Totally went grassroots on the miata today

In one swift blow i somehow managed to conquer all of the issues that have been nagging me with the miata.

First off was the lower steering column. Mine had a bunch of play in it, which made for a rather wobbly steering feel. Got a new column from partsgroup and a new ujoint for the rack from mazdaspeed. Great gravy does it steer nicely now.

Second was the nightmarish alarm/remote start/ohgodhowdidthisgethere under the dashboard. I was worried about removing this, as the car is my daily driver. It turned out to be pretty easy, and i didn't hack up any wires that weren't deserving of it.

While i was in there, i removed the faulty/useless airbag module. I never cease to be impressed with the amount of wiring dedicated to setting off explosives in your face.

Unfortunately this did not cure me of my radiator fan underdash wiring woes, so i've temporarily rigged up the fan to come on with the ignition. Better than nothing i suppose.

Removing the alarm lead me out into the doors, where i found some power door lock gizmos that were attached to some sort of steel girder. The manual lock switches have much less effort now. Took the chance to lubricate the window tracks, which delighted my wife (redeemed the whole day i think).

Finally, i installed the hardtop strikers from my old car. While I was at it, i enlarged the holes for the seatbelts so that they can clear the rollbar more easily. They now retract with just a little encouragement, instead of kicking and swearing.

Here's the pile of shame (everything that has been wrong/evil/broken on the car thus far).

and we made a friend:

That is one beautiful picture!

Awesome!

if the airbag light wasn't on, you should sell that module on eBay. i think i got about $100 for the module plus the three front-end sensors from the '90 i parted out 2 summers ago.

The other sensors are buried under the fenders, right?

There's one in the middle of the dash, one in the center of the nose by the hood latch and two under the front fenders IIRC. I looked at that wiring picture and thought "wow, that's nowhere near all the airbag wiring!"

Nice work!

Thanks Keith, I think i've got everything practical as far as the airbag wiring removed.

Can you post a shot of what you did to get the seatbelts to retract better?

I sure can! This is looking at the driver's side seatbelt tower from the front. You can see the area that i dremeled out to the left of where the belt retracts into the tower:

Another tip - if it's not already in the destructions - is to bend the alignment tab at the top of the seatbelt reel so the reel can rotate a bit on the big fat lower bolt. That little 6mm bolt at the top of the reel is just for alignment, don't bother with it and let the belt sit over to one side a bit.

hey i went grassroots too, i duct taped rust holes for inspection... wait maybe thats a little different.....

MCarp22 wrote: Here's the pile of shame (everything that has been wrong/evil/broken on the car thus far).

Holy cow! How much does all that stuff weigh?

MCarp22 wrote: and we made a friend:

If they have puppies, can I have one?

I had trouble find front brake parts for the miata today... Nobody stocks the front bleeders around here. Have to order them. And no one can even get the banjo bolts, period!

Joey

Next time you're going to tear your car apart let me know and I'll come over! (not that I could have this weekend, I was in D.C. for my little brother's wedding.)

Oh and I took a slight detour on the way back to Nashville: