Miata Mailing List: September 1995, Message #171
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   From: "Ken Walker" 
Subject: Gorillas and Glove box removal
   Date: Tue, 5 Sep 1995 12:30:00 -0400

     Hey everybody... this just in from the "enquiring minds want to know"
     deptartment:

     Curious about just why the hell Miata glove boxes are torqued down so
     tightly?  read on...

     Due to a break in by a vandal, I had the unfortunate experience of
     replacing not only my glove box, but the strike plate and support beam
     for it as well.  the support beam that the glove box screws into is
     about 18" long and an inch or so in width.  Its machined out of rather
     cheap and thin sheet metal.  Its strong enough to support a glove box
     full of items, but its thin enough for you to bend it in half if you
     remove it.  I also discovered that it is thin enough for a vandal to
     bend while the glove box is installed, thus emptying its contents.

     At any rate when you buy a NEW support beam, the holes for the glove
     box hinges to screw into are NOT pre-threaded.  They are juuuuust
     barely big enough for the sheet metal screws to fit into.  If you
     thought you had to be a gorilla to unscrew these things, you should
     try hand torquing the screws INTO the damn beam!!  I had to get some
     extra torque on it by using the ratchet handle from my socket wrench
     with a phillips bit.

     I imagine that once the screws are threaded in and out a few times,
     the beam and the screws will "get used to each other" but its pretty
     obvious that Mazda didn't figure too many people would be taking out
     their glove boxes!!

     kjw &
     TIC-TAC


______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: Glove box removal
Author:  WORLD.FPOTTER1 at REMNET
Date:    9/2/95 5:21 PM


>4.  Remove the glove box, there is one screw at each hinge.  It is an easy
>process.

I have yet to see a glove box whose screws could be easily removed. My own
theory is that Mazda employs a demented gorilla to handle that part of the
assembly process.

Frank

Frank Potter
MEOWTA - 1993 Black/Red LE #290