SquareCraft, APR/Slick Auto, Moss Motors. Three companies I can name off the top of my head that provide F1 style Mirrors for Miatas. A stubtle modification that can really improve the looks of one of the girliest sports cars around. Unfortunately this modification does not come cheap, as for the same price you can almost get a new set of tires! This presents a bit issue to those of us that do not have an unlimited budget but do want to make our cars stand out a bit.
My search for a solution actually started back when I had a stock bodied NA. After searching for cheap “retro” style mirrors on Ebay I noticed an awful lot of motorcycle and scooter mirrors that were VERY affordable. As in less than $20 affordable. “For that price I can afford to mess around,” I thought as I ordered them.
Upon receiving the “CF style” mirrors in the mail I promptly took them to the garage, side by side compared them to the stock mirrors and then forgot about them completely. Fast forward a few years, a few moves and cars later, and one day I am going though my tool chests lower drawers to discover my $20 impulse buy. Once again, I mock them up to the stock mirrors, this time on the Mazdaspeed. “Hmmmm,” I think to myself. “They seem to match the angle of the stock mirrors a LOT better than I remember.” Into my immediate “to do” pile they moved!
A week later I found myself up at the 2 Bills shop, taking measurements of where my stock braces mounted and working out some bugs on the prototype parts for the Mazdaspeed. Since we were on a roll of taking apart things, I used Mr MiataRoadster’s extra hands to help unplug and remove the passenger side power mirror. Now, I didn’t make up any fancy block plates like most of the home made mirror setups do, as I didn’t have access to the tools needed for such things. Instead I found out my Ebay mirrors had the same thread pitch as my standard mirror and was able to screw it right into the stock mirror mount! While this leaves a big hole in the doorskin(where the power mirrors wiring goes though) it makes the mirror installation a million times easier. For now I have a piece of duct tape covering the holes, but in the future I do plan on getting a small a small block off plate made out of plastic/metal. As soon as I take some photos I will upload them here, otherwise please stop by the 3 year anniversary KINOD meet to see them!
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Perfect!
Comment by flashplayer July 7, 2009 @ 12:19 pm