Fixing Broken Cup Holder Lid
The second series of NBs (2001-2005) come with cup holders with individual lids, each of which is spring loaded. I know that several of us 2001+ drivers had our cup holder door springs stop working recently. There are several methods for repair published in the Miata.net forum, one from our very own Mike Kline, and a writeup on the repair in the Miata.net garage section. I took a slightly different approach documented here.
The effected cup holders
The Miata.net writeup describing the fix that uses a single drilled hole and some wire. I tried this method first, but didn't like the amount of strain placed on the wire each time the door opened or closed. I tried using a zip tie at first, and it snapped the first time I opened the lid. I decided to do something a bit more sturdy by drilling two oblong holes in the side of the cup holder (into the back of the cupholder where they are not visible) and use a sturdy zip tie to keep the spring in place.
This is the fixed cupholder removed from the console. To remove the cupholder, remove the 4 screws that hold both cup holders in place. All four screws need to come out. Here you can see the broken stump for the bit of retaining plastic that got us here in the first place. The holes are drilled on both sides of a narrow support, allowing a good bit of material for the zip tie to hold on to. It also allows the spring to shift slightly as the door opens which is needed...
And you can see the zip tie loop on the other side of the spring mount. It is not visible unless you look behind the lid with the lid half-opened. Just to be on the safe side I made this repair to both cupholders, even though only one is broken.
-djarum69
Feb 21, 2009