2002 Miata AKA Golfball

Anyway after some confusion with me going to the wrong passenger pickup location, I finally found Seth. He of course was in the Traccord, Which still looks pretty much exactly like it did when I saw it at NCM during 2019 One Lap. We made it back to the Grosh, looked over Golfball and then I got the tour of the rest of the projects in various states. Mrs. Deuce showed up with girl scout cookies and was happy to share. By the time we actually got the legal and currency part of the deal done, I noticed it was getting pretty close to 11 and I still had a whole state and change to drive across before the day was over. So we finally all said our thanks, goodbyes, nice to meet yous, and good lucks, slapped the GRM sticker on the car, took a couple pictures and I was on my way.

It took me a few miles to find where I wanted to be in the car and figure out what sort of inputs the car wanted from me to behave nicely on gear changes. Seth told me his shifter fixed actually resulted in an improvement and I'm sure it did, but it's still far from what I imagine is right. I specifically told him not to spend any more money or time on the car he was already selling me for cheap. Seth's apparently not very good at following directions if he doesn't feel like it, so he ignored the time part and just didn't buy any real parts for it. I definitely appreciate his effort on that shifter though because if what he ended up with was an improvement, it had to have been truly awful before. 80% of the weekend was spent in 5^th gear so it wasn't a huge issue. I will also say that I've already started to get used to it. After about 70 miles I decided to stop at a gas station I saw to get a drink and check the oil. We knew about an oil leak so I checked the oil at every stop. The car didn't need gas yet because Seth had filled it before I got there.

I was pretty far into Louisiana by the time I noticed the fuel gauge was reading just under ¼. I knew going in I had a small tank and didn't know what sort of fuel range and fuel sending unit behavior I was dealing with so I started looking for a fuel stop. I ended up at a Shell station in Grosse Tette that I initially couldn't figure out how to get to. I missed the not very obvious driveway and found myself turning around in the gravel parking lot of a very shady looking shop with some people outside that seemed confused and judgmental at the sight of the tiny white car wearing Texas plates with a dumb tourist driving it. Getting back to the Shell station I found that I had to cross a tiny bridge over a creek to get onto their lot. I fed Golfball a few gallons of 93 with a pump that was missing the lock from the handle then moved the car over to the side lot. When I got out of the car and looked around I noticed that there was a small building right behind the gas station. Turns out this building was a casino. The Grand Bayou Casino is far less grand than its name would suggest. The convenient store wasn't very grand either with the bathroom which literally had a trough with constant running water rather than urinals. I took a leak in the stall, washed my hands, bought a bottle of water then get back on the road.

The rest of the day's drive was fairly uneventful I made it to my overnight stop with Pete Gossett around 8pm. Pulling into his neighborhood, checking my phone at a stop sign to read his text with how to find his house again, then following that I soon saw a garage open with the lights on and a dude standing next to a white NA Miata. I was pretty sure I had found the right place. Pete, his daughter, and myself got in the new Fit and drove to a nearby spot for dinner. I immediately noticed that a Fit feels pretty huge inside after spending a few hours in a Miata. After dinner we went back to the house and I observed Pete feeding baby rescue possums. Turns out that's a fairly neat process and the program Pete helps with with the rescue possums is cool and I'm glad it exists. I got to meet Nora the house turtle, a few cats that really like attention, some sugar gliders that seem to get curious when they see a strange new human, and a rabbit that wasn't very happy about me getting up at an early hour to go the bathroom. Before I left the next morning we pulled Golfball inside to check fluids and tire pressures. I had to get a shot of the 2 white Miatas next to each other. I noticed later that it was the first picture I took of my new car that actually showed the hail damage. We talked a bit more and then I headed out, probably doing the exact opposite of what Pete told me to do. I turned left, found a cone blocking the road, so I turned around and just did what Waze told me to do. Pete was trying to help me avoid doing that and miss a left turn into traffic that could be difficult. Luckily I left early enough that there wasn't anybody else at that intersection when I got there.

Heading north towards Alabama I had one of 2 close calls of the whole trip. An Escalade went from the right lane to the left lane with the intention of making a U-turn through a median crossover. When they did that they almost made contact with the Astro that was in the left lane already. They made a quick move to dodge the Astro which appeared to almost roll the Escalade and had me looking for a safe line around them. Luckily they had their mess gathered up by the time I got to them, I still cut over onto the shoulder a bit to give them plenty of room. They avoided contact but I'm sure the driver of the Astro probably yelled some words that would be caught by auto correct filters. Having safely avoided being caught in a pileup caused by somebody else's stupidity and balling up my new car I didn't even legally own yet. I shook it off and kept heading north.

Through Alabama I passed a pair of early 90s Ford trucks pulling open trailers with obvious drag cars on them. I made a couple stops while they made slow steady progress so I'd see them 2 more times before I crossed into Tennessee. I'm sure they probably noticed the same silly white Miata passing them 3 times in the same day too. The rough road through Alabama was unpleasant in the NB on 16"s. Their part of I-65 is intermittently either in the middle of being repaired or obvious that they didn't even try. But progress remained steady. When I noticed signs for Huntsville I considered getting off and looking for photo opportunities with a Miata in front of a space rocket, but ultimately decided not to.  Later in the day I also made sure to text my buddy that plays country music a crappy joke about leaving Montgomery on north 65. 

Getting into Tennessee I had my 2nd close call. An RV apparently suddenly lost power going up a steep hill. I came up on them going 30mph, slowed to their speed because I had faster traffic coming up on me in the left lane. With all the cars going around me and the slow RV I didn't have a gap I felt safe trying to get into. Finally the wounded RV pulled off onto the shoulder and I matted it trying to get back up to speed as quickly as possible as soon as my lane was clear. After that was more rough roads. I was getting close to Nashville and realized I really had to pee and the fuel gauge was very close to the E. So I took the next exit I saw and started looking for a gas station. I ended up in Brentwood and found a station. I pulled up to the pump, didn't see anybody around so I went and peed, made a joke to the person at the counter about pulling in with a full bladder and an empty tank, then went to fill the Miata for the last time of the day. That's when I noticed some unfortunate price gouging on 93 that I assume was because of the neighborhood we were in. The car was low enough on gas I really didn't want to leave and look for another station. So I put  7 gallons  in and called it good enough.  After the gas stop I made a food stop then headed north again.

The rest of the way into Kentucky was easy. On I65 in Nashville I could see the damage recent storms did to signs and street lights. I understand most of the serious storm damage wasn't in that part of Nashville. Either way I wasn't interested in going and looking for it. When I got to Bowling Green I decided I had had enough interstate and took my usual 2 lane back roads between BG and home. I pulled into my driveway just before sunset. 

Final thoughts on the car: I'm very happy with it. It's rough around the edges but everything I care about is either already really good or there's an obvious simple path to make it good. I definitely need to adjust things to better fit me, but I noticed as the miles went on that I sort of naturally found a position in the car that was very tolerable. I look forward to more adventures with the car. It's more than likely going to be a long term member of the fleet.

In reply to Daylan C :

You definitely got a good Miata for a great price. Glad the rest of your trip was mostly drama-free.

Great story!

So the entire time I was driving from Houston. I noticed how buzzy the car was in 5th at freeway speeds. I got over it because I'm new to this world. 

Turns out I was right. That was weird. I found 6th gear a few minutes ago. It was hiding under a 5 speed shift knob and a broken shifter.

I had no idea. I drove it home from work one time and around the block a couple of times. Shifter was terrible until I "fixed" it and it's still pretty bad. I should have charged Daylan more........ 

Omg. 

I wish my manual cars had 6th gear, they're both pretty buzzy at highway speeds in 5th too.  

Ok home from work now. Turns out 3500rpm at 75mph in 6th is more pleasant than 4200rpm at 70mph in 5th. I really I wish I had learned this a couple days ago.

I'm convinced that Seth is the best person in the world to buy a used car from.

In reply to BoostedBrandon :

Definitely the best car buying experience I've had.

10/10 would recommend. 

Seth can I put in an order for your next car to buy?  Then I can buy it when you get tired of it. 

Broken

Better

Daylan C....bubba this is another Seth infused thread  with a pinch of PeteG.....always a good thing.....hey all I have to ad is I65 north thru BHam is major berked ....glad yo got the GBall home safe enjoy

Seth's pile of tube solution worked pretty well, sort of.

The remains of the boots it was covering.

Here's the pile of new bits. After I ordered the wrong kit thinking I had a 5 speed, I re-ordered the 6 speed kit. The rep I spoke with on the phone found the story of the mix up just as amusing as the rest of us.

The main problem with the shifter was found to be this bushing. Pictured here is the shiny new bronze bit. What was there before was...nothing. So basically I had to move the lever a guesstimated quarter inch before the other end even made contact with anything. 

So now it's all back together with new boots and bushings and it doesn't feel like my gears are trying to hide from me. I'm happy.

Updates: 

Stock radio sort of worked but was missing most of the buttons and the display worked some of the time. So it got replaced by a mechless Pioneer with bluetooth.

The oil leak Seth warned me of held pretty well from the drive home from Texas but after a few days of commuting with it back home it got worse. I traced it down down the seal between the oil cooler and the block. Oil was literally just dribbling out from that seal. After a multi day process of getting the wrong seal several times, I finally got the right one. I got it all together and the engine is actually holding oil inside of it now. No pics of that mess because it was in a tight spot to get a camera to and I just wanted it done.

Also, I want to go down to 15"s for multiple reasons, mostly for more sidewall and a slightly nicer ride when I'm commuting in this car. So I somehow ended up with 2 sets of 15" wheels coming.

1st. Bobzilla is bringing these down next weekend and taking my spare 350 with him when he leaves. 

Those will be wrapped in westlakes for commuter purposes. Also ordered a set of these to put tires on for autocross.

Finally, here's a pic of it from me spending most of yesterday wondering around back roads.

Great story!

Daylan C (Forum Supporter) said:

 

Those are some neat looking wheels!

This was broken.

So I got these.

One old dirty light and one new LED.

And now 2 new LEDs

And yes, Golfball is filthy. I'm sorry.