If It's Not Cars, It's Wolfboy Eyes
4/22/2

Ok, lots of stuff, little time.

Friday, when I got off work, I went by Mazda to see if I could fit into a Miata since NASA Contact said I�d be too large. The stats online about the interior size are misleading, but I do fit into it. The mechanism for the top work wonderfully and the car feels nice and solid. It seems that some type of VTECness is involved in the torque peak since it�s like a normal car until 4000 RPMs and then it freaks out, or basically it has a very flat torque peak so you can keep pulling over a broad range of RPMs.

The one I drove was yellow and some limited edition thing. It was $28,000 dollars, and really quite nice.

When I got back to my car, it had dumped all it�s antifreeze underneath it. Good thing the salesguy didn�t see it. Thank goodness for tall curbs. I took the car to Midas next door, which nicely has the front of the building facing Drake Ave rather than Leeman Ferry, the road that the Mazda place is on.

It was $54 to get a new hose and new clamps and new coolant. Seems that Universal Automotive reused an old pinch clamp on my car. This $54 added to the $36 needed to reattach the skid plate and AC condenser they didn�t attach makes the total repairs due to Universal�s negligence at $90.

My car will not go back there again.

On Saturday, the fire bellied newt managed to get out of the tank. I found Velvet smacking him on the carpet. I put him back and he didn�t seem in the best of health. However, he also escaped when we were at church on Sunday, so he wasn�t feeling too under the weather. I don�t think one of the cats got him, as he has those poisonous markings on him. I assume he is dead dead deadski.

Also, while I was at Midas, it was discovered that my AC compressor is turning itself off, more than likely due to the fact that I don�t have enough freon. It will be $29 for an inspection and $25 per pound of freon. I�ll get around to that on Thursday. I�m not sure it�s cutting off due to the low freon, after all, my car was struggling with overheating when I was there. I�m thinking it�s a safety thing designed into the car so it won�t overheat too badly.

Also, my right contact got some tear in it or something. So I�m wearing one of the slightly uncomfortable Freshlook colored contacts. Only in bright light do I really look like wolfboy. I have an eye appointment on Thursday at 3 p.m. So I guess I�ll take car of that AC thing on Friday.

I can�t do it on Wednesday, since I�m going to the Kronos dealer for an oil change and have them look at the three sensors which are the heart of the cooling system. I�ve had this overheating in heavy traffic problem for quite a while. Universal put a new radiator in and a new thermostat, if they can be trusted, so it�s not those two parts. I just got that new hose. Oh, and before Aisai and I go on vacation I�ll replace all the clamps with the screw type.

Now, with as badly as I dislike Universal...guess where Aisai�s car is? Yep, they have it. They said after cleaning some throttle body housing [which Clark�s has charged us to clean a few weeks before Universal got the 626] that the check engine light might come on, if memory serves, because of the Oxygen sensor. They�d reset the whatever for free. It�s not so simple as pulling the positive off the battery, as this is an OPM2, or something.

So, today Aisai drops the car off before 11 a.m. and they are saying they don�t know if it will be done before five o�clock when they close. If not, we�ll pick it up anyway.

Oh, and on the 25th the Bootman comes. I think since I go into the field at times I might be able to swing some nice Wellingtons rather than normal work boots. Black Wellingtons would be cool.