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Hi, this weekend I am changing the head units in my NA8 LE for a Pioneer DEH 1350. I am half way through doing it and thought I'd share some thoughts.

Firstly taking the vents off is a matter of faith. It sounded like something was going to break but I put my faith in my fellow MX-5 owners and pulled and pulled until they flew out. One actually hit me on the back of the head

Anyway I discovered something that was different. My OEM units were attached to the back of the tombstone. They slid out forward not rearward.

Also it was quite a struggle getting the CD player harness disconnected from the main head unit because the cable looped behind a bigger harness and it was preventing both units from coming out. Anyway finally with lots of less skin on my knuckles and arms I got them out. Boy are they heavy compared to what is going in. I am sure I'll save a bit of weight. I'll weigh the old and the new and let everyone know.

So far I have tested the connections and need to do a bit more soldering of the Pioneer harness to an ISO connector and use a bit of foam to lock the cubby to the head unit so it cannot move. After that I am ready to get everything back in.

Ok, the new unit is now in and having tested it there is a significant difference in the quality of the sound. I am getting a higher quality at a higher sound level. Basically I can turn it up louder and get good music. So in the end it has been well worth it. The best thing is how well it blends in to the dash. It seems like it was made for it.


While doing up the tombstone, on the first go I dropped a screw so it had to come out. On the second go I forgot to connect the front headlight rectractor switch and it had to come out again. Now it is finally in and tested.

The only snag in my plans is that I discovered that my gear shifter boots have perished. I now need to replace them before the console goes in.

One little enhancement has been the bit of felt I put in the single din cubby to stop my ipod getting scratched or keys making a noise against the plastic.

If you are thinking of selling the OEM sound units, please let me know via email.

For the time being my thinking is that I want to hang on to them to retain the car's originality. If that goes out of the window then I'll let you know.
Just for future reference how much would you offer for them both. They both work without any problems.