Well the weather has turned and the sun is out so the Mazda should be coming out of its winter hibernation, but alas, the Crank shaft pulley problem has kiboshed those plans. You may recall that last fall my other twenty year old car, the 300E had some transmission problems, which meant that I had to use the Miata later into the season than intended. You may also recall that due to time constraints, when the front of the engine was apart I did not actually replace the wobbling pulley, figuring the Miata would be on the road for such a short time it wouldn't matter and it could be done this year. The Mazda was not on the road a short time and it did matter, a few days before the Benz returned from the transmission shop, the pulley and key started their wobbling thing and the whole thing went crappo; no power, horrible banging noise, etc. At the time my fragile nerves couldn't handle two major breakdowns so I parked the Miata, went on holiday, forgot about it, picked up my Benz and motored happily for the winter and spring. But now it's summer and I want some top down enthusiastic shifting for myself driving. The plan right now is to see if the shaft and pulley can be jerry fixed again, or if more dra$tic measures will have to be taken. New engine anyone? Regardless something will have to be done because right now it's sunny outside and the Miata is sitting under a tarp in the garage like some forgotten junk. No one said owning twenty old cars on a budget would be easy.
