The Long Road Back

[— kung fu jesus —]

Nice work! Very clean install.

[— Agent☣Orange —]

Good job! Did that on my dad's Miata while trying to nail down the gas smell.

[—Bryan—]

One last important bit of MATG prep was finally installing the Reflectix.

Out came the interior for the third time this month:

20220730_104916 by Bryan Wyatt, on Flickr

The job was mostly measure, cut, trial fit, cut again, then tape.

First up was the section from the rear bulkhead to the ebrake handle:

20220730_111430 by Bryan Wyatt, on Flickr

From the other side. I went ahead and made sure to make holes for the carpet retainer and console screws:

20220730_112504 by Bryan Wyatt, on Flickr

Unfortunately, when I went to pull up the front end of the carpet, the footwell insulation came out in clumps:

20220730_113153 by Bryan Wyatt, on Flickr
20220730_113157 by Bryan Wyatt, on Flickr

I just threw it away and cut a piece of Reflectix to put in its place. I made a twin for the passenger side (whose insulation didn't come out, oddly):

20220730_113532 by Bryan Wyatt, on Flickr
20220730_114603 by Bryan Wyatt, on Flickr

Once I had the rear section taped down, I created a section that reached a little bit under the dash and on both sides of the tranny tunnel right below it:

20220730_115632 by Bryan Wyatt, on Flickr

I put one layer on top of this that fit around the widest part of the shift boot, then added one more that fit over the shifter:

20220730_121352 by Bryan Wyatt, on Flickr
20220730_122036 by Bryan Wyatt, on Flickr

As I started putting the car back together, I realized I needed to cut down some of the insulation when it poked through the carpet. There's still a little bit of crinkle every time I move the shifter to Reverse or when the ebrake handle is operated.

20220730_123531 by Bryan Wyatt, on Flickr

Aside from the slightly increased drag for the seats against the tranny tunnel when sliding forward and back, you'd never know I did anything:

20220730_130018 by Bryan Wyatt, on Flickr

The difference so far is astounding. I feel so dumb that I didn't do this years ago!

[— kung fu jesus —]

Great job!

Removing the old carpet should be any owners’ primary maintenance on an NA or NB, if only just to clean it and the tub.

The jute insulation should be replaced due to age and the drop top nature of these cars.

Hope this upgrade offers an enhanced enjoyment for years to come!

[— Agent☣Orange —]

Definitely. I removed the carpet out of my dad's Miata and the floor was covered in some kind of white fungus with long veins. It was like a mushroom colony. Luckily there was no rust so we took the carpet to the car wash, hung it on the wall and blasted it clean. Even for a black carpet, the water came out equally black. All the factory jute when into the garbage although it should have gone into a red biohazard bag and burned. Factory jute in a Miata is really a sponge that holds water anyway. Did a layer of fatmat for vibration and foam/reflectix layers for sound and heat barriers.

[atlex]

This is a related question..

does anyone make a non-shit carpet for the MX5/Miata ? I mean, actually as good as the original mazda ones ?

[— kung fu jesus —]

This is a related question..

does anyone make a non-shit carpet for the MX5/Miata ? I mean, actually as good as the original mazda ones ?

The loop pile on the early NAs? I would bet that would be a custom job, but none of "kits" I've seen were that great.

[—Bryan—]

Update post MATG:

The insulation didn't help on a long enough trip. Within an hour or so, my right foot and hip were hot again

I could add something over the exhaust itself. I was trying to avoid trying to jack up the car and insulating from the underside. I might still have to or just live with it. Car was otherwise quite pleasant.

MATG XXVI was insanity. Fontana Village was without power for three straight days due to a storm that hit when I was north of Knoxville. It was huge: at the same time I was surging through 3" puddles on I-75, high winds blew over a tree, which, on its way to hitting one of the lodge buildings at Fontana, took out a pole with a transformer on it, which took out another 11 poles before all was said and done.

I'll make a long story very short: it was awesome. We welcomed 10 new vendors (for a total of 40) and even broke our own previous attendance record in the process. I feel like I could write a book, but I'll just drop some pics of the car instead

DSC_8964 by Bryan Wyatt, on Flickr

If you get a chance, let Lorie from Palm Breeze give your car a once over while you're at MATG. You won't regret it!

DSC_8952 by Bryan Wyatt, on Flickr

This was my view every morning from the porch of my non-AC cabin. Almost worth the previous night of sweating and bug bites.

DSC_8928 by Bryan Wyatt, on Flickr

Sadly, the only time I drove US129 in daylight was on my way home on Sunday. Other than that, I took 28 on two different nights to go to dinner. Those were the only times I left FVR all weekend.

Killboy's crew got these two:

3758333 Killboy by Bryan Wyatt, on Flickr
3758334 Killboy by Bryan Wyatt, on Flickr

[—Bryan—]

Took the car out for a short drive tonight.

I freaking love this car.





It's still slow, but moves quickly enough when I ask it to, the tires and suspension are more capable than I am, and yet the car soaks up bumps a lot better than I remember and just in general is more comfortable and quick.