Fixed!

I bet you thought the Blue Miata was dead, considering I haven't posted for so long. But no it's not dead and the reason I haven't posted for so long (amongst work, family, laziness etc.) is that I've been driving and driving. But more on that later. First here's the process of getting the thing back on the road.

As you may remember the right front suspension of the Miata was all mangled after an unfortunate judgment lapse on my part. After ringing around the local parts shops I learned that buying new parts was cost prohibitive which meant taking a stroll down to my local junk yard and digging out the necessary parts from some wreck. No problem; and it being around fathers day at the time I thought I'd make a family outing out of it. First we had to find a donor car. After asking the attendants at the junkyard they brought over this high mileage rear ended red Miata.


My Pa and I got right to work taking out the pieces we needed.
Look at that team work. My mom was there too, she took these shots and helped out. That's what the Miata does: brings families together.

Finally we pulled out all these bits and then some (which may or may not have been smuggled out in my mom's sweater like a family of gypsies but come on the junk yard is a royal ripoff).
I then got the parts home and compared.You can see how the messed up the angle of the lower control arm is on the old bit. Ouch.

I noticed a neat thing about the the control arms. They're hollow. Every other car I've seen they're a solid piece of metal. I realize they're hollow to be light. Being light saves fuel and improves handling and performance. Just like a race car. I thought that was pretty cool. It also makes it that they fold like origami when hit.

This is what a Miata looks like with no right front suspension.
And there are the new pieces in place.
After a quick visit to a wheel alignment and frame shop, the Miata was good as new. Thankfully the shop reported that the Miata's frame was not bent so all it needed was the allignment. I will never get an alignment anywhere else. In a frame shop all they do is allignments and the technicians and equipment are specially suited for this task, plus it's generally cheaper.

Finally the Miata is on the road for the summer ready for more adventures. I'll hopefully be able to control my urge to crash. Overall this actually was kind of fun; going with my folks to the junk yard, taking apart stuff, putting it back together, and it didn't really cost that much money. The Miata: fun even in tragedy.

Junkyard Dog

I love going to the junkyard. Often there's some really sweet deals to be had. Like the set of alloy wheels with tires I bought for $250 that were in perfect shape or the spare fob I got for free. There's also something really cool about looking at all the smashed cars. What motor head doesn't like a good car crash. But sometimes going to the junkyard can be unpleasant, usually when having to deal with the people that work at the junkyard. For some reason customer relations is not a high a priority at junkyards so you always have to expect a little attitude in your service while there.

Case in point: Today I ventured out to the yard to find a replacement for the broken windshield wiper control arm in the Infiniti. It's a cheap little plastic and aluminum part that takes two minutes to swap out. When I informed the guy behind the counter that I was going into the yard to remove the part he rudely informed that I wasn't and that he doesn't sell just the arm you have to buy the whole wiper assembly for $75. First, $75 is a crazy price for a second hand wiper assembly. Second, removing the whole assembly would take a long time and in the process require first removing the one piece that I need. Third, no one will ever need the whole assembly because it's always just one piece that will fail. I tried to explain this to him but he had a fit and yelled at me that it's his junkyard and I don't tell him how to run it. I called the Infiniti dealer from the junkyard parking lot expecting an egregious price and a two month waiting time while they get the part from Japan but the part was only $20 and it would be there on Wednesday. I went back in and told the guy how much it was at Infiniti and he told me to f@*& off and buy it there. I will. If individual pieces of the assembly are that cheap new at the dealer, that guy will never sell that whole assembly. What a maroon. Lesson learnt: Always check the dealer first.

Another thing I've realized recently is that things like fuel, air, and oil filters should be bought at the dealer as well. The ones I've bought at Napa or Lordco have been of really low quality and these are important items that prevent future serious problems from occurring. Sure the ones at the dealer are a little bit more but they're specifically designed for your particular car and for performance cars like the G20 and the Miata that really matters and can make a big difference. If you drive a Sunfire you can keep buying your filters at Wal-Mart, they're pretty much the same as the ones from GM.