Miscellaneous tips

• Dipstick Repair
  Forget spending $15 on a new dispstick for your miata when the yellow plastic loop breaks.
• Polished Turn Signals
  A good rainy day or winter project: make the turn signal platic look cleaner.

Driving tips

• Hella M1 Headlamps
  I was never impressed with the lighting of the M1. The low beams seemed weak in comparison to my OTM Integra, and the Highbeams were equally inferrior. I am not sure how I missed the Hella kit on Dealer Alternatives web size (I though I had it memorized before I even found Tatjana) but I am sorry I did. This would have been my first item purchased. I am that impressed with how much sharper the light is. I purchased the optional 80/100 watt bulbs and absolutely love it. The Hella lamps offer a very sharp cut off, a brighter light, and a very white light. The Sylvania lamps that I had in previously gave off a bit of a yellowish light, that had a short fuzzy cut off. The total kit with the StoneGard protectors and brighter bulbs cost about $150 shipped, and is worth every penny. This is a safety device, and if you drive at night in a little 2100 lb car, you want to see what is around, and have others see you coming. Forget the PIAAs for now. They may look cool, but their function is limited. Go with the Hellas. You will not regret it.
• Visor Removal
  Basically useless devices on the miata. I plugged the holes up and like how it looks now.

Maintenance/service tips

• Clutch Installation Tips and Pictures
  After looking at the parts in my living room for 6 months, and pushing the limit of my 100K OEM clutch with forced induction, I finally swapped in my Max-5.
• Castrol SuperClean Wheel Cleaner
  When I received Tatjana, I learned that cleaning the 90-93 alloy wheels is no joy. Many say P21S is the best cleaner for brake dust. Its also expensive and hard to get. I had no patience for mail order, so I went to work on them with a toothbrush (yes, an old one) and SuperClean. Spray, soak, scrub, rinse with H20. Repeat. In the image, I show the left side of the wheel cleaned, and the right side dirty (this was normal dirt, not the original condition of the dirty wheels when I received Tatjana).
• P21S Wheel Gel
  When it comes to wheel cleaners, P21S has an pristine reputation for being one of the best. One problem is that its not sold in you average Mom and Pop auto parts store: you have to hunt it down. A few vendors on the Internet will mail order it to you. When I first wanted to clean Tatjana's neglected wheels, I was not patient enough to wait for it to come in. On top of that, the SuperClean did a pretty good job. Eventually I picked up a bottle of P21S Wheel Cleaner Gel and gave it a shot at getting some of the remaining grime off of Tatjana's wheels. Here is how it turned out.
• Door Sills
  Most miatas that are not special editions do not have any door sills. What are door sills you ask? If you have something covering the exposed paint on the lower frame of the car (when you open the door), then you have a door sill. This item could be placed into the Toys section, but door sills do serve a functional purpose: it prevents the paint from being beat on as you get in and out of the car with your grimey shoes. You can spend $25 on a plastic set, or $100+ on aluminum sets. I chose the former with the spiffy lettering. I picked this set up from Team Miata and am quite happy with them. The install took about 2 minutes per side. Simply use a phillips head screw driver to remove the 4 mounts screws on the molding, plase the door sill under the molding, line up between the 4 holes and re-assemble the molding. Done.
• Shifter Oil Change
  Changing the oil in the shifter (if there is any left) can do wonders
• Window Protector
  Unless you have an M2 or a Robbins replacement top with glass, you have a plastic window in your miata that has a knack for getting scratched. Several vendors make window protectors for the plastic miata windows. The concept is simple: create a little protective blanket for the plastic to help keep scratches away. I went with the Atlantic Design one, purchased from PBC. This was ordered before I even picked up the car, and I consider it a must for anyone who hates to polish and buff scratches out of plastic.
• General Items
  • If you plan on doing more then an oil change, invest in the factory service manual and/or the Miata Enthusiast manual. Its worth it.
  • Since we all cannot afford a Oil Filter Relocation kit (which is way cool BTW), the miata oil filter is a PITA to get to. If you cannot reach down from the top (I can, but my hands are a bit thin) removing the right front wheel will get you an angle to it. Not bad if you are also rotating your tires at the same time!
  • If you rotate your own tires, invest in a decent torque wrench. I use Husky tools which are fine for what I do. Too many shops rotate tires and never bother to properly torque the wheel lugs. Not a good thing for rotors.