Casa De Morrill

Yes, I am a gearhead.

Woo, got all the bits back together now, just going to put back in the coolant and then set the timing. Of course I found out the the timing light I borrowed from a friend is an old old style and that it won’t work on this car. Oh well, looks like I need to go pick one up, one more item off the amazon.com list I guess.

Edit: Got everything together, the car runs and is happy again. I do usually hurt myself at least once,so this time burned myself on hot engine parts getting things buttoned up. The the normal tool has been made and it is not bad. Maybe I will tackle the pesky exhaust problem or change out the fuel filter tomorrow.

Since Kat is off and about visiting Misty this week I am once again playing the bachelor. Now for some guys this would mean a cry of Freeeeeedom!!!! and possibly partying like a pants-optional rockstar. For me it means some quality time under the hood of a car, or under the car depending on what I am working on.

This morning it was some time for fixes on the miata, which has held up extremely well considering the way we drive it (and the way Kat inherited her dad’s lead foot). So I am replacing the crank angle sensor o-ring on the car this morning. I have gotten it out but the seal has been leaking oil for awhile now. Unfortunately this means it drips on to the return heater hose (part of the cooling system) so I reached down and squeezed the hose, it was squishy, they are not supposed to be squishy. No I have called the local dealership and they luckily have one in stock in the warehouse. So just typing this up while waiting for the call that they have it at the stealership.

I think the job would have taken me less than an hour if I did not have to do this. But I guess while I am replacing this part the car will get a coolant change as well. I believe when I take off the hose it is going to make a nice mess. Le sigh.

The only good part is that we have been blessed with quite a bit of rain this past week, so it looks like the temp today might hit 100, which is lower than the normal of around 106 this time of year. Small victories I know, but I will take what I can get.

A couple of weeks ago, my car hit a major milepost. As most of you know, my car is my baby. It’s a 1997 Mazda Miata M-Edition. It was the last year they made the first generation Miatas. It’s a fun little car to drive around. In the 5 years that I’ve owned it now, I’ve never once regretted buying. It makes my hour long commute into work at least a little more fun to drive.

Sean and I had been noticing that my car was getting up there in the mileage recently, so instead of letting the odometer hit the big 100,000 on my way into work one morning, we decided it was time to escape the heat of Phoenix for a day and drive up to Flagstaff. We figured the twisty roads would also be a great way to celebrate how much we love driving the Miata on twisty roads. On our way back into town, the odometer finally rolled. I’d carried my camera with my all day in anticipation of this. So, here are a couple pictures of me with my car and the official odometer reading of 100,000.

Okay, everyone can now continue with the assumption that Sean and I are completely crazy when it comes to cars (as if any of you ever doubted).

I read a lot over on

AutoBlog

for my car news. Sometimes you just come across a gem.

I will quote their description of the video, and then enjoy the music!

Check out this music video for Lacquer’s Behind. Maybe some of you will scoff at it being featured here on Autoblog, but it speaks to motorists, adventurers and travelers who like voyages on America’s highways and byways. It starts with an old convertible parked at the Pacific Ocean, and turns into a journey across our continent. Coast to coast the driver covers the whole of the USA in under four minutes with the use of some snappy time-lapse photography, as directed by filmmaking brothers Michel (Be Kind Rewind, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) and Olivier Gondry. Beautiful scenery and gorgeous skylines abound, as well as some good music.