NA6CE 1992 Form vs Function Build and History

[— kung fu jesus —]

Fortunately, I was taking a break when I read Tony's suggestion.

I took a little time and placed patches of sound deadener on broader sections on the underside of the dash. I used a heat gun and a stiff spatula to help adhere it to the surfaces.

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Some are hidden by pieces already assembled.

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I found hollow spots and such by shaking the assembly by the crash bar and knocking around the top of the dash. The noises began changing from a "tonk!" to a "thud". Time and trial will tell if it really works, but I think it will help a noticeable amount.

It occurred to me where the biggest echo chamber was on the dash and nipped it in the bud. The sound change after putting deadener here was drastic:

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(That is the underside of the instrument cluster hood.)

[Demon I Am]

Good stuff!

[RustRat]

Nice! I am (well, actually was) in the same process of restoring an NA dash, painting the metal frame etc. I put a narrow piece of a foamy material, kinda thick, along the back side of the dash, just below the windshield to help with squeaks.

What sound deadener did you use?

[— kung fu jesus —]

Thanks.

I bought the deadener on Amazon a while ago. I had 3 tiles (3sq ft), used almost 2. I am planning on more, but still mulling it over.

The tasks now are primarily replacing the aged foam strips used as insulation and such. I will wash and dry the floor pans and bulk heads. The harness should be available this weekend.

I will install that, place the dash in the car and do a dry run to test the harness install before anything else.

When the harness checks out, I will insulate the interior sheet metal and begin to put the interior together.

I am thinking about removing the rear humps on the seat mounts for more rake and low.

[— kung fu jesus —]

Harness acquired!!!

Super-nice local guy, extremely clean harness. Only damage is the driver's side headlight connector. No big deal.

I compared the ECU harness wires immediately upon returning home...EXACT match!

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Now the hard work begins!

[—RuckkehrMiata—]

I have shuddered the shudder of a thousand shudders looking at that picture. Wiring harness is in the top 10 of things I wont do myself, at least not without a very skilled person guiding me.

[— kung fu jesus —]

It's not so bad. I recognize over half of the connectors. I will take pics for my own reference. 1/2 of it hangs on the firewall. Just need to be methodical and patient.

[— kung fu jesus —]

Started a little tonight. The driver's side interior harness is disconnected. Just using a set of electronics screwdrivers to depress release tabs. Taking pics of connector clusters for reference. It really isn't too bad so far. The only mistake so far is pulling the driver's side firewall grommet into the engine bay instead of pushing it into the cabin. I should be able to lube it and push it back the other way.

When you lay out the harness, it's easy to see that the modular configuration makes the connections easy to understand.

[— kung fu jesus —]

Old harness is out, new one is in. Took me about 3.5 hours to swap out the harnesses. I have about another 2 hours, estimated, to button up the harness 100%.

Of course, the coil pack plugs are different. Not a big deal, but annoying. If you didn't know, there are 2 or 3 different coil pack plugs among the 90-93 builds. The coil pack wiring is transferable on the packs themselves, so I am trying to see if the person I bought the harness from still has the coil pack from the same car.

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[Rogue]

Coil pack wiring bolt to coil pack…..under the white and black cap.

[— kung fu jesus —]

Yeah, I can transfer the wiring, I just need the plug.

[— kung fu jesus —]

Waiting for parts and buttoning up odds and ends in the engine bay, I wanted to prep the cabin for insulation. First step? Clean it.

Driver's side washed, passenger side untouched.
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Both sides scrubbed and toweled, I can see discoloration on the driver's side tunnel where the header heats the metal. On the passenger side, there is a bracket mounted in the footwell that the ECU partially mounts to. The bracket is removed. I wore brushed the area and payed down heavy coats of spray insulation to protect the pan. There was light surface rust here. Not a big deal. I also sprayed some on the aforementioned dis colored area on the tunnel. The bracket itself is also getting painted.

The floor pans were filthy.

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[Demon I Am]

Nice progress!

[— kung fu jesus —]

Laid in new carpet insulation tonight.

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I also removed the weather stripping on the leading edge on the dashboard. New heavy duty stripping replaced the deteriorated OE foam stripping:

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Installed new heater core, the fixed hard pipe is too short. Sad trombone.

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I also added bits of insulation between the dash and ends of the crash bar to eliminate more rattles and squeaks.

I will clean and reinstall the old heater core tomorrow, reseal the HVAC with new weatherstripping, install the carpet.

I also have a DEI self adhesive insulation blanket for the exterior of the tunnel, near the header collector to further eliminate hot cabin temps.

[— kung fu jesus —]

Second wind tonight. ECU, cover and main carpet are in.

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Old amp on the bottom, new one above. MUCH smaller, lighter, easier to mount. Similar output.

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