My big dream = Rx-8

As I have mentioned in some previous posts I am a bit of grease monkey.. I like the sound of good engine under hood, I like the smell of oil (provided it is not overheated) and gasoline, I like cars that are non-standard.

My first is (still have it) 126p Fiat… I do love it still and it is going through some renovation works and needs some mechanical fixing which I plan on doing early in 2016.

Now my second car, the one I do use, is a Mazda Rx-8. It is sliver.. which at first I saw as a disadvantage

but learned to appreciate later. It is not new.. they don’t make them anymore… it is 10 years old but it did steal my heart.

I saw one some 10 years ago in Warsaw, red it was,  and I instantly became fascinated by it. Over the years I have read much on the rotary and hemi engines, both are unique.  Miata (Mazda mx-5) is more eye catching, but I feel it is too ‘light’ for me in so many ways.

To cut the story short.. 10 years later I decided to make my dream come true. It has been 4 months now.  It surpassed my wildest dreams.

I am now on the road to customizing it. I was planning to do some body paint, several concepts rolled through my mind.. but for now I am working on some visual modifications of a smaller scale… subtle and simple. For my winter wheels I got those

and they look on like this:

Still waiting for a side decal.

On the inside I decided to break the grey alcantara with some blue (at first it was going to be blue additions on the outside as well). I did some stitching on the back seats (the front are still to be worked on).

Those photos do not reflect the reality. Our Rx-club mechanic believed from the photos that I have stitched wool…when he saw with his own eyes he stated that although it is not his style he finds it an interesting and rather good addition.

I will continue on my road to larger and smaller mods for this beast.

 

Journal of inexperinced driver of classic 100% mechanic car (3)

I think I’m getting better at this.

It’s still not the 1st go, and I still need help with the double garage doors (though I suspect it might be something the pilot itself, I will need to get it checked this week).. but I’m getting there. Of course I do drive, for now, overly cautiously… but I really do not quite follow why go more than the speed limit?  you will only have to stop at each lights (tried that, tested, 45-50 is just perfect). If you maintain the speed, you can drive almost though the whole city without stopping even once due to the lights.

This Sunday I drove the longest on one go. Around 30 km. Including city center and speedway. And I did not get honked at ;-P.  I’m also doing deep in review of driver’s codex and taking massive amount of tests. Quite a few things changed since we joined the EU…. I’m not EU certified yet it seems. Better study than to be sorry later. But you would just not believe how many are ignoring the rules altogether. Some, looking at what they are doing on the streets, ought to drive in Britain 😉

I got my aluminum rims past Friday in mail 😉 Was a bit reluctant to buy them, cause with used you never know.. yet those were then only rims ever produced here for 126p (heard there were some in Italy but not in the Eastern Block). They are 2 years olde than my car, but who cares, the National Conservator of Monuments Office should not have any problems with including them as alternative for my car next year when I’m getting it registered as a historic vehicle. This month I’m a bit short on funds, but next month I will have to transfer the tires over to the new rims, and keep the steel ones for winter. That will cost a bit, but then I will simply have a full set of replacements and will be able to work in peace on restoration of the steel ones (they do need to get sanded and re-painted).

 

(Cats’ approval is essential ;-D)

The only problem I have is the color. None seems to be able to find out for me what it is/was called and how it “should” look like. 24 years can do a lot of damage to car’s color, even when it is most of time kept in a garage. One thing is for certain, it is red. One could say that almost bloody red, and its no.63.  No catalogs from the 90’s or before mentions that color (neither Polish not Italian Fiat).

A friend, who used to work at FSO in Warsaw (closely linked to FSM, also making Polish Fiats, just the big ones, and some other cars), told me that I should be not surprised at all. There were series that would come from the production line with NO number at all, and there were short series of couple of dozens that had colors sent from Italy for testing… but instead of testing they would end up in production. I think Carter, a friend of mine, was closer to truth than most while commenting on this finding of mines at FB – “congratulations on continuing to live on the outside of reality” ….  Well, for the Monuments Conservator’s Office that ought to be additional incentive to get the car registered  😉

Journal of inexperinced driver of classic 100% mechanic car (2)

Hail to the Lord! I just drove out of my hole. No burning of clutch, no other problems.

I know that to those with modern cars it is not a problem, same as to those with experience with old ones, but to someone who has not driven a classic in 18 years it is definitely an accomplishment.

It seems my gear box, well it is 24 years old, is a bit worked out, especially on the 1st ‘tooth’ in the 1st gear. So, before I managed to add enough gas, the gear would pop out and leave me on loose… aka no climbing out. But now that I know what that pop feel I was getting before is, I will be sure to get proper hang of it.

To celebrate my victory over my own limitations I am now drinking Somersby  and will have some apple-pie ice-cream after dinner.

Tomorrow will be doing that again.

 

Ohh, btw I found out that back in the 80’s there was number of aluminum wheels sold here via Pewex as special addition to 126p. They are not of Fiat or FSM production, but they were official enough to be offered as optional for those cars. If all goes well, I will be getting a set for my red-devil B.M.W. (in Polish this amounts to abbreviation for  very small vehicle).  Here is photo  http://s1255.photobucket.com/user/Amirgse/media/fiat-126p-st-nowe-felgi-aluminiowe-unikat-1736500976_zpsad457f25.jpg.html they are ugly as hell but I like them