There is more to come on this topic. I have connected the steering wheel lights with the interior lighting and will explain what I did and what else is feasible.
I've got an NA with a Nardi wood steering wheel from an NB: I'm considering just the 323f stereo control mod for the time being- any suggestions for a source on your side of the Atlantic?
@@BillGeddes I have found some in Spain in the past, but they are hard to find. One of the subscribers is working on converting the Mazda Protege version from cruise control to audio. You might want to wait for the results and follow that route. However, the regular clockspring of the NA only supports the airbag and a single wire for the horn. I guess that will be your biggest chalange. I would like to try if I can use an NB combination switch on a US NA Miata. That would open up the possibilities to switch to 4 or 8 wires in the clockspring. It will not be for the faint hearted. I would need the opportunity to try that locally first on one of the imported NA Miatas.
If I only want audio buttons and don't care about illumination or anything else, could I stick with the NB clock spring? it has 4 spots in the connector and uses one. I would only need two for the audio. When typing out this comment it seems sound to me, however, do you still suggest the Mazda 6 clcokspring conversion?
You only need the Mazda 6 clockspring, when you want to use the Mazda 6, MX-5 NC, CX-7 or RX-8 steering wheel. You will then also need the airbag that goes with the replacement steering wheel. For the audio buttons alone, you can achieve your goal with the original clockspring in combination with the original steering wheel.
You can also use the clockspring from an NC. The NC clocksprings here in Europe are all for a single stage airbag and therefore have one connector for the airbag. I might switch to an NC steering wheel myself once the experiment with the Mazda 6 cruise control is completed. For now I chose the Mazda 6 steering wheel, airbag and clockspring, because there are many of them and therefore the parts are cheaper.
Using a single stage airbag on a dual stage system would cause an airbag light, unless you fool the system by placing a resistor in the second plug. I have done that once on an RX-8 by using a 2.7 Ohm resistor. The general belief is that the resistor values of both stages are the same, somewhere around that 2.7 Ohm value, but I also read about people using a 2.2 Ohm resistor. When connecting a single stage of a dual stage airbag, the question is which stage you would connect. My best guess would be to use the yellow connector only, since that one has remained after the Mazda 6 switched from a dual stage to a single stage system. The whole idea behind the dual stage airbag is to be able to deploy the airbag in two stages. Therefore the airbag has two inflators that can be triggered separately with a differentce in power and thus effect. Let's assume that for a collision at a relatively low speed the airbag is deployed at 30% of the maximum power to prevent driver injuries as a result of the airbag being deployed. Then the system can decide to deploy the second stage a few milliseconds later to ensure the airbag no longer holds any risks for people that come to the rescue. In a heavy collision the other airbag stage might fire first. By connecting only one stage, the second one will not fire. In all cases it is better to connect at least one stage of the airbag. This is what the airbag system in the MX-5 NB Miata expects. The choice for which one you connect is yours. As you may have seen in the video, I have both versions of the Mazda 6 airbag available. I can test how the car responds when I only connect one of the stages. If you like, I can test that for the yellow and the orange connector. My expectation is that the system will not notice the difference because both resistance values are likely to be the same.
Do you know of any upgrades for NA miatas? I've currently retrofitted an FD rx7 clockspring to get an extra button on my steeringhweel (cruisecontrol set and cancel button) I'm looking for a clockspring with 3 or more wires.
It depends on the steering column and combination switch that has been used in your car. The US version of the NA had an airbag and a clockspring from the start. The Canadian and European NAs did not have that. The steering columns have different diameters and the combination switch is also completely different. The combination switch for the Canadian and European NAs are very similar if not the same as what Mazda used on the B2200 and B2600 pickup trucks. They did not have a clockspring, but a slip ring for the horn only. The steering column and combination switch of the American NA Miata is very similar to that of the NB. You best bet might be to fit an NB/NB2 steering column and combination switch on your NA. You will have to do some wiring of course, but it opens up the same options as discussed in this video. Coming from a European NA, the wiring could be a challenge, because instead of using relais, all power travels through the combination switch.
Thanks so much for sharing your experience and information!
There is more to come on this topic. I have connected the steering wheel lights with the interior lighting and will explain what I did and what else is feasible.
I've got an NA with a Nardi wood steering wheel from an NB: I'm considering just the 323f stereo control mod for the time being- any suggestions for a source on your side of the Atlantic?
@@BillGeddes I have found some in Spain in the past, but they are hard to find. One of the subscribers is working on converting the Mazda Protege version from cruise control to audio. You might want to wait for the results and follow that route.
However, the regular clockspring of the NA only supports the airbag and a single wire for the horn. I guess that will be your biggest chalange.
I would like to try if I can use an NB combination switch on a US NA Miata. That would open up the possibilities to switch to 4 or 8 wires in the clockspring. It will not be for the faint hearted. I would need the opportunity to try that locally first on one of the imported NA Miatas.
Precies dit was ik gisteren aan het onderzoeken. Wil wat eigen knopjes toevoegen. Ook maar even jouw filmpje kijken dan haha, wat een toeval
Als het voor audio is, kun je hier de weerstandswaarden terugvinden. Die staan bij de afbeelding van het NC stuur. mx5info.com/audio-knoppen-stuur/
If I only want audio buttons and don't care about illumination or anything else, could I stick with the NB clock spring? it has 4 spots in the connector and uses one. I would only need two for the audio. When typing out this comment it seems sound to me, however, do you still suggest the Mazda 6 clcokspring conversion?
You only need the Mazda 6 clockspring, when you want to use the Mazda 6, MX-5 NC, CX-7 or RX-8 steering wheel. You will then also need the airbag that goes with the replacement steering wheel.
For the audio buttons alone, you can achieve your goal with the original clockspring in combination with the original steering wheel.
Thanks for the info! So if I get it right, even if I would use a NC steering wheel, it would be recommended in order to get a Mazda 6 clockspring?
You can also use the clockspring from an NC. The NC clocksprings here in Europe are all for a single stage airbag and therefore have one connector for the airbag. I might switch to an NC steering wheel myself once the experiment with the Mazda 6 cruise control is completed. For now I chose the Mazda 6 steering wheel, airbag and clockspring, because there are many of them and therefore the parts are cheaper.
If I want to use an RX8 wheel that has a dual stage airbag, would that cause an airbag light in my car? Also, how would I wire that up correctly?
Using a single stage airbag on a dual stage system would cause an airbag light, unless you fool the system by placing a resistor in the second plug. I have done that once on an RX-8 by using a 2.7 Ohm resistor.
The general belief is that the resistor values of both stages are the same, somewhere around that 2.7 Ohm value, but I also read about people using a 2.2 Ohm resistor.
When connecting a single stage of a dual stage airbag, the question is which stage you would connect. My best guess would be to use the yellow connector only, since that one has remained after the Mazda 6 switched from a dual stage to a single stage system.
The whole idea behind the dual stage airbag is to be able to deploy the airbag in two stages. Therefore the airbag has two inflators that can be triggered separately with a differentce in power and thus effect. Let's assume that for a collision at a relatively low speed the airbag is deployed at 30% of the maximum power to prevent driver injuries as a result of the airbag being deployed. Then the system can decide to deploy the second stage a few milliseconds later to ensure the airbag no longer holds any risks for people that come to the rescue. In a heavy collision the other airbag stage might fire first. By connecting only one stage, the second one will not fire. In all cases it is better to connect at least one stage of the airbag. This is what the airbag system in the MX-5 NB Miata expects. The choice for which one you connect is yours.
As you may have seen in the video, I have both versions of the Mazda 6 airbag available. I can test how the car responds when I only connect one of the stages. If you like, I can test that for the yellow and the orange connector. My expectation is that the system will not notice the difference because both resistance values are likely to be the same.
Do you know of any upgrades for NA miatas? I've currently retrofitted an FD rx7 clockspring to get an extra button on my steeringhweel (cruisecontrol set and cancel button) I'm looking for a clockspring with 3 or more wires.
It depends on the steering column and combination switch that has been used in your car. The US version of the NA had an airbag and a clockspring from the start. The Canadian and European NAs did not have that. The steering columns have different diameters and the combination switch is also completely different. The combination switch for the Canadian and European NAs are very similar if not the same as what Mazda used on the B2200 and B2600 pickup trucks. They did not have a clockspring, but a slip ring for the horn only.
The steering column and combination switch of the American NA Miata is very similar to that of the NB. You best bet might be to fit an NB/NB2 steering column and combination switch on your NA. You will have to do some wiring of course, but it opens up the same options as discussed in this video.
Coming from a European NA, the wiring could be a challenge, because instead of using relais, all power travels through the combination switch.