So, I'm finally at home for a few days and I can get around to doing some basic maintenance on my new car.

Oil changes were first for the FD and the Miata. In the FD I used Mobile 1 0w-40 European Formula (available at NAPA). Before you flame me read Dr Hass' article in its entirety.

Changed my spark plugs. Discovered that the previous owner had trailing plugs in both the leading and trailing positions. The trailing plugs looked pretty decent, but the leading plugs were full of carbon (see the crappy attached picture). I put leading and trailing plug in as I was concerned about the carbon buildup.

Then the fun started: I changed out the fuel filter... By the way, has anyone placed a bounty on the guy's head that came up with the ingenious design of placing the fuel filter above the differential? If there is a pool started, I'd happily join it. So, I'm three hours older and covered in gasoline and I get the car to start up. It runs just fine. However, the next day I go to start it and it won't start. I was afraid that the fuel line would kink the night before. I climb back under the car and sure enough, it is kinked. I have to remove it again, cut down the fuel hose (that I had replaced the night before) and redo that mess. Another 1.5 hours of my life are taken from me.

I shower, but I still smell like gasoline and oil and my hands are still stained by the time I go to the club. I find the smell of gasoline is great for picking up women at the bar. I imagine that is what the Ferrari cologne smells like. Oh yeah, the last picture is just for good measure.

 

So the last picture is of the rear end you spent so much time with your hands stuffed around working on that fuel filter ? I'm sure mine would get regular servicing if that was the environment I was working in.

 

 

I am really cheap when it comes to my car anymore, and spark plugs **** me off. I usually try to clean them and try to salvage them, but there is nothing like a good new set of plugs. I have to replace mine very often. First of all my car isn't 100% tuned, so I'm running alittle rich on some areas of my map. About the fuel filter, yeh the stock location as everyone knows is ****. I bypassed the orig. filter and added a AN style (x2) in the engine bay.