I’ve installed my boost gauge in an instrument pod on driver’s side of
the A-pillar and connected the pressure line without a problem. The
gauge also has two wires to attach it to current that’s controlled by
the dash light circuit, so it can be illuminated at night.
My problem is finding some appropriate wires to fasten those to.
Everything going to the instrument cluster is bound into wiring
harnesses, and it looks like I’d need to disassemble the dash to trace
the wires I need. I’m hoping there’s an easier way!
Did Mazda provide a connector for illuminating add-on gauges (like the
"accessory" connector under the hood for timing lights, etc.)? If so,
is it easy to describe where that is, so I could find it?
I’m especially curious about a set of wires that seems to have a
loop-back plug of some kind on it. There are six wires bound together,
connected to a socket, into which is inserted a plug with three short
loops of wire that simply connect the three pairs of pins to each
other. Surely that was meant to bring power to something?
I imagine everyone is thinking about non-Miata things right now, but I
thought I’d ask just in case someone knows the answer and can respond
before tomorrow night. Tuesday morning early we will take off for a
week-long trip.
Warmest holiday wishes to everyone!
Jerry & Serrano
’96 Classic Red
In article <3A4688ED.27A2…@gte.net>, Jerry Houston
<jerry.hous…@gte.net> wrote:
>I’ve installed my boost gauge in an instrument pod on driver’s side of
>the A-pillar and connected the pressure line without a problem. The
>gauge also has two wires to attach it to current that’s controlled by
>the dash light circuit, so it can be illuminated at night.
The first thing you need to know about Miata dash illumination: the
dimmer is not a rheostat, but an oscillator that varies the duty cycle
of the ground connection. The hot side of a gauge lamp is always 12V
when the lights are on, and the ground is pulsed. Knowing this might
save you a lot of fuses, as you search for that perfect voltage source!
Splice into BOTH hot and ground. Are any of your underdash switches
illuminated? Mine aren’t, but model years vary. How about the ashtray
bulb?
–
Lanny Chambers, St. Louis, USA
’94C
alignment suggestions:
http://www.hummingbirds.net/alignment.html
I went through a lot of trouble myself trying to figure what wires did
what, such that at one point my add-on gauges would dim as the dash
gauges got brighter. I finally settled on splicing into the ashtray
light as Lanny suggested. Sure, you’ve got the run longer wires than
you might have wanted to, but with only two wires to deal with the
spicing was more straight forward than anything else I found under the
dash.
Sent via Deja.com
http://www.deja.com/
Tom Howlin wrote:
> … I know I’ve read several times on here about the JR
> instructions being less than perfect and although I’ve read them over
> three times, I still don’t see where they are going to be redundant.
I’ve posted detailed comments on the installation at the time I did it,
and that should be available via DejaNews. I noticed that some others
had made similar comments after I posted mine, so you should have some
luck with DejaNews.
Here’s what I remember off the top o’ my head:
(1) You’re going to remove and discard the exhaust manifold heat
shield. Might as well do it first thing, because that provides dearly
needed working space on that side of the engine.
(2) Same goes for the OEM air intake. When you remove the cross tube
early in the process, go ahead and continue removing it all the way to
the air box, then remove that as well. Again, that came late in my
instructions, and would have made life SO much easier if I’d realized
from the beginning that the stock air intake was gonna be replaced.
(3) Once the supercharger is in place on its bracket, and the idler
plate is there, and the tensioner has been revamped according to
directions, carefully align the SC and its pulley before you go any
farther. By the time I’d followed all the instructions up to the point
of alighment, I couldn’t get the SC to come far enough forward to line
up the pulleys. I had to discombobulate much of what I’d added last in
order to get the SC to align properly, then recombobulate it all again.
(3a) Don’t underestimate the number of bolts you’ll need to loosen in
order to tension the belt. They ALL need to be loosened, and tightened
after you achieve the tension you need.
(4) Aligning the pulleys according to the directions led to a very
inaccurate alignment for me. I think a far better method is to place a
straightedge along the outer edge of the crank pulley and the SC pulley,
and make sure they line up physically. If the belt runs a little oddly
through the idlers, that doesn’t matter. It needs to be correct with
respect to the big pulleys.
(5) Don’t spend a minute looking through all the packing material for
"the supplied gasket," for all those steps where the directions tell you
to install something with "the supplied gasket." They now include a
tube of gasket goop instead.
(6) Apparently there’s been a lot of variation in 1.8l Miatas, and
they’ve never tried to accommodate the differences in their
instructions. So when the direction says to remove the chrome pipe, if
all you have there is a rubber hose, just pretend it’s a chrome pipe.
If it tells you to carefully save a restrictor for later use, or your
car won’t idle right, and there’s no restrictor there, then you can’t
save it. And your car WILL idle right without it, or at least mine
does.
There are just some places where you need to use your own common sense,
and if the instruction doesn’t make sense, do what does.
Congratulations on getting what I consider the finest accessory you
could possibly get for your Miata. It will make such a difference you
won’t be able to believe it, at the same time leaving all the GOOD Miata
behavior fully intact.
We like the supercharger in Serrano so much that we’re taking him on a
3,000 mile drive next week, rather than Sassy, who’s an almost-new 2000
SE. Sassy will get her own supercharger one day when it no longer
threatens her factory warranty. But for now, Serrano is WAY more fun to
drive, so next week Sassy gets to be garage queen.
Jerry & Serrano
’96 Classic Red
If you don’t find a restrictor INSIDE the pipe/hose that the instructions say
has one inside, then you will find a separate little bag in the kit that
contains a restrictor.
I can’t believe there isn’t a parts list with the kit.
Mike