Miata Mailing List: August 1993, Message #79
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   From: sgrossma@lemans.stortek.com (Steve Grossman)
Subject: Re: my top got slashed! :(
   Date: Tue, 10 Aug 1993 14:57:15 -0400


>
> Friday night my soft-top was slashed to get at the $2 - $3 i had in the change
> holder (why do they call that thing an ash tray?). I knew that was a
> possibility when i bought a convertible, but it still pisses me off! The doors
> weren't even locked!! I usually keep the top down at night, but i was out and

I've always left the doors unlocked hoping to prevent exactly what happened to
you.   I guess it won't work if someone wants to slash your top.

> about during the day and its been getting a bit warm here in Texas, so i
> had the air on and didn't bother taking the top down when i got home.
>
> How do people feel about alarms? I've always thought they were kinda silly,
> and at best an annoyance to those that have to listen the squealing. But
> maybe if i had one of those little cylon (remember battlestar galactica? :)
> eyes running back and forth along my dash, my top may not be vented.

I've has an alarm in the car since it was less than a month old.  The car
attracted so much attention when it was new that an alarm was the only way
to keep strangers from opening the doors and sitting down in it.  When I was
searching for alarms, someone (I think it was the Crutchfield guy but I'm not
sure) recommended that since the car was a soft-top, that the alarm be
installed without the blinking red light, and the doors always left unlocked.
His argument was that if they could see the alarm indicator, they'd probably
slash the top out of spite, which most likely wouldn't set off any alarm,
including the proximity detector kind.  By setting the alarm and leaving
the doors unlocked, the hope is that they would open the door, trigger the
alarm, and leave without damaging the car.

>
> Since i'm getting a new soft-top, does anyone know of a company that makes
> one with a glass rear window? Most likely not...

I've never heard of one.
>
>
>
> One other question while i'm typing. The car has started running really really
> really rough. It seems like all of a sudden one morning it got ill. The wires
> and plugs are only a few weeks old, they looked fine. I thought maybe bad
> gas, but i was down near the bottom and would have noticed something sooner.
> Seems like either the gas line or the exhaust is clogged (there's a big lack
> of power too), or one (or more) of the cylinders is dead. Any ideas?

Possibly dirty injectors.  I've heard that around 30k miles the
injectors begin to get clogged to the point that they only deliver 90% of the
fuel their supposed to, and that by having them blueprinted (whatever that
means) the fuel flow can be restored top 98-99%.
Anybody else have more info on this item?


Steve