Inspiration 12

Very cool bike.
http://www.bikeexif.com/buell-1125


I like this color scheme.  BMW Motorsport colors.
http://www.bikeexif.com/bmw-scrambler


Another clean bike.
http://www.bikeexif.com/yamaha-xv-750


I like this BMW a lot.
http://www.bikeexif.com/bmw-r80


This is a very clean bike.
http://www.bikeexif.com/marcus-walz


Really cool bike.  Great combination of black and raw metal--just my style.
http://www.bikeexif.com/honda-cb750


Nice BMW.  They put the battery in the air-box like I want to.
http://www.bikeexif.com/ton-up-garage-bmw-r75


These guys build a bunch of cool BMWs.
http://www.untitledmotorcycles.com/bikes

Very cool bike.  Check out that gauge.
http://www.bikeexif.com/moto-guzzi-cafe-racer
















I really like the rear end and taillight on this bike.
http://www.bikeexif.com/r-ninet













This is a cool BMW.  Mine might look a lot like this.  At least the wheels and exhaust.
http://www.bikeexif.com/kiddo-motors


This is a really cool bike.  Interesting exhaust.
http://www.bikeexif.com/cx500-cafe-racer

Seat Belt Switch

Chrissy told me she was tired of hitting her head on the roof whenever we hit big bumps in the Miata, so she wanted four-point harness for the passenger seat, like the one on the driver side.  I started looking for a racing seat and a harness.  I got super lucky with the harness, and found a fellow on Craigslist selling a pair of harnesses nearby in Redondo Beach.  I only needed one, but his price for two was what I expected to pay for one.  Plus, they were black, and it would be nice to have a matching set in the Miata.  I was never a big fan of the blue one the car came with.

I planned to wait until I found a racing seat for sufficiently little money, but I decided to see how the harness felt going around the stock seat.  It seemed reasonable, so I decided to commit.  I unbolted the seat and started removing the stock seat belt components.  This big bar was first to go.  It tied the buckle into a solid point on the chassis.

With just two bolts on the bottom and some appropriate wrapping around the roll bar, the harness was installed.

The stock seat belt was proving a little difficult to remove, so this is all I was able to get out the first day.

One of the problems I was having was with this bolt.  On the driver side, it appeared it screwed into a captive nut, but on this side, it just spun, and there was absolutely no way to hold the nut on the other end.  I messed with it for quite a while, but finally gave up.

My other problem was the retractor was trapped in its little nook by the roll bar.  I didn't want to unbolt the roll bar, so I had to get creative.

The answer to both problems ended up being the same:  Sawzall.

Look how clean it is now!

There was a significant amount of struggling to get the retractor out, but I got it.  The roll bar got a little scuffed up, but it will still do its job.

Here's the rest of what came out.

Normally, it doesn't take this many tools to remove a seat belt.

At this point, I thought I was done, but after one drive with the new belt, it was clear something needed to change. It was slipping off Chrissy's shoulders, which is a big problem.  I again thought of a racing seat, but my inner cheapskate tried to think of a cheaper solution.  All I needed from a racing seat was the holes for the belts to go through.  Why not just add holes the the existing seat?  They even have a basic template where the speakers used to be.

We both sat in the seat and marked where the tops of our shoulders sat.

Then I started cutting.

 And some test fitting.  It looked like it just might work.

 

When I was happy with the holes, I did some quality tape work.

And installed it in the car.  I didn't take pictures, but the back is similarly taped.

We haven't done much testing yet, but this seems to work perfectly.  I will report back if there are any issues.  I'm a little surprised I haven't seen this done before.  A little searching shows people are really paranoid about four-point harnesses.  I'm all for safety, but they seem a bit crazy.

The final task was to replace the driver side, which looks much better with the black harness.

Before

After

Weight Removed:  6 lbs
Weight Reinstalled:  2 lbs, 7 oz

Tow Hook Hijinks

Before

The Miata had a heavy duty, steel tow hook on the rear passenger side, but it was not needed since I have a fancy aluminum one on the driver side.  Sorry I don't have a picture of that.
It was easy to remove with two bolts and two nuts.

After

Here's what came off.

Weight Savings:  1 lb, 11 oz.
I also got to weigh the car again and it was 2220 pounds with a full tank of gas.  I'm making good progress toward my 2200 pound goal.

Living Lights

If you didn't know, we got a free piano from a neighbor.

You didn't think we would leave the living room out of the recessed light party, did you?
We didn't.  We put in two lights toward the east end of the room, which really brightens up that corner.  We also reconfigured the switches in the room.  One switch no longer controls all the lights in the room as well as an exterior porch light.  We rewired a switch that was controlling an outlet to now control the porch light.  It's another big improvement.

Sloppy Scale

During some brotherly hijinks, I acquired a two pound scale.  Chrissy was tired of me weighing dirty Miata parts on our kitchen scale, so this will be a garage scale.  It was missing a couple screws in the bottom, so it was slightly falling apart.

Once again, my collection of stainless steel hardware came to the rescue.

Two screws and everything was solid.

Ditching Dim Dining

Our dining room had no ceiling lighting whatsoever, so we used a lamp in the corner to dimly light the space.  It was meant to be a temporary solution, and 2+ years after owning the house, we have finally moved on.  The first step was done in conjunction with the kitchen lighting, and involved installing two recessed lights along one wall.

The next step was installing a chandelier above the table.  Here's Chrissy unwrapping our custom, handmade, US built light.

Can you feel the suspense?

Since there was no lighting before, I had to go in the attic AGAIN and install a heavy duty receptacle for the ~30 lb light.

I then had to wire it up.  We used an existing switch next to the hallway door that previously controlled one random light.  That light is now on the kitchen switch.

We then tried to mount it and discovered the bolts that came with the light were too short.  Luckily, I had a fine selection of stainless steel machine screws on hand, so I was able to grab a longer version.

And here's the final result.  This light is actually a used wine barrel, transformed into a six-light chandelier.  It is really cool.  I considered trying to make a version of it myself, but it made more sense to just buy it.  After it arrived, we discovered it came from Paso Robles, near my hometown.  The company that made it is Wine Country Craftsman.

Original bulbs, with camera flash.

The light was a little too dim, so we bought some brighter LEDs on Amazon.  They are very nice units that actually fit in with the look of the light.  Instead of the absurd 12.5W incandescent bulbs that came with the light, the LEDs consume 3W and produce the equivalent of a 30W bulb.

New bulbs, with flash.

Here's the brighter bulbs without the flash.  We really like the shadows the chandelier casts.

New bulbs, no flash.

Here's what the room looks like overall.  We are very pleased with how it turned out.  The different "temperature" of the chandelier lights kind of separates the actual dining area and makes it feel special.