Finished the radiator ducting, though it still needs paint before being permanently mounted. It was assembled with temporary rivets and Midlana was taken out for a drive, again confirming a 2-3 degree C decrease in coolant temperature under all conditions.
Twice now the same cylinder head exhaust manifold bolt has backed out, the first time completely and the second time about a centimeter. Not sure why since it’s torqued to Remflex’s recommended 20 ft-lbs. It was okay after today’s drive but if it does it again it’ll be safety-wired.
Went on a longer test drive into the back country, up “my” Palomar Mountain “test track”. This time there was an interesting mix of events.
At the base of Palomar Mountain, they were fishing a balled-up sportbike out of a ditch, the driver nowhere around. Heading up the mountain I got stuck behind a cruiser Harley where the rider was apparently still learning to ride. That’s fine, except he was going between 22 and 32 mph, I checked. At first I was polite – everyone starts somewhere – but after a while it got kind of annoying as he kept passing places he could have pulled over. And then…
After ruining about 80% of my ride up, a Harley was coming down the hill the opposite direction and correctly assessed my situation in a flash. It was quietly hysterical what he did, first tapping his helmet and then giving a palm-up gesture toward the Harley, like, “dude, how long you been holding him up?” I don’t know if the Harley ahead of me finally noticed me, or if the guilt worked, but he immediately pulled over. I had a very hard time to not laugh as I gave him a thank-you wave.
After I passed the Harley I went tearing up the rest of the hill, trying to make the best of my shortened “course.” The new tires are, well, amazing. The old ones had really lost their stick because these new ones are pretty incredible. I haven’t even managed to slide the car yet because doing so means going into a turn fast enough that if it does become unstuck, I’d likely end up in the ditch along with the sportbikes. Speaking of that, came around a turn and there was a second sportbike being retrieved from the rocks. Not far away, a cop was making an accident report but heard me coming and had a good long look at me as I came by… I waved to acknowledge, “yes, I know you see me and are thinking ‘how can that be legal’, and that I’m cutting it close.” Thankfully all I got was the look.
All the way up, coolant temperature stayed lower than it had on previous drives – I’m happy. Drove around the top of the mountain a bit then headed back down. This time I had a Harley behind me who wanted to play. I let him pass and once past the cop, we had some fun heading down the hill. I’m curious how I would have done behind a real sportbike, but that puts us both in a situation where things get serious. I previously wrote that I always wanted a car that could keep up with sportbikes heading up the hill and I may well have that. The thing is, there’s a small chance that one or both of us might go off (as said above, two bikes already had). If he went off with me right behind him, I’d stop, and then things could get really interesting, like, would he sue me because I was pressuring him, him hoping to avoid his share of responsibility?* Would the cops arrest us for street racing? Serious thoughts – or maybe I’m just old. I passed a group of sportbikers at the base of the mountain, apparently grouping for another “assault”, and sure enough, they got all excided when they saw Midlana. I waved, but decided that stopping and getting involved might not be wise.
Oh, I got my very first thumb’s-up from a Harley rider, the first out of the 500 or so I’ve passed over the years. Meanwhile, sportbike riders give enthusiastic thumbs-ups about 30% of the time – I have theories.
On the way back, passed the local university and a car pulled up alongside with several hot and crazy college girls, screaming how “sick” my car is. Ah, if I were but young and single…
During the weekend’s drives, the alternator may or may not have been acting up. It normally stays mid-13Vs, which is a little low and is why I’m considering an aftermarket adjustable unit. It’s as if my alternator heard my thoughts because now it’s charging at around 14V, which it’s never done before. Also different is that with the radiator fan on, a few times at least, voltage sagged down into the 12.XV range, which was new. Checked for loose wires and found nothing.
No bites on the transmission, but at $4000, it’s not surprising that it may take a while. The price is what it is because of the work done to ensure it’s as close to “new” as something used can be, so for now I wait. We’ll see if and when my idea of its worth matches anyone else’s!
I have all the parts to start building the rear wing, and at some point I also have to figure out airflow in the proposed location (how high it needs to mount to be in clean air). There are various ideas, one involving smoke bombs… that could be interesting…
Lastly, I tried fixing something that’s low on the annoyance scale but there nonetheless – the perpetually-crocked steering wheel. It’s because the splines on the steering wheel adaptor are fairly course, so it’s either wrong in this direction or that direction, take your pick. I finally realized that the Miata splines further down the steering column are more fine-pitch, probably around double, so I tried offsetting it by one spline, and it’s much better now.
*There’s currently a lawsuit between a sportbike rider and Laguna Seca Raceway. He had gone off-course and hit some sandbags, which threw him off. He’s claiming that Laguna unnecessarily made the track dangerous and caused him to lose control. Well, what was he doing off course if he hadn’t already lost control, but anyway, people sue for all sorts of reasons.