Miata Mailing List: June 1994, Message #49
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   From: "Alex M. Postpischil" 
Subject: spark plugs, etc
   Date: Sat, 4 Jun 1994 16:00:20 -0400

Hi Folks,
	I know mention has been made on the list before about taking care to 
make sure the spark plug socket and extension were secured together. Knowing
this, I taped the pieces together and promptly found out that a 1/2" drive
5/8" deep socket is too big to get to the plug. Unfortunately, I found this 
out as the motor was cooling and constricting around the socket! After a while 
of struggling with the socket (after it separated from the tape) I decided to 
try warming the engine again (i.e., running it for a few minutes) - five minutes
of running and three turns I had my socket out. I have 3/8" drive sockets, but
opted for the larger because my torque wrench is 1/2" drive (no adapter to fit
the smaller sockets). Live and learn.
	Steve Ling - thanks for posting the graph of idle screw/rpm adjustments
a while back. I, too, went to 1.5 turns (tried 1.75 but had some hesitation on
intitial throttle). Seems to be fine.
	I was going to do the timing belt and seals this weekend, but I haven't
seen my parts from Honey Mazda yet. If I get them Monday I'll do the install
and report back to the list. Gary Fischman posted timing belt instructions, so
I was only going to add specifics about the seals or clear up any hazy 
instructions. If I don't get the parts Monday, I won't have time to do the
install before I go to Indy.
	About going up on car ramps - I found that even with two pieces of 2"
lumber preceding the ramp there was little clearance between the leading edge
of the front bumper and the edge of the ramps (but it did work). I used two
pieces of 2x6 ~3 feet long on each side. The top piece was a bit shorter than
the bottom so as not to try to climb too big a step at one time. Worked well.
	I've devised a mounting rig for a video camera using the center two
dash vents and mounting holes (for the tonneau cover). It's pretty sturdy. The
camera does shake a bit over big bumps, but that is because of the single 
mounting screw on the camera. The picture looks pretty good. The problem I am 
having is with a microphone picking up the exhaust note. Using either the built
in mic (which works pretty good) or a remote mic, I get audio dropout above
thoughts on how to cure the problem?
-alex-