The NB1, the pre-facelift NB, had a small storage compartment next to the radio, with a digital clock beside it. These clocks were also used in other Mazda models, such as the 323 (Protege in North America) and the 626. In total, the following versions were available:

a digital clock only, as in the NB1;

a digital clock with an ambient temperature display;

a trip computer, which could display average and current fuel consumption in addition to the clock and ambient temperature.

That last version is calibrated to the fuel tank capacity and engine type and is therefore not compatible with the NB1.

However, the version with the outside temperature on the display is a nice upgrade that fits well with the NB1’s original interior.

The clock uses a 16-pin connector. The connector that plugs into it is the Sumitomo 6098-1624.

The terminals in this connector are labeled with the letters A through P. Mazda always starts at the top right with A, followed by B below it, C next to A, D below C, and so on.

The connector layout is as follows:

• Wire A is blue with red and is permanently connected to 12 volts;
• Wire B is pink with black and receives 12 volts when the ignition is on;
• Wire D is light green with black and is the positive terminal for the interior lighting;
• Wire E is black and serves as the ground wire;
• Wire G is red with yellow and is connected to the ambient temperature sensor;
• Wire H is yellow with green and is also connected to the ambient temperature sensor;
• Wire O is white with blue and serves as the negative terminal for the interior lighting.

The temperature sensor connector is the Sumitomo 6189-0640. This connector is also used for the ABS sensors and for a number of other connections in the engine compartment.

The temperature sensor can be found under part number: G51861764A, also known as G518-61-764A.

The gauge with the temperature display was used on the higher-end models of the BJ-generation Mazda 323 or Protege and on the GF-generation Mazda 626.

The temperature sensor is mounted between the front bumper and the radiator, in a location where the airflow from driving passes over the sensor. The two wires for that sensor must be routed from the gauge cluster, through the dashboard, to the front of the car. For example, you can run those wires alongside the wire for the hood release. Below is a photo showing the location of the temperature sensor on the MX-5 NC.

Below is a video on this topic

If you have any questions, you can reach me through the contact page.

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Here’s how to convert the cruise control buttons on your Mazda Protege into audio controls for the steering wheel of an NB or NBFL. The Mazda Protege, the North American version of the Mazda 323, came equipped with cruise control buttons on the steering wheel in some trim levels. Essentially, this is the same steering wheel used in the NB and NBFL.

We now know that the three-spoke MX-5 steering wheel was also used in certain models of the Mazda 323 FS between 2000 and 2002, which featured audio controls on the steering wheel. If you can find one of those, that’s the best option. However, since they’re hard to come by, I set out to investigate whether the Mazda Protege buttons could also be used as audio controls.

I made a video about the possibilities of using these buttons for audio.

If you have any questions, you can reach me through the contact page.

The post Making Audio Buttons from Mazda Protege Cruise Control Buttons appeared first on MX5info.

One example of sharing knowledge is the video about my 25 favorite modifications.
You can find it here:

2026 update:
After more than 2 years and nearly 100 videos, the channel has over 2,000 subscribers, but not yet enough viewing hours. So it remains primarily a hobby. Nevertheless, I hope to reach the milestone of 4,000 viewing hours in 365 days before February 2007.

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The standard air vents in the first two generations of the MX-5 tend to take on a life of their own. The round air vents in the dashboard contain spherical components that allow you to adjust the direction of the airflow. Inside the housing are pieces of felt designed to ensure that the vents maintain their direction through friction. In practice, however, this friction decreases over time due to wear and tear and the aging of the felt, causing the vents to lose their direction. Gravity then causes the center of the front of the vent—where most of the weight is concentrated—to sag downward. By that point, we refer to them as “droopy eyeball vents.”

There are plenty of videos on YouTube that explain how to (temporarily) fix that problem. An important part of that is figuring out the easiest way to remove the standard air vents if you want to work on them or replace them. This video shows how to do that in the way I find most convenient:

If you’re really tired of standard air vents, I do have a few alternatives for you.
You could use theair vents from an Alfa Romeo. You can customize the ones from the Alfa 156 and Alfa 166 to fit and match the color.

Alternatively, you can also use the air vents from the doors of a Nissan 350Z. To do this, you can 3D-print a new housing to make it easier to fit.

If you have any questions, you can reach me through the contact page.

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In the final years of production for the MX-5 NBFL, a low-fuel indicator light was introduced above the fuel gauge. We’re talking about 2004–2005, a model year I often refer to as the NB3. Until then, the European NBFL—which I call the NB2—had a completely black lens with no light behind it. The North American models featured a small lens with a light for cruise control. However, the difference goes beyond just the lens. There is also more electronics inside the instrument cluster. So, if you install an NB3 instrument cluster in an NB or NB2, you’ll also get a low-fuel warning light that alerts you when your fuel tank is starting to run low.
To check if you have an NB3 cluster, look at the back of the instrument cluster. You’ll see four screws in the lower right corner and a track leading to a light above the fuel gauge.

If you have an instrument cluster like that in your car, you’ll rarely—if ever—see that low-fuel light come on, especially if you fill up in time. To check whether the light is in good working order and actually works, you’d have to drive until the tank is nearly empty.

The modification I’m about to describe below is by no means necessary, but rather a tribute to the creativity that is so characteristic of the MX-5 community. As the saying goes: “Trust is good, but verification is better.” And that applies to warning lights as well. Mazda constantly monitors the fuel level in the tank and alerts us via the low-fuel light. But who monitors the low-fuel light? When you turn the ignition on, a number of lights in the instrument cluster come on. A few of them go out again after a few seconds—for example, the ones for the immobilizer, ABS, and the airbags. For someone who’s really good with electronics—and I don’t count myself among them—it was a piece of cake to include the low-fuel light in those checks. When René shared the idea with me, I immediately signed up to add it to my MX-5 as well. Not because I have to, but because I can.

This video shows the result of this modification. Not everyone is a fan of it, but if you want to know what it took to make it happen, keep reading and I’ll try to explain.

The idea was to have the light stay on for a few seconds as soon as the ignition is turned on. If it then turns off, there is still enough fuel in the tank; otherwise, it is recommended to refuel. The solution must account for the fact that there are two reasons for the light to stay on. To make the light stay on for a few seconds, an RC circuit was used, combining a resistor with a capacitor to keep the light on until the capacitor is charged. The solution uses a variable resistor—in the form of a potentiometer—so that the duration the light stays on can be adjusted. Very clever, indeed.

The photos show what the small circuit looks like, how it is wrapped in heat-shrink tubing to prevent short circuits, and where the circuit has found a safe home above the tachometer in the instrument cluster.

If you have any questions, you can reach me through the contact page.

The post Is the low-fuel light still working? appeared first on MX5info.

First, let me explain what that means, because it might not ring a bell for everyone right away. It’s about how the car windows are operated. Of course, it’s great that they can be raised and lowered electrically, but there’s an even better feature. By an “auto-down” function, I mean that with a single short press of the button, the window goes all the way down. There are also plenty of cars with an “auto-up” function, but that’s a bit less common. With a dual “auto-down” function, you can open both windows completely, independently of each other.

The NB2 was the first to feature a window switch with an auto-down function for the driver. This is always handy when you want to quickly open the window all the way at a parking garage or toll booth. That feature wasn’t available for the front passenger, even though back in those days, not all of us were driving around with navigation systems in our cars yet, and we could occasionally ask a friendly passerby for directions. But what’s more important for an MX-5 driver is being able to quickly open both windows all the way so they can fully enjoy the open-air driving experience. So the NBFL had one auto-down button, not two as I’ve depicted in the photo above this post.

However, there are two versions of the window switch, because in some countries people still drive on the wrong side of the road. The electronics and mechanics in those switches are therefore different.

Meanwhile, the MX-5 community is working on a solution for the NA, NB, and NBFL models. Using an Arduino—a type of mini-computer—this solution should enable not only the auto-down function but also the auto-up function for both windows. The prototype reportedly works, but I haven’t been able to test it yet.

What I was able to test, however, was the window switch on a 2006–2008 NC with a retractable hardtop (but without keyless entry). That model has a window switch with an auto-down function for both windows. I think this is because Mazda uses an electrical signal to open the windows slightly before they open or close automatically. Just for fun, I connected that switch to my NBFL, and it worked fine, but of course, it doesn’t fit at all.

The next question was whether that switch could also be used in an NC with a soft top. The short answer is: YES
It’s actually a fun challenge for yourself to figure out, based on the different diagrams, how you could get it to work. To solve this problem, you’ll need these four diagrams.

Ultimately, it comes down to the fact that, aside from that switch, you don’t need any other parts. All the wires and the correct connector are included; only the placement of a few wires in the connector changes. If you do it wrong, you risk a short circuit

Since that switch isn’t easy to find and costs nearly €200 new, I’m also listing this modification under the “Rare” category. If you want to give it a try, look for this switch:

Since this topic comes up regularly in various Facebook groups, I made a video about it. In this video, I discuss how to perform the upgrade on an NB1 or NC.

If you have any questions, you can reach me through the contact page.

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Here’s how to add genuine Mazda audio controls to the steering wheel of an NB or NBFL.
People who’ve known me for a while know that I prefer to use genuine Mazda parts for all my upgrades. I do sometimes deviate from that, but only because I think there’s room for improvement compared to the original.

After connecting the Yatour Bluetooth module, I realized there was no easy way to answer an incoming call on the phone. On the other hand, the steering wheel controls on the NC did work. There are a number of buttons on the left side of the steering wheel that let you control the radio. That sounded like something I’d like for my NBFL—but does it even exist?

Max de Jongh (with whom I worked on a project to get the cruise control working on our cars) knew that it was available on other Mazda models from the same period. In fact, there were two types of steering wheel controls that were also used in the NB and NBFL: one for operating the cruise control and one for operating the radio—that is, with audio controls on the steering wheel. A post about the cruise control version gave us an idea of what to expect when mounting the parts to the steering wheel.
We now know that the three-spoke MX-5 steering wheel was also used in certain models of the Mazda 323 FS from around 2000 to 2002. In fact, I once found a set in Spain when an airbag for that model was being sold there.

Finding a car with audio controls on the steering wheel is the first challenge. Next, you’ll need to get the steering wheel—or just the relevant parts—into your home. But that’s not all; to get it working, you’ll also need to modify the steering wheel cover, the wiring, and possibly the steering wheel itself. The latter depends on the type of steering wheel your car has. If you have a special edition with a steering wheel made by Nardi, the interior is different from the steering wheels produced by Mazda itself. Special editions with a Nardi interior include the Phoenix, Trilogy, Memories II, Murphy & Nye, Memories III, and the Impuls.

How the audio buttons on the steering wheel connect to the radio depends on the type of radio. I use the original radio myself, and it’s designed for this. Many of the more modern radios also offer connection options, for example via an audio jack, like the ones used for headphones on a laptop or phone. However, the signal from the buttons will first have to pass through the clock spring, which is located behind the steering wheel. That clock spring ensures that the airbag and horn wiring doesn’t get tangled while you’re steering. Two additional wires are required for these audio buttons. The resistance between these wires provides the radio with information about which audio buttons on the steering wheel are pressed and which are not. Two wires must be added to the back of the clock spring and then connected to the radio. The wiring diagram for the stock radio on the NBFL and NC1 shows that we need to use pins N and P for steering wheel controls.

To attach the new parts to the handlebars, I had to make a metal strip and a hole in the cover on the back of the handlebars. Once everything is properly connected mechanically and electrically, you can control the radio and the Yatour Bluetooth module from your handlebars. Volume+ and Volume- are self-explanatory. The Select button lets you skip to the next track or station, or answer the phone when you receive a call. The Mode button switches between the different audio sources—by that I mean the various radio frequencies, the CD, the CD changer, and the input where the Yatour is connected.

Not everyone likes this update with audio controls on the steering wheel, but I do. Of course, everyone is entitled to their own opinion. In my view, this is still exactly what Mazda originally intended; they just forgot back then that it would have been a great addition to an MX-5 as well.

Just a quick note for those interested in the technical details. The resistor between the two wires signals to the radio which audio buttons on the steering wheel have been pressed. These resistors are the same for both the NBFL and NC1 radios. However, the NC has more of them. If you connect the NC’s audio buttons to the NBFL radio, it works just fine, and you’ll have two extra buttons. These are the MUTE button and the button to go to the previous station or track (SEEK-). The resistors the radio expects are listed in the overview below. Incidentally, the Mazda 6 and Mazda RX-8 use the same resistor values.

René van der Veen used the resistance values listed above to ensure that he could assign a different function to the MODE button. Instead of a MODE button, he preferred a SEEK button—the button that lets you return to the beginning of the currently playing song or skip to the previous song. Depending on the type of car kit you connect to the original radio, the car kit will also respond to some of these buttons. In this case, SEEK- is used to answer a call, and SEEK+ to end the call.

The table of resistance values shows that the values for SEEK are, on average, 461 ohms lower than those for MODE. To lower the resistance value of the MODE button, René replaced a 732-ohm resistor with a 270-ohm one. This brings the resistance value into the range of the SEEK button. The photos show which resistor was replaced (the blue one is the new one) and how the text on the audio buttons on the steering wheel has been replaced by symbols.

If you have any questions, you can reach me through the contact page.

The post Audio controls on the NB steering wheel appeared first on MX5info.

Many MX-5 drivers are switching to a more modern radio with a touchscreen and support for Apple CarPlay or Android Auto, so they can stream music, make calls, or use navigation. That’s a great upgrade, but not everyone is interested in it. You can also choose to keep the original radio and find another way to make calls and stream audio.

A few years ago, I bought a Parrot MKi9000 car kit—deliberately without a screen, but with a small wireless control panel that you can place wherever you want. I like to have things like that within easy reach, so I chose a spot between the window switch and the gearshift.

The Parrot car kit was connected to the radio using a mini wiring harness—in this case, the Kram ISO2CAR 86140. This allows you to install the car kit between the wiring harness and the radio by connecting the large connector—which is normally located at the back of the radio—to the mini wiring harness, which in turn has a large connector that fits into the radio. Since a Parrot car kit needs to be universally compatible with all kinds of cars, it always comes with ISO connectors. To make it compatible with, in this case, a Mazda MX-5, you use a Kram ISO2CAR cable to adapt the ISO connectors to a specific type of car—or, more precisely, car stereo. That explains the cable’s name, as well as why there are so many different ISO2CAR cables. All in all, you’re adding quite a bit of wiring to the car, but it is a plug-and-play solution.

This Parrot car kit supports several Bluetooth profiles. To make hands-free calls, you need the Hands-Free Profile (HSF). To stream audio, use the Advanced Audio Distribution Profile, better known as A2DP. To control the volume, replay a track, or skip a track using a remote control, the car kit must support AVRCP, which stands for Audio/Video Remote Control Profile.

The advantage of the Parrot car kit is that it always controls the speakers. It doesn’t matter whether you’re listening to the radio or a CD; the car kit always takes priority when a call comes in or when you want to stream music from your phone. The car kit then temporarily mutes the radio and sends the audio to the speakers.

However, there are also a number of drawbacks:

• The sound quality is determined by the quality of the amplifier in the car kit. Of course, it doesn’t have the same quality or power as the original radio;
• The control panel—which is essentially a remote control—is clearly a non-original element in the car’s interior;
• Since the control panel is wireless, it runs on a button-cell battery that eventually runs out and must be replaced;
• No matter where you place the control panel, it’s always a compromise. If it’s within easy reach, you’re likely to press it accidentally; if you put it somewhere else, you’ll have to search for it or stretch to reach it;
• You can press the radio buttons as much as you like, but they have no effect on the car kit, since it only accepts input from the control panel.

All in all, it’s a solution that’s perfectly acceptable. I’ve gotten a lot of use out of it, but right now it’s just sitting idle on a shelf in the garage. That’s mainly because I saw potential for a solution that, in my opinion, is more elegant. I’m talking about the Yatour module, which supports the same Bluetooth profiles as the Parrot but works with the original radio in a different way.

The photo shows that you can also use a small control panel with the Yatour, but in the MX-5 that isn’t necessary because you can use the radio’s buttons instead. This makes it much more intuitive to use. The Yatour, model YT-BTA-MAZ1, connects to the 6-CD changer port on the back of the radio. The radio recognizes the device as if it were a CD changer. This also means you can control all functions using the radio’s buttons, and you’ll need to select the CD changer as the source to listen to music streamed via Bluetooth.

Precisely because the Yatour can be controlled using the radio’s buttons, I took it a step further and adapted the audio buttons from a Mazda 323F (manufactured around 2000–2002). The radio recognizes the signals sent by those buttons. I’ll explain exactly how that works in another post, but it allows me to control the radio, CD player, car kit, and Spotify right from the steering wheel.

I placed the Yatour’s microphone in the lower right corner near the instrument cluster.

The post Streaming audio and making calls using the stock radio appeared first on MX5info.

The first generations of the MX-5 had speakers in the seat headrests—or at least space for them. From the introduction of the NB in 1998 through the 2003 model year NB2, there were no speakers other than those in the doors. That changed during the final model years of the NB2 —specifically, 2004 and 2005. From that point on, Mazda installed speakers behind the seats. In some special editions, a style bar with a soundboard was used, while other models featured a wind deflector with speakers. All of these versions have wiring running from the radio to the center of the raised section behind the seats.

However, the quality of the standard 2-inch speakers, which are mounted in the windshield, isn’t great. Of course, it’s better than nothing, but there’s clearly room for improvement. Let’s first take a look at what’s inside as the standard speaker. The plastic covers on the back of the windshield are fairly easy to remove. FYI: My first MX-5 originally had a black windshield, but since the start of Project Lübeck, it’s been replaced with a beige one. So I’ve made this modification several times.

When I started looking for better speakers for the windshield, I found a post on the miata.net forum recommending the Peerless by Tymphany NE65W-04. It turned out they were also available in the Netherlands. The specs were impressive, so I decided to buy them. The difference compared to the stock speakers was immediately obvious. They’re made from completely different materials, which gives them a professional look. The small speaker at the top of the photo below is the stock one; the speaker below it is the Peerless by Tymphany NE65W-04, but the adapter plate I made and the capacitor aren’t included in the package.

The adapter plate is necessary because the new speaker is secured in three places, while the standard speaker is mounted to the windshield with four screws. At first, I made the adapter plates out of MDF, but recently I switched to PETG, a material used for 3D printing. I created the design in TinkerCAD and had it printed locally. The result makes assembly a lot easier, and having it printed takes me much less time than cutting the MDF myself.

I added the capacitor back then on someone’s advice to filter out interference, but it’s possible that using a capacitor with a different capacitance might yield better results. Maybe I’ll try that sometime. Personally, I’m very satisfied with the result, but there are other options.

Based in the United States is 3rd Millennium, a company that supplies speakers for multiple generations of the MX-5, including speakers for the NA seats and speakers for this windshield. This video explains how to install their M200 speakers. These speakers come with wiring and a connector and should fit right in without any modifications. This is in contrast to the solution I chose, which required an adapter plate and soldering the wiring on myself.

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