Badbong's SP: "Diablo"

Hjt · Postby **Hjt** » Sat Mar 31, 2012 12:15 am

the lighting isn't even, showing a highlighted gearbox, and a dark bay.

I didn't notice until now your a/c pipes are heat shielded.

Apu · Postby **Apu** » Sat Mar 31, 2012 5:34 am

Wow, very clean! And I like the neon bonnet lighting...you going to do that under the car too?

:lol:

BadBong · Postby **BadBong** » Sat Mar 31, 2012 7:52 am

Apu wrote:Wow, very clean! And I like the neon bonnet lighting...you going to do that under the car too?

LOL don't tempt me mate - I did have a thought about that...

Just not sure how I would set it up so that the neon would only be on when the doors are open (should be possible)

sailaholic · Postby **sailaholic** » Sat Mar 31, 2012 8:18 am

You tap into the door switches for the interior light. I had lights on my Gemini done this way. Put in a three pole switch, 1 pole goes to nothing, 1 to constant ground. 1 to ground of your door switch.

Done, this way you can turn them off If the popo are around, our constant on for carparks. Just make sure to put a low current fuse in the power supply. mine chafed through under the seats. Turned out the tiny cable took less power than the fuse.

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk

Hammer · Postby **Hammer** » Mon Apr 02, 2012 11:53 pm

Awesome results on the engine bay clean Victor.

I'll pick your brain on this when I'm ready to tackle mine.

wassup · Postby **wassup** » Thu Apr 05, 2012 2:09 pm

Great job on the engine bay Vic. Lets get you onto the wheel wells, suspension bits etc etc.... ;)

BadBong · Postby **BadBong** » Thu Apr 05, 2012 2:58 pm

wassup wrote:Great job on the engine bay Vic. Lets get you onto the wheel wells, suspension bits etc etc.... ;)

Sure... if you can kindly offer your pressure gun and your assistance :mrgreen:

Got a few pics of the engine going back in - will post at some point this weekend.

wassup · Postby **wassup** » Thu Apr 05, 2012 3:34 pm

you free between 7-10am tomorrow? come on round.

BadBong · Postby **BadBong** » Thu Apr 05, 2012 3:59 pm

Completely booked out this Easter Weekend (and I've got to catch up on my lost time with Diablo.... haha)

How about May? By then, most of my Mods will be in :twisted:

and it'll be ready for a once-over clean :mrgreen:

wassup · Postby **wassup** » Thu Apr 05, 2012 4:16 pm

BBzzzz. No such thing as a once over clean... its weekly. without fail! :lol:

May it is.

BadBong · Postby **BadBong** » Fri May 04, 2012 1:38 pm

Alright, this might be a strange move on my part as I'm only writing a review after I've had the part stolen. Nonetheless, I've promised Bill from MiataRoadster (1 of our forum's sponsor in the U.S. http://miataroadster.com/) that I would be happy to do an objective write-up on the product and his service since late last year so it's better late than never. (I'm so sorry about the delay Bill).

For those who know me and especially the suppliers who have had the 'pleasure' of dealing with me in the past, you would know that I ask a million questions to make sure that I'm getting a quality product that is exactly to my liking. Yes, this style does turn some of the suppliers away as many of them are just looking for a quick sale but I think that it's a testament to the level of customer service that the 'survivors' provide - especially if you ever have to make a claim on warranty!

So far, only 3 suppliers that I've dealt with have made it to this list and they are: Flyin Miata, MX5 Plus and MiataRoadster... and the story begins...

I've always wanted a fully customised gauge from ArtWorks Dewa and I know many people do too. Yes, their prices are steep but if you treat it like a piece of art (which it is), then it is slightly more palatable. Furthermore, I also justified it by noting the fact that it's the single piece of mod that I will always look at and it's completely for my own driving pleasure. No one else would notice or appreciate it - it's something completely for myself, which is rare.

Referencing AWD's official Jap site here http://www2s.biglobe.ne.jp/~AWD/nball2.html, I knew that the design SA6R was it - it was love at first sight. Coupled with other goodies like neddle caps, "vintage" gauge rings and cluster bezel - my choice was complete:

*note, the quality of the workmanship in reality is as good as what you can see in the photos. Absolutely flawless, brushed aluminium.

Unfortunately, being in Aus does come with its share of disadvantages in terms of accessibility and most of gauge designs were not compatible with our ADM clusters. The reason is that the range that the needle actually spin from and to is different between ADM and JDM. (For example, the rev-gauge spins from the 6 O'clock position to the 3 O'clock position for JDM clusters, which is very different from ours.)

This is where Bill and his team came in.

After a number of emails back and forth, Bill was able to bid on a second-hand JDM cluster on my behalf from Yahoo.jp, order the bells and whistles from AWD and have his partner in Japan assemble everything before it was shipped on express courier directly to my door. The overall process once I've put in my order took less than 5 working days.

The end result was a true 'Plug & Play' experience for the end-user and even a newbie like me knows how to change the cluster module. Furthermore, it would have prevented a potential disaster for people with clumsy hands like mine being asked to put delicate pieces of instruments together.

An additional comment on their level of service: Again, being the picky person that I am, I've asked Bill to change the small glass covers of the indicator lights from red to green so that the whole gauge would be 'black & red' themed. However, there was a mis-communication to AWD's HQ and I was sent the 'standard' setup with the green covers, which I was still very happy about. But to my pleasant surprise, before I've even had time to email Bill to let him know about the matter, he had already notified me by email that a second piece of the front bezel with the correct customisation is already on its way. He was very apologetic and was very trusting in asking me to kindly post the extra piece back to his Japanese partner - which I very much appreciated (note that this was my first dealing with him and I could have easily offload the extra piece for $250...). This level of customer service and pro-activeness is something that I think is seriously lacking across the retail sector... :roll:

All in all, the additional cost of handling and labour to assemble the unit was very reasonable and I was over the moon with the end-result.

Would I ever buy from Bill at MiataRoadster again?... Absolutely - in fact, I'll be emailing him as soon as my insurance claim is processed!

LuckyCat · Postby **LuckyCat** » Fri May 04, 2012 4:10 pm

BadBong wrote:17" no-name brand with al-cheapo tyres

Interesting choice for a Turbo car.....

BadBong · Postby **BadBong** » Fri May 04, 2012 4:13 pm

LuckyCat wrote:
BadBong wrote:17" no-name brand with al-cheapo tyres

Interesting choice for a Turbo car.....

Yes... it was quite a handful on the day that I picked up the car since it was pouring with rain.

It's now on RE001s and it's alot better.

Hjt · Postby **Hjt** » Fri May 04, 2012 4:15 pm

That must have been difficult to write up, I have purchased various parts thru Bill. His customer service and transparency is perfect. I'm a happy customer.