170 HP 2006 Miata : fact or fallacy ?

BCRandy wrote:
> I have had both a 5 and 6 speed. In top gear, the 6 speed
> seems to cruise several hundred RPM lower than the 5 speed.
> That is the only thing I like about the 6 speed, however.
> From new, it has clunked (grated when cold) going into 2nd.
> The dealer (a mechanic who supposedly raced Miatas) put ATF
> in the transmission because "a thinner fluid would make the
> synchros work better". It didn't and I replaced the ATF
> with regular lube. At 27,000 miles, it still clunks going
> into 2nd.

I replaced the gear oil in my '02 SE with Redline MT-90, and it
pretty much eliminated the 2nd-gear clunk except when the tranny
is pretty cold.

Dana

XS11E > wrote:

>"BCRandy" > wrote in
:
>
>> At 27,000 miles, it still clunks going into 2nd.
>
>My guess is that it's not going to change, why not get a CD of the 1812
>Overture and time your shifts to coincide with the cannon shots, then
>nobody will ever know it clunks?
>
>Don't laugh, this makes every bit as much sense as Leon's "photon drag"
>theory and it's more practical! ;-)

My explanation how photon linear momentum makes white Miatas faster than
other colors is scientifically sound.

However, so is the use of loud noises to make other noises less
observable. There was a post of someone years ago to mount a ship's
(or train's?) horn in the trunk of the Miata to deal with SUV drivers.
This would also provide a solution to the problem of masking shifting
sounds caused by compensating for too-slow-a-color cars by shifting too
fast.

Dr. Leon van Dommelen, Ph.D.
--
Leon van Dommelen Bozo, the White 96 Sebring Miata .)
http://www.dommelen.net/miata
EXIT THE INTERSTATES (Jamie Jensen)

Leon van Dommelen wrote:

> This would also provide a solution to the problem of masking shifting
> sounds caused by compensating for too-slow-a-color cars by shifting too
> fast.

On the subject of color, if a red Miata is coming towards you really
fast, does it turn blue (or, more probably, purple)? And presumably if
it's going away from you really fast, it becomes invisible because the
eye can't see IR radiation?

Zog The Undeniable > wrote:

>Leon van Dommelen wrote:
>
>> This would also provide a solution to the problem of masking shifting
>> sounds caused by compensating for too-slow-a-color cars by shifting too
>> fast.
>
>On the subject of color, if a red Miata is coming towards you really
>fast, does it turn blue (or, more probably, purple)?

No. The white Miata towing it blocks the light.

> And presumably if
>it's going away from you really fast, it becomes invisible because the
>eye can't see IR radiation?

Actually, I believe the eye condition is called black. Though it would
not be brilliant black.

Leon
--
Leon van Dommelen Bozo, the White 96 Sebring Miata .)
http://www.dommelen.net/miata
EXIT THE INTERSTATES (Jamie Jensen)

>Leon van Dommelen wrote:

>> This would also provide a solution to the problem of masking shifting
>> sounds caused by compensating for too-slow-a-color cars by shifting too
>> fast.

Leon,
(1) The Doppler effect has nothing to do with the color(s) of the two
approaching objects.
(2) Photons do not "drag".
(3) You must have had some "funny" science professors when you attended
grad school.
(4) The last several messages in this thread convince me that you are
being humourous, and you succeed at this very well.
(5) If you can provide further enlightenment and edification on these
topics ("run this by me again"), I would be greatly interested.

-- Googleheimlich, B.S. Chemistry
Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA

>On the subject of color, if a red Miata is coming towards you really
>fast, does it turn blue (or, more probably, purple)?

No. The white Miata towing it blocks the light.
> And presumably if
>it's going away from you really fast, it becomes invisible because the
>eye can't see IR radiation?

Actually, I believe the eye condition is called black. Though it would

not be brilliant black.

Leon

wrote:

>>Leon van Dommelen wrote:
>
>>> This would also provide a solution to the problem of masking shifting
>>> sounds caused by compensating for too-slow-a-color cars by shifting too
>>> fast.
>
>Leon,
>(1) The Doppler effect has nothing to do with the color(s) of the two
>approaching objects.

No but the color has to do with the Doppler effect.

>(2) Photons do not "drag".

What do you think of solar sails?

>(3) You must have had some "funny" science professors when you attended
>grad school.

Oh, lots.

>(4) The last several messages in this thread convince me that you are
>being humourous, and you succeed at this very well.
>(5) If you can provide further enlightenment and edification on these
>topics ("run this by me again"), I would be greatly interested.

Below is an earlier post of mine explaining the issues of car color versus
speed. I could have been more detailed, but it would have involved a
lot of math.

Leon


>"Chris D'Agnolo" > wrote:
>
>>I don't know of any other mass-produced car that the color effects the
>>selling price so much. Mazda seems to have done an artful marketing job with
>>the way it split the cars up with big volumes of the Red cars and relatively
>>low quantities of the other colors,
>
>Hum. The way I understand it, they by and large followed what the
>dealers wanted. Yellow Miatas were not hot sellers new for the
>dealers.
>
>> almost creating a cult following for
>>each color! Everyone, of course professing their color as 'THE FASTEST'!
>
>And all wrong. White is the fastest "color" for very good scientific
>reasons. They have to do with complex effects such as bouyancy-
>created turbulent shear stresses on the hot surfaces of sunheated
>colored and (especially) black Miatas, and photon drag due to
>absorbing photons loaded with impulse. Red and black Miatas are
>particularly bad for photon drag, since they have to absorbed the
>massive blue photons. I will skip the detailed derivations in this
>nonphysics forum.
>
>Also, white looks the best, especially with some embellishments,
>and does not fade into different shades, and stays surprisingly
>presentable when incredibly dirty.
>
>They also tend to be lower cost than other colors because of reasons
>set out by P.T. Barnum (the seller of that Cruiser.)
>
>Leon
>
>--
>Leon van Dommelen Bozo, the White 96 Sebring Miata .)
>REMOVE THE "z"s -> www.dommelen.net
> EXIT THE INTERSTATES (Jamie Jensen)
--
Leon van Dommelen Bozo, the White 96 Sebring Miata .)
http://www.dommelen.net/miata
EXIT THE INTERSTATES (Jamie Jensen)

(Leon van Dommelen) wrote in
:

> Below is an earlier post of mine explaining the issues of car
> color versus speed. I could have been more detailed, but it would
> have involved a lot of math.

Leon would be happy to post the math but he's only got ten fingers and
ten toes enabling him to count to 20, believe me, you do NOT want to
see him count to 21! <GD&R>

Now I understand these advanced topics in physics! This is
fascinating, I should have studied more physics and less chemistry.
I'll check the scientific literature at some local University libraries
to make sure I'm not missing anything. Maybe Richard Feynman has
written something on this.

wrote:
> Now I understand these advanced topics in physics! This is
> fascinating, I should have studied more physics and less chemistry.
> I'll check the scientific literature at some local University libraries
> to make sure I'm not missing anything. Maybe Richard Feynman has
> written something on this.

Don't overlook a similar treatise written by Roger Troutman et al
in the late 1970s entitled "More Bounce To The Ounce".

Dana

I checked out Roger Troutman on Napster. I'm not sure "More Bounce for
the Ounce" qualifies as a "treatise". It was real funky, though.
Richard P. Feynman was a famous physicist who played bongos, and was
well known for the book "The Character of the Physical Law". I read it
several times. More on Feynman on www.feynmanonline.com. He helped
develop the A-bomb. I'm sure Leon can tell you more.

Googleheimlich