Obelisk's Garage - Daihatsu Midget II, Mazda MX5 (NC2), racing mower

[Chris30]

Good luck man, how often do you wash your cars? We wash ours once a week. We own a 2006 Toyota Corolla. Hope you achieve your desired goals for your cars and Midget.

 

[Chris30]

I hope you had a safe Halloween and are making progress with your Midget and other cars. Best of luck to you my friend!

 

[Obelisk]

Good luck man, how often do you wash your cars? We wash ours once a week. We own a 2006 Toyota Corolla. Hope you achieve your desired goals for your cars and Midget.

Sorry for not responding to this - Every 3 weeks or so.

 

[Chris30]

No problem man, don't worry about being inactive. You deserve a break/rest from all the hard work you put in with those cars/ and the Midget.

 

[Obelisk]

You see that dirty, mucky filter on the left?

Yeah. That was the air filter inside the Midget. It looks like it's the original one that the car was sold with. The more I find, the more annoyed I get with the prior owner of the Midget.

Took me a few days of experimenting, and finally caving in to a $7 app, but I got the carb retuned to account for the new air filter and the vastly improved airflow.

The annoying thing is that despite everything being dialed in and verified with the app, the Midget still:

• sounds like a riding mower
• sounds like it's fast idling

Some things you just can't change, I guess.

 

[Chris30]

What a great improvement to your Midget. Keep up the great work and labor, I'll support you every step of the way.

 

[Obelisk]

Put the Midget to work today, had some stuff to take down/move ahead of the winter season.

This was the third and final load the little old lady hauled for us today. After that was a quick errand and a much needed car wash. I'll be heading to a Cars and Coffee / Toys for Tots event tomorrow a few towns over.

Figured the toy truck would be appropriate for the toy drive!

 

[Chris30]

You know I may have to end up buying a Midget when I get some extra money to help transport furniture, supplies or any of my needs to appointments or my family's/cousins house. Would help me out a lot since I have health issues.

 

[Obelisk]

You know I may have to end up buying a Midget when I get some extra money to help transport furniture, supplies or any of my needs to appointments or my family's/cousins house. Would help me out a lot since I have health issues.

Honestly speaking, you would be better off with one of the alternatives - Daihatsu Hijet, Mitsubishi Minicab, Suzuki Carry, Honda Acty, Subaru Sambar... to name a few.

 

[Chris30]

Honestly speaking, you would be better off with one of the alternatives - Daihatsu Hijet, Mitsubishi Minicab, Suzuki Carry, Honda Acty, Subaru Sambar... to name a few.

I'll do extensive research about those and see which one I think will give me the best benefit and help. Thank you for the advice. Keep us posted on your progress with the Midget and other cars.

 

[Obelisk]

Very quick, small update:
Picked up a set of 16x6.5 steel wheels for the Miata. The plan is to run it on the steel wheels + 205/50r16 all seasons and save the factory alloys for autocross/track tires. Then in the spring of 2025 will be an LSD swap, sourced from from a manual NC.

Then finally, some small power mods (Manifolds, rest of the exhaust) later on once things clear up.

For now, I've rotated the tires on Mimi so I can get through the winter and collect the things I need for the spring.

Daishō has been parked for the winter and won't come back out unless I have a sudden need for cargo/pickup shenanigans.

 

[Obelisk]

I have an actual update for the Midget instead of a small 'this that' kinda post. I took it out for a long drive to Burlington for an impromptu car meet with special guest WayBeforeTheFame. I'd like to think we hit it off - he seemed especially interested in my Midget.

While looking over the truck with him, he pointed out that I didn't actually have a floor mat like I thought I did. ...Turns out the prior owner tossed the floor mat and used/cut up the rubber mat from the bed in order to have a floor mat in the Midget. I've put in a bid for an authentic second hand Midget II carpet that would have been on this vehicle, and I'm waiting to hear back on the results of that. If all works out, I should have the new carpet in by the end of December.

I feel like my thread motto is going to be "The more I learn about Midgets, the more annoyed I am at the prior owner" (or more simply: "My Midget's prior owner is an idiot.") because of how many truly bone-headed decisions apparently went down with regards to this car. As if the 28 year old air filter wasn't already stupid enough...

No photos this time - will share the car meet photos elsewhere on GTP tomorrow.