Sometimes it's learning how to backstitch!

Finally getting to some very overdue soft top repairs on the Miata, both replacing some trim sewing that's come undone around the rear window, and patching up a pretty bad tear at the zipper. For my process, I'm doing small "retaining" stitches at the edges of where the original thread came out (which you can already see in the first pic!), and then doing a long stitch between them (shown in the second!)

I was pretty intimidated about doing this for a while, but actually this has been a really pleasant (if time consuming) process! Really feel happy with the relatively clean stitch I was able to get, though I still could be a bit less messy in tying off the ends.

I still have the other side, and some more of the zipper to do, and I'm looking forward to doing it!

Silly ol car

this was my first time with crimping (which I had to go to the hardware store for) and it monopolized most of my free time today but now i don't have a twisted ball of shame hiding inside my center console

legitimately though I'm really glad I decided to go with these last minute instead of soldering them together. having the removable terminals is gonna make it so much easier to diagnose and fix the door speakers whenever I get to that (or switch to a different radio if that ever happens!)

Oh yeah!! Sorry I haven't posted any Miata Updates recently! Since all the big work late last year, we've mostly been weathering the New England winter together while it's gotten too cold and wet to reasonably work on much.
Curiously though, over the winter I may have accidentally fixed some longstanding electrical system woes after both of the headlights went out within just a few weeks of each other. Now that we've got a fresh set in, the prior flickering that had shown up in the lighting has largely diminished, if not disappeared entirely, and the trouble code for a sensor I'd been dreading inspecting seems to have vanished ever since. And here I thought I'd be hunting down a ground fault for the rest of my days.

Still though, that doesn't stop us from having plenty to attend to once we're firmly into Repair Season. General tidying up, AC & Power Steering repairs, suspension work, a fuel filter (just for fun!), rust care, top repair and plenty more await us, all to be knocked through as time, weather, money (...and motivation) allow.
With all this on our plate, touching up the paint remains a distant dream at this point, but a dream nonetheless! Depending on how things look during rust care, I almost wonder (or dread) if I should finally bite the bullet on learning to weld, and maybe even consider doing some full panel replacements.

Through it all though, the Miata has been such a cute, playful little delight of a car that I don't think I'd trade for anything right now. With the occasional warm day coming back, I hardly realized how badly I'd already missed going out with the top down. There is a truly freeing high that comes with the open air, and I've been going for it every little chance I've gotten this year. Getting to sail it over the hills and punch it around twists and turns on the empty backroads meanwhile has become my new vice on late rides home from work. Even if she's not a manual, this girl scoots! You really are driving the happiest car on the road when you're in a Miata.

While we haven't gotten too many photo ops over the winter, here she is with a younger cousin last month! Hopefully we'll have plenty more happy updates to come before long!