A follow-up to the previous post...

For anyone curious, here are the pictures I used:







I then took the photos and layered them in GIMP, each succeeding picture being added as a transparent layer so that I could then "erase" parts of it to show the layer below.  The end result shows 5 sides of my personality as a car enthusiast if not as a person.

Enjoy!

First Post in Awhile...

Haven't really had much going on with the car lately.  I bought a '10 Mazda5 that I'll need to be getting photos of soon before the weather goes completely sour.  I've been getting into RC flying more as well.

I still enjoy The Tick, but for now, he's pretty much finished.  I removed the grille, making him look even more stock.  The top will need replacing next year, and I'm going to try to tear the suspension apart and rotate the components this winter.

Speaking of The Tick...last May, I took a series of photos with a tripod and timer, hoping to one day stitch them together to look something like one of these:

Well, they didn't come out that fancy, but here is the first real try at it:

Deal's Gap

Not much has happened with the car.  Nothing, in fact.  Put gas in and drove it--all the way to North Carolina!  Unfortunately, the weather was a little cold and it rained all Friday night, but I still had a good time!  I left the house at 6.30am and drove top down all the way with a stop in Lexington for breakfast with a friend I was doing a caravan with to get there.  I finally arrived at my cabin at Nantahala Village at 3.30pm, totally pooped!

I managed to get some driving done despite the rain.  Here is a shot of me on my way in, just up the hill from the Crossroads and the Motorcycle Resort.  I actually made the front page of Killboy.com, but was pretty far in the background (or in the front, depending on where you were standing):

Squint reeeeeeal hard and you'll see me heading around the bend!

I also went fishing with some of my friends while I was down there.  Admittedly, I've fished about twice in my life, so "rusty" was not the word!  However, after a couple hours, I managed to reel this one in:

Yeah...it's tiny, but at least I got to eat it!

I even got to fly my Solo Pro in the cabin!

First Day Out

My wife, whether she knows it or not, really keeps me going sometimes.

Today when she got home from the gym, she was surprised that I hadn't put the tires on The Tick yet, considering it was just past 60deg and dry.  I had thought about it, but kind of kept putting it off, as I've had the last couple days off work and was just enjoying not having to do anything (even if I would have enjoyed it).

That said, thanks to the air tank she got me for my birthday last year, I got the job done in about 40min and we were on our way.

The Tick is back on the road!!!!!!

IT LIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIVES!

This has been The Tick's spot since the middle of November...

I probably should have turned it on a couple times, but I just let the poor guy sit while I was working out this winter.  Guess you could say priorities changed. 

 

After 3+ hours on the charger last night, I put the battery back in and attempted to fire it up...and it caught on the first try!

 

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! 

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

A long overdue update, Pt. 1

Not too much has happened with the car, aside from some audio upgrades I'll be covering in the next post.

Here are some shots of the car along with some folks you might recognize at CR@TG '10.

First off, it snowed on the way in!


CR@TG 2010 001 by bryanewyatt, on Flickr

CR@TG 2010 004 by bryanewyatt, on Flickr

I didn't take many pictures, but here's one Taylor got of Christy and I. It's one of our favorites!


DSC_7271 by bryanewyatt, on Flickr

Shots taken on the way out from the Motorcycle Resort:


CR@TG 2010 005 by bryanewyatt, on Flickr

CR@TG 2010 006 by bryanewyatt, on Flickr

CR@TG 2010 010 by bryanewyatt, on Flickr

Oy! Who are these, then?  

(For those who don't know, the car on the right famous Blue Potato owned by Peter Brusa and the Sweet Potato owned by his wife Ginger, both friends of Christy and I).


CR@TG 2010 012 by bryanewyatt, on Flickr

Ponderous Parking Protuberance

This happens more often than I'd like to admit at work (or, well, anywhere when I drive The Tick): I will walk out to the car only to find that it is now completely invisible, even though I remember exactly where I parked!  To combat this, when I park the car, I will often purposely leave it even or a little past the end of the car next to it.  

Why, you ask?  Well, I'm a little paranoid about the car getting bopped by someone who enthusiastically pulls into a spot without carefully seeing if there's a car occupying it.  I've nearly done this before (the owners of the NC, Mini Cooper, and several other cars at work could stand to not park so far into their spots!).  If nothing else, it makes the car a little easier to find when I walk out at the end of the day.

This strategy can backfire, however.  Every day, half the parking lot does a shuffle right around lunch-time.  What this means, of course, is that the car you evened yourself up with in the morning might be replaced by something MUCH bigger in the afternoon. 

This was one of those days.

This is what I saw when I walked out to my spot this evening:

It's worth noting that at the original angle I approached the car, I couldn't see it at all!

There's The Tick!

 

This really does happen quite often.  In fact, I keep a running album of The Tick next to stuff.  Feel free to browse :-)

ps - It took me almost as long just to get to the highway as it did for me to get to work (door-to-door)! 

Signs of Spring

Those of you who know me know that I'm not shy at all about going top-down if I feel like it.  Honestly, I enjoy being top-down more when I need a long-sleeved shirt or jacket (but best when that's paired with shorts).  

What follows are a bunch of pics I took with my cellphone.  Sorry if they're not exactly awesome!

Last Friday, I saw that the high was going to be over 40deg F.  Seeing the sun was out that morning, I couldn't not go top-down!  What my mind had blanked out was the fact that the morning temp was 25deg F!  In the process, I was able to set a personal temperature record while fully convincing the neighborhood kids at the bus stop in front of my house that I'm probably crazy.

Surprisingly, I was able to treat one of my co-workers to a ride back to work after lunch.  Guess I'm not the only crazy one, huh?

The same day, I snapped a pic of The Tick along with a Civic I'd parked next to.  I'm always amazed at just how small my car is!

This morning, I noticed something interesting as I walked in.  Aside from a few sadists, my building's motorcycle parking has remained conspicuously empty--until today.  Sitting next to a well-appointed Vespa was a new visitor: a BMW R1100S.  Pretty bike, huh? 

Why, hello there!

One last picture: I had the opportunity to park The Tick next to the '89 Mariner of a coworker.  This car is probably one of the oldest Miatas I've ever seen up close and personal and, while it has definitely seen better days, it is still on its first owner and shows no signs of croaking any time soon (knock on wood!) as it completes a daily commute of about 40-50mi!

Can't wait for more top-down days!

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!

John Mayer was Wrong...

...I really should start carrying a camera on me at all times.

(in case you're curious where the reference comes from)

Anyway...I drove The Tick in this morning to work.  I'd say my excuse is that I never completely winterized the car (by filling the tank up and putting Sta-Bil in it), but of course, the real reason is that it was relatively warm and I felt like driving it.  Felt good to feel closed into such a small car but with my head open to the elements (yes, I will drive top-down when it's 40deg out).  I really can't describe what a feeling I get driving it, so you'll just have to take my word for it.

I noticed that my boss's car and The Tick would have made for a wonderful Mazda ad this morning:

(pardon the crappy cell-phone pic!)

Seeing two bright Mazdas in a boring gaggle of grey, black, and navy cars was too good of a picture to pass up--even if I wasn't carrying a decent enough camera  to capture the scene.

Rockin' It Stock!

Finally removed the Roadstersport exhaust that was on the car:














It's for sale if you're in the Cincinnati area and have $100 to spare.

The Roadstersport has decent sound, but I'm at the point in my life (and my hearing) where a stock exhaust is plenty loud enough!

Meet The Tick, or, How to Cross 4 States In A 4-Day Round Trip! - The Home Stretch!

Josh and Missy were kind enough to take me in, even though I'd made it to Knoxville a lot later than I'd planned. Josh and I woke up and got started cleaning the car up, first by cleaning the oxidation off of the valve cover (never use degreaser on aluminum! grrrr...), then by scheduling The Tick for a simple alignment at one of the local places, who were good enough to squeeze me into the schedule without an appointment.

After a good lunch at Litton's (great burgers :thumbsup: ), we went back and picked up the car, which now rode even better than before. I'm curious just how bad the alignment had been previously! Feeling a lot better, I left for the final ride home, where I arrived a little sooner than expected (for once):














...and that's how my journey ended :-)

Meet The Tick, or, How to Cross 4 States In A 4-Day Round Trip! - Day 3

While I was in town, I asked if we could give The Tick a more detailed inspection. While he was on the lift, we started to dismount the wheels to balance them out (the car had been threatening to shimmy the car apart at anything over 65mph). I'm sad to say that I discovered why: one of the tires was totally bald (with a slight gash in the center), one had a tack in it, and the other two had nearly bald inner treads:























(the 4th tire was still on its wheel on the car as we had to soak the lugnuts for several hours--I don't even want to guess how much they'd been over-torqued!)

My new tires were coming a little sooner than I'd planned on :( . I was able to order a set of Riken Raptors (I think Riken's owned by Michelin) from the local shop, but it took them almost the whole day to deliver them from their warehouse. While we were waiting, we removed the pinstripe (didn't get an "after" pic...too stressed).

Once the tires were mounted, I bid The R-Speed crew goodbye and headed for Knoxville--though I was now leaving Atlanta at the same time I'd expected to arrive in Knoxville!

Major shout outs to Taylor and R-Speed for making a bad day a lot better!

With the new tires on, the ride was smooth as a baby's butt, though it really needed an alignment so that my new tires wouldn't get eaten as badly as their predecessors had been. That would have to wait until the next day...

Meet The Tick, or, How to Cross 4 States In A 4-Day Round Trip! - Day 2

I was met at the bus terminal by Louis, who had checked out the car for me. After waiting in the dealer's office for over an hour while they futzed with the paperwork (and a new sales system that they apparently hadn't started using until the day I showed up...). I walked out to find my new car waiting for me. I didn't get a picture, but they had cleaned him up a bit for me. Once I got a shower (first since Wednesday morning), I was on my way by about Noon.

I arrived in Atlanta relatively unharmed, and was greeted at R-Speed by Taylor and Marty:























They were mounting new tires and working on Marty's car (which is awaiting a vinyl wrap):



























I snapped some of the few pics I have of the new car while I waited:

















































While Taylor's car may look stockish, it has a few mods including Fuji Racing's (OER) IRTB setup and a set of Nakamae seats along with a Boss Frog Double Hoop Rollbar. If his car looks a little dusty, it's because of the pollen from the White Pine that leaves every car in town looking like they had been sitting outside someone's garage for a couple years. I'd never seen anything like it!

For dinner, Taylor and I met up with his friend Yuyuske, along with Peter and Ginger Brusa, and Todd Kawanna (American contributor to Road&Ster, among other things) for sushi at Ege Sushi.

Now, I've never had sushi before, and I've never really attempted to use chopsticks. It turns out that I'm not too bad at it! Sushi is actually pretty good as long as you go in with a *totally* open mind--it really will taste like nothing else you've ever had. I'm now a fan :-)