Miata Mods

Side Maker Lights

I only did the rear side marker light mod today at tech day. I decided against the blinking side markers because, at least for the rears and maybe the fronts, if you make them turn signal indicators they would lose the parking/running light ability, which is what I really wanted.

Today’s Tech Day could have been called Electrical Tech Day as most of the work done was to the wiring of the cars. I did the side marker thing, 2 folks added air horns and two folks did the power window switch repairs. One member took the discarded stock horn from an’04 with new air horns and added it to their existing stock ’90 to double their noise value for free.

I guess I’ll go add the $8.46 I spent on parts to the BTR Equipment Package list.

Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 55

eBay Baby

Because I’m a total novice at this whole internet garage sale thing I had a friend list the Japanese License Plate & Mount for me. Opening bid is $15 or buy it now for $30. Hurry, you only have 6 days left.

Buy Me!

Started down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 30

Goodbye License Plate

What amounts to the shortest Mod reversal in my Miata career occurred tonight, after only 9 days I took off my Faux Japanese Plate.

I thought I might have had a taker for it in the Miata.net community, but I haven’t heard back, so I guess not. May try and sell it on eBay. I’ll box it up on Monday and see what it weighs, then I’ll list it. Unless somebody reading this wants it, $25 plus shipping that is the plate and the custom mount for a Miata.

Started up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 23

Tokyo Taxi

Got the Japanese front license plate mounted this evening. A friend at work made up a mount out of 1/8 aluminum and bent it according to my fancy-schmancy AutoCAD drawing. According to Tim, he doesn’t do holes or windows, so I spent my lunchtime drilling the 4 mounting holes and the 2 plate mounting holes (both in the bracket and the plate.)

Tonight when I got home I painted the bare aluminum with some flat black paint that I last used to cover up the stock muffler, which for whatever reason, was plainly visible in the rear view of the car.

Although there are four holes in the mount, there are only three used to bolt it to the car. Because I didn’t want to have to disassemble nearly the entire front underbody plastic cladding to have unfettered access to the mounting points, I managed to only get two bolts in. After once again dropping the 3rd bolt on the third attempt, I gave up. Believe me when I say that 2 is more than sufficient to hold this little license plate and it’s bracket to the car. The things I took out were there to tie down the car to the deck of the ship that brought it over from Japan, one bolt would probably be enough…

Started up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 17

White Face

I have always thought that the proper color for fog lights was yellow, so I bought some of those Lamin-x fog light protectors in yellow. They would protect the lenses, make them the proper color and tie in the amber side markers and yellow turn signal bulbs. Ah, the best laid plans…

The OEM fog lights aren’t very good as fog lights and the amber color is different from either the turns signals or the side markers. Step one was to turn the useless fogs into something maybe useful, daytime running lights. Step two I accomplished today, removed the yellow Lamin-x, added some clear side markers in the front and a pair stealth bulbs for the turn signals. A subtle difference to be sure, but hey I’m happy, and when Brian is happy, everybody’s happy.

Here are some comparison images:

Front Center

Left-White/Right-Yellow

Started up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 17

Mod Fever

I’ve got a C note earmarked for Miata mods burning a hole in my pocket.

I started out going to buy some clear side markers for the front and some stealth turn signal bulbs. I would then pull off the yellow lamin-x fog light protectors, giving the front of the car a unified white light look.

Then I tossed around adding teeth again. I had some Alley Gator ones on the Laguna, so I would like something different this time. The only other one I really like is the Diablo, but in my travels along the Miata lane of the information superhighway this weekend I have come across two cars with those teeth installed, one of which is a Garnet Red! Are thet too popular or was this just a random happenstance.

My other thought is to go with something I saw on a car at the Rspeed Open House last year – A side mount for a front license plate with a Japanese tag on it. South Carolina doesn’t require a front tag, so if others can put a “GO COCKS!” tag on their cars…

Started up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 14

Done

Jacked up one side of the car this morning and mounted the other side sill. Amazing how quickly the whole process goes when you know how to do it and have a nice sharp drill bit. I sprayed each hole drilled with some flat black rustoleum I had laying around. I’m sure some folks would have gone out and bought some nice zinc based primer (and still some people might have had the proper stuff to begin with) but because we don’t live in a state that has salted roads in the winter and my tenure with each Miata is about 7 years, I’m definitely not going to be worried about any rust. The effect is subtle, but in my humble opinion a nice improvement on the looks of the car.