We will start with the dash lights as it ended up taking only a moderate amount of elbow grease and the rest was pretty easy. This involved me removing the dash gauge cluster. This is surprisingly easy on a Miata and I can do it in under 5 minutes with only a phillips screw driver.
This is not mine, but it looks the same
Changing the lighting on the dashboard is easy. There are 4 bulbs on the back that you take out and I purchased some replacement LED's from superbrightleds. They have a bunch of automotive LED's and the ones I needed were plug and play. Easy enough right!? Well there is one more step. The stock gauge faces have a green film on the back of them to make them illuminate green to easy strain on the eyes during night driving. So the gauge faces have to be removed by taking the needles off and then removing the screws that hold them. I tested using rubbing alcohol and acetone. You have to be careful to get the film off without "melting" the plastic. I preferred the rubbing alcohol even though it required much more scrubbing. Once that is done you put everything back together and BAM! INSTA COOL!
My Actual Dash
*Side note: if you don't put the needles back on properly they will obviously not read correctly. I can personally account for this as my gas gauge and oil pressure don't read very well anymore. My speedo also reads about 5 MPH faster now!
Now on to gutting the inside of the car. This one is a lot less exciting to talk about but is extremely satisfying to do. This step consisted of me opening the trunk and ripping everything out, yeah everything. Then going to the interior and taking out everything but the carpet on the floor. It will probably come out but it requires me to remove the dash to get it out unless I cut it. Removing the dash is not a simple feat, so it will likely happen later. What you are left with after you do this is a car that weighs maybe 20 pounds lighter, assuming you still want a spare tire while driving on the street, and so much road noise that you could drown out the cries of a toddler. People ask me, "Hey Ray, well why don't you play music to at least give you something other than wind to listen to?" I would, except I have pulled out the stereo and all the speakers BECAUSE THIS IS A RACE CAR PEOPLE! Alright no one really gets to ask me that because usually when I meet someone new the first thing I blurt out is, "did you know my car has no music and no sound deadening material in it. That is because I am hardcore!"
The car is far from done but this is where I am at now. I have decided that I should start setting goals on things to get done and when to get done so I don't get blinded by all the things I want to do to it. So my goals for this winter are to 1) rebuild the engine, 2) likely blow up said engine rebuild by wiring in an aftermarket ECU so I can tune the thing myself, 3) see how much better it is doing donuts in snow with a RWD car.
