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- 2001 Mazda MP3
You moved back to VA?
You moved back to VA?
I'm happy to say the car has safely made its way to Richmond and is now hibernating in a storage unit. The move has been very nerve-wracking so a little break will be worth while. That being said I can't wait to get it back in a garage sometime in the Summer and resume work.
So I've started working on this again. The chassis wiring is 99% complete. Only the reverse lights aren't connected. I had some fun with the CPU and OEM alarm still arming every time I connected the battery, which resulted in the horn going crazy every time I opened the door. This is because the CPU houses the alarm and horn relay internally. I had already severed the connections to the lights so at least that didn't start flashing. The CPU also controls the door and ignition chimes, which I want to keep but are part of the same connector that triggers the alarm, so simply unplugging that wasn't an option. It turns out one of the terminals was a normally-closed circuit and by removing it I left it open, which is why the alarm kept getting armed. I grounded that terminal and everything is good.
I got the seat and harness mounting points and positions all sorted out. I moved the seat an inch or so further forward since I forgot about the steering wheel quick release adding to the column length. The seating position is a bit NASCAR-esque so if I'm still not comfortable with the pedal positions after they're adjusted all the way out I'll make some spacers...
The only thing preventing me from finishing the interior is the carpet. My original '89 had a black interior, which I preferred so I kept everything that wasn't somehow connected with the automatic seat belts. The '86 I have now came with a gray interior. It was easy enough to paint all the plastic trim but I'm left with the gray carpet. I tried my hand at dying last night. Unfortunately all I succeeded in doing was dying the edging.
Even then, up close the edging looks to be more a very dark purple instead of black.
I used liquid Rit dye with the hottest water available to me. I know dying plastic (nylon? rayon?) requires high heat and apparently this wasn't enough. I had no way of keeping the heat up over the hour the carpet was submerged so that probably didn't help either.
So now what? I don't want to leave the carpet as is. I thought the black upper/gray lower look might work with the dark edging but I'm not sold. Leaving the carpet out isn't something I want to do. I have a bunch of black vinyl and fabric spray paint I could try. It worked well enough on the vinyl door pieces. I'm not to concerned about texture. I just don't want the color to rub off.
Oh, they exist. I'd be looking at somewhere in the $200-250 range to replace what I have. The reviews aren't so favorable over on RX7Club. The other thing is any reproduction carpet is going to have the rubber/just backing, which I've removed. I'm not ready to admit defeat yet!No luck on finding a black carpet kit on ebay or something similar? Cant be more that $100