A long overdue update, Pt. 2 - Audio

Following the CR@TG trip, I finally tackled the task of getting the old MBQ Component system removed and serviced and the new speaker setup. It consists of Kenwood KFC1662S 3-ways and Rockford Fosgate Prime R1T-S tweeters. These were wired into the stock speaker wiring. The 3-ways were installed on top of a set of custom 6-1/2" to 8" speaker adapters for the Miata and 8" XTC baffles.

The setup is meant to work on the stock head unit and, while not the most awesome setup, works well. I was also finally able to reinstall factory kick panels and my dead pedal!


New Speakers 001 by bryanewyatt, on Flickr

New Speakers 002 by bryanewyatt, on Flickr

New Speakers 004 by bryanewyatt, on Flickr

New Speakers 006 by bryanewyatt, on Flickr

New Speakers 007 by bryanewyatt, on Flickr

Compare the "panel-off" pic to the old setup:


Sound Fix 009 by bryanewyatt, on Flickr

Finally!

As of February 1st, The Tick is paid off!

While a small victory in and of itself, what this means is that all of the cars are now paid off.  Gotta admit, it's a pretty good feeling...Christy and I have been very blessed!

Now that The Tick's paid off, it's time to think about what modifications I'd like to get done to "finish" the project:

Wheels, Tires, & Suspension:
*Upgrade front swaybar to Mazdaspeed Miata unit.
*Re-do alignment.
*Flip tires.

Interior/Chassis:
*Add the OEM Shock Tower Bar to tighten up the front end.
*Upgrade driver's seat to Elise seat.  It'll let me sit lower in the car (important if I want to look into a rollbar), support my back better, and give me a real headrest for once.  My friend Adam has some ideas.
*Once the head height problem is solved, get a rollbar for safety.  I'm thinking a Hard Dog M2 Sport (no diagonals).
*Buy an iPod adapter kind of like this one.

Aesthetic Clean-ups:
*Fix the slight rust issues in The Tick's trunk.
*Clean up The Tick's cloudy headlamp lenses.
*Get the wheels refinished.
*Paint The Tick's valve cover in red crinkle-coat.  Looks something like this (Mazda did quite a job from the factory!).  Come to think of it, Harvey's valve cover could use a similar treatment this summer.
*Replace the antenna base with something a little less swept.

What do you think?

Quick Winter Job

In order to go grocery shopping today, I needed to take care of a task I'd sort of been putting off.  Because the garage isn't heated, it can reach near freezing temperatures overnight--not good for The Tick's summer tires.  Fortunately, my buddy Chad had a worn-out set of old Blizzak snow tires that he had used last winter that I could mount on the car so that there'd at least be something round and black on it.  Now, these Blizzaks are somewhat special because they have been on, to my knowledge, 3 different cars.  Back in November 2004, I bought them used from a Miata club member to mount on Junior, my old car.  They did pretty well, helping the car to contend with some rather deep snow:

While the snow wasn't deep in this spot of the driveway, the car had navigated 6"+ of snow going up and downhill out of downtown Cincinnati earlier in the day!

After a winter, I gave them to Chad, who ran them on his Miata for a year or two.  In the meantime I switched to a different set of Blizzaks mounted on a set of 90-93 "daisy" alloy wheels.  Thus getting those old beat-up Blizzaks on even more beat up (and mismatched) steel wheels was  an interesting homecoming of sorts.

Sooooooo...finally to the point of this story!

The operation itself isn't so difficult, just time consuming.  Just loosen the lugs, lift up one side, remove the summer wheels/tires, labeling each as you go, replace the winter wheels/tires, tighten the lugs, lower the car, finish tightening, and then torque.

Here's what the car looked like when I was done...decidedly not bling!

Finally, proof that The Tick does not have Sport Package brakes: because the steelies are 14" in diameter, a car with the larger Sport Package brakes (standard from '03-05, but an option on my car) will not be able to fit 14" wheels over the brake calipers.  I was a little scared that I'd gone to all this trouble just to have 4 wheels that didn't fit, but I was relieved to see that they fit just fine!

The only remaining task was to manhandle the wheels downstairs.  I promised Christy that I'd keep them out of the way, and so I tucked them back behind where I'd stuck the luggage and the Christmas tree.  

I'll still need to get them in some garbage bags, but that can wait until I get back from the store, now that I have an open trunk! 

EDIT: Chad was good enough to point out that the Blizzaks had been the temporary rolling stock for our friend Rose's first Miata after it went sunny-side down and was being parted out.  Chad actually got them back after we found something else for  it to roll on and used them as winter tires for the subsequent 2 winters.  Thus, those same Blizzaks and mismatched steelies have been on 4 different cars!

Almost There!

As an aside from the project with Junior, I am happy to say that I am only 1.5 payments away from having the little guy paid off ahead of time! This will be the first time I've actually paid off a car on my own (I paid off Junior's predecessor Monty--but that was only after he'd been totalled; the money came from my insurance settlement).

It'll sure be nice to be able to put the money I was spending on payments towards something else--like getting Junior back on the road!

Speaking of money, I've decided to try once again to sell my Axis Power Racing full carbon-fiber race seat:



The seat by itself is good for about 9lbs and does a very good job of holding the driver in place. It also allows the lowest seating position I've ever seen on the stock seat rails. If you look at the following picture, you can see the difference between the Axis seat and a de-foamed stock seat:



For reference, my friend Shenna (sitting in the passenger seat) is about 5'3", while I am a leggy 6'1"! Imagine the difference if I gained another inch or so by taking the seat off of the stock rails!

In the end, I'd like to get about $400 for it. Its MSRP was $900 and I bought it from a friend for $600 a year or so ago. I have one person so far who has inquired about it, but let me know if you're interested!