jish's 2000 mazda miata weblog

What's this about???
my 2000 mazda miata This page on my site documents the modifications/ journeys/ installations related to my car - a 2000 Mazda Miata LS. It's not my intent to take the car to the race track, so most modifications are for cosmetic, safety, or "ooomph/vrooom" reasons.

Who am I???
I will always be a car nut. It all started when I was a child, one of the things I enjoyed most was playing with toy cars. I was constantly in trouble for bringing my 'Hot Wheels' cars to school. My pockets were bursting with them and I can recall my elementary school teachers confiscating them. And now, several years later, I am not a car "collector" anymore, I am more of an "enthusiast" or an "admirer". If you're interested, you can read more about me here.

July 27, 2001

I bought a new car stereo - a Kenwood KDC-716S. It has an awesome security feature, which just about sold me on the product: the stereo face flips over, displaying a plain black panel when you leave the car ... it's all motorized and looks awesome in motion. You also have the option of removing the stereo face completely.

I have to go back into the shop that installed it though - when I crank up the volume my Bose tweeters sound horrible ... perhaps because they had to bypass the OEM amplifier??

[bonus: the small round chrome button matches a lot of the chrome in my interior]

[5:42 PM] []

July 11, 2001

According to Mazda officials, the word Miata means "reward" in Old High German. Here's some more info and other possible meanings.

[9:11 PM] []

If I put a few stickers on my car, I'm almost sure it will make it go faster. A boost of at least 5 horsepower is what I hear. ;-)

[9:04 PM] []

July 09, 2001

I added some additional product notes - read them here.

[3:10 PM] []

You toucha my car, I breaka you face.
For the first time yesterday, my Miata was vandalized - my chrome valve caps were stolen. I know, I know - it's such a small thing, who cares, right???

I noticed that they were missing late in the afternoon but couldn't pinpoint when/where it happened since I had been many places during the day. I returned back home and parked in my usual spot, right next to a fellow Miata nut. I looked at his car and noticed that his valve caps were also removed ... coincidence??? I thought not.

I went to his apartment and told him what had happened to our cars, he immediately sprang up and said "I know exactly who did it". We began to walk around the block in search of the culprits. Apparently, earlier on in the day, he had seen some young kids scootering around our parking lot and they had stopped to take a look at our cars.

We could not find the kids as we walked around, so we returned and called the police. As we sat in our lobby waiting for the police to arrive, my neighbor saw one of the kids scooter right past our building!!! He ran through the door and screamed out to the kid to come back. It turns out that this little guy had observed the whole thing and was more than willing to tell us all about the thieves and where they went.

As we spoke to this guy (he was less than 10 years old), he looked down the street and said "Hey, here come the guys who took your stuff." We approached them and asked where our caps were. They peristently denied the crime - then the cop pulled up right behind them. They (both were around 10 years old) immediately reached into their pockets and returned our stolen caps and started to confess to the cop. Sheesh. We left the rest to the policeman to deal with.

So ... all is well yet again. Hopefully these guys aren't out to seek revenge.

[9:53 AM] []

July 08, 2001

I've added a "parts" section. Here you will find FREE parts and parts for sale (stock items that I replaced), removed from my own Miata.

[6:29 PM] []

July 07, 2001

Check out my miata gallery to see pics I took of my car today right after a nice detailing job.

[11:57 PM] []

I had no idea that this much work went into re-painting a car. In this project, a brand new '99 Miata is painted using that awesome ColorShift paint. Here's the finished car - looks very sharp, but I wouldn't want to drive it around without a force field around me.

[11:56 PM] []

July 06, 2001

As promised, here is my Miata photo gallery. I'll let you know when I add more pics to it.

[8:32 PM] []

Wow, this part of my site just keeps on growing. The latest section here is the miata links page (see 'elsewhere' in the right sidebar). This is a listing of the Miata websites I have found interesting and will likely re-visit. Feel free to make suggestions for other Miata-related sites.

Next section to appear will be a photo gallery.

[3:31 PM] []

July 05, 2001

I added a notes section (see 'elsewhere' in the right sidebar) - the modifications I've done and the products I've purchased are reviewed, itemized, and discussed in greater detail.

[8:51 PM] []

Stuff I added today: radiator baffle shroud [1,2] and chrome valve stem caps [1,2].

[4:48 PM] []

There are only 23 hours left on my eBay auction for a gorgeous MOMO F-16 shift knob. [update: sold for $55 ... which is about a $30 loss for me.]

[1:02 PM] []

Dear Mister/Miss Pussycat,

You climb onto my car once or twice a week, usually you prefer the day after I wash my car. Of course, you like to wet your feet first, stomp through some sand, and *then* leave your pawprints - presumably to make certain that I am fully aware that you were around. Thanks a lot buster.

I don't mind if you climb onto my car for a little nap, in the future please do so only when my car cover is on .... or at least when my car is filthy.

Thank you, JISH

PS - To date you haven't left any scratches, thanks for keeping your claws trimmed.
PS2 - If I ever catch you on my car, I'm going to scare the bejesus out of you.
PS3 - Your momma has tunabreath.

[12:58 PM] []

After washing my car yesterday, I shot some pictures to update the links on this page's sidebar. Here are some of them: 1, 2, 3, 4 [hover over links for details].

[1:33 AM] []

July 04, 2001

Those of you that have Miatas probably know you can buy teeth for your car. For those of you that haven't seen them, you might chuckle when you take a peek. Don't get me wrong, they're actually kind of cute in a silly way. The "shark attack" model car is what my car looks like - without the teeth, of course.

[10:35 AM] []

About 2 weeks ago I scraped the side of my car.

For those of you who love your cars, you know how much this can give you that "ugh" sinking feeling.

What happened?? I was backing up into my carport (which I have done on a daily basis for about a year, without incident) and then I heard the scraping sound of my car. I blame myself for being careless ... but there was also a woman sunbathing nearby - I blame her a little bit too. ;-)

In any case, I just happen to have a Miata "freak" living in my building, so I wrote a note to him and slipped it under his apartment door about the whole incident. I figured that if anyone knew how to get the paint off the side of my car, it would be him (beige paint from my carport had rubbed onto the side of my car as a result of the scrape).

The next time my neighbour and I ran into each other, he whipped out his auto detailing supplies and managed to get all of the paint off with some sort of rubbing compound. I'll have to find out what it was.

All that remains from the incident is a teensy ding just above the rear passenger-side wheel. Phew.

[2:28 AM] []

Believe it or not, this horrendous beast is also a Miata.

[1:57 AM] []

This weblog's less than a day old - looks like Ev's already picked up on it. As you'll see below, it was selected as one of the "Blogs of Note" on blogger.com's homepage:

One of Blogger.com's 'blogs of note' for Jul.3.01

One of Blogger.com's 'blogs of note' for Jul.3.01

[1:30 AM] []

July 03, 2001

I drove down to Serious Auto today and bought/installed the following:

- chrome vent rings (4),
- chrome emergency flasher ring,
- silver embroidered visor gloves (2),
- chrome fuel lid,
- chrome hvac rings (2).

Almost $300 for all that. Everytime I go there, I end up spending a few hundred bucks. Sheesh.

Non-sticky saddlebag: I mentioned to the guys at Serious (Dale & Larry) that my Saratoga Saddlebag wasn't fit properly - one side was drooping because the adhesive was not in contact with the trunk (the saddlebag attaches to the underside of the trunk lid). Personally, I thought that I had just weighed it down with too much junk. We took the thing off and looked at the underside of my trunk for a good half-hour - all the while, trying to line up the saddlebag with it's contours. There was absolutely NO WAY that the mold of the saddlebag was done properly for my car. We walked over and checked it out on another Miata ... same thing, it didn't fit properly.

After trying it a few times, we got a bit frustrated and ended up cutting the damn thing to make it fit ... Larry said he'd send it back for me and would tell me what Saratoga had to say. Of course, they'll replace it for me. So, for the moment, I am without a saddlebag. Phooey.

Non-reatracting seatbelt: After I had my roll bar installed, I found that my seat belt wouldn't retract as it had in the past. Pre-roll bar, when I unbuckled the seat belt, it zipped back into the resting position. When the roll bar was installed, the angle in which the seat belt "mast" is located is shifted, changing the angle of the seat belt. This seems to cause some extra friction, slowing down the belt. There is some "pull", but I have to actually manually "feed" it back in most of the time. Keep this in mind if you decide to have a "Hard Dog" roll bar installed.

[9:47 PM] []

I purchased my Miata at the end of April, so I don't have many tales to tell as of yet ... to date, I have been customizing my car with some safety upgrades [roll bar, horn, headlamp impact shields ...] and cosmetic upgrades [chrome pieces, shift knob ...]. Next in line are some "performance upgrades". I don't intend on racing my car, my intention will be to squeeze out a little extra "oooomph".

I will be updating this periodically with information on travels, modifications, testimonials, etc... all related to my Miata. For now - here are a few pictures of my car, all of them taken before the installation of my roll bar and front grill:

2000 Miata Miata front passenger side quarter, clear corner lense detail.

2000 Miata Miata front passenger side quarter, clear corner lense detail.

2000 Mazda Miata rear driver side quarter, with Pacifica Ocean.

2000 Mazda Miata front passenger side quarter

2000 Mazda Miata rear passenger side quarter

[9:18 PM] []

Brief auto history (this'll be updated along with the weblog above):
Completed:
- Installed AEM Short Ram Intake - May.02.05.
- this list is not completely updated!!!
- Service: Oil change - May.??.04 [56,500 miles]
- Service: 45,000 mile service (used Redline fluids, fixed foglamp, adjusted convertible top) - Dec.4.03 [49,517 miles]
- Kenwood KDC-722 installed - Oct.20.03
- Service: Oil change/coolant flush - Jun.25.03 [43,727 miles]
- Service: Oil change - ??.02 [40,154 miles]
- Installed KYB AGX 4-way adjustable shocks - Dec.04.02 [36,828 miles]
- Service: Oil change - Nov.26.02 [36,613 miles]
- Changed wipers - Nov.19.02
- Installed Enkei RS5 wheels and Kumho Ecsta Supra 712 tires - Oct.15.02 [35,698 miles]
- Service: Oil change - Aug.22.02 [33,210 miles]
- Installed bra on front end - Jul.10.02.
- Service: 30k mile service at dealer - Jun.04 [29,617 miles]
- Service: Oil change - Apr.22.02 [27,451 miles]
- New polished brake handle and button - Apr.13.2002
- Changed windshield wipers.
- Service: Oil change - Feb.21.02 [24,048 miles]
- Service: Oil change - Nov.24.01 [20,351 miles]
- Installed CD caddy, Voodoo polished shift knob, airbag switch storage tray - Sep.22.01.
- Service: Magnecor wires & NGK spark plugs - Aug.19.01 [16,594 miles]
- Front diamond grill - Aug.2.01
- Kenwood KDC-716S installed - Jul.27.01
- K&N air filter installed - Jul.26.01
- Service: Oil change - Jul.17.01 [14,950 miles]
- Tan leather brake boot - Jul.13.01
- "Eject" chrome cigarette lighter - Jul.13.01
- "Miata Parking Only" sign - Jul.13.01
- Tan boot bag - Jul.13.01
- Twilight Blue Mica touch-up paint - Jul.13.01
- Bag for car cover - Jul.07.01
- Radiator baffle shroud - Jul.05.01
- Chrome valve stem caps (4) & keychain - Jul.05.01
- Chrome hvac rings (3) - Jul.03.01
- Chrome fuel lid - Jul.03.01
- Silver embroidered visor gloves (2) - Jul.03.01
- Chrome emergency flasher ring - Jul.03.01
- Chrome vent rings (4) - Jul.03.01
- Front grill - Jun.23.01
- Hard Dog Hard Bar - Jun.23.01
- Nardi wooden shift knob - Jun.22.01
- 'Saratoga' trunk saddlebag - Jun.12.01
- Service: Oil change, filter, tire rotation - Jun.08.01 [12,237 miles]
- Clear corner lenses - May.19.01
- Headlamp impact shields - May.18.01
- 'Wicked Loud' horn - May.18.01
- Flip-open cupholder - May.18.01
- Nokia holster for sun visor - May.16.01
- 'Noah' car cover - May.14.01
- Purchased car - Apr.27.01 [~10,100 miles]