DS Racing by Gronseth Garage

DS Racing by Gronseth Garage Not a business, just a car crazy family, and I wanted a place to keep the car stuff separate.

04/01/2026

Late night in the shop. Orange cat doing orange cat things

Some progress on Ruby has been made.  The engine bay got a power wash.  The motor was cleaned up, 99% of that work perfo...
03/26/2026

Some progress on Ruby has been made. The engine bay got a power wash. The motor was cleaned up, 99% of that work performed by Shanda. Thank you for that honey. We also got the timing belt, water pump and timing covers back on. The engine is getting close to going back in. I have decided to swap the 5 speed out for a 6 speed. Mostly for the fun of rowing gears. The last two photos are intended to show the difference in oils. One pic is Ruby with our yearly oil change interval and Valvoline oil used. The other is Butterscotch with the same frequency of oil changes, but with the dyed oils dealership and quick change places use daily. Speaking to the owner, oil testing done always shows life left in the oil, and no unusual wear. Chris and Belinda take amazing care of the car, and from what I can tell there is no unusual wear associated with their maintenance. I just find the difference fascinating.

Sometimes we even work on our own cars.  Ruby was the first Miata in the fleet.  Shanda became her care taker when she w...
03/17/2026

Sometimes we even work on our own cars. Ruby was the first Miata in the fleet. Shanda became her care taker when she was a wee lass of 1 or 2 years and 15k miles. She is now over 70k and never had a major service. With around 3000 miles a year for 27 years, she has been very well kept, but definitely showing some issues. In preparation for all new seals, timing belt and water pump, we pulled the engine and transmission. Having everything out just makes the maintenance a little easier. Ruby is also due for new clutch hydraulics, so those will get swapped out as well. The engine bay will get a very deep cleaning at this time too. When she goes back together she will also get some enhancements. A header we have been sitting on for several years, as well as a center console upgrade. Here is to many more years of happy motoring.

Ok, I may, and I really mean this, MAY have a problem hoarding Miata parts.  We bought a non running NB2 recently, as it...
03/15/2026

Ok, I may, and I really mean this, MAY have a problem hoarding Miata parts. We bought a non running NB2 recently, as it turns out it needed a fuel pump, and a gas cap to fire up and run. Both of them we had sitting on the shelf waiting to be put to use. Now, as we are cleaning up I find this. Yes, that is five headlight motors. Let me know if you need some.

Also while cleaning up we found an old paid of Sophia's gloves. They grow up too fast.

03/07/2026

Listen to this 289. What a noise!

Some progress on Butterscotch.   Not banging through this.  Other people can knock this job out in a day or way less, an...
03/07/2026

Some progress on Butterscotch. Not banging through this. Other people can knock this job out in a day or way less, and that's ok. Talking with the owner, we will probably be addressing the clutch and rear main seal before the car leaves us. But we will get the front of the engine buttoned up first. Big thanks to MiataSource for the timing belt kit. The seal tools work amazingly well. The kit they send is hands down the most comprehensive setup I have ever seen. It includes a new crank bolt and woodruff key. I also spent a little time and elbow grease cleaning up the front of the engine. The water pump and oil seals were leaking, so everything was just wet. Much happier now. When I pulled the valve cover off, I ran it through the parts washer as well. It didn't look great after clean up, so a little flat black high temp spray paint made things much better as well.

Just a little tinker time before I had to head to work a couple days ago.  Drained the differential in Butterscotch.  Th...
02/27/2026

Just a little tinker time before I had to head to work a couple days ago. Drained the differential in Butterscotch. The magnetic plug was doing good work. I'd say this is normal wear for a differential that has not had is oil changed in 20 plus years. Chris and Belinda enjoy the car, and fresh fluids will ensure many more happy miles of motoring. On another note, Shanda took Ginger to work, and Ginger decided she was a little hungry. A little local wildlife as a snack was an unexpected surprise. One of the local farmers was nice enough to liberate the beast from the car. A couple of bent intercooler fins was all the damage that I have seen this far. Rockey was delt with and moved on.

Time to get to work.  Chris and Belinda entrusted their baby to us for maintenance that was due.  Timing belt, water pum...
02/25/2026

Time to get to work. Chris and Belinda entrusted their baby to us for maintenance that was due. Timing belt, water pump, front seals and fluid changes are in the works for this car. Butterscotch is a well kept example but things wear with age. The bottom of the engine is damp from oil and I found a drip of coolant as well. We drained the transmission as well and will get to the rear differential and an oil change also. I took a peak at the fluid in the clutch master as well, and we will pay some attention to that too.

Took a couple of cars out of the trailer today.  One to do some maintenance and one to be available since the roads have...
02/15/2026

Took a couple of cars out of the trailer today. One to do some maintenance and one to be available since the roads have been dry. Mazda didn't make many orange Miatas. The difference in the color is pretty amazing.

Bench upgrades in progress.  Moving things around and getting the space set up.  Hopefully get to work on some cars here...
12/29/2025

Bench upgrades in progress. Moving things around and getting the space set up. Hopefully get to work on some cars here soon too.

With the move to Nebraska, comes a new space.  With that new space come the challenge and the enjoyment of setting up th...
12/20/2025

With the move to Nebraska, comes a new space. With that new space come the challenge and the enjoyment of setting up the new space. We had a bunch of stuff that we moved down from South Dakota. After a pretty significant purge, we have the parts pile down. Here are the pics, from earlier in the year to tonight. We also added a set of stairs to get to the crawl space and a two post lift to make working on cars easier.

Address

South Carroll Street
Arnold, NE
69120

Telephone

+16053213887

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when DS Racing by Gronseth Garage posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Share