Going back to what was last mentioned, I installed the new antenna. Easy install, but you need a helper just for the second pair of hands.
Right after that is when things got complicated, and I ended up moving clear across the country - from Georgia to California, metro Los Angeles. I've lived in Alabama, Mississippi, and Georgia, but I've also lived in the New Jersey suburbs of New York City, in metro Washington DC, and in the Chicagoland area (not to mention the Czech Republic), so LA is no culture shock as some might expect in a move from Georgia to SoCal.
However, it WAS a culture shock for the Mazdaspeed. Previously, it was always garage parked and never driven in the rain. The first few months in Long Beach were a rude awakening. For one thing, I left my old Isuzu Rodeo SUV in Georgia to be sold, so the Miata would be my constant transportation here (for several months anyway; then I finally bought a '94 4Runner to replace the Rodeo). For the first five months in Long Beach, I was in an apartment with no parking except on the street, and it was the rainy season. Of course how bad can the rainy season be in Southern California? Well, in 2011, horrendous. I have never seen more rain, more consistently, in my life. Ever. Anywhere. Very strange weather for SoCal. And so much for not driving this car in the rain.
Then came the day I'm sitting at a traffic light and, too late to do anything, I spot a woman in the rear-view mirror who had slowed, but not stopped. Bam! -and my mint Miata now had a marred rear bumper. It's just surface damage, and it isn't so bad, but it was the first damage on the car.
While I was examining the scrape, she took off. I jumped in the car and pursued, but she had gone immediately around a blind corner with another blind corner just beyond that, and I wasn't able to spot her. So the bumper will remain that way until I move from LA.Then a few weeks later, I noticed someone had scraped the paint off my front bumper, apparently while trying to parallel park outside my apartment. This time the damage is much more noticeable, and I've found the shop to do the re-spray. More on that in a later post.
I now live in a house, with a garage, and I have the aforementioned 4Runner. So the 'Speed is very happy to be once again in it's favored circumstances: never being driven in the rain, and parked in the garage with its Mazdaspeed banner hanging over it. :)
And then there are the good things about my 'Speed Miata living in the LA area: canyon roads and KINOD. There are a lot of good roads in the mountains in and around LA, and they've provided a lot of fun: the Ortega Highway, Angeles Crest Highway, Rim of the World Highway, Mulholland Drive, Topanga Canyon Road, Tuna Canyon Road, etc. And then there's Turnbull Canyon Road, which I discovered because it's on the way to KINOD. KINOD is a group of Miata owners who began meeting every Friday night back in 2006. That's every Friday night for over 5 years now. They're mostly young (with exceptions), mostly Asian (with exceptions), and most of the cars that show up are modded and tuned much more than mine (with just a few exceptions!). Mine looks pretty bland in the KINOD meets!
Two mechanical issues have come up in the past months: a high idle, and an oil leak related to my oil filter relocation kit. Both of them are still to be resolved. The idle stays normal until I get into the turbo, but after I do, it will often go to 1500 to 2000 rpms, and stay there until the engine cools to ambient temperature. Informed that I should do the "bog fix" since a high idle is characteristic of the bog (which thankfully I've never had), I did so. It's an easy process of cleaning a solenoid, for which there is a great tutorial on the Mazda-speed.com forum ( http://www.mazda-speed.com/forum2/index.php/topic,21621.0.html ). Immediately, no matter how much or hard I got into the turbo, the idle behaved itself perfectly. I was thrilled. Until a few days later when the high idle returned. It's not as consistent as before (a good thing), but still sometimes shows up.
The oil leak is at the adapter on the side of the block, where the oil filter would normally be. I've tried simply tightening it with the car on the ground, but it's hard to get to (the whole reason for the relocation kit!), and I couldn't get good pressure on it. I need to get the car up on a lift and go at it better.
Well that about catches me up to date. Well, there is another good thing about having the Miata here in LA..... Another post to come, from this most recent weekend.
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