Month: May 2018

K1 Speed had a drift night, so we had to check it out, and just so happened to get prime parking next to an NC.

The one thing that always bugged me about the Craigslist Miata was having to turn on the running lights with an alligator clip. You see, something happened causing the light switch on the turn signal stock to stop working, be it a fuse or a bad connection. This was fixed by running two wires from the battery into the cabin that essentially hard wired the lights. This was merely an inconvenience for some time, unless you lost the alligator clip. Never drop the alligator clip.

With the addition of the Bride bucket, it became a pain in the side reaching back behind the center console to connect the two wires. One new ground wire, toggle switch and a plate from a 3D printer; and the Craigslist Miata’s gauges never shone brighter. It’s incredible how you can mold PLA into a space with a hairdryer.

The NA’s pop ups are by far the roadster’s most attractive feature, so it was kind of a pain when the Craigslist Miata’s headlights stopped working. The housings still popped and the bulbs still lit, but they would not go back down. It was not such a concern considering that they were stuck in default mode. The weird thing was that they would randomly disappear back into the body at times overnight and others over the course of the day while sitting in a parking lot. However; as soon as you turn the beams back on, up they would stay.

After receiving a few incorrect relays, including one I now believe to be for an RX-7, and searching on my back under my steering wheel like an idiot for a connection that wasn’t there, I received the correct LA12 relay from Mazda Motorsports. It’s the big one next to the intake snorkel, facing the engine closest to the firewall. Just be easy, the clips are old, but it is so satisfying hitting the that switch on the tombstone and hearing the motors retract.

Continue reading “Pop Ups Pop Down with an LA12 Relay”

Just a thought, before they were teal and blue the Falken Tire shod drift squad wore a reddish/silver livery. So what if one of them were an NA?

The Miata’s old, the interior needs some work. One of those items is the driver side door card. Its all withered and separating, so when these came up on Craigslist picking them up was a no brainer. After five minutes of talking to the guy he said, here you, free. Score.

Ever since picking up the hardtop it always seemed to be missing something. That ends today with the addition of the ever-popular roof spoiler from Project G, the G-Wing. I have always admired the way it pokes back, extending the roofline and making the minuscule NA Miata look more like the curvaceous third-generation FD RX-7.

The install includes a bit of cutting and positioning, to be honest fit and finish leaves something to be desired. If there were a better way of centering the wing and supporting it from the underside so that it’s not just held on with double-sided tape. Either way, it looks badass, and there’s the added benefit of a little less sunlight hitting the back of your head.

I have heard, “if you don’t look back at your car when walking away, you don’t have the right car”. That being said those TEs really set this thing off.

It is with great pride that we announce the Craigslist Miata has officially traversed one-quarter of a million miles. While this is no outstanding feat for the first generation Mazda roadster, as many meet the track in anger with much more mileage. This momentous occasion occurred on a return trip on the CA-74 “Ortega Hwy” in the Cleveland National Forest.