My interior wasn't in as terrible shape as I thought, other than the fuel pump access panel, which is worse than I thought. Rusted all the way through in some spots. The guy I sold the roll bar to is bringing me one back from his parts car in SC when he comes back to work Monday. I was surprised I made such good progress this afternoon. Got home from work and started as soon as I turned the key off. That was at 4:30, quit at 6:15 and already had seats out, dash out and carpet out.

I'm also pretty excited that he also said he would give me the 1.6 dash from his parts car. I've always liked them more, but I would need to change a few things to make it work. Aren't the clusters different? Either way, might go that route. They look much better with stripped interiors. Going for this look, but in black.

Attachment 186965

But right now I'm working with...

Attachment 186966

Couldn't be good for the computer. Probably why it runs so weird.

Attachment 186967

Attachment 186968

Overall, not in terrible shape though. Do some cleaning tomorrow and start brushing the first coat of Herculiner.
Attachment 186969

Will be getting MS soon, but for now I will go ahead and reroute the harness to under the dash/ in the glove box. I'm also thinking I will not put the radio back in. Haven't used it much here lately. I can avoid cutting the door panels and dealing with tracking buzzes and rattles from the bass in the door shell. Can also ditch the wiring running all over the place. I plan to do shit right this time.

Are you talking about my box?

I hope not! lol

Guaranteed delivery by the end of the day Monday. :bigtu:

I don't believe this warrants its own topic, so here it goes:

I've been talking to the attractive divorcee down the street a lot about getting a job with her company after I graduate. She can't be a day over 40 and has two children who are in their teens and spend weekends with their father. She invited me to come help her decide how to decorate her bedroom because the current layout reminds her too much of her ex-husband.

My question to you, Miataturbo, is, if the chance arises, do I make her feel 25 again?

Yes yes yes X 1000.
I envy you.

Do it noob. SRSLY.

That is the biggest load of horseshit I have ever read.

I'm not usually a fan of "gutted" interiors, but I have to say, that looks very well-done. You've actually given me some ideas on how to deal with the dashboard in my '90, which is cracked all to hell.



She'll feel 12 again if you wind up in her bedroom.

I'm now a bit iffy on the truck bed liner idea. Not the idea itself really, just the liner I am going to be using. Herculiner seems to go on uneven and has a lot of irregular chunks of rubber in it. Making for a bit of a messy finish. But the really good stuff costs 4 times as much, and is mostly applied by professionals. I'll run with this, if I don't like it, I can always get new loop carpet from stockinteriors for $150. But really in my car, the only areas that will be exposed will be the trans tunnel and the upper footwell area as well as the shit behind the seats. I will be running floor mats still, so the ugly seam sealer I will be rolling the liner over will be hidden. If nothing else, this coat will protect the interior from future rust, as well as add a little extra sound deadening and insulation from temperature, all for only a 3 pound gain.

I may actually try to return the $85 Herculiner and go for the Duplicolor stuff like I originally intended. It's much cheaper, and I already know I like the texture. Though people claim it doesn't hold up, my door sills have held up for something like 3 years and only have very minor damage on them.

i put duplicolor liner on the floor of my 323 about 4-5 years ago and its held up, even hauling 2 BP's and a KLZE in the back.

Thin the herculiner out and then put through a strainer. That's what I did when I applied it to my trucks rails so they were not as grainy as the bed floor. For my full size truck I plan to strain it and do the lower rocker area. Heculiner is tough, really tough. The more layers you do the better it is as now you have a few mm thick single layer that is all one unit and hard to chip remove etc. Put in on thin and you get problems. I even used it as toe guard on some winter clip less shoes and its almost as strong as the plastic sole.

Good to hear. Like I said, I've had some on my door sills for several years, and even with 2 thin coats, it's still holding up very well. I'd imagine with an extra coat or two, it would be good for any abuse I could throw at it, which won't be much on the interior. Heavy traffic areas like the floor will be covered with floor mats anyway. Just need the trans tunnel to remain looking decent.

Here goes the sorting out wires issue. Removed a few unused harnesses so far, and looking for a good way to reroute the small harness running on the passenger side, not the ECU harness, the other one. I guess it will have to stay there, I can just redo it with new black plastic flex conduit and secure it in the bottom corner.

pics or ban, pusha.

i dont know how possible it is in a miata but i have fished wires thru rocker panels before with a long fishing rod like this:


i would suggest sleeving it or somehow protect the wires from water.

i left mine where they were in the 323, but then again it is my hoon car so interior looks were never a goal.

Aww yeah! It's not perfect, but it will certainly do for me. I like this liner since it's not a heavy texture, looks more like plastic. It covered every imperfection but the thick seam sealer, which is very obvious. But where most of the sealer is, either a seat or floor mat will cover it. Only parts that will be really visible is the top of the trans tunnel, which looks pretty good. As usual, camera shows a lot of flaws that aren't really noticeable in person. I stopped at the seam behind the seats, I will finish the rear stuff off once I get the new fuel pump access panel.

Attachment 186963

A lot of the seam sealer wasn't really noticeable until after I laid on the coating. Otherwise the few random spots of sealer that looks like it was spilled in random locations, would have been removed. I also have to put one of the driver side floor plugs back in. Apparently I ran something over at some point and knocked it loose. It was just being held in place by crud and carpet mat.

Looks decent enough. I'm afraid what the floor pans in mine look like, as I bought the thing with a bad top, and the carpets were soaked.

My micro mill (harbor freight) has decided to die. Speed controller shuts it off before it gets up to speed. Just as I was finishing up a machining project. Crap.

Do any of you NA guys recall there being a large harness connector on the driver side of the dash that doesn't plug into anything. Pretty sure I got everything connected, but there is one big white connector sort of behind the gauge cluster, slightly to the left, just hanging when I look up through the dash from the bottom. Don't recall disconnecting it, nor do I see the other end where it might plug into.

I do now have an annoying beep/intermittent buzz from the airbag module, since I removed the passenger bag. I guess I'll have to fish my arm up in there and unplug the module. Should have removed it when the dash was out, but I wasn't sure if it would cause issues elsewhere. Seems like I'm reading it doesn't.

Number of pins?

Photograph of said connector?

Bunch of pins, probably 25 or so. Looks like a main connector, I can't image it not being used, but I can't find the other end. I've had the dash out before and don't recall this connector...

Everything seems to be fine without it though. Car runs, everything seems to work... I'll run with it for now.