like she was on rails, and sounded great. Heck, I don't think I got around the block before I offered him $1300, cash, within the hour. He only took a moment to decide. A quick run to the bank and back and she was mine.

Originally, she appears to have been a no-frills '91 with the 1.6l engine and only one option: power steering.

When I got her she had the following "upgrades" on her:
Stainless long-tube header.
"Racing" clutch.
15" aftermarket rims with winter tires (of all things).
Koni adjustable shocks.
Blaupunkt CD/MP3 stereo with matching speakers.
"Rat-trap" chrome roll-bar.
Coil-on-plug mod.
Aftermarket tail lights.
Matching removable hard top.

And the following downgrades:
Gutted cat.
Dented right rear corner.
Cracked rear bumper.

The doors were half black, which is debatable if it was an upgrade or a downgrade. The soft top was intact, though the rear window was rather hazy. The ding in the right rear and matching damaged bumper was apparently from the previous-previous wonder, some young "kid" who put it in a ditch. I assume he put the "go-fast" stuff on it, and he probably raced it. Or thought he did. :rolleyes:

I still think she was a good deal, even with 280k+ kms on her. A bit of work and I could have flipped her for twice that. The hard top was the real deal-maker...they tend to sell for nearly as much around here as I paid for the car, and with my previous 'vert getting broken in to once too often, I wouldn't bring home one without it.

Things I did to her, starting with those right off the bat:
Replaced the bosh platinum(?) plugs with good old NGKs.
Installed drilled rotors and new pads (it needed new brakes anyway).
High-flow cat.
K&N air filter (it already had the sticker).
Repaired the dent and repainted the area.
Repained the "new" bumper cover and swapped it on. (Half blue, half black, to match the doors.)
Painted the front bumper to match.
Enjoyed driving her for a while.
Replaced the noisy winter tires. (with some used ones...I'm cheap!)
Installed a "cheap" stainless aftermarket muffler meant for a later model (beautiful tone!!).
Threw an aftermarket seat in it (not the best idea).
After a while...
Replaced wheel bearings (unnecessarily)
Replaced the rear diff (bearings were going/gone. Noisy!).
Put a new soft-top on her.
...and parked her a few months later. D'oh!

I've never thrown a lot of money at her. I do my own work, and shop for the best deals. I think the new soft-top or the used diff were the most expensive individual things I've done, at ~$150 Canadian each (about $6.25 US :p ). Brake rotors and pads were under $100 for all 4 corners. Tires cost almost as much to get mounted and balanced as I paid for the tires themselves. Probably all comes in at under $1k over the course of 3 or so years.

Of course, I've thrown a lot of hours of labour at her. So I've really got reason to be thrilled that she's running well again! It's finally paying off. Now I've got a good running Miata with all this new stuff on her... whee! :thumbup:

Fun, fun, fun!

Today's min-projects: Degrease the windshield and repair the leaky washer fluid reservoir.

Nothing to show for the windshield. Just a build up of road oils and whatnot. Spray down with degreaser. Rub it in. Let it sit. Rinse it off. Duh-un.

Here's the crack in the washer reservoir, and the rust it's caused to the retaining clip:
http://i346.photobucket.com/albums/p...psxzgmk4vg.jpg

It's the curved line above said clip. Looks almost like a casting ridge, but it's not.

I ground it down a bit, mainly to get to clean plastic for proper adhesion.

Then I filled it, with...with...my frickin' hot glue gun of all things! :eek:

Normally, I'd say that's a terrible idea. Stuff never adheres worth poop. Doesn't get in to the cracks and crevices well.

So I hit it with my mini butane torch and really melted the stuff, which helped it flow. Smoothed it out as a consequence. Probably got it hot enough to allow it to actually bond with the other plastic, assuming it can.

http://i346.photobucket.com/albums/p...ps08hodimd.jpg

Not much to look at.

But look, no leak!

http://i346.photobucket.com/albums/p...ps7plfhm1z.jpg

We'll see how it stands the test of time.

Ok, so it's not that thrilling. But now my washer reservoir holds more than half a litre. Yay? :)

To do list...

Definite:
Fix slow brake master cylinder leak. (have a new one already)
Clean up surface rust in trunk below the battery, repaint.
Fix leaks in trunk. (Located several today, as it was raining well)
Clamp down battery properly &/or get the right size battery in there.
Polish faded paint on hood and trunk lid.
Swap in LEDs for most bulbs. (already ordered)
Brighter/white DRL mod.
Track down driver side seat tracks and swap back original seat.
Repaint rusty wiper arms.
Re-do old(er) black on doors.
Adjust header wrap.
Fix old hole melted in intake snorkel from being too dang close to said super hot header.
Replace O2 sensor.
Install braided clutch hose. (sitting on a shelf)
Install new shifter boot (also sitting on a shelf)

Probable/Eventual/Possible:
Replace brake pads and/or swap in larger brakes. (which I already have)
Fix paint chips on hard top & on front bumper.
Go black on hood/trunk/windshield surround.
Put lights in the visor mounting holes.
Add header wrap farther down.
Adjust air flow meter.
Add some sound deadener.
Antenna delete.

Not likely, but fun to ponder:
Hybridize it. (that diff just sitting there is begging to have a motor hooked up to it)
Kubota diesel it. (gotta do something with that engine)
V6 it. (have the engine and an adapter plate already...)
Go pure electric.
Build a removable fastback for it. (this idea is probably the most promising)

Notice there's nothing too outlandish or difficult on the "Definite" list. :D As long as she keeps behaving, I'll keep plugging away at it. And probably come up with new ideas along the way.

Questions for my fellow Miata NA owners:

How is your Miata for road noise? With and without the hard top, if you have one?

How about exhaust noise? (not coming out the tail pipe, but through the exhaust?

How quickly does your Miata get up to full temp?

I have a 1.8, so mine might vary.

Road noise is awful in every Miata. But you can cut a loooot of road noise by stuffing a pillow, or some form or fluffy material in the cavities above the rear shock towers.

Not too loud.

It takes a good minute or two to get up to temp. I would say 1-3 miles depending on the outside temp.

Haven't driven mine enough to be able to help with those questions. Sorry!

Thanks for the suggestion and the info.

The road noise is awful in mine. Especially with the hard top on, amplifying it. Not as bad as it was with the winter tires on, and after which discovering the bearings were going/gone in the diff, but still...I don't dare take the hard top off at the moment, unless I'm going to put it back on again. Maybe after I get a working alarm in it...

Exhaust noise is pretty up there too. Again, worse with the hard top on, but a bit better now that she's running well again and I don't have to keep the revs up. I think the aftermarket header is thin-walled, contributing to said noise. Of course, if you take the top down, you hear none of it, just the sweet note of the exhaust.

I finally got to enjoy a sprint from a red light up to speed on the highway today on the way home.

They're doing road works at the lights I would normally be able to, were I lucky enough to be at the front of the line. And I won't do it when I leave work and get on the highway, because she's only been running for less than a minute.

It was entertaining enough to put a smile on my face.

This is the point of a Miata, not to get good MPG :cool:

The close ratio gearing and that stubby little shifter are super fun.

But we could have both! Just give me a tall top gear.

Ha-ha! "Stubby" shifter. :p

And yes, 3200 RPM at 100km/hr is a bit excessive. You could swap in a 4.10 diff from a 1.8L, or possibly an even smaller ratio from a later model, if you're looking to score more MPGs. Probably cost more than you'll save, though.

They have 3.63 ring and pinions out there. I plan on getting a set when I go turbo. Should lower 5th at 70 from 3500 down to about 3000rpm

Works for you, but we'd need to upgrade to the 7" diff before we could even consider changing the ring and pinion.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9Dg-g7t2l4

...will have to be on my next MP3 CD to play in her.

Bought some polishing compound yesterday, and broke out my random-orbit polisher in the wee hours of the morning.

Comparison pics, before and after:

http://i346.photobucket.com/albums/p...psxnjo2a92.jpg

http://i346.photobucket.com/albums/p...psyirhkb0f.jpg

Have a few spots that I didn't hit hard enough here and there, and might go over the trunk and the hood one more time, since they were the worst. Maybe then I can wax it properly.

Wheels got attention too. I'll get back to that. And replaced a marker LED.

...looks better in the light!

http://i346.photobucket.com/albums/p...psel3neahh.jpg

BTW, those tops go for at least 1,000.

More and more are getting stolen nowadays, so I would be especially careful where you park it.

Aha!

From: Car spark plugs: Find out which are the best spark plugs for your vehicle.

My Miata is living proof!

I hope I still have the old iridium plugs that were in it, and that they're in decent condition.

I went over the hood and the trunk again this morning. With her dry, you could see spots that had not gotten as much attention as the rest. I waxed her after, in hopes of keeping her this way longer.

Re-comparison, followed up with the final product:
http://i346.photobucket.com/albums/p...psxnjo2a92.jpg
http://i346.photobucket.com/albums/p...psyirhkb0f.jpg
http://i346.photobucket.com/albums/p...ps4b6pm1bu.jpg

She's glossy as all heck now. (With the unfortunate side effect that the imperfections stand out more)

http://i346.photobucket.com/albums/p...ps7kkwe0ms.jpg

I had some time left, so I attacked the wheels with my polisher and wheel polish:

http://i346.photobucket.com/albums/p...pskpvnvbbi.jpg

I'll finish them off with my dremel and more wheel polish at some point, and I'll finish the paint off soon with a re-spray of the black.

I didn't find the iridium plugs, but I did come across a 4-wire O2 sensor pulled from my '98 Firefly turn EV. I probably have 3 laying around. I went "OOOooh, 'free' parts!" and went to see what was involved in hooking up a 4-wire sensor. I found this how-to and helpful explanation:

Bosch 4-Wire O2 Sensor

...in which the writer has/had issues with how his engine ran after putting on what appears to be the same header that I have, and this was his fix for it. It might explain why she runs better/smoother for a bit after a hard run...the o2 sensor is finally hot enough to work properly! (I was just going to do a 4-wire to help with emissions/mileage while the engine was warming up)

I think that's what I'll do tonight. There's even a how-to for bench testing the heated O2 sensors. Excellent. :cool:

Dude I simply love the half and half blue/black look that's going on. So pretty.

What polishing compound did you use? My paint has seen better days, and I would love to get it nice and shiny again. Also what did you use for the wheels? Mind pics of the tools?

Whoops duplicate post. Sorry.

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon....4L._SY300_.jpg

http://www.cleanyourcar.co.uk/images...teCompound.jpg

http://palautomotive.com/wp-content/...M0616-Copy.jpg

https://static.pepboys.com/images/pr...ishTool_z7.jpg

The polisher isn't the exact model I have, but its the same brand and idea, at least. I bought it years ago on clearance, along with some matching brand compound and such that didn't work worth crap compared to the Meguire's. Even so, I must have gone over the hood and trunk (the only ones showing oxidation) at least 4 times. If I had taken my time, it might have taken less.

The finishing wax I put on by hand.

The "Magic Bullet" wasn't good enough on it's own to restore the wheels. It's really meant for maintaining already decent wheels. Once I was done using the compound on the paint for the second round, I used the polisher on the wheels with the wheel polish. It was only able to get the main/flat parts of the wheels (spokes, center). It did a much better job then the Magic Bullet, in much less time.

The wheels look good, but won't be done until I get my Dremel out to buff the insides of the spokes and rims where the large polish could not get. Enough buffing and even the etched in "water spots" and fine scratches come off. Same goes with the Meguire's compound on paint...I took out a number of rashes, scratches, and even the excess from scratch filler paint.

I'm glad the work appears to have been worth the effort. I've probably put about 8 hours in to it this weekend, maybe more. There's the wheels to do yet, and I'll have a bit more paint to work on if/when I take the top off. Even the tail and front bumper lights were polished with the same compound. They came out crystal clear. It will probably work on yellowed/dulled headlights as well.

Happy as I am with the results, I'm still more thrilled with the idea of getting that heated O2 sensor in tonight...hopefully it lives up to expectations! :)

Thanks! This advice will go a long way in helping me with both the insight and the Miata.

Welcome!

On to this morning's project...heated O2 sensor!

Pulled both O2 sensors from the '98 Firefly(Metro)'s exhaust, just in case one worked better than the other. The down-stream one only has holes at the end of the casing, meaning it's designed to respond slower than the up-stream one from the manifold. Which isn't what we (I) want.

Then on to bench testing them:
http://i346.photobucket.com/albums/p...psbcujm4ai.jpg

They both worked very well. The moment I started to pull the flame away, the reading would drop. I could wave the flame back and forth quickly and get an immediate response. Wonderful!

I let it cool off for a few minutes - other than from the internal heater, which didn't even draw a full amp - and waved the flame back over it, and got an instant reading still. Exactly what I need. I was concerned that little amp draw wouldn't be enough to keep it heated properly, but it did. Both sensors drew just as little current, so it seems that's how they're supposed to be, and the response concurs with this theory.

Had to clean up the threads, but otherwise it appeared I had a perfect-working O2 sensor at no cost.

Stuffing it in wasn't hard. Had to crawl under her to do it, though.

http://i346.photobucket.com/albums/p...psyblppz8k.jpg

As you can see (or maybe not?) it's located right at the lowest bend where the pipe starts paralleling the transmission, mere inches off the ground. Probably explains why she ran better with the upper part of the header wrapped, which would help keep some of the heat in. And probably why she tended to run like a bag in particularly cold and wet weather, which would only help cool it off quicker. (This is all assumptions and theories, mind you)

Wiring it in, with the help of part of the Firefly's wiring harness:

http://i346.photobucket.com/albums/p...psxsyqw19m.jpg

You can just make out the connector between the two hoses. The black and green wires are connected at the ground bolt under the one hose where the main ground strap connects to the chassis(eww, rust). Black is ground for the heater, green is ground for the O2 signal. Heading off to the right is the red + wire, leading to the timing light connection (hot when ignition is on). And the yellow (looks white in the picture) is the O2 signal wire, soldered straight to the Miata's wiring.

The previous wiring (the red wire in the second picture) was just stuffed in to the end of the butt connector for the original wiring and crimped down. Probably not the best for a signal. Nor was the electrical tape coming off of it, which might have lead to grounding the signal out altogether.

Am I allowed to get annoyed with someone else's work when the object in question belonged to them at the time? :rolleyes:

The preliminary results? Thrilling! :D

The idle dropped off much quicker after start up. She was purring at low idle within 30 seconds, when I got out to take a whiff of the exhaust, which had been notoriously rick smelling at idle. It just had that sweet smell of a healthy engine, not even the faintest smell of running rich. And the temp gauge hadn't even started moving yet. :thumbup:

I went for a drive, of course. She's a well-behaved lass now, until you take her over 4k rpm. Even with the engine still cold. The exhaust sound is much better...both from the tail pipe and the no longer excessive noise of the exhaust traveling through the pipe. Now there's just road noise and the thrum coming out the tail pipe. Very nice!

I hope it also means there will be a lot less heat being thrown off the catalytic converter, now that she's not running rich. You could feel it radiating in to the cabin on the driver's side, if you drove long enough on a warm day. Time will tell.

I've only driven it the once, so my findings aren't conclusive...yet. But I would say this is a must for anyone with one of these headers. And probably recommended for anyone who does short trips and wants to maximize fuel efficiency on those short trips.

It seems it was well worth the effort. :D

Let us know if that helped the MPG in your case!

Will do!

It rained on my beautiful car while I was at work. :mad:

After using the compound to buff the paint, I had noted that the water did not bead up on it at all. This was rather disappointing. I figured it would be smooth as all heck, and the water wouldn't have much of anything to stick to. Apparently that was hopeful thinking.

However, she is well and truly waxed now. So when I came out of work, this is what I found:

http://i346.photobucket.com/albums/p...psdaclvjc4.jpg

It beads up and rolls off (given an excuse), just like it does on the Rain-X'd windows. :)

Hopefully that means she'll stay cleaner, longer. (The matte black lower half will help disguise it on the lower half, at least.)

Oh, yeah. She ran good still on the way to work, and again in the cold and wet on the way home. :thumbup:

Delayed response...

That's an absolute steal for one of these with a hard top! Though I think prices have gone up in the last 5 years. Clever you - bought at the bottom of the market. :D

I'm not crazy about it. Around here, a car painted that way always means someone has done shoddy rust repairs and is trying to hide the results. Even if that's not the case (probably not much rust on a Vancouver Island Miata), it's an automatic association for me.

Speaking of rust repairs, I pulled the seats & carpets from mine and my driver's floor is Swiss cheese bad. (No surprise.) It wasn't winter driven, but a leaky top = frequently wet carpets = rust!