Since purchasing my first Miata last month, my ability to concentrate on almost everything else has deteriorated abysmally. What do you recommend?

Gregory King, Lexington, KY

Greg, buy a Honda delSol and once a month or so take it out of the garage to go for a drive. Before you get to the end of the block, come back and put the Honda back in the garage. then get in your Miata and think about this; there are people who consider the del a sports car. Laugh aloud and concentrate on something else. Like baseball. That often works for me.

bwob

Where can I find a good custom paint for my 99 Miata. What company would you recommend?

Scott Ros, Gautier, MS USA

Right off the top of my head I'd recommend Mazda Mariner blue as seen on early Miatas. It should be available at any decent auto paint supplier. Easy to get touch-up paint and unique on an M2. That's custom in my book.

Any good shop selling auto paint could easily mix up a custom color for you, just make sure they make some extra for unforeseen emergencies. Like getting rear-ended by some moron in an SUV. How about mint green? Aqua? Coral? Nice solid International Orange? With virtually all Miatas now painted in metallics and/or/micas, I'd be looking at a high impact solid color. Like 'Raspberry', a shade of Magenta Porsche offered (and still do on a custom basis) for 911s.

If your idea of custom means one of those polychromatic paints with so much 'flop' the seem to change color as you move around the car, you'll have to look around for suppliers and the stuff isn't cheap or especially easy to apply.

I'm an old fashioned bozo, but I get the idea that color matching one of those polychromatics if you had a minor accident would be a major undertaking. Forget about touching up door dings. Unless you consider painting the entire side of a car a touch-up job...

In Japan Nippei (Nippon Paint) supplies a ton of polychromatics - especially to Nissan - and has a shade called 'Midnight Purple III" which is one of the best polychromatics I've seen since the 'secondary' color is one which works well with the purple base coat. It's great if you like purple. If you don't, well, it's putrid.

Locally in the 'States both PPG and BASF/Inmont both offer polychromatics and near polychromatics in a variety shades.

If you want wilder yet, there's a so-called 'liquid-crystal' paint Mercedes-Benz serves up in its Disigno customization program which is wackier than anything I've ever seen. As you walk around the car, if he whole thing (base and outer coat) changes hue. I have no idea who the supplier of the stuff is, though I've heard rumors the paint's a $22,000 option.

As for which of the latter to go for, you'll have to pick your own. Polychromatic paint on a car to me is about as appealing as Starbuck's alleged 'coffee'. Gimme sold paint and Lavazza or Illy coffee every time. Heck, if it were mine it'd be shot in some sort of high-impact solid color. Think 1970 Barracuda and you probably wouldn't be far wrong. Its a fun car so it should come in some fun colors, not the same shades you see on the bottom of a coffee cup. Even if they are mica-metallics.

bwob

Everybody complains about the blind spot in the Miata with the top up. Why doesn't Mazda put a window in the corners like the Brits did in the MG and the Triumph convertibles? I know they get cloudy rather quickly, but a cloudy window is still better than no window at all. I might even give up my Spitfire for a new Miata if Mazda would do this one small thing.

Dave, Amarillo Texas USA

We looked at it, but the top armature design would have placed a lot of stress on the quarterlights, potentially shortening top life. Remember, the tops usually last longer than the rear windows (which is why the plastic rear window on the M1 was made relatively easy to replace), and plastic quarterlights sewn or bonded into the top wold go south long before the top material would. Which means more frequent replacement of the top. They also made the top a bastard to raise and latch when it was cold. If you like 'em that much and wont consider a Miata till Mazda follows suit, I hope you enjoy your Spitfire for years to come.

bwob

I sure miss my old Datsun 2000, but I couldn't afford the time and money of ceaseless maintenance. Thanks for building a roadster that's so fun and reliable to boot.  My question concerns your own favorite roadster experiences. Just curious.

Rus, Fairfax, VA

Datsun 2000? Ceaseless maintenance? Cripes, they must've been far more MGB-like than even I imagined. No, I've heard stories of snapping cranks in 2000s (especially the cars with the Solex carbies), but I assumed they had a pretty fair degree of Japanese car reliability and durability.

Favorite experiences. Although it wasn't a an open car but a coupe version of a roadster, I owned an blue MGA Twincam. This was a car with a well-deserved reputation as a self-propelled piston burner, although it never gave ma a bit of trouble, needing only regular maintenance (which did include now-unheard of things like chassis lubes, valve adjustments and oil changes that were even frequent by my standards). In fact the person I sold it to is still driving it nearly 30 years later. And while it was in really good nick when I bought it, this was no spring chicken. Maybe that's less of a story for Miata.net than it is something which belongs in Ripley's Believe it or Not!

I almost bought a Facel Vega Facellia from an eclectic used car lot in Pasadena. This place had things like an absolutely mint 1940 Lincoln-Zephyr 3-seat coupe (which was easily 19 feel long with a trunk almost the length of a Miata), a DB Panhard and even a Sunbeam Harrington LeMans. In fact the day I visited the most 'normal' car on the lot was a near perfect VW 1500 Karmann Ghia (type 3). I had always hankered for a Facellia ever since I saw one given away on the 1960s nighttime version of 'The Price is Right' with Bill Cullen. And my dad had mentioned that there was a clean-looking dark blue Facellia at the oddball car lot, so I made the trip to Pasadena with the intention to walk away a French car owner.

When I got there I was totally captivated by the little Facel. This one was midnight blue with a biscuit interior, all real leather - acres of it - with a walnut dash that'd do Rolls-Royce proud and gauges for everything. In a word, the car was stunning. The bodywork was just about perfect, the chrome spectacular (Facels - like many 1960s European cars - save VW - had really soft bumpers which cope well with the American habit of parking by ear) and the interior unmarked. I was sold on this thing. As I stepped out to look under the hood at the Facellia's 1.6 liter twincam four (shades of a Miata, but with half the valves and none of the reliability), my wallet slipped out of my hip pocket. As I reached down to get it, something shiny caught my eye from under the car. Investigating the glimmer, I was treated to the sight of not a puddle or even a pool, but a lake of oil under the thing. The yard's only salesman had been talking with someone about an immaculate coral and white 1958 DeSoto Firesweep convertible, and when he finished with them, he (rather hurriedly) walked to where I was in the Facellia.

"It's got an oil leak."

"I noticed."

"But you have to understand it's a BIG oil leak. Neither our mechanic nor any of the places specializing in French cars seem to be able to stop it. So we're not asking much for it. But I wanted to tell you about the leak."

"Thanks. The leak's a bad one, isn't it?"

"It sure is. Our mechanic suggested we do an engine swap. The later models came with Volvo engines, so we're looking into that."

"Well, I think I'm all Faceled-out. Thanks anyway."

"If you'd like to look at something sporty, the mechanic is out road-testing a car we just bought. He was pretty impressed by the thing. One owner who's taken care of ..."

He broke off as the mechanic drove back in the lot, stopping right alongside the Facellia. He was driving a blue MGA Twincam coupe. I left with a blue car that day, but it wasn't the one I intended to buy.

bwob

The other day I was looking at a cutaway drawing of a Lotus Elan and comparing it to a Miata M1. Is it true that the company denies any plagiarism here?

I always wanted an Elan but I bought a Miata instead <-not a tough choice there.

Craig Moritz, Reading, PA

It's true because there was none. Mazda had an Elan (MINE - this is documented in an older "Ask Bob" which is in the Miata.net "Ask Bob" archives if you want to read the details. I have neither the time or inclination to go into them all again) but they also had a Spitfire and a OSCA. The Mazda doesn't have the Lotus' backbone chassis, and the suspension geometry is different. Yes, it is rear-drive and has a 1.6 litre engine. But so does a 1955 Alfa Romeo Giulia Spider. I wonder if Lotus deny plagiarizing the Alfa?

bwob

My Miata has died three times on the road thus far in just over a week. The second/third time, I noticed that there was no 'gas smell' under the hood after trying to start her. The engine would crank, but not start. When it stalled the second/third time(s), I sprayed starter fluid into the intake. The car would start to turn over but run rough then die immediately - obviously it was running on the starter fluid only. BUT, after an undetermined amount of time, it would then start with out a hitch! A mechanic told me it could be the fuel pump (electric in the Miata sense, and costing $270.00). ANOTHER mechanize told me it might be a cam angle sensor, as he has never heard of as fuel pump going bad on a Miata. Now another mechanic tells me it could be a sensor near the injectors. Help...

Joel K, Wayne, NJ

I'd love to help, but how? Diagnosing things mechanical by e-mail isn't any different from dropping a note to your doctor about a sore back. Somebody might get lucky and stumble upon the proper diagnosis, but more likely I'm going to as far wrong (if not more so) than any of the mechanics you've talked to. In fact, with a few thousand parts in a car and my inability to even get near the thing, I'm less likely than a mechanic at your local service station at being able to identify what's wrong with it, let alone fix the problem.

This is where being an a Miata club local chapter can help. Other members usually have a de facto database of good wrenches in a given geographical area who look after Miatas. As a member, you could get some good pointers to point you in the right direction. See, membership in your local Miata club chapter has its privileges.

bwob

Is there any way to get surf board on a Miata hard or soft top?

kat, san jose, ca

That depends upon how much duct tape you have.

bwob

I enjoy reading your commentary on the Miata.net site. Can I find your writings (Miata/non-Miata)in any other places, e.g., magazines available in the USA?

Chris Drager, Wauwatosa, WI, USA

Chris, head to a library with a good supply of old periodicals. As regards US published material, you could start with ancient issues of Motor Trend (late 1973 to early 1978), Autoweek and Automotive News between early 1978 and November 1981. After that there's a bit of a gap (what I was writing was not for general consumption) till I started writing again foe Wheels in Australia, beginning with the March, 1994 issue, through the October, 2000 copy.

bwob

Bob, I know it's popular to bad mouth the reliability of British cars. But I owned a '76 Spitfire, drove it 80,000 miles and never had to listen to rattling valve lifters or pay $1,000 to replace an A/C compressor like I have on my '91 Miata with only 60,000.

By the way, if you're the "Father" of the Miata, who is the "Mother"?

BradW, Huntsville, Alabama, USA

I owned an MGA Twincam, widely reviled as one of the world's least reliable cars, and never had a nick of trouble with it. In fact the guy I sold it to still has it and has clocked an addition 30,000 basically trouble-free miles. However it's the exceptions which prove the rule. The Spitfire we had a Mazda was a first-rate hangar queen. Perhaps if all Spitfires were as well-sorted as yours there would still be a significant British car industry. Then again, that might also mean we'd have been flying from coast to-coast in DeHaviland Comets rather than Boeings. Neither seems to have taken place in this dimension.

Then again, if I have a choice between clicky tappets which need no adjusting or the agony of valve jobs (and with the MGA I sure did a ton of those), I can live with the noise. How much have you spent on the air conditioning compressor on your Spitfire in those 80,000 miles? IF it had one (and the idea of a Lucas air conditioning setup certainly brings a smile to my face) I'd wager it would hardly be trouble free.

bwob

Bob: I have a '00 Special Ed Miata. I know I can raise the rear by lifting on the differential. Where do I place the hydraulic jack to lift up the front end in order to place jack stands by the side rails? Thanks for you assistance.

Mike, Rockville, MD,U.S.A.

The center of the front crossmember is probably the best location. But make sure it's at the center (laterally and longitudinally).

bwob