1996 NA MX-5 Build Thread

[stephen8512]

17/09/2017

The MX-5 Club of NSW held their annual "President's Picnic" event day, which is an event with probably the largest gathering of MX-5's in the calendar year. It's a chance for MX-5 owners to get together, showcase and display their cars, catch up with old mates, meet new people and talk all things MX-5.

As a member you have the opportunity to win an award if you decide to enter your car. You can enter it in the Concours d’Elegance category, which is where prizes are awarded for those in the best or most original condition, the Show 'N Shine category where prizes are awarded for the best NA, NB, NC and ND on show taking into account originality and/or external modifications and trim, and then there's the Best Modified & Performance category for NA, NB, NC and ND which look at the nature and quality of mechanical, interior and exterior modifications taken into account. You also have the Best in Show, Peoples Choice and Best Ladies Car on Show awards.

The event was held at the historic Ebenezer Church grounds which is the oldest church in Australia, established in 1809 and to this day, they still conduct weekly services. Some 130 MX-5's turned up today and roughly 190 attendees. With blue skies, no clouds and the sun beaming down and ambient temperature of around 22 degrees celsius, it was an absolutely fantastic day to hold such an event.

I wasn't expecting to receive anything as I was happy to just chat and talk to the owners of some really cool MX-5's which were on display but I managed to receive the People's Choice award! Unexpected and stoked! I had a lot of people approach me and ask me various things about my car and I met and talked to some great people which is what I think these events are all about. I had a DSLR for photos but I forgot to charge the battery last night (rookie mistake). Excuse my potato quality photos which were taken from my phone and thanks to Breno for the drone shots. Thanks to the MX-5 Club of NSW and all the volunteers for making this a successful event.

96-BRG being displayed in a sea of awesome MX-5's. The black NA belonging to my mate with some sweet BBS RS's and big plans for the engine in the not too distant future.



Fantastic day for a car show.









A Fiat 124 Abarth also decided to join the party.



The Concours d'elegance contestants.



Red NA and red ND.



Perfect weather for the event.



Drone shots.





Managed to win the "People's Choice" award!

[Toddxxx]

Congrats on the award man.

Actually saw a few guys cruising out to this event on my way home from the airport on Sunday morning.

Sent from my VTR-L09 using Tapatalk

[stephen8512]

20/09/2017

RevLimiter Custom HVAC Panel + RS Products Classic A/C Trim Ring + Fan Knob + Sliders
Ever since I've updated the gauge cluster with some custom made ones from RevLimiter, I've wanted to continue that theme with the HVAC panel as well. The OEM HVAC panel didn't really "fit" with the gauge cluster. When I initially got my custom gauges made, I could have also bought the HVAC together but I decided to hold off on it...and I'm glad I did. Adam had recently announced that his gauges and HVAC panels are now being made from a different material. Quote :

"Gen3 gauges are laser cut from aerospace polymer and digitally screen printed to create a dial face that exceeds OEM quality. Using spot color printing, the gauges feature extremely vivid red zones and translucent black warning light areas. They’re also extremely tough and can be cleaned with water or chemicals."

To put it in other words, the new Gen3 gauges and HVAC panels are OEM textured semi-gloss surface and the colours "pop" more than the old Gen2 material, which was more a matte surface and the colours weren't as vivid. I'm contemplating whether I should get my gauge faces re-done in the new material as it would be brighter, but given that they're not exactly cheap with shipping and my that my current ones do the job perfectly well, I feel like that that money could be better spent elsewhere. I decided that I wanted the HVAC panel to match my gauge faces with the text and font being kept consistent. I opted for the "Version Stirling" and made a few custom changes including the numbers on the dial to replicate the numbers as shown on my gauge face.

My car never came with A/C so it never came with the A/C button from factory. But, when I pulled off the OEM fan selector knob to be able to remove my HVAC panel, I discovered that the module which allows A/C was also in my car but it's just that it's not hooked up to anything since there was no A/C. It was a pleasant surprise as I do plan on installing a complete A/C system in the near future together with the NB heater core upgrade and this was one less thing to worry about when trying to source the parts. I also had my HVAC panel made so that it includes the A/C indicator below the fan selector knob so that when it is activated and when I get around to installing the A/C, it will light up. This was just forward thinking. I also decided to install my RS Products A/C fan selector knob, slider buttons and fan trim ring.

The install was straight forward. Adam has a HVAC panel install guide on his site complete with illustrations which helped a lot. Overall, I'm very pleased with the result and I think it's really starting to take shape. Thanks again to Adam for making this for me.

OEM HVAC panel. Really need to put in my Nakamichi headunit too...



Eyeball vents and tombstone out.



The vents had a thin film of dust which needed cleaning.



Much better.



The slider buttons have a tiny little hex screw on the bottom, which need to be unscrewed before being able to take the HVAC panel off completely.



HVAC panel off.



OEM HVAC panel that will be modified.



Nothing to it but to just peel back the old panel. I was lucky in that my panel was still pretty fresh and new and the majority of the glue stayed on the panel which is good because it will be re-used with the new panel by re-activating it with heat.



Old stuff gone. Lot of little bits of dirt and dust on there as you can see. The panel was given a good wipe down before the new stuff went on.



Ready for the new.



RevLimiter Version Stirling custom HVAC panel and fan selector. I customised the font and numbers to replicate my gauge cluster to keep it all consistent.



Double sided scotch tape was applied on the fan glass to make it adhere to the new fan selector insert.



Did this on the panel as well.



Placed the HVAC insert onto the panel and re-activated the glue with a hairdryer. I also added the RS Products fan selector trim ring.



The old bulb which would be lighting up the panel was probably the same one from 21 years ago. I decided to update it with some T5 white LED's. This will make the panel illuminate brighter than stock.



Old VS New. Big difference.



LED's installed.



New fan selector insert attached. Notice the A/C indicator on the bottom. It is blacked out but it will light up when activated and when I get my A/C installed.



Result.



Slowly coming together. That headunit really needs to go. It's next on the list of things to replace.



Lit up.



Success!

[stephen8512]

30/09/2017

Nakamichi CD-400 Headunit + Polk Audio DB651 6.5" Coaxial Speakers
The headunit which came with the MX-5 was a Sony, specifically a Sony CDX-S2010X. Try saying that three times. Now, I'll admit that the headunit suited the interior when I picked it up in that it didn't seem too...flamboyant as other aftermarket headunits I've seen in other NA's. It was nice and subtle and it lit up green to match the interior lights. However, I wanted something which was still an aftermarket headunit but looked OEM/factory. Enter the Nakamichi CD-400.





The door panels came out and I cut the wires which were hooked on to the old speakers. They seemed to be an aftermarket speaker of some sort and the wires were soldered on to the speaker terminals rather than having them connected with spade connectors.



I took out all the old cables, routed the new speaker cables through the firewall and soldered and heatshrinked some female spade connectors to the end of the wire to make the speaker install cleaner. I ended up removing the blue plastic sheath from the positive connector and just used heatshrink.



Upon removing the speaker though, it appears that the person previously installed the sound system used blu-tack to hold the speaker in position before screwing them down to the door. This left a pretty nasty residue which had to be cleaned before I could install the new speakers.



Love this stuff...



Plastic scraper used to get all the crap off.



All clean.



The new speakers are a pair of Polk Audio DB651 6.5" Coaxials. Nothing too crazy, bang for buck and excellent sound.



I also had some XTC foam speaker baffles which was used. Fitting foam speaker baffles serve a dual role. First, they help keep dirt and grime away from the delicate driver components to help maximize speaker life. Second, by forming a tight mounting seal around the speaker, the baffle can actually help reduce panel-to-frame resonance for better sound. Added bonus of it also acting as a water proofing measure. Once this was all wired up, the new speakers and baffles were screwed into place.

XTC foam speaker baffles mounted to the door with wires fed through for the speakers.





Removing excess foam.



Taking out the old headunit wasn't too hard. Upon removing the tombstone and gaining access to the rear, the wiring to the Sony harness was done surprisingly well. It was all soldered properly and heatshrinked and it was neatly wrapped in electrical tape. I was quite surprised by this clean install because it certainly didn't seem like the same care was used when the old speakers were wired and mounted.



Since the headunit was soldered into the factory harness, it meant that I couldn't use an adaptor harness to hook up the new headunit. This would have been so much easier rather than soldering and heatshrinking. Wires were cut and using the now cut Sony harness as a guide, I matched the wires on the Nakamichi harness and soldered them all and covered it with heatshrink.



Nakamichi harness soldered, heatshrinked and zip-tied to make it neat.



I also managed to get a pair of JDM factory tweeters from an NA8 Eunos Roadster. It seemed liked the MX-5's in Japan got treated to Pioneer branded tweeters whereas ours were no name.





Again, much like me getting the Nakamichi headunit for how it looks and not for its SQ, I got these tweeters because the silver trim ring around the tweeter suited the interior look I was going for. It was just a bonus that they were made by Pioneer. The grille was a little scratched up in a few places so I decided to take the tweeters apart, mask up the silver trim and give a couple of coats of satin black on the grille.



Masked it up and made sure to get tape between the grille and the edge of the trim. Fingernails helped.



They turned out pretty well.





Overall it was a faily straight forward install. The Nakamichi is in along with the new Polk Audio speakers and I have to say, the sound is pretty incredible. I'm not a huge audiophile but I can already tell the difference. There was one downside to this install. The old Sony headunit was smart enough to turn on and extend the power antenna when the radio was on and to retract when the system was either off or playing the CD. The Nakamichi headunit isn't as smart in that it seems like the power antenna stays extended when you simply turn the headunit on, whether it's on CD, radio or AUX. It's a little annoying and I have found that many people seem to splice in a toggle switch or something similar to manually extend and retract the antenna but for now, I simply unplugged the power going to the aerial so that it stays down as I hardly ever listen to the radio anyway. Many thanks to Sari for lending me a hand with the soldering and wiring and to Mike for sourcing and sending me the tweeters from YJA.

From this...



...to this...

[luzinit]

Nice work with the stereo, interior and paint dude, paint came up a million bucks!

[stephen8512]

Nice work with the stereo, interior and paint dude, paint came up a million bucks!

Thanks man! Appreciate it! Gonna try and make it to the CITR BBQ

[stephen8512]

02/10/2017

Hella Sharp Tone Horns
One of the biggest let downs for the MX-5 is the fact that it has a very poor horn. It's not nearly loud enough given the size of the vehicle. The MX-5 is by no means a big car and although I'm always enjoying the drive, I'm also very wary of other motorists and always defensive driving. The other day I was coming home and some idiot in a Lexus decided to merge into my lane without any indication. I slam my brakes and luckily there wasn't anyone behind me otherwise it would have resulted in an accident. I honk my piss poor sounding horn at him, change lanes and catch up to him. Upon getting up side by side with the driver, I realise he is wearing earphones and was completely oblivious to the collision that almost happened. My horn didn't even phase him nor was it loud enough for him to notice me. We exchange profanities at each other; me because he almost crashed into my car and him because he doesn't know why there's a guy telling him off as he believes he did nothing wrong (again, he was wearing earphones and most likely, I was in his blind spot) and we both go our separate ways. Ever since then, I decided I needed to upgrade my horns to something a little louder.

I decided to buy the Hella Sharp Tones horns, which is a dual horn set with a high and low tone. It also comes with a separate relay so I'll be wiring these up. I opted for these over the Supertones as I like the sound of them more and to me, they sound much crisper. I also decided to give the Nautilus a miss because I didn't like the idea of the compressor not working which was the main reason why it got such poor reviews from what I read. Given that the Hella's have 115dB of fury, the sound will be definitely piercing enough for anyone to hear, even those who wear earphones in their cars (which I still think is a stupid idea, but I digress).

Hella Sharp Tone Horn set. They come with a yellow "grille" around the horn module and even though I know that the horns will be hidden behind my bumper and no one will ever see them, I had to do something about that yellow.



Scuffing up the paint so that it can be repainted.



Ready for a professional rattle can satin black paint job.



Much better, even though I know no one will ever see these behind the bumper.



Stock horn. The single tone "meep-meep" won't do.



Stock VS Hella Sharp Tones.



Making wires. Eye terminal and female spade connector, then crimped and heatshrinked for the ground. One for each horn.





Routing the power wire.



Power wire routed to fuse box with fuse socket tap ready to accept the 15A fuse blade. Protective sheathing to cover the wire.



Wiring them up. The horns fit nicely there. No need to drill another mounting point as you can use an existing hole left there, courtesy of Mazda.



The new horns sound amazing. And very loud! Super happy with the install and so glad to be rid of that piss poor OEM horn. The MX-5 will now be heard as well as being seen on the streets!

[stephen8512]

Here's a much better video of the Fujitsubo catback exhaust on my MX-5. Many thanks to Daniel who took time out of his day to make this video. Many different angles, fly by at WOT and in car footage from a GoPro. Of course, all done in a safe environment in Mexico...

[totti]

Love the updates and attention to detail!

Where did you buy the XTC foam speaker baffles? They're expensive little bastards on ebay au!

[stephen8512]

Love the updates and attention to detail!

Where did you buy the XTC foam speaker baffles? They're expensive little bastards on ebay au!

Thanks mate!

Got the baffles from a mate who has a pair spare from his speaker install

[Apu]

Love the exhaust! Just sold my NB a few weeks ago and I’m missing it

Thanks for the write-up on the horns as well. I’ll be replacing the ones on my Civic and Mercedes.

[stephen8512]

Love the exhaust! Just sold my NB a few weeks ago and I’m missing it

Thanks for the write-up on the horns as well. I’ll be replacing the ones on my Civic and Mercedes.

No problem man! The horns were pretty easy to install. Definitely a worthwhile upgrade especially for smaller cars!

[stephen8512]

10/10/2017

Nakamae Aluminium Door Locks
I finally got around to installing the Nakamae door locks. I had initially wanted to wait till I removed my dash and carpet and strip the car back before installing them but since the interior was coming together nicely, I thought why not. KG Works also have something which look very similar to the Nakamae door locks but they differ in that they come in parts and need to be assembled with your original locking mechanism, meaning you need to DIY the parts with what they provide you, the door lock slider itself is a different shape and doesn't resemble the OEM lock slider and finally, they're made of plastic and is chrome dipped. Although the door handles physically look identical, the fact that they are plastic and too "blingy" as a result of them being chrome dipped was enough for me to look for alternatives.

The Nakamae door locks are 100% full replacements for the OEM locks, are made of aluminium which gives it a more brushed look and nicer heavier feel and has perfect fit and finish. I managed to score the very last Nakamae door lock set for the NA MX-5 right before they were discontinued so I got pretty lucky. I also went ahead and got a pair of brand new OEM Mazda door cups. Mine had a hairline crack on both left and right cups so I thought this would be a good time to swap them out.

Nakamae replacement door locks.



OEM VS Nakamae.



Removing the door panel to gain access to the locking mechanism. You can see that the handle is also a bit scuffed.



Very easy install. Just pop these two tabs holding the wires which control the door lock and the door opening latch.



Comparison. FYI there is a specific lock for both the left and right door, denoted by "L" amd "R" on the lock.



Replacement OEM door cups.



Installed. Looks much better.



Also went ahead and put heatshrink on the ends of the spade connectors which go into the relay for the Hella horns. Ran out of heatshrink last time so thought it was a good idea to atmosphere-proof them.




Next to install : 93LE speaker grilles. Need to get the doorcards updated first...

[stephen8512]

14/10/2017

Got some new floor mats from CocoMats to replace the temporary eBay mats I've had in my car for two years. When I first received them, the driver side didn't fit properly and the heel rest pad was stitched on slightly crooked, but after an email informing them of the error, they were very apologetic and sent me out a replacement drivers side mat. I had to draw up a template and send it off to them so that they can make the mat to fit my car.

I have to say that although the initial purchase wasn't 100%, the after sales support and the fact that they kept in touch and replied to my emails within a day or less really impressed me and made this whole ordeal go much smoother than expected. I wouldn't hesitate to buy again and I'd highly recommend it to any of my friends who were looking for replacement floor mats for their vehicle.

CocoMats that I ordered. Passenger side was great. Driver side didn't fit. The cutout for the footrest was wrong.



The old "temporary" floor mats that I bought from an Australian seller on eBay that lasted me two years and which came up as "tan" when purchasing but in reality, a light beige.



Hard to tell but the heel rest pad had to be shoved under the footrest pedal to get the driver side to fit. Not only that, the heel rest pad wasn't stitched on straight. It was slightly crooked.



Heel pad way too big and spanned the entire width of the mat.



The original CocoMat I received on the left VS the replacement CocoMat I received after they used my template to create the mat. Notice the heel pad is now straight.



Fits like a glove. Super happy and very impressed with overall quality and customer service.



Also swapped out the left and right door strikers for a brand new set that I received as a gift from a friend who had recently sold his NA. He was going to put them on his car but he had no use for them as he doesn't own an MX-5 anymore. My passenger side door always needed a little bit more force for it to close and I'm not exactly sure why. Driver side has always been fine but after I swapped the strikers out, the passenger door now closes very easily. A gentle push and it's closed. It could have been that the original striker was sitting slightly too high or too low perhaps? There were nothing wrong with the old ones aside from the fact that they were oxidised a bit.

OEM door striker. Nothing wrong with it aside from slight oxidisation.



New striker on top and old striker on the bottom.



OEM freshness.



Done.



To be honest, I wanted to work on the engine today by taking off the rocker cover, take out the camshafts and give the hydraulic lifters a good service and clean. Even though my car doesn't have the hydraulic lifter tick noise, it's something which will need tending to eventually. I also wanted to take the intake manifold off to replace two auxiliary coolant hoses. They can be accessed without taking the manifold off but I think it may be easier this way. With all that said, I decided to leave all that for another day, replace these door strikers and just watch the WTAC 2017 on live stream.

[eskimo_firefighter]

The interior looks like a really nice place to be in. Quality stuff all round.