Brickmiata

I hope the day never comes that manual transmissions become obsolete. I own a Comanche in part because new trucks seem to not offer manual transmissions anymore. As long as I have a choice, I will never own any vehicle with an auto.

It's pouring pretty good here in central MA but I got some wiring done on both of the winter rides today. Comanche lighting all works and I have a trailer plate light on the way for the tailgate. Hoping to fix the nonoperational windshield washer next. Eventually it will be painted some sort of forest green color. The ten shades of red and maroon are less obvious in the rain but pretty obnoxious looking up close.

Haha mine still has the original also.

I have never owned a new (or even close tot new) car but every car I have owned has been like this. I don't know for sure but I'm pretty sure first and reverse don't have synchros so its luck of the draw whether or not they are perfectly lined up. Even when it isn't cold outside, I've always found its easier to shift into either of the two if the vehicle has just started to roll or if I blip the throttle while pushing/pulling into gear. When it is really cold outside and the gear oil isn't really doing its job yet, I've always found double clutching into all other gears to be the best way to go.

It's been a slow weekend/week due to 15 degree weather every time I'm home. I have a garage but of course the summer autox build is hiding from the cold in there. I may not have even mentioned it but the float switch in the plow controller was bad and as such, I had a jumper wire rigged so I could simply push on it and it would go to float position. I had looked for a new controller and found them for $150 used to $350 new. Instead, I did some research, got a new switch and desoldered/soldered the new one onto the board. While I was at it, I relocated the controller away from my left knee's line of fire. Hoping for some good snow soon.

I tried to take mine apart to diagnose the problem and clean them and they crumbled into little bits :doh:. I was expecting this and just ordered the new ones.

Well, the front harness connector was deleted when I bought the truck with crimp connectors. I soldered and heat shrunk in place of the crimps as a first step to solve the problems. Between that and refreshing grounds, the headlights and drivers turn signal now work properly. The rear lighting harness was removed and cleaned up and all of the rear lights work properly and at full strength. I bought a new socket today so I'll soon find out if that's the issue.

They still make a truck with a manual trans!!???

Well the hole isn't open for the handle but rather than the whole piece being a solid piece of plastic, there is a blanking plate attached from the back. Same material as the rest of the insert which leads me to believe it is just as factory as the rest of the console. Sound right?

Mine ran "normally" with an equally large vac leak that was actually a few ports on the manifold uplugged. I did not notice it idling or running rough but power and fuel mileage were both down a bit. Also an 87 4.0. It seems to keep running no matter what is unhooked or unplugged.

My 87 has a full console in it just like the ones I see people retrofit from Cherokees. Its even a perfect match for the terribl(ly awesome :brows:) burgundy color of the rest of the interior. Was this a factory option for MJs?

The flasher is brand new and did solve part of the problem. It used to be both front turn signals staying lot on the dash and the passenger side wouldn't blink at all. Now only the passenger side stays lit on the dash and the front blinker/marker doesn't light up unless the blinker is on and then it is very dim

I haven't had anyone ask me if it's for sale yet but I've only been driving it for 1 month and have received plenty of questions about it. I would imagine that up here where the rust is bad, these are a very rare sight.

Got to drive it in the snow and plow for the first time Saturday night. I didn't do too much, just my driveway and my mother's but the truck handles snow with no problem. It wasn't deep but I didn't slip around or even grab for 4-low once. During the snow, I was reminded by a friendly neighborhood officer that I still don't have a license plate light and that I'm still running around with the 3yr old Virginia sticker on the windshield :rotf: but got off without a warning. Next up, license plate light and a fix for my front passenger turn signal which blinks at half strength and stays illuminated on the dash as long as the headlights are on. I've been told this is likely the socket or wiring in the area so I'll be ripping through that and replacing everything that looks at me funny soon.

Got my seats finished up. If you look, you can see that the passenger seat is higher than the driver side. I spent an hour redesigning the drivers side to lower it down which helped get me where I wanted in relation to the pedals and wheel. The passenger seat did not get so much time invested but is at a very comfortable height nonetheless.

Not sure about the bed. I'll have to take some measurements and either fabricate something or go cut some replacements from a Dakota or some other small truck. The bed is in pretty good shape otherwise so I'd prefer to keep it.

No I don't have a lot of experience welding aluminum. The tank is the one from mac's radiator that people talk about around here. It's a very nicely made piece even if it's a bit on the expensive side.

Those are 15x7" 6ul's from 949 racing with 205/50/15 Dunlop ZII's. The tires have about 15k of hard driving and close to 20 codriven autox days on them so new ones are in order come warmer weather.

Agreed. Older mr2 is one of the few cars I've never driven around an autox course. Would love to. I've heard great things about them.

I still need to take it back out and lower it an inch or two but it's just about done and a hell of an improvement from the sagging stocker. Also removed the rest of the a/c system and fixed up the headlight harness today.

New picture of the front end for the fun of it. Also, the coolant leak is no more. Aaaaaaaannnnndd a quick pic of the worst thing the PO did.

Just replaced the same leaky pos today. Mine was leaking from the expansion part of the bottle though.

I have not looked to closely at the seats yet. I don't expect it will be too difficult. I have a bunch of plate steel and a welder. Today I finish welded my exhaust and replaced the fuel filter which helped startup even more.

Haha idk about the body change but I would love a monster miata. These are going in next 700lb front 450lb rear 4" pinch weld to pavement!

You just need 4th! 3.07 gears suck even with 235/75/15s but I'm used to close ratio sports cars so downshifting on the highway is no big deal. My comanche has no trouble passing the end of the 85mph speedo and it's not calibrated right so that's really 90 or so! You just need to know your powerband and stay in it.