Here you go:
https://www.periheliondesign.com/switchguards.htm
sammjoey (05-29-2020)
Stumbled upon your thread and went through it all and all I can say is that your Miata is so well built and beautiful. Also loved the film pictures you've taken. They're really well done. Reminds me that I need to get my rolls developed already to see how my shots turned out from the other day.
Love the car and can't wait to see where else you take it!
Follow My Build Thread!
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1997 Mazda Miata M-Edition
http://mazdaroadster.net/showthread....1997-M-Edition
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On Instagram: @97NA8M
oldgrayleather (06-01-2020),Roadster7 (06-01-2020)
Time for the semi-annual thread update.
My first roadster was an all-black 1994 C-package. For some dumb reason I decided I wanted a tan interior, so here we are.
Over the last year, I've come to despise tan - specifically in my car. No offense to all tan interior peeps on here. Using some free time I had over the summer, I took on yet another interior swap, but this time a complete color change. The timing couldn't have been better as another MR.net-er was looking for a tan NA6 interior to swap into his car. I'll let the perp out himself if he chooses. The dash that I had spent a stupid amount of hours restoring and working on went to a good home, along with the rest of the interior, and I was left searching for replacements.
I purchased a dash locally, along with all plastics. That was an easy task. Finding a carpet, however, was not so easy. Black closed-loop carpet is apparently rare, and rare enough that I strongly considered stripping the interior, cleaning it up and painting it, rather than continue the search for a carpet in decent shape. I may still do this, but....
I did manage to find a carpet set from a shop somewhere in the north-east, and they were cool shipping the complete set. Although the floor carpet, the bit that's behind the seats, and the parcel shelf don't 100% match and some bits are more faded than others, at this point I don't care. They're good enough.
The cleanup process wasn't documented, but I gave the carpet a good shampooing with FOLEX carpet cleaner, worked it in with a rotary brush, soaked with clean water and suctioned the debris and chemicals away with a shop vac. Repeat x2. Really uninteresting stuff.
The dash that I found was in pretty poor shape, but was still usable. There were 3 cracks in the top, and pretty much all but 4 mounting posts were broken on the underside. The dash frame was also completely rusted, so that was taken care of first.
Frame got sandblasted, then a few coats of VHT Roll Bar and Chassis paint.
High-res album
Last edited by Roadster7; 12-14-2020 at 04:43 PM.
oldgrayleather (12-16-2020),ueru (12-17-2020)
On to the dash, which like I said, was in piss poor shape. The under-dash and interior trim plastics were fine, but everything was faded.
First of all, everything was disassembled and examined.
Then a good scrubbing with soap and a brush.
It doesn't think about the tan, or else it gets the hose again.
High-res album
oldgrayleather (12-16-2020),ueru (12-17-2020),zco (12-14-2020)
Next, all of the plastics were rubbed down with brake fluid from the back side. I don't know what conditioning properties this has on the plastic, nor if it actually does anything. Adam did it once, I did it on my last dash, and I did it again here.
Following that ritual, the mounting posts on the underside were repaired using JB Weld's plastic putty. This stuff smells horrible. All three cracks had made their way through the dash completely, so those were reinforced on the underside with JB Weld's plastic-weld, and some ABS scraps.
High-res album
The cracks needed to be repaired from the top as well, so they got vee'd out with a dremel, roughed up, and filled with plastic-weld.
I then sanded the top with heavy grit to clean up the repairs, remove mold lines, and prepare for adhesive.
SEM makes great products - I love them. I've used their stuff on hard plastics, vinyl, metal, etc. The plastics were prepped using SEM 38353, then painted with SEM 15243 Satin Black Color Coat.
This is a perfect match to new, un-faded OEM plastics. Everything got a good 3-4 coats of this stuff, including the inside of the glovebox.
High-res album
oldgrayleather (12-16-2020),ueru (12-17-2020),zco (12-15-2020)
The previous tan dash was recovered in black leather, and although the leather was easy to work with, smelled nice, and looked great, I chose to go a different route this time.
This is not Alcantara; this is a fabric manufactured by a company named UltraSuede, which I thought was more appropriate considering it's made in Japan.
Installation was exactly like with the leather. Apply DAP Weldwood contact cement to material and dash evenly with a brush, wait the specified amount of time to allow the adhesive to tack up, then carefully join the two sides.
High-res album
oldgrayleather (12-16-2020),ueru (12-17-2020),zco (12-15-2020)
After a couple of months sitting naked, the interior started coming back together. Carpet installation was straightforward - drop in, massage into place. I did discover that the the carpet was meant for a NA6, so it wasn't a perfect fit. This wasn't a huge issue for the most part, except in the passenger footwell. The carpet here is molded differently due to the ECU position on NA6 cars, so I now had an empty space under the carpet in the footwell. To solve this problem I found an NA6 ECU cover, gave it an ugly coat of paint, and bolted it right in.
Dash reinstallation is now second nature to me.
Oh, and I got a new wheel, a MOMO MOD 88. It's nice.
High-res album
HarryB (12-15-2020),JamieH (12-15-2020),oldgrayleather (12-16-2020),ueru (12-17-2020),zco (12-15-2020)
What's that gauge cluster, you ask? That's another something that I've been developing the last year-and-a-half.
This is produced by Mate's Factory, and is our very first product. It is an instrument panel inspired by the M2 Incorporated cars, complete with individual rings, lenses, and lights, etc. The one you see pictured here was the first prototype.
An initial run of 10 panels was done earlier this fall, which sold out rather quickly. I am currently working on improving on the original design and re-engineering some components in preparation for a pre-order set to happen sometime in Q1 next year.
Gauges are Revlimiter's 1028 variant.
High-res album
Last edited by Roadster7; 12-14-2020 at 07:33 PM.
HarryB (12-15-2020),JamieH (12-15-2020),John J (12-15-2020),MiataQuest (12-14-2020),oldgrayleather (12-16-2020),ueru (12-17-2020),zco (12-15-2020)
Dash has come out great - well done.
Roadster7 (12-15-2020)
Thanks!
Since the interior was now black, my OEM seats were no longer an option. As I'm getting more and more involved in track-related activities, a bucket seat was the obvious next choice.
I placed an order for a seat, but ultimately things didn't work out and I had to go with another option. This turned out for the best.
In preparation, I picked up a set of OG Garage Star rails from etikoner.
High-res album
oldgrayleather (12-16-2020),ueru (12-17-2020)
At this point (September) the car hadn't been started in 7 months, and the Duralast Gold battery had reached the end of it's life.
I took this opportunity to upgrade, and went with a Shorai LiFePO4 (LFX21L6-BS12) battery. Shorai intends these to be used in motorcycles and not cars, but you'll often find LiFePO4 batteries in track cars.
They are higher-maintenance compared to your standard battery, and should be disconnected when not in use or attached to a proprietary charger. I do not plan to run a radio in the near future, so the primary purpose of this battery is to crank the motor and...roll the windows down. It's got plenty of juice to do this.
Most importantly - weight-savings.
Duralast: 20.5lbs
Shorai: 3lbs
That's right. It weighs nothing.
I made a crude aluminum bracket, bolted it down in the trunk, and started the car up with no problems.
High-res album
HarryB (12-15-2020),oldgrayleather (12-16-2020),ueru (12-17-2020)
NASA holds three events every year at our local track, Carolina Motorsports Park. February, May, and November. In preparation, I decided to up spring rates from 550/350 to 700/400. I'd probably go with 800/500 if I was running anything larger than my current 185/60 Direzzas.
Suspension came out and was disassembled, then it all got a good scrubbing and was put back together with new springs.
High-res album
HarryB (12-15-2020),oldgrayleather (12-16-2020),ueru (12-17-2020)
Somewhere around this time, I received an amazing care package from Weldon (100yenrainbowmountain). He was kind enough to hold on to a part that I had won on YJA while shipping was down. Not only did he help facilitate shipping after services resumed, he included a ton of gifts!
What could it be?
OMG.
Thank you my friend!
On to the part itself. I had sold my original modified tombstone, and needed a replacement. This guy came up on auction for a good deal, and I now own an M2-1028 part.
Complete with unwrapping diagram.
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HarryB (12-15-2020),oldgrayleather (12-16-2020),ueru (12-17-2020),zco (12-15-2020)