1993 Glovebox

bbade · 06-10-2009, 06:23 PM

I just want to say that Mazda really dropped the ball on this one. Turns out they made it absolutely impossible to repair if the inner latch mechanism breaks.

The mechanism screws to the inner liner and then the outer faceplate gets plastic welded to the inner liner making the screws and mounting points for the latch completely inaccessible.

On that note if anyone has found a way to repair their glovebox please enlighten me.

Garfinkles Motor Works · 06-10-2009, 08:06 PM

I repaired the hinge for the pull part .If I remember I used a soildering iron and reformed the pivit hole .Now I open it with care .The profect B insurance papers are in there.This was 4-5 years ago .

bbade · 06-10-2009, 10:00 PM

I wish the pull part broke, but it was actually the inner part, the actual latch. I now found out it had broken before and the owner somewhat fixed it using plastic glue which explains why there was a large section of inner lining removed. Anyway it is completely inaccessible to work on, I find it pretty irritating to be honest.

prrex4ever · 06-10-2009, 10:00 PM

I just used a small piece of velcro to keep mine closed. Worked for me, I'm just lazy plus it's empty anyway.

Caim · 06-13-2009, 10:59 AM

I have been looking into this myself as mine broke about 6 months ago. I have called ray at mazda and he looked at it. The weird thing is they sell both the inner and out latch part for 80 bucks. But there is no way to get the inner part out unless you "unweld" it. So i would say that there is a way, but it means that you have to "unweld" those parts and then redo them when you are all done. But, being that i have been short on time, and also money. I just zipties it up. That is until i can fix it right hahaha.

duval7 · 06-14-2009, 11:16 AM

i thought i was the only one that had this problem. i am doing a complete over haul on the car so i haven't gotten to think about how to fix it yet. so hopefully one of you guys can figure it out. we seem to have alot of issues with the glovebox on these cars.

bbade · 06-15-2009, 10:53 AM

I spoke with Ray at Malloy and was quoted about $300 for the glovebox assembly. The only solution I have come up with would be to recreate a portion of the inner shell out of aluminum. This new piece would have the latch assembly attached to it and in turn would be attached to the outer and inner shells. I highly doubt that it would be possible to attach the inner and outer shells like stock if you broke the original "welds."

I am hoping to find a used glovebox as it will be a much cleaner install. On that note, if anyone has a 1993 glovebox for sale I will gladly take it off your hands.

cewrx7r1 · 06-15-2009, 05:28 PM

I was the first to have a glove box latch failure back around 1995. The internal screws loosen and one fell out. I had to use a hacksaw blade to cut through the metal latch hoop because the latch would not unlatch. Had that welded back together.

Used a Dremel cutting tool to cut out the latch, about a 3" x3" square. Put the screws back in with epoxy and expoxied the cut out piece back in. It has been working perfectly for 14 years now.

You have to use your imagination and mechanical skills if you want to own a FD!

bbade · 06-15-2009, 06:50 PM

A previous owner hacked out a section of my glovebox to repair the latch. In the process they managed to snap both plastic mounting points, they attempted to glue everything back together and it worked temporarily. So now I am left with two broken mounting points and a huge hole in the inner liner. So short of cutting out a larger section of glovebox and making a new mounting bracket there is no solution other than ridiculous amounts of epoxy.

Personally I don't like temporary fixes, and the time necessary to design a new mounting point would not be worth it considering I would still have a piece that does not look as good as stock.

ZachFD · 06-28-2009, 07:09 PM

do the 94-95 have the same design?

SLOASFK · 06-28-2009, 07:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ZachFD

do the 94-95 have the same design?

no, 94s and 95s had a different latch/handle design and placement.

afgmoto1978 · 06-29-2009, 12:01 PM

I have a friend who has three 93 gloveboxes in perfect shape. If anyone wants one PM me and I will forward you the contact info.

Adam

NV02 · 08-29-2009, 06:54 PM

The internal screws fell out on mine as well. My approach to fix it was to drill holes from the back of the lid matching the internal screw holes. If you unscrew the latch and push it around internally, you can see where the screw hole are. I poured some Gorilla glue down the new holes, held the internals as best I could while screwing new screws from the back. It's held for a year so far.

Dave...

kansei · 08-30-2009, 10:07 PM

Mine never broke, nor did any screws work their way out, but ever since we got this car back in 1999, the glove box has never closed completely against the catch, and if you ever drive over any sizeable hole/bump, the door pops open (and spills the contents all over the floor). I recall checking all the recall work the car had done back when, and it showed something like 7 new glove boxes (!!). The car is an early one- December of '91 build date, so I always just chocked it up to that. Figured this one was probably a pre- or very early production car, before any running production line fixes/changes got implemented (it also had three ECUs and a couple of seat belt assemblies replaced). Since there isn't any adjustment in the latch or striker/catch, does/has anyone else had the same issue of the box popping open, and if so, how did you cure it? After ten years, it still drives me completely nuts. I never bought a new one since it had gotten so many already under warranty and obviously never fixed the problem.

Neal.

bbade · 08-31-2009, 01:01 PM

Mine would also pop open or not close, but that was just the latch on its last legs before fully breaking.

Sidenote, I didn't realize how hard it was to find a glovebox, still no luck!

06-10-2009, 06:23 PM	#1
bbade Rotary Fanatic Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Macungie, PA Posts: 163 Rep Power: 18	1993 Glovebox I just want to say that Mazda really dropped the ball on this one. Turns out they made it absolutely impossible to repair if the inner latch mechanism breaks. The mechanism screws to the inner liner and then the outer faceplate gets plastic welded to the inner liner making the screws and mounting points for the latch completely inaccessible. On that note if anyone has found a way to repair their glovebox please enlighten me. __________________ Proud owner of a base 1993 Montego Blue FD. PFC, RB single tip, Koyo Radiator, KDR rebuilt motor, polished OEM front strut bar, FEED replica sideskirts, OEM 99 spec rear spoiler, SuperPro Bushings Many thanks to Dave at KDR for sparking my rotor addiction.

06-10-2009, 08:06 PM	#2
Garfinkles Motor Works RCC Contributor Join Date: Mar 2008 Posts: 535 Rep Power: 18	I repaired the hinge for the pull part .If I remember I used a soildering iron and reformed the pivit hole .Now I open it with care .The profect B insurance papers are in there.This was 4-5 years ago . Last edited by Garfinkles Motor Works; 06-10-2009 at 08:07 PM. Reason: spelling

06-10-2009, 10:00 PM	#3
bbade Rotary Fanatic Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Macungie, PA Posts: 163 Rep Power: 18	I wish the pull part broke, but it was actually the inner part, the actual latch. I now found out it had broken before and the owner somewhat fixed it using plastic glue which explains why there was a large section of inner lining removed. Anyway it is completely inaccessible to work on, I find it pretty irritating to be honest. __________________ Proud owner of a base 1993 Montego Blue FD. PFC, RB single tip, Koyo Radiator, KDR rebuilt motor, polished OEM front strut bar, FEED replica sideskirts, OEM 99 spec rear spoiler, SuperPro Bushings Many thanks to Dave at KDR for sparking my rotor addiction.

06-13-2009, 10:59 AM	#5
Caim Rotary Fan in Training Join Date: Feb 2009 Posts: 93 Rep Power: 17	I have been looking into this myself as mine broke about 6 months ago. I have called ray at mazda and he looked at it. The weird thing is they sell both the inner and out latch part for 80 bucks. But there is no way to get the inner part out unless you "unweld" it. So i would say that there is a way, but it means that you have to "unweld" those parts and then redo them when you are all done. But, being that i have been short on time, and also money. I just zipties it up. That is until i can fix it right hahaha. __________________

06-15-2009, 10:53 AM	#7
bbade Rotary Fanatic Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Macungie, PA Posts: 163 Rep Power: 18	I spoke with Ray at Malloy and was quoted about $300 for the glovebox assembly. The only solution I have come up with would be to recreate a portion of the inner shell out of aluminum. This new piece would have the latch assembly attached to it and in turn would be attached to the outer and inner shells. I highly doubt that it would be possible to attach the inner and outer shells like stock if you broke the original "welds." I am hoping to find a used glovebox as it will be a much cleaner install. On that note, if anyone has a 1993 glovebox for sale I will gladly take it off your hands. __________________ Proud owner of a base 1993 Montego Blue FD. PFC, RB single tip, Koyo Radiator, KDR rebuilt motor, polished OEM front strut bar, FEED replica sideskirts, OEM 99 spec rear spoiler, SuperPro Bushings Many thanks to Dave at KDR for sparking my rotor addiction.

06-10-2009, 10:00 PM	#4
prrex4ever Rotary Fanatic Join Date: Oct 2008 Posts: 274 Rep Power: 17	I just used a small piece of velcro to keep mine closed. Worked for me, I'm just lazy plus it's empty anyway.

06-14-2009, 11:16 AM	#6
duval7 The Newbie Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Brentwood Posts: 28 Rep Power: 0	i thought i was the only one that had this problem. i am doing a complete over haul on the car so i haven't gotten to think about how to fix it yet. so hopefully one of you guys can figure it out. we seem to have alot of issues with the glovebox on these cars.

06-15-2009, 05:28 PM	#8
cewrx7r1 The Judge Join Date: Feb 2008 Posts: 196 Rep Power: 18	I was the first to have a glove box latch failure back around 1995. The internal screws loosen and one fell out. I had to use a hacksaw blade to cut through the metal latch hoop because the latch would not unlatch. Had that welded back together. Used a Dremel cutting tool to cut out the latch, about a 3" x3" square. Put the screws back in with epoxy and expoxied the cut out piece back in. It has been working perfectly for 14 years now. You have to use your imagination and mechanical skills if you want to own a FD!

06-15-2009, 06:50 PM	#9
bbade Rotary Fanatic Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Macungie, PA Posts: 163 Rep Power: 18	A previous owner hacked out a section of my glovebox to repair the latch. In the process they managed to snap both plastic mounting points, they attempted to glue everything back together and it worked temporarily. So now I am left with two broken mounting points and a huge hole in the inner liner. So short of cutting out a larger section of glovebox and making a new mounting bracket there is no solution other than ridiculous amounts of epoxy. Personally I don't like temporary fixes, and the time necessary to design a new mounting point would not be worth it considering I would still have a piece that does not look as good as stock. __________________ Proud owner of a base 1993 Montego Blue FD. PFC, RB single tip, Koyo Radiator, KDR rebuilt motor, polished OEM front strut bar, FEED replica sideskirts, OEM 99 spec rear spoiler, SuperPro Bushings Many thanks to Dave at KDR for sparking my rotor addiction.

06-28-2009, 07:09 PM	#10
ZachFD Rotary Fan in Training Join Date: Jul 2008 Posts: 40 Rep Power: 0	do the 94-95 have the same design?

06-29-2009, 12:01 PM	#12
afgmoto1978 Rotary Fanatic Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Portland, Oregon Posts: 381 Rep Power: 18	I have a friend who has three 93 gloveboxes in perfect shape. If anyone wants one PM me and I will forward you the contact info. Adam

08-29-2009, 06:54 PM	#13
NV02 Too little time Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Lake Tahoe Posts: 2 Rep Power: 0	The internal screws fell out on mine as well. My approach to fix it was to drill holes from the back of the lid matching the internal screw holes. If you unscrew the latch and push it around internally, you can see where the screw hole are. I poured some Gorilla glue down the new holes, held the internals as best I could while screwing new screws from the back. It's held for a year so far. Dave...

08-30-2009, 10:07 PM	#14
kansei Collector Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Greenville, Michigan Posts: 37 Rep Power: 0	Mine never broke, nor did any screws work their way out, but ever since we got this car back in 1999, the glove box has never closed completely against the catch, and if you ever drive over any sizeable hole/bump, the door pops open (and spills the contents all over the floor). I recall checking all the recall work the car had done back when, and it showed something like 7 new glove boxes (!!). The car is an early one- December of '91 build date, so I always just chocked it up to that. Figured this one was probably a pre- or very early production car, before any running production line fixes/changes got implemented (it also had three ECUs and a couple of seat belt assemblies replaced). Since there isn't any adjustment in the latch or striker/catch, does/has anyone else had the same issue of the box popping open, and if so, how did you cure it? After ten years, it still drives me completely nuts. I never bought a new one since it had gotten so many already under warranty and obviously never fixed the problem. Neal. __________________ Neal "kansei" Swigert Greenville, Michigan www.kanseirotary.com 1973 Mazda RX-3 Wagon 1977 Cosmo 1974 REPU 1980 Mazda RX-7 GS "The Moozda" 1980 Brilliant Black Mazda RX-7 Leather Sport 1988 Mazda RX-7 10th Anniversary Edition 1993 Mazda RX-7 VR Touring Edition

08-31-2009, 01:01 PM	#15
bbade Rotary Fanatic Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Macungie, PA Posts: 163 Rep Power: 18	Mine would also pop open or not close, but that was just the latch on its last legs before fully breaking. Sidenote, I didn't realize how hard it was to find a glovebox, still no luck! __________________ Proud owner of a base 1993 Montego Blue FD. PFC, RB single tip, Koyo Radiator, KDR rebuilt motor, polished OEM front strut bar, FEED replica sideskirts, OEM 99 spec rear spoiler, SuperPro Bushings Many thanks to Dave at KDR for sparking my rotor addiction.