W4RKRY's '91 Build

[w4rkry]

Sweetness, this will be a must do for my car, and finally my first post in the forum too fyi

Welcome! And thank you!

- Korean Note 4 via Tapatalk -

[mj420b30]

Sweetness, this will be a must do for my car, and finally my first post in the forum too fyi

[w4rkry]

Nice! Too bad they are so sought after, and I rarely see Miata's in the junkyard around here.

Yea. Apparently they break when people try to close them using the thin inner handle instead of the thick part, especially the driver side. So now its 30+ for passengers and 50 Avg for driver side.

I was lucky enough to get mine cheaper, but still... A lot for a Festiva.

They look and feels great tho, and now my passenger can hold themselves in during hard corners

- Korean Note 4 via Tapatalk -

[TorqueEffect]

Nice! Too bad they are so sought after, and I rarely see Miata's in the junkyard around here.

[w4rkry]

Miata Handles

This will be an easy write-up on how to get these slick Miata armrests in you Festiva.

They are black (and optionally tan), extra long, and include a grab handle.

I will warn you ahead of time: These are sought after in the Miata community, and the price of these reflect that. This wasn't cheap sadly.

Onto the mod.

You will need the handles, a set of plastic screw inserts, a small saw of some kind, and a screw driver.

1. Start by unscrewing the following screws. Keep these for later.




2. Pull off the top half of the door card. you are looking for the little pre-cut square hole circled.




3. Cut out some of the vapor barrier and the butyl. Install an appropriate sized plastic insert. I bought a variety pack from O'reilly. They are like mini License plate inserts. I also went ahead and poked a small hole in the doorcard to line up with the insert.



4. The top of the Armrest will have a little cylinder sticking out. This is the only piece that needs modified. Cut it off with the saw, as pictured.




5. Screw in the top piece half way using a trim screw (large head, similar to what the festiva uses for trim all over the place)



6. Screw in the bottom two screws, the ones pulled from the old handle. Tighten them all down tight, but don't bust through the foam. Reinstall the door handle screw. Pop the door card back in.



And it's done!

Here are some comparison pictures, as well as a pic showing that there is still plenty of window crank clearance.







Any questions, please ask!

[w4rkry]

The hoses are pretty light, I doubt they will cause any noticeable issues . I may prop them up in the future.

And Mr Regular didn't have it quite right. This WILL be the parts car as soon as the project car is done. I will definitely be transferring it to the new one when it is finished.

The pictures of the project car are HERE

It is aspire-swapped and recieving a lot of cool Things I have yet to reveal haha.

It will be a clone of the current car, a JDMSTIVA v2 if you will.

Completely rust free!

[wwwdotgov]

Cool uber rare grille! But will those faux hoses laying on the grille slowly warp and distort the grille bars? And according to rcr, this is your parts car.?. Will this grill be swapped to another Festiva?

[ThisVelologist]

Great write up!

[w4rkry]

The 121 Grille


I was just sitting around in my room, googling for Mazda 121 parts. I had been searching every so often on Ebay international, trying to get a hold of a Mazda 121 rear bumper, as they are much thinner than the USDM counterparts.

Most every night ended unsuccessfully. The one or two parts I did find were either the same as US spec or built for 2nd generation 121s.

All up until I came across an ad. It was a 3rd party ebay crawler site that I don't recall. There was 2 little blurry pictures of a grille, with 4 round headlights.
The listing was from Greece. The seller was a shop that sold KDM and JDM parts sourced from scrapyards.
The description was frighteningly simple:

"Mazda 121 front grille mask. Fit 1993."

The 2nd picture however, had the unmistakable curves of Festiva marker lights. The price was reasonable, along with a "Make an Offer".

I decided it was worth the risk of not fitting, and pulled the trigger.
At around 9 PM, I put in an offer for $20 under listed price. It was 5 am in Greece. I sent a message asking for more details. And went to bed.


I woke up the next Morning to one of the happiest messages I have ever received from Ebay:
"Offer for Mazda 121 Front Grille Mask Accepted"

The next few days were a lot of back-and-forths between me and the seller.

I learned that he had no Idea about the grille's origins. He had acquired it when he bought another warehouse from a similar company. The owner there had found it years ago and had almost no details. The few identifying numbers returned no relevant results when searched.

He gave me multiple opportunities to change my mind for a refund. But I had decided it was worth the risk already. So began the long wait for shipping.

It arrived around a month later. It is not a factory option for sure. It was press formed, not injection molded.
It was formed in black plastic and painted in Red, then at some point painted Metallic Dark Grey, as it sits now.
The lights are round Hella Sealed Beams. The #s match the part numbers for Euro BMW E21/E30 lights. The mount system is much different, however. I have no idea what vehicle they come from originally. More research is needed.
Outside pair is low beam, insides are High beam.
The MAZDA badge part number appears to match an RX7 Trunk badge.
The Corner light lenses part #s match with standard Clear AUS Mazda 121 corner lights.
It mounts in the same locations as the stock grille, with screw holes used instead of the plastic clips.

If anyone has any information on these grilles, please let me know.
If anyone would like me to do any more specific searching on the grille or part numbers, please ask!

Now of course, enjoy these pictures!!

[w4rkry]

Yes, I am importing stuff again haha 😆
I am officially a rare parts collector!


I don't like to paint plastics that get touched a lot, too easy to scratch and chip, even with flex additives or special plastic paint. Plus, handles are very hard to paint and keep from getting it in the hinge.

- Korean Note 4 via Tapatalk -

[Festiver]

I have black handles on the way. None of it is painted, it's all factory black plastic

- Korean Note 4 via Tapatalk -

Sounds like you're sourcing rare parts are you against painting?

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk

[w4rkry]

Are you going to paint the Door Handle black as well?

I have black handles on the way. None of it is painted, it's all factory black plastic

- Korean Note 4 via Tapatalk -

[firebush357]

Are you going to paint the Door Handle black as well?

[w4rkry]

Here are all my Black parts together.


Tracker door pockets and pull handle, Miata (and many others) Black window crank (exact same mold as stock) and I have black handles on the way (Rx7, 323, B series trucks, etc, exact same mold again)

[w4rkry]

Oh, probably no different versions. The current one fits great and works well. The only thing I plan on changing maybe the light mounting system. I have no Idea what the lights came off of, so replacements would be difficult, and I want to upgrade to HID with Halos.
I will put the story about finding them up tomorrow probably.