New Miata owner, need some advice.

[Brap]

Hey Mazda Roaster guys,

(TL;DR I have some problems, skip to the end to see them. They are numbered.)

I just bought my first NA Miata on 5-20-17, a Red 1997. I bought from an ex-STS autocross racer so it had a few mods:


Hard Dog roll bar, Ground Control coilovers, Eibach springs and adjustable sway bars, Racing Beat sway bar end links, Bosal Exhaust, Some intake, ASA 17x7 wheels with 205 Yokohama Parada tires.







I'm 6'2", 250LBS and I just did a super aggressive Foamectamy mod which pushed me a good two inches under the roll bar and a good inch or two back and gave me so much more support and comfort. I also removed the plastic door trim to give my left leg more room and I chopped and re-glued the dead pedal to give me some more room.

I'm going to change ALL the fluids this week. I live in Ohio and this is my daily driver, so I'm putting in Mobil 1 10w-40 with the M1-110 filter for the summer and I'll swap it for 5w-30 in the winter, i'm putting in that Ford XT-M5-QS magic sauce in the trans, Mobil 1 75w-90 GL5 for the diff, Mobil 1 ATF for the PS system and some Prestone green for the coolant.

The AC is broken but I think the 97's take normal R134a so eventually i'll pull a vacuum, recharge it and put some UV dye in to check for leaks and fix them.

There is also this "Python" electronic key system under the steering wheel that doesn't work, I'm going to try to remove it and clean up the wiring. That panel is also missing but I heard its heavy so i'm going to make a replacement myself out of some sheet metal.

There's also a mess of wiring in the tombstone for the radio, when I bought it the radio didnt work so I just pulled it out, i'll look into cleaning up the wiring later. The plan down the road is to get a RetroSound Hermosa so keep the old-school Aesthetic.

There is no ABS fuse in the fuse box so i'll order one on Amazon and put it in the car whenever. I've driven and raced with no ABS before so I don't really need it, but it's a peace of mind thing.

It needs an alignment desperately as it has way too much camber for daily driving. My plans are -1.2F, -1.75R, 5.1 Caster and -.02F, .23R for toe. The steering doesn't return to center as fast as I would like so I'm hoping maxing out the caster and getting an alignment will fix that.

The car has some issues and I would like some advice as to what to do.

1- The airbag light is lit up on the dash, I think this is because the passenger side seat does not have the cable going from the buckle receiver to the plug under the carpet and the driver's side does. It's not flashing, just solid lit. There is also a blue plug under the hood that is not connected to anything and I think the airbag plugs are blue or orange IIRC. Should I try to find an OEM buckle receiver or just stiff it? There is also a white plug disconnected under the hood. I'll get some pics and post them up, hopefully someone knows what they are.

2- The door handles do not work from the inside. If I move the switch to the locked or unlocked position, nothing happens. The only way to lock or unlock the doors is from the outside with the key. Should I order new interior door handles? The locks obviously work, I think the interior plastic parts are just broken.

3- The power windows are really slow and the switches are kinda janky. I know I should take the door cards apart and grease the rails, but what grease should I use? The switch doesn't actually move the window until after I press it about three to four times. My plan was to go in there and clean the contacts and make sure all the connections are solid and re-solder any if needed.

4- None of the interior lights work. The dome light on the windshield doesn't work, and neither does the light in the ashtray. Anyone have a link for an LED replacement for these?

5- When I did the foamectamy I found out my car has those bars bolted to the transmission tunnel. I snapped the passenger side bolt in half as the threads in the tunnel were rusted and galled to all hell. Half of the bolt is still in there, I'll figure out how to get it when I feel like it. How important is this piece? To remove the driver's side seat I didn't even touch the bolt, I just filed the rivet and slid it off the bar.

Thanks guys.

[RustRat]

Welcome! I can give you some help about 2, 3, 4.

2- Undo the door cards. There are 2 rods, one for the lock, one for the release and they are attached on the handle with some plastic clips. Check their condition first, they might have just been disconnected for some reason, or maybe they can get repaired.

3- since you have your door cards, there are 3 or 4 screws that hold the window guide in place. It's easy to remove them. Get a big and wide zip-tie, run it through the guide and remove any residual grease. Most people had good experience using HONDA Shin-Etsu grease.

4-check for a blown fuse first. If it's not a fuse, I got awesome interior leds from superbrightleds.com (I have no connection with the company, I have no profit to gain, I just had good personal experience)


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[Paul B]

Welcome to the club!!! Im on a computer that wont show the photos but it sounds like you got a nice solid starter Miata.

I can give you my opinion on #1. This is how I would "fix" it.

Not sure how important air bags are to you, but I would swap to a non-air bag steering wheel with hub and cover the air bag bulb with black electrical tape and plug it back it. No more air bag light.

Just my 2 cents.

#2...I recently replaced my interior door handles with Carbon Miata full set. Gained some knowledge and experience taking apart the OEM mechanism. Your issue could just be a broken plastic piece inside the lock button. While you are investigating window issue and door is apart, take a look at the door lock assembly.

#3...revlimiter vintage window switches!!! much better than OEM switches.

[HarryB]

Welcome, pretty sure this is going to be fun for you. Spec list looks nice, except the wheels; trade them with some decent 15's and the car will almost transform.

[NCGreasemonkey]

Ah, the new Miata.

Just guessing. that with your mention of a retro radio install and the ABS for security you have not taken the red pill. Good for you, Sir.

I'm not going to number these. You know what you asked.

The window issue. Get Derilin bushing kits with the lube. The Honda stuff goes a long way will a little spreading! Clean everything first, though. And i would get the slickest spray lube available to hit the cable with. Work that through the cable housing a few times.

Those blue and white plugs under the hood are diagnostic connectors. If they are they ones I am thinking of. The buckle not being attached to a connector is where I would look.

Superbrightleds.com if you have to order online. But most auto parts stores have them now. SBL.com does have some options that the box stores do not.

Remember that when you remove your door cards to see what is up with the locks/handles/windows you are releasing the Tar Pits! The stuff used to seal the weather liner to our doors is NASTY! Let me rephrase that. It is NASTY!!!!! Glove up! Have solvents! And touch nothing you don't want destroyed!

I work on cars for a living, so you know.

Peace New Nut!

[Brap]

Thanks guys! Shin-Etsu grease has been ordered from amazon, should be here soon. I also ordered a good JIS screwdriver set to make my life a little easier when working on the interior.

I will check on the door lock connectors, if they are looking a little worse for wear I may replace them or give them a good clean with brake fluid. Brake Fluid seems to "nourish" plastic versus drying it out like other stuff.

While I have the doors apart I'm going to take out the window tracks and some of the seals and give them a solid cleaning with hot water and simple green. Once again, simple green really restores moisture in rubber like nothing else.

RustRat- Thanks for the link for the LED's, my plan was to go full LED in the interior. Do you know if there is any universal lights I can use to custom wire some interior lights? I was looking at the Jass performance sun visor lights but I don't want to spend $90+. I already removed my sun visors so I have the plates, I can make my own no problem. I'm also missing the knee lights, any LED's you recommend for use there?

PaulB- The plan was eventually to get a bunch of stuff from Rev Limter. I'm going for an older aesthetic and they fit that perfectly. Between my last post and now I actually removed the switch box, made a custom circuit to test them and the switches work fine, I think there is so much mechanical resistance in the window it is making the motor stop/stall as I try to operate the window. Also, I was planning on getting some Cobra Classic RSR's, harnesses, etc but before then I am not comfortable not having an airbag as the factory 3-point with no airbag is rather dangerous. When I get the change i'll see if I can 'cheat' the connector under the passenger seat and see what happens. A hub and a Nardi wheel is planned for down the road, I need a smaller wheel anyway so I was looking at those 330mm Nardi wheels.

Harry B- The tires are almost done anyway, probably accelerated by my testosterone and peer-pressure induced burnouts on the last days of my senior year in High School. I tell you, we filled our whole parking lot with smoke. But now that I graduated I look back and realize it was childish but fun. But I digress. I have a friend selling me some 15' Momo Quasars and i'll get some Star Spec's or whatever.

NCGreaseMonkey- I dig it, I used to work in an auto shop but I quit to ensure i'm not stretched thin in college. I'm in the process of gathering tools that I took for granted when the shop provided them. Thanks for the advice on the nasty door innards, I used to run Nitro RC's and so I have some pretty aggressive and toxic solvents to tackle the 'tar pit'. Nothing gets dirtier than castor oil, nitro fuel and wet clay. I'll block off the diag. ports with some custom rubber condom things as I do not like having connectors out in the open like that. I laughed at the red pill comment, but as this is a daily I have no intention of going full "Douche-bro" screaming "Weight reduction" at every lost bolt and deleted item. Plus I don't vape or drive a Subaru with hella horns, but I do attend Formula Drift events so I do not know how legitimate my criticism of that side of car culture is. "It takes one to know one" kinda thing maybe?

[RustRat]

There is an article in the interwebz about converting all your interior lighting in a miata to LED. Google is your friend in this one. SBL have some specific LEDs for each car, but ofcourse there are universal ones that can be used however you feel like.


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[Brap]

So some people on Miata.net warned me that the window guide bushings might also be borked causing some issues. Since i'm planning on ordering the R-Speed shifter rebuild kit i'll toss in their window bushings as well.

Update on the lights: I checked the plug for the ashtray light with my multimeter and it showed 12v, and the bulb itself looked fine. Turns out the connector was loose, just a few pokes with a pair of needle-nose pliers and it works now. The dome light as well showed 12v coming through the socket but the bulb failed the continuity test. I want the light that goes next to the glove box so eventually I'll order that on eBay and an LED replacement for it. I also found these: https://www.superbrightleds.com/more...ofit-lan/2538/ which I'm going to put in the sun-visor plates and wire them up to the dome light switch.

It also came with this Python 660XP anti-theft thing, but it didn't work, multimeter showed no continuity through it and when I cracked open the controller box some of the resistors were rather toasty looking. I took that out and while I had the door card off I looked at the linkages. The Driver's side was bound up but after some cleaning and a hit of teflon spray lube it was good as new. The passenger side linkage was actually broken. I'm going on vacation next week for a month so I probably won't get to ordering parts until then.

The thing came with a radio but it was old and broken, so I removed it and used the metal case to make a little cubby slot above the factory plastic one. It's rather deep and fits a modern smart phone just perfectly to be able to charge it and not have the cable interfere with shifting. I also leather lined it as I didn't want to scratch my phone or the case on the crusty old sheet metal.







All of this was done for free and I used leather from an old seat.

In conclusion: Nakamae who?

The Miata also has a deceptively large trunk:

That's basically everything you could ever need for working on a car in a home garage, including ALL the fluids you would need to refresh a Miata.

As for the airbag light, someone from my local Miata club mentioned my airbag controller could have died. How would I test to see if it's actually dead?

If it is dead that gives me a good reason to spend my whole life savings on an NA6 dash, a hub and a Nardi wheel and a set of Cobra Classic RSR's and Harnesses.