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Starbaby
03-17-2015, 09:49 AM
Two questions here...

How on EARTH do you remove the paint on the instrument cluster hood?

If I can't get it off I may have to turn it into a feature, getting everyone who looks at the car to leave one fingerprint behind....oh WAIT...that has already happened!:(

The second thing is that I am attempting to remove the carpet which is still under the...well I think its the heater matrix...the white box behind the dash. Everything is out of the car but that and it looks like 3 or 4 screws and one clamp to move it out of the way but what about the heater core pipes?

If I loosen everything else and gently pull up far enough to cut the carpet loose can I damage the heater core?

What is the best way to handle these two problems?

Phatmiata
03-17-2015, 10:32 AM
There is no PAINT on the OEM gauge hood, my guess is that the prior owner of your Miata painted it and it never cured, or used a chemical cleaner that had a bad reaction which re-emulsified the paint to that sticky mess.

Phatmiata
03-17-2015, 10:35 AM
for the carpet there is one carpet push pin located directly under the A/C box (that white box) if you want you can carefully cut the carpet on one side and you can slide it out. Otherwise you will have to remove that white box to access the carpet push pin.

Starbaby
03-17-2015, 10:36 AM
Well, that would make sense, thank you!

I assumed that since the dash is painted that they went whole hog on the instrument cluster.

I think I will try brake fluid or something along those lines, this thing is a sticky mess and getting worse!

As for the advice on the carpet removal, that would make things a great deal easier, I don't want to remove anything complex unless necessary and have been agonizing over breaking something while trying to do something else.

Demon I Am
03-17-2015, 10:52 AM
I just yanked the carpet as hard and fast as possible, and it broke the clip without tearing the carpet. I may have been lucky?

My tan 1993 gauge hood was painted black.

Phatmiata
03-17-2015, 11:02 AM
You have a 1991 BRG, so most likely your Miata had the infamous Miata sticky dash syndrome. The dash was actually molded in Tan plastic and then the black area up top was painted by Mazda. However whatever paint they used back then does not hold up well to the chemicals folks use to clean their interiors these days, so the reaction is a re-emulsification of the paint making it sticky or tacky again. Best bet is to remove the dash and have it taken to a bodyshop for a paint with clearcoat. Or if you are a DIY guy you can probably get some good quality paint remover and take the paint off and repaint it yourself with a good quality automotive paint.

Demon I Am
03-17-2015, 11:05 AM
Just make sure you get something that won't eat the underlying plastic, otherwise you'll have a weirdly textured mess

Phatmiata
03-17-2015, 11:54 AM
Check out this Miata dash removal in case you need help

http://mazdaroadster.net/showthread.php?6606-Miata-Dashboard-Removal-Instructions-w-pics!

vote4pedro
03-17-2015, 02:43 PM
For some reason all NAs with tan interiors have painted gauge hoods.
Goof off is excellent for removing the paint and does not harm the plastic.

Phatmiata
03-17-2015, 03:38 PM
For some reason all NAs with tan interiors have painted gauge hoods.
Goof off is excellent for removing the paint and does not harm the plastic.

my 1992 SE didn't. anyhow good info!!

mx54life
03-17-2015, 11:30 PM
The white plastic case is the heater core housing which is held by 3 nuts. Removing it is not the issue it is the coolant that will make the job messy. BUT this is also the best time to see if your heater core is intact. If it is original check if you can see any signs of leaking (turn on your heat and you smell coolant inside the cabin then.....)thus removing the housing and changing the core will make sense and would make the carpet removal easy.

I am at this issue at the moment so feel free to ask. Good luck.

Starbaby
03-18-2015, 01:06 PM
Wow! Thanks to all of you!

Phatmiata, thanks for the link, I had one similar but I missed this one which is far more complete

It will make putting the dash back in a great deal easier. At the moment I have the dash out completely and taped all the fittings and wiring ends with corresponding numbers in case it didn't make sense to me putting it all back IN.

I tried using brake fluid on the sticky part, didn't think of goof off but I think it will work better and faster!

The brake fluid softened it up enough to slowly drag the paint off in a small section but would take forever, it was almost as bad as taking the black gooped door plastic off but there was no other way around doing THAT!

The heater core does not leak at all however the foam pads inside the air conditioning box HAS seen better days, luckily I have some foam pads exactly that size in my stash.


I will come back and post the results of cleaning this mess, once I get the carpets completely out I am going to wash and wax all the exposed metal, I have the A pillars and all that off anyway so will give everything underneath a good scrub and wax before re-installing everything.

Starbaby
03-24-2015, 11:41 PM
So far, Goo Gone, Goof Off, paint thinner have done nothing to remove the sticky mess
Brake fluid does loosen it to a certain extent but there will be a lot of paper towels involved, grabbing the sticky stuff and DRAG it off bit by bit.

I may have to buy enough brake fluid to soak various areas and allow it to soak in for a bit before wiping off.

However, Goo Gone does seem to remove the final film left over from the brake fluid.

Malibu Q
03-25-2015, 04:03 AM
I used lacquer thinner to remove the original paint from my dash. Worked well.
While you are looking at the heater, it was the firewall grommets that I had to replace on mine. Took ages to find that vibrating noise.

Phatmiata
03-25-2015, 06:34 AM
This is so weird, I had a 91 Miata and a 92 Miata and never had this problem, now I go to install my gauges this week and guess what? :angry:

https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8713/16719439668_08187febcf_c.jpg


I went online to http://www.RealMazdaParts.com and ordered a new one as I just dont have time to mess with this sticky mess at the moment and really want to drive the car

Price: was the cheapest online at $100.21

Starbaby
03-25-2015, 02:01 PM
This is so weird, I had a 91 Miata and a 92 Miata and never had this problem, now I go to install my gauges this week and guess what? :angry:

https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8713/16719439668_08187febcf_c.jpg


I went online to http://www.RealMazdaParts.com and ordered a new one as I just dont have time to mess with this sticky mess at the moment and really want to drive the car

Price: was the cheapest online at $100.21

It WASN'T ME!!!!! :D

That IS weird though, perhaps it has to do with the phenomenon of buying a Miata or WRXs and suddenly all you SEE are Miatas or WRXs!
I must say though, that yours is worse than MINE...mine was like that just underneath the cowling and around the gauge face, not so much on the top

Starbaby
03-25-2015, 02:05 PM
I used lacquer thinner to remove the original paint from my dash. Worked well.
While you are looking at the heater, it was the firewall grommets that I had to replace on mine. Took ages to find that vibrating noise.

Ok...will try lacquer thinner.

good point on the grommets, I had those replaced along with the "cursed water fitting" plug on the back on the engine when all the engine hoses were replaced. I am slowly going through all the heater control doors, dash and electrical connectors replacing all the foam while I am in there as well.

Malibu Q
03-26-2015, 12:55 AM
Noticed Phat's post about the meter hood stickiness. I only used lacquer thinner on the main dash top to remove the sticky black paint off my red dash. I didn't use it on the meter hood. Suggest you try it on an inconspicuous bit first.

Starbaby
03-26-2015, 11:29 AM
Thanks, I will do that but the paint on the dash has to come off as well, so either way lacquer thinner appears to be on my shopping list for the car.

Phatmiata
03-26-2015, 11:31 AM
Thanks, I will do that but the paint on the dash has to come off as well, so either way lacquer thinner appears to be on my shopping list for the car.

yep, my dash has been getting a bit of the tacky feeling as well, pretty sure I will have to removed the entire dash and take the black paint off and then repaint.

Starbaby
04-03-2015, 03:04 PM
Malibu, You freaking ROCK! :bangle:

The sticky hood cluster took me 6 hours of my life and 1 1/2 bottles of brake fluid

(Phat...halfway through the job I longingly thought of the link you forwarded to a good price on a new hood but by that time, I had spent WAY too much time on it myself):cry:

Malibu I read your post about the lacquer thinner and the entire top of the dash took only 2 hours.

It DOES soften the plastic underneath, rather melts the pebbling off if you leave it too long so I got the unit propped as flat as I could, then laid some small, really absorbent cloth saturated with the thinner over sections of it, kept checking it and as soon as the paint bubbled, wiped it off and wiped with soap and water.

However the REALLY great thing happened when I realized that despite the really good cleaning I had done on the interior, when I took out the switch plates and so on there were ground in dirt marks around them which nothing would take off...not REALLY noticeable but hey...I only want to do this ONCE.

So, seeing that the thinner had somewhat softened the plastic, after washing the entire thing again I grabbed some Mr. Clean erasers, wet them down with thinner and carefully and quickly went over all of the plastic. I kept wiping the panels with soap and water as I cleaned each one.

Did any of you with tan interiors realize that the color that is on there now after 20 some years of UV rays was radically (although evenly) changed by sun damage?

The lacquer thinner took that layer OFF, the original color is now back and it is a really NICE color....like the interior part of the dash or the back sides that did not have sun on them. (um...DUH stands to reason I guess!) I didn't have time to do anything more yesterday but the tops of the doors also were a sort of S**T yellow rather than tan, you could just see the original color on one edge.

I imagine this would work for any color plastic and might be something any of you could try on one of the bottom plastic panels in your vehicles in an unobtrusive place. I imagine red or blue would look a great deal more true and intense if the sun damage was removed like this.

I didn't rub hard, the eraser was more to help me do it evenly but all the grunge came off around the switches as well as the top layer of plastic, there is still pebbling on those parts while the dash itself where the paint was really thick took a longer time and lost some of the pebbling.

I AM going to wash all of the plastic down really well after doing the rest and put some sort of UV protecting on it as I don't want the panels to become brittle after having this done, I mean it changed the surface while it was removing the paint itself....who knows what doing that without protecting it again would do going forward.

I wanted to cover the dash in leather myself but it would take three people with 4 sets of hands, about 30 bean bags and clamps and stretchers to keep everything in one place (or is it just ME?) so it could be done properly.

I am biting the bullet and sending the cleaned parts off to be wrapped by someone who HAS all of the above and the skill set as well.

But at the moment I am on top of the world seeing how much brighter and fresh the plastic is, what a bonus!

Malibu Q
04-05-2015, 06:53 AM
Glad it's working out for you Starbaby.
Just be aware that some interior parts are painted in a speckled two tone finish to make them look rich and more like leather.
Wiping over some parts with thinner will remove this texture. Ask me how I know this.
73Bacon covers this in his excellent thread on red interiors HERE (http://mazdaroadster.net/showthread.php?9073-Ultimate-LE-interior-paint-thread-SEM-Portola-Firethorn-Napa&p=131656#post131656)
If youre looking for a top class job you may think of replicating what he did in tan.

Starbaby
04-05-2015, 04:14 PM
Thanks for the link, I didn't know there was plastic adhesion promoter! Adding to the list of things I didn't know...sigh.
The pebbling, or leather texture did not come off when I gently wiped the sides and bottom of the panel, just took off the grunge and discoloration but it did remove it from the dash, which is fine as it will have leather on it.
Given what this article is saying, I will sand it now too just to make sure nothing translates through the leather.