Hey Where'd You Go?

Well well well, the last post on here said I'd be posting more often, I guess that didn't happen. Last year was busy. Got married to Jill, gave away my project motorcycle, sold a turbo Miata, bought an old Mercedes-Benz wagon, purchased a newer/running motorcycle, and so it continues.

The Suzuki went to Brad, who tried to finalize the project when I lost steam. The bike flat out will not run, we've tried all but putting a new wiring harness on it, and sadly that is the fate of this project, parts bike. I gave the title to Brad and asked him to see if he could sell it off for parts and maybe get some money out of it. I learned a lot about motorcycles and don't regret the process.

The turbo Miata never made it to stage 2, something about consuming oil at a rate that was not reasonable to drive it anymore. Silly me I thought I could put a monster turbo on a worn out engine and it would be fine. Remember I like to break things, and I think I broke that car. I parted out the turbo kit to my friend Todd, who is putting it into a built engine Miata that will be what mine would have been with proper planning, and patience. It went to a good home and I learned that turbo cars are a PITA to maintain, mostly because they leak all the time. The car was sold off to a dude up in NJ who flew down and drove the car home, with a lot of oil in the trunk. He plans on building the car and doing some track days with it. Whatever he does I don't want to see that car anymore, it was a failed car from the start. My white '90 Miata got some choice suspension bits off that car and now rides on a very plush Tein Flex coilover setup that was purchased for about half of what the white Miata cost me. I put the fancy gold wheels on it, and just drive it. It's nice to have a Miata that starts every time, has A/C, and all the power options. Jill and I can hop in it anytime and take it anywhere I want to go and I don't have to think twice about driving it.

This Miata has had it's fair share of abuse though in the past year. Some teenage idiot driver hit me in the Kroger parking lot one night after work, had to replace the rear finish panel and bumper. Strike two, came home late, parked excessively low Miata behind Jill's CR-V and when she backed out to go to the gym in the morning wham, she hits the right front fender. Strike three, I'm driving to work hit some sort of monster roadkill in the road and destroy the front grill and bumper. Magnum Collision are a great group of guys, but I'd rather keep the car out of the bodyshop for the rest of the year thanks.

So after all this I have a co-worker who has far too many old Benzes. He has let me drive his '85 230TE wagon on occasion and when it came time for him to sell it he offered it to me. Of course I bought it, who can pass up a weird old car that is basically a "one of one" in the US. It was a Euro model that was imported to the US some time ago. It has a mountain of paperwork and receipts to go with it. I've added to the mountain myself and don't want to think about the amount of money I've put into it. It's a 5spd manual transmission 2.3 liter, 4 cylinder station wagon, which means your riding lawn tractor is faster off the line. At highway speeds it absolutely flies! It's a nice old car that gets me a lot of comments when I'm out with it. Jill and I drove to North West Alabama to buy a set of stamped aluminum wheels with hubcaps that matched my car. It was ten hours on the road for not much in parts, but we had a great adventure together. Right now the wagon is doing a lot of sitting, mostly because it's 90+ degrees in Atlanta and the A/C doesn't work. Sophie our lab loves to take rides in the wagon too, she goes berserk when I open the rear hatch.

During last summer Scott and I spent all of our free time building the RX-7 $2009 Grassroots Motorsports Challenge. Right at the point where we were almost done with the project my truck broke. Well more like Rodents decided my truck's wiring harness tasted pretty good. So I had the fun of re-connecting the wires going to the transmission and oxygen sensors, not fun. One trip to the ER for trying to cut my finger off, and countless hours of rolling around under the truck I got it running again. Then the fuel pump died. Scott was a trooper and came out to give me a hand dropping the fuel tank and troubleshooting the issue. We found the pump problem and I ordered a new one. Scott couldn't come out to help re-install the tank and pump so thankfully my dad leant a hand. It was pretty cool to see the old man get down on the ground and do some car wrenching. I hadn't seen that in years. That and it was almost comical trying to put this thing back together with the daylight disappearing and it raining out... Fun stuff. The truck ran, but we opted not to tow the race car to Gainesville FL with it.

Fast forward to this spring and I felt the motorcycle bug again. This time I decided I'd get a bike that RAN. I made a list of the best starter bikes, and knew what my budget was. I still had all the turbo Miata money laying around so that would be the budget. I picked up a '08 Kawasaki 250R, it's a small twin cylinder 250cc bike. It's the perfect starter bike as it's very light, low seat height, and not a ton of power or torque. I picked up the bike about an hour north of where we live, and in a torrential downpour on a weeknight. The guy I bought it from was pretty cool, but it wasn't his bike. Sketchy situation he was selling it for a friend. He had the title, it was signed etc... It was the right bike, I decided to go with it. In the end it worked out. The bike is pretty sweet, and I've picked up a new Shoei helmet and Alpinestars riding jacket. I already had the gloves, and picked up some boots. I've just taken the permit test and passed with flying colors. Next step is more practice and eventually my full motorcycle endorsement on my license. It's been fun learning the aspects of riding, and every day I learn something new either on the bike, or while researching the how's and why's of handling and controls. I really enjoy learning a new skill and something that applies to transportation. I feel very well rounded in my driving skills now. I've always wanted to know how to ride a motorcycle, I have the "what if I need to..." attitude and I always want to know the how-to. What's next planes and helicopters? It's crossed my mind.

I guess I should say stay tuned but I post randomly so I'll catch up again when I can. In the mean time I'll keep riding and learning. The cars and bikes come and go, but I still love these amazing machines. Until next time.