A post about droopy eyeballs, the alternatives, and how to make them.
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.
