Hi all,

As the subject says, I’m wondering what I can put in place of my ashtray
since I don’t smoke.  I’m sure there much be something useful I can
replace it with.

My miata is a ’93.

Thanks!

To recap, I asked about that bar behind the seats on the deck of my
’97 Miata.  I was thinking of trying removing it and asked for
thoughts on it’s function.  Well, I had to try it.  It wasn’t too hard
to get off.  As I thought, it’s mounted with a couple of really big
bolts.  When it was removed, I had a fairly significant increase in
shudder when I hit potholes and even manhole covers on the road that I
drive every day.  I put it back on and the shudder was reduced down to
normal.  End of experiment.

Thanks for all your input.  Have fun!

After 9 years of service, my exhaust has given up the ghost.  It
rusted through at the exit of  the catalytic converter.  Anyone have
any advise on replacement.  Is there something that will give me some
additional ponies without being too loud?

Pardon me if this is a FAQ (rather, I know it’s a FAQ, but I haven’t
actually seen an answer to my twist on the question).  I’m a Miata
owner wannabe and struggling with the "what year to buy" dilemma.  I’m
perfectly capable of deciding what body style I prefer for my eyeballs
to look at, but I’m wondering about the seat of pants difference
between the two (I guess there’s three differences: 1) NA with 1.6, 2)
NA with 1.8, and 3) NB with 1.8).

A local owner in local Miata club sent me an interesting outline he’d
done comparing his many year experiences in his ’91 to a few months in
his ’02.  I haven’t seen much (if any) discussion about seat of the
pants feel differences and would love to find some.  If there are some
discussions of this, please point me to them.  If not, I’d love to
hear the opinions of those who have driven both.

Thanks a bunch and hope to soon join your ranks.

————
Mark Ferris
To really send me mail: markdf2001 <at> yahoo <dot> com

Big Bertha Thing burster
Cosmic Ray Series
Possible Real World System Constructs
http://tonylance.mybravenet.com/gammaray.html
16K Web Page
Astrophysics net ring access site
Newsgroup Reviews including sci.astro.seti

Gamma Ray Bursters

 v1.0
 01 feb 2000
 Greg Goebel
 public domain

Contents List:-
1.THE DISCOVERY OF GRBS
2.PINPOINTING A GRB
3.CAUGHT IN THE ACT
4.COMMENTS, SOURCES, & REVISION HISTORY

Big Bertha Thing publication

The statistics for Big Bertha Thing postings published
on sci.astro are as follows:-

20 No. 50K primary postings   (out of 26)
 2 No. 600K    ditto          (out of 4)
12 No. off-topic postings     (out of 200)
 4 No. 50K secondary postings (out of 26)
20 No. 4K      ditto          (out of 26)
20 No. 2K      ditto          (out of 26)
24 No. astronomical postings  (out of 2000)

There was almost zero response to the above, which were
spread over 28 days, at the rate of two days per week.

Book-burners deleted the archive of Net Access Policy
postings prior to 2nd November 1998. Bertha saved those,
with the exception of replies and published 12.

The above were also posted to the Onenet conference
Astronomy & Space. Here days 18, 19, 20, were minimal
keep-off-the-grass days and on days 27 and 28 they
broke ranks. The on-topic filibuster of sound-bite
journalism ended, at 42 days old.
(The beginning of the end of spam.)
Thank you,
Tony Lance
pobo…@big-bertha-thing.com

Big Bertha Thing debit

UK big banks have now made debit cards mandatory.
1. Every cheque book has a debit card.
2. You do not sign agreement for debit card.
3. Lost or stolen cards must be cancelled.
4. Insure debit cards for 1000 pounds sterling.
5. For every 8 pounds loss charged to the customer, the bank can
   lend 92 pounds. (Multiplier)
6. Cheque guarantee card included.
7. Cash Card included.
8. Phantom withdrawals included.
9. 50 pounds cashback at supermarkets.
10. 250 pounds ‘Hole-in-the-wall’ withdrawals.
11. 100 pounds Post Office and bank withdrawals.
12. How do you prove that you have cut the card up and disposed of it?
13. How do you prove that you did not use it before destruction?
14. Cut the card up and give to your solicitor or third party for
    safe-keeping. (Escrow)
15. The survival of the banks depends on putting customers to the
    sword. (Barbaric) Obviously not all customers, just enough.
16. Unauthorized access to debit card accounts, includes both
    criminals and bank insiders, which seem to be synonymous.
17. Authorized access to debit card accounts, includes bank
    insiders, grazing on the customers like milk cows, in their
    official capacity, as per job description.
18. You no longer need to prove this in a court of law, since it is
    endemic and ubiquitous. (Common knowledge) Case law sufficient
    for class action.

Hi all
I might be going for a trip to Sunny Florida later this year.

Anyone know of a place to rent a Miata (preferably manual) in or
fairly near Sarasota?
—
Per K. Nielsen
Pixie – 94 Classic Red

Hello.  I am ready to buy my first Miata and would like to get some
advice on the one I want to buy.  It is a 2000 LS, manual with leather
interior.  The Miata looks great.  It has only 5500 miles and has been
kept in a garage in southern california.  I have two main questions:
1. Are there any service problems with this year I need to look for?
2.  Would a car driven this little have problems from sitting too
much?  Thanks, Randy

Well, the battery in my wife’s RAV-4 died yesterday so I pulled the Exide,
el cheepo, out of the Miata so she could get to work this morning – no,
she’s not driving the Miata and parking it under the ‘birdshit’ tree!
Anyway, I know that I need to get the proper battery for the Zoom, ZOOM but
I can’t get it in a day so I need to re-install the Exide for a few days.

QUESTION – what is the best way to clean out the corrosion, etc. that is in
the battery area without removing all of the upholstery, etc.  Maybe baking
soda and a spray bottle of water or maybe WD-40?  Any great ideas out
there??

TIA

Glen 94 "C"
g…@ccim.net

I had asked for some opinions on tires a while back and thanks to those
who responded.  I decided on Pirelle P7000′s. I was amazed at what
limited options the local shops offered as replacement options for the
205/45R16 tires.  Hopefully these tires will be better than the stock
tires which they replaced.  Anyway when the shop put the new tires on, I
had them do an alignment, since the old tires where wearing badly.

Unfortunately, now I’m not sure whether the cars handling is due to the
tires or the new alignment.  I was wondering if anyone could comment on
the alignment stats that the service shop printed out:

Front
-left  camber 0.0, caster 5.8, toe 0.07 degrees
-right camber 0.1, caster 5.0, toe 0.06 degrees

cross camber -0.2
cross caster 0.8
total toe    0.13 degrees

Rear
-left  camber -0.5, toe 0.26 degrees
-right camber -0.8, toe 0.12 degrees

cross camber 0.3
total toe    0.38
thrust angle 0.07

Car is certainly handling differently.  Seems to have a bit of oversteer.

Thanks in advance.

Shaun’s request for a mild sounding exhaust replacement caused me to
pull the URL for what I thought was a great collection of Miata exhaust
sounds. Unfortunately,
http://www.sjvmc.net/sounds/miata.htm
no longer exists. It appears the San Joaquin Valley Miata Club no longer
hosts the sound pages. Anyone know if it is available elsewhere? This
really was a good service to the Miata community.
—
Ken Lyons ’97 Brilliant Black/’90 Classic Red
Inside the Beltway
(remove the year to reply)