When I removed the center console trim panel, I was actually glad the tabs were broken because then I had an excuse to replace it instead of clean it. It was pretty nasty, I wanted to set fire to it. Same thing with the e-brake handle and shift ****.

 

Here are some pictures of the restored driver's side door panel with Bubble tech map lid. Pretty impressed with the quality from the aftermarket piece, its nearly indistinguishable from the OEM unit (other than the logo on the inside and the fact that it works).

 

Love the R1 interior, great job. Always wanted a R1 seat

Please remove that tacky bubble tech sticker. Leave that for civics.

 

Bubble tech makes parts for civics?

 

It actually comes that way. I don't mind giving a shout out to those guys, its a quality piece. Considering the OEM ones are NLA, I'm thankful they make them.

 

I don't doubt his products are quality

Just saying that sticker is an eye sore, but since it's mostly going to be closed it won't be an issue. I mean't no disrespect

 

Do you know if the pocket lid from bubble tech fits the rhd door panel ?

 

I would defer to folks at Bubble tech, but I'm fairly confident the answer is no. That being said, the RHD pocket lids are probably a lot easier to come by. Can get a new OEM one from RHDJapan.

 

One feature I really love in my Tacoma is the bluetooth hands free calling, texts and music. So the head unit i installed has bluetooth hands free capability. But where do I stash the mic? I did not like the thought of stringing it up by the visor or by the steering wheel. I wanted it completely hidden. So I ripped out the center dash speaker and rigged a simple "adapter" to hold the mic. The only challenging part was stringing the cable around the logicon. Its completely hidden and picks up voice perfectly. Stereo install complete!

 

Well damn man what a clean build. That smog test man hahaha I was kinda irritated that you went through all that OEM awesomeness and still failed lol. But then you did so all good! I'm sure I missed it what stereo did you get?

 

Yeah, it was totally my fault it failed though. If the ACV isn't getting vacuum at the right time and the cat doesn't get air injection, you're boned

I bought this: AVH-X7700BT - <b>NEW!</b> - 1-DIN DVD Receiver with 7" Flip-out Display, Bluetooth®, Siri® Eyes Free, Android? Music Support, and Pandora® | Pioneer Electronics USA

I'll do a little video in a bit how it looks and works, ran out of time last night. Super happy though, and love the retro single din setup.

 

Hah! I felt exactly the same way....and then I bought my new Tacoma with the high-end audio package last year. Honestly, I just got hooked with the voice command, integrated bluetooth phone and streaming my music from iTunes. I toss my phone in the truck and everything just works perfectly. And thats how I got suckered back into buying a nice head unit. Though I do have a double-din 2000 protege head unit that I was tempted to bolt in there

 

Looking good. Ive bee considering the bubble tech lid.

 

No like this

 

LOL This is amazing. Yeah, I have a 5 backyard hens I've raised since chicks. Raised them for eggs, but they are basically pets. I'd venture to say a significant portion of my time is spent improving the coop (doing some automation at the moment) and chicken-proofing the backyard. If anyone ever wants to know more about raising chickens, AMA.

I'll have to see if I can coax one to sit on the seat for a photo opp...without having her crap on it

 

May your instrument clusters ride eternal, shiny and chrome!!!



The chrome rings on the instrument panel were peeling and looked awful, so that was next on the list. Getting the thing out of the car is the hardest part. You need to remove the steering wheel and then the cluster. I removed the headlight/turn signal combination switch to replace it, so that made it even easier to get out.

Pulled the cluster out of the bezel, replaced the glass (FD01-55-447A) and cleaned everything up. Coming together nicely

 

In for updates.

 

Part # for this?

 

Loooong time no update. Been busy, was managing a big home renno project and wife and I had a baby girl in May which kept me out of the garage for some time

Also, I somehow managed to pop the new motor during a routine warmup drive. Maybe bad tank of gas? Lazy secondaries? Hard to say. But the damage was pretty brutal, took out both front and rear rotors and housings as well as the twins. So I had to build up a new motor. Went with all new housings, rotors and irons. I suppose the silver lining in having to pull the motor was that it also gave the opportunity to fix some maintenance debt that was accumulating. The a/c compressor failed, the transmission started to make noise and the 2nd gear syncro finally gave up. Also, as much as I loved my ACT clutch and prolight flywheel...it was way overkill for the performance of the car.

So, in my infinite spare time, I'm slowly getting the motor back together and tackling some of the projects. One of which is the exhaust. I decided to pull the Racing Beat catback off the car and mount it up on the ceiling of my garage (serious). I wanted to return to the stock catback, but even though mine was in a great shape, the oem catback looks terrible. Its just not a good looking muffler. So I did something I never thought i would do...I had the stock catback ceramic coated. It wasn't that expensive and I'm really happy with the results. What do you guys think? Am i nuts?

 

assuming it was an RB dual... its stock looking enough that i would have kept that one on..

 

Dang Seth, so sorry to hear about your mishap. Did you test all of the injector wiring once the motor was out to try and chase down the culprit? I absolutely HATE hearing stories like this, especially if the root cause cannot be tracked down. I had an incident here in Phx last month after the first Sat C&C event. I had stopped to fuel up and when merging onto the freeway noticed a sizeable POP from my exhaust along with quickly rising EGTs in my rear housing, but no knock. This went on for nearly 15 mins with me managing rear EGTs via throttle blips and lifts. Finally, it just stopped and rear EGTs normalized. I'm assuming the primary injector for the rear housing was sticking. If not for engine monitoring I could have easily popped the motor. Guess I need to get back to running a half bottle of Redline Injector Cleaner through my engine twice a year. I stopped doing that about 6 years ago. Not sure if it made a difference or not, but I never had any issues before.

Anyway, hope you find the source. Congrats on your new girl. Sure hope to see you again at a future SS event!! Jeff Hoskinson drove his CYM to the event again this year from Eugene, OR. I keep trying to get Chris (CARX7) to shoot out from Austin. Who knows, maybe one of these years.

 

I did run a resistance check on the injector wiring, it was fine (its a new harness). The primary injectors were new, but the secondaries were rebuilt/cleaned. As a precaution, I bought new secondaries for the new motor. Its not easy to blow an FD motor with a stock airbox, catalytic converter and aftermarket catback...but I found a way! Looking forward to getting the motor in over the next few weekends. And definitely going to make a run at SS this year, been too long and I miss the old AZ crew!

 

A bit sleep deprived with the baby, but slowly making progress. Engine is back together and ready to go back in. While I had the engine out, I replaced the a/c expansion valve and all the o-rings in the hardlines. Cleaning up the main electrical harness and the engine compartment in general.
If you look closely at the powerplant pic, yes that is a brand new transmission. Its a zero-mile Kouki transmission I had shipped over. One thing that was neat about the new transmission is that its almost 100% bolt-in ready. New throwout bearing, fork and splines greased up and full of gear oil. Even came with new shifter bushings.

 

What gear set did you get for the new transmission? Did you order direct through Mazda JP? What's a new transmission cost, if you don't mind me asking?

 

I purchased the kouki (17" wheel option) transmission which should have the .762 5th gear. For comparison, the USDM MT has a 0.719 5th gear.

I ordered through RHDJapan, at the time worked out to be just under $2800 USD shipped.

Link to good thread on JDM vs USDM transmissions and gear ratios: https://www.rx7club.com/3rd-generati...-622902/page2/