I plan to move to the UK this year(currently I live in the US) and did a few modifications to my MX-5 that I plan to bring along. Mainly small updates to both pass MOT and to make the car easier to live with in general:
Installed a separate rear fog light(didn’t like the factory Mazda solution that takes away half your reverse lighting)
I do have a dimmer for the LED installed in-line. The above pic is at 100% brightness, after turning it down to around 65% its just a touch brighter than the brakelights. Its an aftermarket LED that meets all requirements installed inside a modified factory E-marked 3rd brake light housing that I removed the clear brake light diffuser from(which is there for a brake light diffusion pattern). The goal was to look as OEM as possible.
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Since I’m a new user here I can only post one picture at a time, so I cant post a lot of detailed pictures yet, but up next is my installation of Mazda 6 steering wheel:
When I got the car it had a smaller diameter Sparco wheel on some quick-release hub. Setting aside the fact that the wheel had no airbag, I always hated the thing, it blocked the gauges and it didn’t give me any appreciable amount of extra leg room. I was going to put a NB wheel back in, but decided that for the cost I may as well swap to a Mazda 6 wheel and gain steering wheel audio control and cruise control buttons. Doing a bit of wiring and using a Mazda 6 clockspring got it all functional(including illumination lights)
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Then I decided I wanted a compass and temperature display. After trying and failing to find a way to get my radio head unit to display the data(android auto locks down the apps to nearly useless ones) I decided to go the approach of using a rearview mirror to display them. This is a Gentex 177 model, installed from the factory on a lot of different makes and models…mostly with a blue/green display, but red/orange displays like this are out there:
This displays both temperature(In either Fahrenheit or Celsius) and compass heading, with buttons to switch between them. There are Gentex models with Homelink for opening garage doors and the like, but that wasn’t needed for me, since they add extra bulk it simply wasn’t worth it, I can always keep an opener in the glovebox if needed.
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And lastly I installed a mini voltmeter in my shifter surround. I got tired of not knowing my electrical system voltage after I had my battery randomly die on me while driving without warning(still don’t know why it did that and it has never happened again):
This shifter surround trim has been cracked and broken since I got the car so I decided I might as well install a mini voltmeter and test out whether I liked it or not. This particular size you can get for around £1.00(I bought a pack of 5) but they are cheap and I doubt they have any long term durability. I am still looking for a quality one in this size without much luck so far. I really don’t want to add any gauges beyond the air/fuel(lambda) gauge I already have. It would be a lot simpler if my radio allowed me to display something as simple as system voltage, but that likely wont happen unless I swap to a full android OS head unit instead of just one with android auto.
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Welcome aboard.
Nice upgrades , well done.
Are you familiar with the UK? Expat returning home or emigrating?
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Not a big fan of additional elektrikary items, especially on the steering wheel - sausage fingers probably do not help, but I do like the temperature guage in the mirror and the reverse lights and fog light are an elegant solution, hope your car passes smoothly through the MOT process and you get to enjoy many smiles per mile on UK roads in your left hooker 
Well, I got the car with an aftermarket radio/headunit/touchscreen. This means that to operate the radio while driving I would have to take my eyes off the road and fumble around. Not terribly dangerous but it was annoying. The steering wheel helps with that. The cruise control buttons were necessitated when I installed the UK-spec front/rear fog light switch. I lost the dash mounted cruise main switch(not even sure it was an option for NBs in the UK?) so to make it look factory, the steering wheel solved that issue as well(though it necessitates either some electronics trickery to use with factory cruise control or adapting a Mazda 6 cruise control setup). I don’t mind creature comforts like that since I drive the MX-5 quite a bit. As a last round of modifications to bring it up to UK-spec while retaining the US-spec features I plan to remove the passenger air bag on/off lock so the airbag is always on(guess its an option for those people who carry infants in car seats around in MX5s as unlikely as that is here) and replace the whole surround with heated seat switches and the headlight level switch(US-spec headlights only have one level)
I am emigrating assuming everything goes to plan. US citizen here but I am familiar enough with the UK and have driven several thousand miles there(though in a right hand drive car at the time). I loved driving in the UK, it was a lot more fun than most of the roads here. The drivers were far more courteous as well….and the near total lack of traffic lights just made it a lot more enjoyable of an experience(admittedly most of the time spent driving was in Scotland so I don’t know how prevalent traffic lights are further south)
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Oh, you will……
Seriously though, I hope all goes smoothly and you enjoy the UK.
There are some magnificent driving roads to explore in almost every region so that could keep you occupied for years.
When you get settled reach out to your local group and get involved. There’s plenty to do.
I look forward to seeing more of your adventures in due course.
All the best,
Guy
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I never was a fan of the factory NB2 white face gauges…so this weekend I installed some RevLimiter Unity gauge faces. In actuality the driving reason behind this install wasn’t the white faced gauges though, it was because this allowed me to install dash indicators for front and rear fog lights in the gauge panel instead of clunky rear fog indicator I have now for an OEM-like appearance. I had him place the front fog indicator above the fuel gauge and the rear fog indicator above the temperature gauge. I haven’t yet wired them up though since I ran out of time.
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I picked these up recently. They are in rough condition and need upholstery but I have been looking for a set of Porsche 914 seats for awhile. The idea is to end up with a lower seat height for more headroom and generally a more comfortable seat than the NB has. The other option is of course Lotus seats, but I have never cared for the look of those and they look like they have almost no cushion. These have removable bottom cushions which is a great design when you are considering getting rid of the sliders. I will see what I need to do to fabricate some workable brackets this weekend
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Those 914 seats look cool, I’ll be interested to see how comfortable they are. While I could use the extra head room one reason I have been dragging my feet trying to acquire Elise S2 seats is that I find the NBFL seats extremely comfortable. I once managed a 1000 miles in a day in mine and would have happily continued if I’d had anywhere else to go.
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I know seat comfort is pretty subjective so take this with a grain of salt, but I find my MK2.5 “surfboard” seats to be uncomfortable. The black leather is nice I guess, but for me its the bottom side bolster that ruins the seat…or rather the metal support under the foam of the bolster. I can always feel it through the foam and its not great on long drives. I did sit in these 914 seats and they feel a lot better. The removable bottom cushion allows for a lot of flexibility in what you can do with the seat. Get several different cushions for different situations and swap them out as needed. Track day where you need more bolstering? Use a thin cushion, have a long drive without many curves? Use a thicker cushion, etc. Or you can just cut pieces of foam to try out till you find one that fits you perfectly before upholstering any of them.
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Despite my 6’1’’ frame and ample weight to match I have yet to experience any intrusive awareness of the metal support even with 150k miles on the clock, 100k of which I have done in the last eight years. Fingers crossed your refurbished 914 seats solve the problem 
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I wonder if a previous owner may have performed a ‘foamectomy’ on the OP’s seat.
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The thought crossed my mind but presumably Wicked93gs would have been aware of it when he picked the car up 
I suppose its possible a foamectomy has been done before…but the seats dont feel any different than the spare set I have(picked up to see if it was possible to modify stock seats to sit lower….it’s really not unless you are wanting to do the aforementioned foamectomy which doesn’t appeal to me)
That is why seat comfort is so subjective though, a seat that is comfortable for one person isn’t for another. I am 6’3” myself, some 220lbs and the bottom bolster support sits at just the right angle to be distinctly uncomfortable for me, no clue why, but the 914 seat’s lack of bolster supports in that area was part of the appeal. The removable bottom cushion is the other half…it enables you to mount the seats directly to the floor without the use of sliders because you can pull the cushion up to get to bolts securing the back of the seat…which isn’t possible with the stock seats. You just cant get to the back seat bolts since the seats themselves are in the way. Though honestly I am considering building brackets of this type instead:
The biggest issue is securing the back of the seat down. It would require some custom seat latches but it sure would be convenient
