'Phira Is Being A Bitch

She's taken to throwing P0420 codes at random (and then rescinding them a few days later).  FYI, all a P0420 is is a notification that the kitty is working below threshold efficiency.

"Cycling In New Orleans" or "How Would You Like To Die Today?" (Part 2 of 2)

So I've been riding bicycles for a while now.  Had my first mountain bike when i was 7 or 8, a blue Schwinn Frontier 24" and by high school I had graduated to my dad's old 3-speed Collegiate and been gifted a customized Schwinn Cruiser Alloy SS

(white wall tires, chrome fenders and a 7-speed hub)

I wasn't commuting, that's for sure, but I knew my way around the city.  And there's one thing that I learned very quickly:  New Orleanians don't know how to drive...period.  

Now I'm sure by now you're thinking "Well he covered that in the last post."  You'd be correct.  But I covered it from the viewpoint of someone driving a tiny sportscar.  You know, with 2300lbs of sheetmetal, crumple zones, seatbelts and airbags surrounding him?  But what about cyclists?  They have none of that.  All you have is a styrofoam helmet and your wits to protect you from awful motorists but even worse, they also have to protect you from yourself!

"From myself?"  you ask?  Yes, from yourself.  You see, now that I actually have commuted to work on a bicycle (its about 8.5mi each way for me) I can tell you for sure that the temptation to bend the rules of the road is there constantly.  This is the bike that I commute on:

(2008 Schwinn Coffee 3spd w/ vintage Schwinn Accessories)

Unfortunately it really isn't cut out for commuting.  With only 3 gears it can be a bit of a mule to pick speed back up on after coming to a complete stop, especially since I've never been able to get the chain tension just right and hard cranking pops it off the sprocket.  So when I come up on an intersection that's going red or a stop sign, the temptation to run it is definitely there.  That's something that no amount of legislation or infrastructure improvement will be able to fix.

Here's something that can be fixed though.  Assuming cyclists were obeying all the motor traffic laws as they're meant to, there's still the matter of the inattentive, inconsiderate or just plain incompetent motorist.  My route to work is a perfect example.  Much of it is covered by bicycle lanes of one sort or another.  Some are on grassy medians, completely separated from motor vehicle traffic.  The longest stretch however is on shared pavement with 1 lane of 35mph traffic to my immediate left and parallel parking to my immediate right with only enough spare room to pass a slower cyclist if they let me.  

As I mentioned in my last post, a common problem with bicycle lanes in New Orleans (because of how they are set up in the roadways) is that taxicabs use them as hack stands, pulling into them and idling while the pick up or drop off fares.  Its bad enough to come up on one of these when you've seen it ahead from two blocks back but they do one worse, passing you in traffic and the pulling directly in front of you, cutting you off with less than a second to find an exit strategy.  This would be fixable though the creation of hack stands on each block when a bicycle lane shares pavement with a single lane of traffic.

I'M STILL HERE!!

Sorry if I'm a bit remote lately.  Working on school, work, and juggling a bunch of other stuff including this blog which, to be honest, comes last of all those in terms of importance.

Finally got 'Phira back from the mechanic.  She's got a whole bunch of new kit on her including new seals, new shifter bushings, clutch, lightened flywheel, bearings, engine mounts and MORE but she still needs a new clutch master/slave job which will have to wait until next month i think.  Until then, clutch engagement is about 1" off the floor, haha.  THE ROLL BAR IS IN!!  And aside from protecting my noggin' in the event she turns over, its also provided a very noticeable stiffening effect on the chassis which pleased me a lot.

(Its a Hard Dog Sport DD with custom geometry to fit aftermarket glass-windowed tops)

TTYL,

Taylor

"How This Blog Works" or "Go Watch This Other Thing Too"

So by now if you're a regular viewer (and it looks like I might actually have one or two even) you've noticed that I don't post super-often.  Usually once every week or so.  So instead of checking constantly (which lets get realistic, is boring and annoying as hell) why not go follow me on Instagram and/or Twitter?  I post a lot of stuff over there as well, some of which doesn't make it here all the time, and I also plug new Blog posts as soon as I post them up.

My Instagram is:  miata_taylor
My Twitter is:  MiataDragon

T

"Oh no!" or "What just happened here?"

So as I may have mentioned, 'Phira is a definite work in progress.  Her previous owner maintained her but just barely.  When I got her the O-ring on her cam angle sensor was completely deteriorated and hard as a rock, she had several seeping seals on the front of her engine, a radiator that was on its last leg, a leaky top, toasted suspension bushings (and with double wishbone all around, that's a lot of bushings), old rubber hoses, etc.  She was basically a 16-year-old car that had been moderately maintained.  The downside to that was I was getting her right when stuff was about to start wearing out.  The upside is that once I finish her I'll have a great, shiny little sportscar for the total investment of a Honda Civic LX plus a little which, lets be honest, is the total cost of that car anyway since you can't just leave it for stock.  My old FA1, "Gracie," ended up with an extra $5-6k invested in her after all.

So anyway...I'm heading to work Sunday morning and she bogs a little pulling out of the driveway.  I don't notice it since she does this occasionally when she's starting cold and doesn't like the temperature outside (too hot/cold).  I'm about five minutes out of work when the steady CEL i've been seeing for a while starts flashing.  The engine's working okay and I don't hear any funny sounds so I continue to work, park and look it up.  Of course the forums say I probably should not have done that since I've likely killed my cat but I'm pretty sure it was already dead to begin with so I'm cool with that.

'Phira being loaded onto a AAA flatbed.  You can see her peeling clearcoat best from this angle.

'Phira likes being tied down, but don't tell anyone

She's now sitting at Motorsports For Miatas in Jefferson waiting for the work to begin.  I'm really not looking forward to this bill.  Maybe I should take paypal donations, haha.  (I am BTW.  Use roadsterland@yahoo.com)