What was wrong with the factory package shelf carpet? Doesn’t it cover most of this area? But this some nice work with templates and cutting.
What was wrong with the factory package shelf carpet? Doesn’t it cover most of this area? But this some nice work with templates and cutting.
In reply to Nate90LX :
It does cover most of the area, but not all. I suppose the easy button would have been to leave in the metal piece that this attached to and just bridged the gap, but in my mid that's still a very unfinished look compared to the back wall being all one piece.
The big thing is that I want to play with making the interior a nice place to be. I've wanted to mess with custom interior/upholstery stuff since the fast and furious days and this seems like a cheap/low risk way to start.
If you had left it unfinished, a shot of black paint helps a lot to hide it. This is FYI for those who are not so ambitious :)
In reply to Keith Tanner :
And if all I was trying to do is make is less ugly, that would be a good plan, but long term I'm also trying to ease sound intrusion and that means a solid surface that can receive the proper insulation and what not.
Carpet glued to the vinyl. I like it, but it's not as good as I want it to be. That's fine, this is all proof of concept and the final version will be much prettier. Yes, the plan it to tear all this out and do it over again. I'm not a smart man.
Kid#3 is home sick today. Turns out that a sick Jr. High girl is strong enough to help put a hard top back on. These things aren't heavy. It is a little easier for short arms if you remove the antenna first and put it back on after.
Between the shock tower bar and the rear deck covering, even without full sound deadening back there, it's all much quieter and more civilized. One step closer to being a real car.
Looks great. Black or beige and it would look factory.
That looks too good to tear back out from the pics.
You do get a lot of sound transmission through the rear parcel shelf and the rear bulkhead. My street Miata has insulation there - a sort of felt made of recycled denim. Works really well at cutting down sound.
I don't think that short bit at the base of the top is a contributor, but it certainly can't hurt and it looks great. The "M Coupe" showcar from 1996 has a nicely finished rear area like this including (if memory serves) a little "fence" to keep things from sliding forward. I don't know if you'll be able to find pictures of that area on that car, but maybe Mazda will bring it out to Laguna Seca in October for the 30th and I can get some.
In reply to Keith Tanner :
I have special feelings about that car, so yes, I would love pictures of what the factory thought was a good idea back there.
On a related note, I looks like I can fit a 3 1/2 inch speaker in the seatbelt pods. Even though these will be rear facing I'm thinking they will fill out the sound in the car a bit more that the current "my knees are singing" speaker placement. I like the look of the stock radio. It's not great by any means, but it works. Is there wiring/provision to add wiring for a second set of speakers in a 1994?
In reply to mazdeuce - Seth :
It originally had headrest speakers, I bet there's still an output on the head unit.
There is also a writeup, and possibly a guy still doing, an auxiliary port installation on the stock head unit over at miata.net
Could you get some headrest speakers and wiring? I would think there would be wiring on the stock stereo to plug them in.
In reply to RevRico :
Where would the factory wiring for the seat speakers likely be? Does it run under the console or along one of the doors? If it's there and live then the whole process will be easier.
There should be plugs that come out under the seats, not sure if they run along the console or door sill.
http://www.clearwateraudio.com/product.html
Here are speakers with harnesses. Of course this only works if you have NA seats.
The ends of the wiring should poke out under the seats.
FYI. I think this has a radio from one of my other miata's in it so it may not be a stock 94 radio/tombstone for wiring/fitment purposes. IIRC when I bought it there was an aftermarket radio and I took that for my street miata and filled the hole with something stock type.
In reply to moxnix :
Cool, I'll go poking around and see what I can see. As far as the radio, I was just happy that it fired up without having to enter a code considering the giant THEFT PROTECTION label on the front.
Quick post. No pictures so that maybe it flies under the radar and Keith doesn't see it and I don't have to hear about how right he was. I kind of love this car. I drove all of "my" cars today. Forester for the morning run. Accord for an orthodontist trip. Volt to pick up kid#2. Truck to pick up kid#3. Lastly the crappy Miata to pick up kid #4. For quick drives around town, the Miata is my favorite. Seating position is right. The car is quiet (both wind and cabin noise though each could be better). Radio, cruise, AC all work. Now that there is nothing annoying about the car, it's just fun. Fun in the way that driving someone else's Miata in a autocross always was. Bang through 1st and 2nd and into 3rd and the car wants to rev with the light flywheel but you're still way below the speed limit. Tuck the front into a corner at the same speed as the minivan in front of you and generate just a bit of slip that you can feel because the feedback is so good. Goose the throttle and move the rear out just two inches on corner exit. So. Much. Fun. Dammit.
mazdeuce - Seth said:Quick post. No pictures so that maybe it flies under the radar and Keith doesn't see it and I don't have to hear about how right he was. I kind of love this car. I drove all of "my" cars today. Forester for the morning run. Accord for an orthodontist trip. Volt to pick up kid#2. Truck to pick up kid#3. Lastly the crappy Miata to pick up kid #4. For quick drives around town, the Miata is my favorite. Seating position is right. The car is quiet (both wind and cabin noise though each could be better). Radio, cruise, AC all work. Now that there is nothing annoying about the car, it's just fun. Fun in the way that driving someone else's Miata in a autocross always was. Bang through 1st and 2nd and into 3rd and the car wants to rev with the light flywheel but you're still way below the speed limit. Tuck the front into a corner at the same speed as the minivan in front of you and generate just a bit of slip that you can feel because the feedback is so good. Goose the throttle and move the rear out just two inches on corner exit. So. Much. Fun. Dammit.
Just quoting this with a picture so it won't fly under the radar...
Excellent, sounds like things I should have done to mine. I had a 94 too, with LSD and Konis. I loved doing events in it, but the 3 hours to/from events was less than enjoyable!
In reply to mazdeuce - Seth :
On my 90 the headrest speaker wiring ran through the console, then down by the inner rear seat mounts. IIRC there were connectors at the seat, and also near where the console & tombstone meet.
Also, my spare passenger seat has the headrest speakers in it, if you need it/them lmk.
We need you to get a decibel meter to verify before and after sound deafening results.
I do think the Miata is close to the ultimate fun car. The only problem I’ve had with them was trying to have one as my only car. 95% of the time it was good for everything I needed.
In reply to Andy Neuman :
there's some phone/tablet apps that will do it... that's what I've used in the past
Quick general NA Miata question. Fuel starve on left handers with maybe.....1/4 tank? It's 1/2 indicated but it's lower than that in reality. Am I looking at clogged fuel sock stuff? Fuel filter (but why only left?) I'd rather not get stranded. Getting stranded sucks.
mazdeuce - Seth said:Quick general NA Miata question. Fuel starve on left handers with maybe.....1/4 tank? It's 1/2 indicated but it's lower than that in reality. Am I looking at clogged fuel sock stuff? Fuel filter (but why only left?) I'd rather not get stranded. Getting stranded sucks.
Not NA, but my 2003 Mazda6 did the same thing. Fuel pickup tube had a split in it, so it would sometimes suck air at about 1/4-tank. Solution was to replace pump module.
I'd be looking at the pickup in the tank, including the sock. The OE socks seem to be better than the aftermarket ones. It's pretty quick and easy to pull the pump/pickup to do a visual inspection. Heck, you've been looking at the top of it while you've been messing around with carpet.
Has the fuel system been modified/updated/altered/touched? Specifically the pump and regulator.
Rallycross cars are dusty.
Cleaned that up and pulled the pump. The tank is squeaky clean. The sock isn't 100%, but it sure doesn't look like it has 181K miles of gunk on it. Hose above the pump looks good. This is the direction that the sock is supposed to be pointing? I guess I could have a crack that I can't see inside the sock or something.
As a side note, this is the easiest in tank fuel pump I've ever dealt with. Bravo Mazda, bravo.
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