CAUTION !!
Caution!!
Please be sure to read
Please do not laid on top of the mat on top of the mat that is laid already.
Matt, please firmly seated in the hook (Velcro), and the like.
Please do not laid on top of the mat on top of the mat that is laid already.
Matt, please firmly seated in the hook (Velcro), and the like.
In March of 2004 at the MMC Tech Day I brightened the otherwise vast expanse of blackness in a fellow Club member’s 2001 Miata interior with the random aluminum bits from the Emperor. Today I did it again to our “new” Miata with the help of Steve from Panic Motorsports.
When we sold the Emperor to Steve he said he’d give us a check for the sale amount, plus $50 in cash for lunch for driving it to him in Columbia. When we got there we got to chatting and forgot all about the cash. When I remembered, I sent him an email and said instead of the cash I’d take it in trade, the random aluminum look bits from a 2003. The very same ones I traded away 12-1/2 years ago. He said, “OK, next ’03 to ’05 that comes in as a donor car, you can have their stuff.”
Last week, such a car arrived. Friday on our way to Charleston we picked up the 4 air vents, the radio and shifter surrounds and the 2 interior door handles. Saturday they made their way into the CTBNL.
Two 8″ stripes in Matte Riviera Blue with a 4″ center gap. No ghost stripes here, that blue pops!
Didn’t exactly get a total brush of just yet, but I did get sort of a shoulder shrug:
Them – Thu, Sep 22 2016 9:13am
Track Firmware version 49 does not sound correct for GROM-AND2 unit.
What I recommend is seeing if you can flash firmware version 40 which is the latest for your vehicle type and see if it helps. This is all I can suggest. Other than that, I am stumped.
http://gromaudio.com/software-usb2.html
http://gromaudio.com/downloads/firmware/gromusb2_mazda_40.hex
Me – Thu, Sep 22 2016 11:37pm
OK, I’ve downgraded my firmware to 40 even though when I went to
http://gromaudio.com/software-usb2.html the photo at the top of the page says, “Top Part Has No Lip” and my unit clearly has a top lip (see attached photos.)
Is my unit some sort of USB3, USB2P variation so that firmware 49 would be right for something purchased last summer?
Is this my serial number? 03-18-031314? Those numbers match nothing like shown on either page…confused.
I doubt I’ll hear back.
If my theory of this all being heat related is correct, it probably doesn’t matter what my firmware version is. GROM has no real competitors in this arena, so the only options if this thing keeps messing up is to buy another box from them or swap out the head unit. I loathe the new head unit option on several counts, but I don’t relish the thought of spending $150 on something that might only last a little more than a year either.
But now that the weather is cooling off we may be in for some trouble-free listening ahead. Might be able to put off what to do until mid-spring.
Before the Emperor went into exile I removed several bits that I wanted to transfer over to the CTBNL. One of them was a aftermarket little box that allowed music playback from a USB stick (among other things.) Ever since it has been in the silver car it would randomly stop working. After paying attention to when it wasn’t working it seemed to only be after the spent several hours out in the hot sun.
The unit is past its 1 year warranty period, but the manufacturer’s site has a support area where you can fill out a form and start an email conversation with one of their techs. Let’s give it a go:
Me – Sun, Sep 11 2016 8:14pm
Car make: Mazda Miata 2002
Invoice: 77311
Seller: Grom Audio
MAZN2 unit worked flawlessly for over a year in my 2003. Moved to a new to me 2002 and it fails to turn on sometimes after car sits during work.
Will turn on after home in garage after a few hours. Almost seems to me to be heat related. But just the other day on an evening drive it just quit working. Radio display shows CD CH at bottom like normal, but no disc-track numbers and no sound.
Them – Mon, Sep 12 2016 6:42am
I would double check the installation wiring and make sure everything is plugged in secure and solid.
Are you able to move the GROM module back to the 2003 model vehicle?
Me – Mon, Sep 12 2016 10:02am
As expected, it did not work when I got in the car at the end of the work day. This time when I hit the CD button instead of getting no music with a display of CD CH, nothing happened at all.
The 2003 is long gone.
Just to cover all the bases I pulled the Mazda radio out when I got home and unplugged and then re-plugged it back in. I then unhooked the Grom and re-hooked it back up. Then of course it worked fine. But was that because it had cooled off in the hour or so in my garage or did the re-seating of connectors fix it?
I will let you know tomorrow.
Them – Mon, Sep 12 2016 10:27am
What is the batch number to the GROM module? This will be on sticker bottom of the unit.
Please also check what firmware version is on the GROM module currently.
To check firmware version switch to USB mode of the GROM. While playing music from USB connected device i.e. USB flash drive, Android or Ipod/iphone (USB3/MST4 only).
Unplug from USB port. The track number will change and show current version number of Firmware.
Me – Tue, Sep 13 2016 11:02am
Amazingly enough when we got in the car this afternoon the unit worked. It only got into the mid 80’s today. But halfway home my passenger objected to the song playing so she pushed the track up button, the display changed, but the track stayed the same. Tried track down with the same results. She turned the radio off and then back on. Now the unit didn’t work at all. No sound accompanied by no disc/track display and the CD CH display on the bottom of the display.
Tonight after dinner I went out into our air conditioned garage and turned on the radio. It started playing MP3s right where it left off. The track up and track down responded normally. Something is going wonky due to heat…
The number on the sticker on the bottom is: 03-18-031314
The firmware is: 49
Them – Wed, Sep 14 2016 7:02am
Could you share with us a clear photo of the front face of the stereo for us to view?
Does the stereo have a CD changer built in to it?
If yes, does it have its own Mode or does it show up as “CD CH” as well for function?
Me – Wed, Sep 14 2016 10:14am
Radio has single CD, no built-in CD changer.
Attached are three photos:
We had a nice little daily email chain going there for awhile, then they stopped responding. Tonight after not hearing anything for 6 days, I poked them back.
Me – Tue, Sep 20 2016 10:16am
Hello? Did I stump the band? I attached pictures as requested and have not heard back since last Tuesday.
Do I have another option besides buying some sort of replacement?
What do you want to bet I’ll get another corporate speak “Sorry Charlie” email? Then I’m not sure where I go next especially as the unit I have was $99 and is discontinued while the replacement gizmo is $130. Guess if that happens I’ll try and find a cheaper option somewhere.
Over on the left-hand side in the area marked “Pages” were a couple of links called Brian’s Basic Miata and Brian’s Miata Mods. Because they related specifically to the 2003 LS Emperor I pulled them down the other day. Today the Basic Miata page went back up because I edited it to match the base 2002 CTBNL.
I’ll probably resurrect the Mods page as well, but most of the current mods are David’s so maybe I’ll need to call it something other than “Brian’s Miata Mods.” Possibly The Miata’s Mods and keep it two sections, his and mine.
And in the mine section I’ll have to work out some sort of metric to keep track of how much of a pain in the butt they were to accomplish. đŸ˜€
When David installed the roll bar in the car he never got around to trimming the carpet on the rear shelf. It wasn’t really noticeable because the carpet was sort of tucked underneath tight against the bar, but it was on my To-Do list. This was a perfect project for Saturday afternoon because I could do it in the air conditioned garage.
I tilted and pushed the seats forward so I could get at the carpet and when I put my hand down on the roll bar to climb in, my kind of stuck. When I pulled it off there was a glob of very viscous sticky stuff on the palm. I looked back where my hand was and you could see a streak of glue running in a couple places from under the fuzzy velcro pieces.
The all black interior strikes again. It gets so hot inside the car it surpasses the melting point of the adhesive on the back of the hook & loop fastener tape. We need an alternate way to secure our seat to roll bar anti-squeak measures. Sewing would work, but we have no sewing machine. And even if we did, it wouldn’t be anything heavy duty enough to go through both the heavy vinyl and the fuzzy tape, which is the same reason hand stitching is out.
So I did the best thing I could, I removed the offending vinyl cover and the high density foam piece that was stuck on the front of the bar. Now there is no need for anti-squeak measures at all because the seat back sits a full inch in front of the bar. And because the seats of the 2001 and up Miatas have the higher backs there is not much chance of my our heads contacting the metal roll bar if we ever get rear-ended.
Of course when you think of safety aspects of the roll bar, you would hate to have it protect you in one way and be a hazard in another. Not much chance of hitting your head is not the same as zero chance, so maybe it might be worth a few bucks to find a local upholstery shop to sew that velcro on for us.