the 02 emerges... any other midwesterners out yet?

[KFunk]

it seems safe... rain has washed the salt off.. no snow in the immediate forecast.... i think its all clear for now!

she was not happy to be awaken... since I never got around to adding Sta-bil to the gas. It ran like crap, like it was on one cylinder, and it couldn't idle. I limped it to the gas station and topped it off with some premium. Then I limped it home and let it idle for a bit and tuned the carbs a little. Then I took off and pulled out of my alley in front of a bunch of kids on a trampoline, gave it a lot more gas to take off since I thought it was still running like crap, but holy crap it finally kicked in and the tires lit up in the cinders and whipped the rear-end around and she was ready to go. I hit the backroads and gave it the old italian tune-up, and its runnin great now.

it musta had some old gas gumming up one of the DCOEs. I've got some other squeaks and rattles, but she's running great for the most part. Nice to be back in the comfy old smell and have some real torque.

The gas tank is empty in the miata, so I'm parking it and calling it a total loss. Plus it needs another set of tires and a power steering pump... and I don't feel like messing with it.

So anybody else back on the road?

[Timmer]

I usually wait until April. I did get oil filters a few days ago, ordered from Carl at La Jolla Independent, still on sale at $3.50 each. I'll change the oil/filter, put a few drops of oil on the felt pad under the distributor rotor, add a bottle of dry gas to the fuel tank, put the battery back in and start it up., factory spec. motor rebuild with about 4k on it now, has started right up after being in my garage from December through April or so., Solex 36-40 with the manual choke. It will be mild here for a few days but I've generally held off until beginning of April.

Tim

'69 2000

[KFunk]

Yeah, I changed my oil as well yesterday. Amazing how easy it is on the 02, took me like 3 minutes of total work time.

I've gotta find a solution to the rear tailpipe hitting the body, thats getting really annoying. Figured new OEM hangers with white plastic mounts would take care of it.. but nope. Too many patch welds holding my exhaust together that aimed it wrong direction somehow.

[Timmer]

Kevin,

It's so much easier for me to get to the oil filter on the 2000 when the battery is out. I have the plier- end type filter wrench, much easier for me to get the oil filter off than the standard metal banded filter wrench. I remember putting a new factory exhaust on the '74 2002 I had and had to position the tail pipe of the muffler just below the notch of the rear panel for it not to clunk.

Tim

'69 2000

[KFunk]

It's mainly odd that I don't have to jack up the 02 to drain the oil. I gotta get out the jack for most other cars. Heck, in the 02 I can remove the drain plug from the top if I want to!

For my miata, I gotta drive it onto boards so I can fit a floorjack underneath it, plus have to squeeze my skinny arm under the intake manifold to find the oil filter.

I'm wondering if I can loosen up my my muffler clamp and spin the muffler around a bit and tighten it down in a different position to keep it from hitting. Either way, a clunk is better than this:

I think I ran 2 laps like that!

[Jim_75Sahara]

Mine's been off the road since December, I think, or was it Nov.? Had some work done back then. I need to put the refurbished front seats back in. Waiting for a nice day to get out on the driveway where there's some room to work. My garage is teeny-tiny, but it keeps my '02 out of the elements. Need to see how the radiator handles the mountains since it's been cleaned out thoroughly and has new fluids. It ran hot to and from Vintage last year. I have been looking at the "Big Book of Dieter" that my wife made for me w/ photos from various '02 events during the salt/slush season.

[Jim_75Sahara]

Mine's been off the road since December, I think, or was it Nov.? Had some work done back then. I need to put the refurbished front seats back in. Waiting for a nice day to get out on the driveway where there's some room to work. My garage is teeny-tiny, but it keeps my '02 out of the elements. Need to see how the radiator handles the mountains since it's been cleaned out thoroughly and has new fluids. It ran hot to and from Vintage last year. I have been looking at the "Big Book of Dieter" that my wife made for me w/ photos from various '02 events during the salt/slush season.

[Turb02]

Mine has been off the road since 2005...can anyone top that

End of spring is when I hope to have her on the road. awaiting an engine build and brakes and suspension and...