1. Home
  2. Mazda Miata
  3. Importance of good directions

Importance of good directions

Installed chrome side markers today. Took many hours due to poor instructions. You need to splice these LEDS into the side marker wires. Unfortunately, when you do this you can no longer put the chrome frame around the light, since the hole in the frame is too small for the light to pass through. Do you believe this happened to me on *three* corners?

If the instructions had simply said "press the lights on the chrome frame *before* splicing them into your wires," I would have saved *many* hours today prying apart splice-in connectors and getting them back together again a second time. At the last corner, I already had wrapped the wire connections completely in plastic wrap and secured it with electrical tape, thinking I was finally done. :(

Leon

Reply to
Leon van Dommelen
Loading thread data ...

Oh, you trusting engineers... We liberal arts majors, realizing that we aren't blessed with an inborn understanding of mechanical things, always fondle the parts for several hours before heading to the garage, just to make sure we know what we're getting into. Then, when we screw up the first part anyway, we rewrite the instructions so the rest of the installation will go smoothly. (The truly compulsive will illustrate the revised instructions with color photos.)

Reply to
Lanny Chambers

I think you might be over-generalizing a bit too much. I've buttered the bread as a engineer since 1982...

... and it's engineering experience that's made me fondle parts, or at least thoroughly read the directions, for more than a few hours before launching into non-trivial projects. The irony is, I suppose, a sense of the threshold between trivial and otherwise is sometimes elusive and that may be the crux of what you refer to, Lenny. I suspect Leon, like I would have, figured the installation of side- markers fell into the "trivial" class.

For example, before I ordered a JRSC in September, I downloaded the installation directions and spent several hours with the hood open, going through the wiring harness and idler bracket instructions, 'cause they sounded non-trivial. Little did I expect it would be the strut-tower brace that consumed several more hours to resolve, or the cruise-control system.

The simplest task - installing the Powercard - turned out to the be the most tedious. I never looked at just how cramped the under-dash is for a normal-sized human until I was wedged-in underneath...

You're much more fortunate than I've been when it's the first part that contains the challenge and the remainder of the project goes smoothly.

Dana

Reply to
Dana Myers

I very carefully examined the parts and instructions before starting the installation. I have had them for months.

I did not screw up the first part. It was the last three corners where I forgot to put on the frame.

Leon

Reply to
Leon van Dommelen

Have to admit, I would've just cut the frame. Who's gonna see a teeny-tiny, hairline cut from 25ft. away? Next time, just cut the frame and move on; that's my advice.

Steve (still looking for paper-element for JRSC) McMahon Green JRSC '00LS

Reply to
McMahon

Hmm...that sounds suspiciously like you'd started the post-installation celebration a mite early. Leave the beer in the fridge until after you've cleaned up!

Reply to
Lanny Chambers

I do not look from 25 ft away. Typically about 6" while washing the car. The damage would be very visible.

Leon :)

Reply to
Leon van Dommelen

Maligning my character! I was completely sober. After I had again forgotten to put the frame on at the third corner, I solidly committed myself not to forgot on the last one. But in the heat of the battle of holding the splice in one hand, the wire in the other, and finding a third hand to press the pliers, it slipped my mind.

Leon

Reply to
Leon van Dommelen

MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.