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Discussion starter · #1,021 · (Edited)
Finally had weather nice enough to go to C&C (although it was a little too cold to have the top down. I'm an enthusiast, not a masochist). First time running her on the highway after my last round of work. It is quieter inside the cabin, although I feel there is still a little too much reverberation going on. A friend at C&C asked me why the muffler was offset, when I looked I saw it had moved to the left. That is down to the angle of the hanger I installed that was missing off the RB muffler for my year. I'll have to go to a muffler shop to see about having a proper hanger welded on that lines things up.

Cruise didn't work, I figured I had left something undone and sure enough when I checked, I had neglected to put the vacuum hose on the actuator. That fixed that problem. This evening I installed the new brake caliper bleed screw caps I got off Amazon, the new ones have the little tail to keep them on the screw when you are bleeding so you don't misplace them. I also readjusted the rear brakes.

Tomorrow's weather is supposed to be great, but I have already committed to doing the brakes on one of our kids' cars. Hoping that won't take too long so I can get some top-down time.
 
Discussion starter · #1,026 ·
I try to do my part in keeping some enthusiast interest alive.

Finally stopped sitting on the fence and bought a Battery Tender, that showed up today. Since my wife very rarely drives it since she has her own 'vert now, I needed to do something so I don't have to get a new battery every year.
 
Discussion starter · #1,027 ·
My latest eBay purchase showed up yesterday:





I sat on the fence undecided about this for a while but went ahead and pulled the trigger. More visibility is good, right? I've been trying to obtain a set of mirrors to paint and use for these (you have to drill a hole in the mirror housing to pass the wires through) but so far the used part resellers I've contacted have not responded.
 
Discussion starter · #1,029 ·
Got a few updates on the mirrors but will get to those tomorrow. Today I finally got around to swapping the clock spring with one I bought from SNS at MATG. I am happy to report that has solved my flashing airbag light problem. Now to see how long it lasts...
 
Discussion starter · #1,030 · (Edited)
I've been getting mirrors and parts for my marker project. After waiting on resellers I finally heard back from one. Then, I also got a message from someone who had swapped out their mirrors offering his old ones (much cheaper). Only thing was there was no glass. After some research I determined I would still be cheaper than another source so pulled the trigger. Ordered new glass from the dealer, ordered some paint from Automotive Touchup and waited for it all to arrive.

Finally got everything earlier this week. Opened the mirror box to find when they were Plastidipped the interior wasn't covered so that crap was everywhere.



I wanted to try and remove the motor fixture from the interior. This required moving the mirror housing on the base to access the screws. I was not able to physically move the two pieces with just hand power (they are tough to do on the car, off it nearly impossible). I don't have any spanner wrenches so made one up with a couple of pin punches and plier handles:



That worked well, however I needed to move the base in the opposite direction so I could remove the other screw. Didn't pay enough attention, one of the punches moved too far into the base and this happened:



Disappointing. After doing that I figured out I wouldn't be able to remove the interior bits in one piece due to how there is a pivot connecting the base and housing. I don't see any sort of circlip so I'm guessing it's a press fit. I did remove the motor and found something interesting about how the wires are connected. You would expect some sort of connector, but no:




In case you don't know what you are looking at, Mazda used a vamp clamp arrangement.

Next up was cleaning as much of the Plastidip from the interior as I could. Peeled what I could then used BrakeKleen for the rest, like I did on the wife's car's wheels. End result:



Here is a shot of the back of the mirror and the motor showing the four attachment clips that keep it together:



Finally, what I used to glue the broken piece back in:



Once that sets I'll fill in the cracks and prep everything for paint. I'm going to do these one at a time so I don't have too many parts floating around to get confused.
 
That wiring is how all of the 66 blocks (and other sizes) are done for telephone wiring but I wouldn’t expect that in an exterior application. Need me to send a punch down tool your way? Haha

Also... cool.
 
Discussion starter · #1,033 ·
(y)

I've been thinking about my lack of an amp reading when I was checking the car to figure out why my battery was dead, finally got around to checking my meter tonight and sure enough one fuse was blown. Of course with no Radio Shack any more finding a replacement locally is damn near impossible, so Amazon to the rescue once again. Once they show up by Thursday I'll be checking my amp draw with no apparent load again.
 
Discussion starter · #1,035 ·
Got a drive in today on one of my favorite local roads. First since upgrading the Sport brakes, love the stopping power.



Then I finally installed the LED footwell lights I've had sitting around. Almost done, didn't connect the power wire yet as I didn't want to wrestle around under the dash any further and it's gonna be a PITA.

 
Discussion starter · #1,036 ·
Got around to checking my current drain yesterday. Put a new fuse into my meter and connected it up. Happily, I only saw 11.4 milliamps with nothing turned on. I'm guessing the old battery just wasn't good. I will be putting the Battery Tender on it before I head off to work next time (whenever that will be) to keep the battery charge topped off.
 
Discussion starter · #1,037 ·
Couple of days ago the weather was nice so I decided to go about finishing my footwell light install. One of the biggest PITA jobs I have ever done on this car (which is saying something). After multiple times in and out from under the dash I finally had the power wire connected. This was made difficult beyond just the location of the wire by the vamp clamp provided with the kit being a little too large to bite on the factory wire. I closed it up a bit and got everything working. Well, for a little while. After multiple tests the lights stopped working. Checked the fuses and found the room fuse blown. After replacing that I had the header light back but not the footwell lights. I was too tired of underdash work so called it a day.

This morning before heading out I figured I better check my taillights to make sure nothing had happened to them. Good thing too, as it turned out the passenger side brake light was out. All fuses were good so I figured it was just the bulb. I decided to go ahead and replace all the bulbs back there so picked some up. I replaced the backup lights with LEDs, of course I installed both backwards (LEDs are polarity sensitive if you don't know) but after correcting that everything was good and noticeably brighter. For easy reference, the backup and turn signal bulbs are 7440, the brake/taillights are 7443 (dual element type).
 
Discussion starter · #1,039 ·
Cool white?
Depends upon your definition.

I’ve been working on getting what I needed to install the LED foglights I bought during MATG. They are the 90mm Morimoto units sold by TRS. The guy I bought them from had already mounted them on the factory brackets so I just needed the wire connectors and some film for protection. Got all that a few days ago so started in. Here is a picture of the foglight:



Here is the film I bought from Lamin-X. Since these are not a factory arrangement I had to get bulk pieces. I bought two 4 X 8” pieces for around $15.



Their instructions say to wet the glass with water, I’m not sure how much good it did as the water ran right off. One sheet is enough for two so I had extra in case I screwed it up. After cutting one piece in half I laid it on the glass starting in the center:



I worked my way around the film in a spiral pattern using a squeegee I had to work it. After a little bit of work it came to this:



A little X-Acto knife trim later and we have a finished product:

 
Discussion starter · #1,040 ·
Today I started in with the installation of the lights. There was some white or silver paint on one of the brackets so I cleaned that off, and put some shims under the two extra fasteners the LED lights use vice the stockers so that the lights were square to the brackets. After all the prep work I mounted the lights and ended up with this:



Next I cut back the stock wires to solder on the new connectors (H11) needed for the LED fogs. I double-checked the polarity just to back up what I had read online, the factory green wire was positive and the black wire was negative. Connectors had a red and a black wire so I connected the red to the green. Got that all done and plugged in, but when I powered up the lights I had nada. I thought maybe it was because I had the headlights removed so went ahead and installed the second connector. While doing that I noticed after plugging in the light that the red input wire was going to the black wire on the light. Either the wires on those connectors are standardized or the Chinese worker who made mine was having an off day. Considered undoing the wires and resoldering but that would have made the wires incorrect. Looking at the connectors I figured I could get the individual wires out of the connector and swap them. I did this by inserting a small jeweler’s screwdriver to release the tab like so:



The tab holding things in place was weak so I had to bend it up a little so it would hold once I inserted it back into the connector. It’s kind of hard to see but it’s the little piece sticking up by itself from the top:



Put everything together, powered the lights up and voila! All was good. I zip-tied the wires to the factory bracket to keep things from flopping around:



For the NB1 at least, you don’t have to cut anything for these to fit the bumper cutouts. The stock lights are somewhat deep and slide into the openings. These are much slimmer and end up just behind the back of the openings. The 90mm size is perfect to fill the hole in the bumper.

While I had the front bumper off I decided I would finally install the X-Pel film I’ve had sitting around for the headlights. Had to sand/polish them to get a smooth surface because they looked like this:



Pulled them off the car first because I have a film on the inside of the lens from gassing of the paint I used on the inner bezels. Swished some alcohol around to take care of that (didn’t quite do it all), while doing that noticed the driver’s side projector was moving around. Found the nut holding it in place had loosened so tightened that up and put some high temp silicone on top of the nut to act as a keeper of sorts. Did the polishing then installed the film it was only slightly a PITA. Passenger side was done second and ended up a a little better than the driver’s side but overall good:



I should note this job is very difficult due to the compound curves of the lens. I took my time and worked around the film using my heat gun on the low setting. The slight cloudiness is normal and should work itself out over the next two weeks.

I was hearing a chirping from the clutch slave so knew it was time for some lube. I have been thinking about a better mousetrap for this and decided to try a plastic washer to see how that worked out. I have some leftover material from a cone of shame so cut a piece out from that. Punched a hole in the middle using the arch punch set I got from Harbor Freight (hey, didn’t have a set before but I do now), shaped it with a little heat as much as I could and then installed it. Here is how it looked before installation:



Ain’t the prettiest but should do the job. I am going to keep my eye out for some kind of cup that I can use, Teflon would be nice and I might be able to make one when I get back to work. I’ll keep everyone updated on how this works out.

To end up I adjusted the rear brake calipers. Nice day’s work.
 
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