So, I've had a Miata of one sort of another in my garage for 20 years now. And they've always had a 1990-93 interior, even if the car itself wasn't of that era. Since I have a commute that's 25 minutes each way (ugh), I figured I'd try to make the interior feel a little more special.
Maybe at some other point I'll discuss the fact that this particular 1990 has a 2004 Mazdaspeed engine with a custom-wired Hydra and a small turbo FMII, the rear end from a 1994, etc, etc. But this is about the stuff you see and touch when you drive the car.
The goal was to give the car a different flavor. The Miata is a modern incarnation of the classic British sports car, so I figured I'd inject a little more "British" into it.
Warning, this actually involved spending money. So if your definition of "Grassroots" means making your own gauge faces using a photocopier and acetate sheet, well, you're going to be disappointed.
This all started with a visit to Revlimiter.net. Well, one of my visits. Only this time, I contacted Adam and started asking him about customizing some. I wanted the old Smiths look. He's got a set of gauges that are based on the GT40, but I wanted a few tweaks. After some back and forth, I got what I wanted.
The standard GT40 gauge pack, but with the tach twisted to put the redline at the top like a proper race car. I also deleted the KMH markings from the speedo and added the Smiths logo. And of course, I kept that awesome literal interpretation of psi on the oil pressure gauge.
They looked even yummier in person than I'd hoped.
With Adam's gauges, you also get your choice of illumination colors. This was easy. I wanted the white incandescent. It's a nice warm color and totally appropriate.
I love it, especially at night. The tach took a bit of acclimatization, but it's a fun mental disconnect.
So now I have a nice golden glow from the gauges, but there are still green lights all over the center of the car.
Step 1: pick up a vintage-style HVAC panel from Revlimiter.net as well. Unfortunately, the green light in the stock part comes from inside the panel itself. Luckily, Adam's taken care of this.
Now, the biggest problem with a pseudo-vintage interior. A big early 90's radio/cassette/CD player. It just doesn't suit. I never listen to the radio in the car, though, I'm always running off an iPod. So the factory stereo came out and a very compact amp went into place.
The stereo was replaced with a factory cubby and a custom gauge panel. I wired a little 1/8" jack into the back of the cubby so I can plug in a patch cable for the iThingy.
Now you've seen what lives above the cubby. That's a proper Smiths clock to tell the time. Beside it is an old Heuer mechanical stopwatch for timing. Timing fuel stops, how long it takes to get to work, etc. Or laps of the local track. Hey, you can get one for your $100,000 Porsche. There are some classic vintage stopwatches available for $2500 or more, this is a Trackmaster mounted on a clip from XKs Unlimited. I found the clip in a new product listing in Classic Motorsports. See, grassroots!
The backing for the gauge panel is vinyl from a damaged Miata door panel, so it matches the grain in the rest of the car.
The last step was the remaining plastic buttons on the center console. I'd already pulled the lights out of them (after 20 years, I don't need a lit headlight up switch), but I wanted something better. Looking at my collection of Little British Car dashboards, I realized I wanted a classic Lucas pull switch.
I took a stock button pack and disassembled it so I could keep the original connector and soldered into it. The hazard switch was easy enough, but the light retractor switch posed a small challenge. The original is a double-throw switch, which is replicated easily enough via a relay. But the power also does weird things for the retractor motors, which was messing with my relay. Once I realized what was going on and picked up power from a different source, it was all good.
The steering wheel is a Momo Prototipo, of course. The shift knob is a Voodoo aluminum one. I've got a few more plans, but I need to find some parts and/or a lathe to make them happen.
Finished result! Not a massive change, but it makes me smile. Which is kinda the point.
Don't mind the chaos in the footwell in that last pic. The car might be pretending to be the 1990 Miata that B-L never made, but it also gets used for testing engine computers...
That's it for now.
Good stuff! You did the theme very nicely. I thought 50's Jaguar when looking at just the gauges.
That is pretty damn sweet. 
I thought about putting a Smiths voltmeter where the stopwatch is, but the watch just makes me giggle too much.
I'm currently trying to find a 1990-92 Canadian combo switch for the different stalks - other than the one that's in my OTHER 1990 Miata.
If I can find a trashed dash, I'm also going to try to put some suede on the crash pad to see how it looks. I'm not sure on that one though.
I can't even come close to articulating how awesome those gauges are. I'm wishing so hard that I owned anything I could do the same with, stupid rectangular modern clusters...
EvanR
HalfDork
3/27/13 2:31 a.m.
I can't figure out how you can make your fingers tiny enough to plug in a cable at the back of the pocket.
In reply to Keith Tanner:
what is different about the canadian one?
Maybe I'll crawl into the trailer and pull it off the other car so I can show you. Basically, straight stalks that come out lower down. Looks better.
Evan, you do have to have the plug on the end of the cable working on your side. Not easy, but possible.
dash mounted stopwatch = awesome
Just pulled the combo switch off the Canadian car. It's not going to be a simple plug-in, I'd forgotten how much the airbags changed the wiring there. The non-airbag combo switch runs the full load for the headlights through the switch (how very British) so it's got big contacts inside. This means it has a deliciously solid tactile feel, I'd forgotten how rubbery the airbag cars feel by comparison. I'll find a way.
That is freaking awesome.
Love the looks. I have that same steering wheel on my M3 and its very confortable and the right size.
Tell me about that amp setup ... How does it work? Just an amp connected to speakers? How do you go from that input to the amp? I know nothing about sound systems but this is really interesting. If you know the amp part/model # that would be great!
J
a. Brilliant redo, Keith!
b. Damn, now I've been looking at OG and repop Smiths gauges all day. Don't think I can justify anything that nice for a crap old Subaru.
In reply to Slippery:
It's a Rockford Fosgate Punch BR series amp. Likely the 300X2 or the 300X4. There are four in the series, and can be found here: http://www.crutchfield.com/shopsearch/Rockford_Fosgate_PBR.html. Yes, I work at Crutchfield. I put an Alpine KTP-445U in my car, another very small amplifier that can be found here: http://www.crutchfield.com/p_500KTP445U/Alpine-KTP-445U-Power-Pack.html?showAll=N&search=500ktp445u&tp=115. A bit smaller, still good power (and less expensive).
So you've got the dash sorted. Seats seem to have a lot of options. How about the doors? Nothing says crappy old 80's car (yes, I know it's a 90, work with me) like clapped out door cards. Are there options?
Mistanfo has it figured. I think it's the 300x4. Small and it happily takes a stereo input and pushes it out to four channels. It's far more power than I need but it packaged well, mounted easily and did what I wanted.
For wiring, the easy solution would be to simply take a typical Y cable with two RCA plugs and plug the iPod into it directly. I took the intermediate step of soldering in that 1/8 jack so I had a clean interface on the dash, but the function is the same. The amp is attached directly to the speakers. It means the volume is set by whatever you're using as a source, such as the iPod in this case. I can set the overall gain with a screwdriver after disassembling half the dashboard and I can also set the balance between the two sets of speakers in the same way. Not for everyone, but perfect for my needs.
Mistanfo, sorry for not asking for you at Crutchfield. I lost your "real name" info. How do you actually mount that Alpine? I don't see any brackets or screw holes. I might use it for the MG. I'll only have two channels there.
Mazdeuce, my door cards aren't clapped out. They look good. This car has never been a beater Miata, it's always been well cared for and it shows. The design of the door cards is almost identical to the design of my MGB door cards. If you've got a Miata with tired (aka, got wet) door cards, they're child's play to duplicate, especially if you can get a good one as a pattern. Make the card out of thin wood or particleboard, cover it with whatever vinyl/leather/whale penis you like and attach it with the factory fasteners.
But I have considered playing with some of the available options, such as making some leather door pulls on a set of 1996 (I think) cards to replace the armrests on the current doors. If I do go with the suede on the crash pad, I'll continue that over to the doors. But I'm pretty happy with the doors right now, no complaints.
Seats will get a foamectomy, that's all. I've put 914 seats in a Miata before and that was a pretty cool looking result, but I have no complaints with the Miata seats. I find them comfortable (especially with some customization), they hold speakers and I can't see them when I'm driving!
Oh, one thing I forgot to mention. Miata gauge needles extend beyond the center pin on the big gauges. You can see what I mean here, on the Revlimiter picture for "standard" version of the GT40 gauges.
But Smiths gauges don't do that. So I chopped off the "tail" of the needles. It's subtle, but I like what it does.
peter
HalfDork
3/27/13 9:11 p.m.
I very much like the lighting color choice. Will be following along to see what other ideas I want to steal.
