‎37 hours, 870+ miles, TX--Udall KS, Ponca City Ok, Tulsa OK- back to TX

Impromptu road trip with me and my son and the 178K mile Miata to see 7 cousins- a 1 year olds birthday party with a lot of folks we did not know, my brother, Tulsa Aerospace museum, Coney Islander, and even drove right by Hallett (there were mototcycles on the track)!! We went top down, top up, AC full blast, all the while the Miata ran super, having done all the belts and hoses this spring, I was still a little concerned taking it on this trip with the intense heat, plus waking up before we left Friday morning to a flat, however turns out any worries were unfounded

We ran it pretty hard on all sorts of roads (did stop to back the shocks off a click in the Cimarron Turnpike, made a big difference!) and never missed a beat. I don't know of many 21 year old first year production cars you coud say that about!!! The only thing we had of any interest was on the longer hills at highway speeds (70+) in the heat of the day (100+) with the AC on, the temp gage climbed to almost 3/4 mark of the normal range, but would slowly come back down and ran just above halfway the rest of the time, once we got off the highway in city traffic the temp gage would go back the normal position I am used to seeing.

It was an experience I think my son will always remember! Thanks Mazda for making a kick butt car!!!

I few months ago I did a trip from Lewisville, to TWS, raced the car, then to HHR, then around town in Austin, then home. It was pretty romantic.

Have you replaced the radiator yet?

Me and my kid ran to College Station for the SCCA Divisional and back this weekend did about 425 total miles on our '94.

The gauge never moved even while pulling a trailer with the cruise set at 80mph with the a/c on full blast. YMMV

One part I did not say was I left off the plastic underside duct when I did all the work, which may have contributed, I put it back on last night. It has a pretty new looking replacement all metal radiator. When I did all the hoses and belts, I put a new water pump in too as well as flushed and added new coolant. I will have to keep an eye on it to see what it does.

My dad did a 600 mile trip to Alabama to visit his mom then on a whim decided to go pick my mom up in Chicago after a funeral instead of her flying home..............in the middle of winter. He did a lot of miles in the snow on that trip. IIRC it was close to 2k miles. His Miata has over 210k miles on it lol. They are capable of a lot :)

Put the radiatior duct back on and took it on test run, the duct made no difference, its still getting warm, I guess I will look at the radiator. it looks pretty new, but I wonder is it is not the correct one? It only gets hot 65+MPH climbing a grade with AC on, cut off the AC the temp drops to normal or in stop and go traffic is does just fine too.

If it has a metal radiator you may want to call Al's Radiator in Hurst back in the day they could service the old metal radiators.

Although prices on replacements are cheap but they are honest enough to tell ya which would be your best choice!

Al's Radiator Services
141 East Hurst Boulevard, Hurst, TX 76053-7801
(817) 282-4121 ‎

Have you done all the usual (cheap) tricks to keep up with the cooling on your car?

Wired fans to come on together?

Increased the water to coolant ratio?

Added some Water Wetter?

Mine gets warm when under similar conditions. Hot 100 degree day going up hill with the air on. I have to reduce speed to under 65 or turn off the air. Usually on a day like that I just slow down a little cause I love my AC too much :)

Doing the above things that I listed (minus the fan I haven't done that yet) it helps a lot with coolant temps on mid summer days.

Is it winter yet??

luckily I can wait for fall to mess with it

Sounds like a great trip. Its good you were able to do that with your son.