DIY: Engine Start Button
Parts Needed:
(1) Honda S2000 Engine Start Button (Part# 35881-S2A-911)
(1) 30A/12V SPDT Relay (Part#: 961-1C-12DM)
(1) Dremel Tool
(1) Flathead Screwdriver
(1) Phillips Screwdriver
(?) Several Feet of 12 & 18 Wire (preferably in 3 colors)
(?) Several 12 gauge Spade Connectors
(?) Several Wire Splicers of your choice
(1) 6"x12" Sheet of Styrene 0.020" (0.5mm) (available in any well-stocked hobby store)
(1) Bottle of CA (CyanoAcrylate) (I use Jet brand, but any decent superglue will work)
(1) Can of Matte Black spray paint
(3) Screws ( #10 x 0.5")
(1) Soldering Iron and soldering materials of choice
Note that, to save yourself a lot of wiring trouble, kits can be bought on Ebay (Search for "S2000 Start Button") that includes almost all the electrical supplies you'll need and in pre-wired harnesses so there's no soldering or other difficult electrical tasks. They run about $60 for the kit, which is about $20 more than the above supplies will cost, but probably worth it unless you have a fetish for making electrical harnesses.
First off, this install is not as straight-forward as it could be. And I'm referring to the physical install of the button. Though it depends on where you're going to install it.
Most of us are probably going to want it where your Cigarette Lighter is. And that's how I'm going to write this. The problem is that there isn't sufficient clearance (at least with the Manual Transmission, and I doubt there is even with the ATX) for the back of the button to fit in the space provided. So you must hack something together.
If you don't know how to remove the Cigarette Lighter/Ashtray Assembly from the console, refer to my How-To located here: http://www.mazda6tech.com/index.php?option...id=36&Itemid=49
This is what the install looks like if you just widen the hole from the lighter and slide the button in:
![Image]()
As you can see, the button sticks out quite far. Too far to fit back into the car.
The solution is to slide the button up a bit, but that doesn't look very good and there's nothing preventing it from sliding back down. So we've got to solve that.
Cut a sheet of the styrene into a strip 0.75"x4" long. You want this as close to perfectly straight as possible. Roll it around the button, overlap it, tape it so it stays in a circle, then put the glue between the over-lapped segments being careful not to get any on the button. You don't want to glue that to the button. After giving it some time to dry, it should look like this:
![Image]()
Paint the outside of this piece Black. I used "Engine Black" and then Dull-Coated it just because I had that handy. Any Matte Black should work well.
Now remove the Cigarette Lighter from the assembly. It's pretty straightforward. It's just a couple of clips. A flat-head screwdrier helps.
Take the Dremel to the hole, widening it slightly. Keep attempting to fit the button into the hole until it fits all the way up to where the chrome part widens. We won't be putting the button in all the way (it's too long as mentioned above), so don't make the hole wide enough to fit the entire button, else it might be too wide for what we're doing and you'd be kind of screwed.
Now you can make a choice. If you want, you can just glue the button into the hole. Just use the little extension you made with the sheet styrene, slide the button through it, then slide it into the hole and glue. Problem is it's kind of stuck there. But if you don't glue you'll notice you can spin the button in circles and/or pull it out easily. That won't do.
My solution was to make a bracket for the rear of the button to hold it into the hole. If you look on the back of the ashtray assembly you'll notice that Mazda was nice enough (for whatever reason) to put three screw holes on the rear of the assembly and not use them. They're perfect for what we need to do.
Place the assembly onto the sheet of styrene and trace the pattern for the needed bracket onto the styrene. Do this three times then use the CA to weld all three pieces of plastic together so you get a thick strong piece.
Now you have to disassemble the button you got. Use a flathead screwdriver to seperate the white from the chrome pieces. The electrical assembly inside will slide out with the white part.
Drill holes into the bracket you made where it will go into the assembly. Temporarily screw the bracket down. Spray some of the spray paint onto some paper, then rapidly put the rear end of the chrome button into the wet paint, then slide it through the hole in the assembly just as if you were mounting it. In this way you get a tracing of the rear of the plug onto your bracket so that you can cut out the center properly.
Then take the dremel tool to the bracket you made and cut out the center. You want to get it as close as to possible to exactly what you need to fit the button through tightly. particularly the side that is a little hexagonal shaped -- getting that right prevents the button from turning. If you make the whole two big the button will just turn freely inside your bracket, defeating the point of making the thing.
When you're done it'll look something like this:
![Image]()
![Image]()
It doesn't have to be perfect, you'll never see it. And I've only got 2 test screws in mine in the picture. You should use all three holes. If you're using Styrene as I did, DO NOT OVERTIGHTEN. You don't need it to be tight, you're only using the piece to prevent the button from spinning circle, so the tightness of the screws makes no difference, just that they're in the holes.
Put the whole thing together and you're done. Slide the circle you made over the button, slide the button into the whole in the lighter assembly, the slide the bracket over the button and screw it down. The button can still slide out, but that's not a big deal since you shouldn't ever be pulling on it once it's installed unless you want to remove it. As long as it can't slide down (so it doesn't move when you press it) or spin in circles (so "Engine Start" is always straight) that's all that matters, and that's what the two plastic pieces we made are designed to do.
This isn't the greatest picture, but this is what it looks like when it's done. It's difficult to tell, but the button is 0.75" off the surface of the plastic; as opposed to flush like it is in the first picture I posted. It not only fits into the car that way, but looks better too:
![Image]()
I'll be posting up the How-To for the Electrical portion tomorrow. At least provided I can make it work at all
Parts Needed:
(1) Honda S2000 Engine Start Button (Part# 35881-S2A-911)
(1) 30A/12V SPDT Relay (Part#: 961-1C-12DM)
(1) Dremel Tool
(1) Flathead Screwdriver
(1) Phillips Screwdriver
(?) Several Feet of 12 & 18 Wire (preferably in 3 colors)
(?) Several 12 gauge Spade Connectors
(?) Several Wire Splicers of your choice
(1) 6"x12" Sheet of Styrene 0.020" (0.5mm) (available in any well-stocked hobby store)
(1) Bottle of CA (CyanoAcrylate) (I use Jet brand, but any decent superglue will work)
(1) Can of Matte Black spray paint
(3) Screws ( #10 x 0.5")
(1) Soldering Iron and soldering materials of choice
Note that, to save yourself a lot of wiring trouble, kits can be bought on Ebay (Search for "S2000 Start Button") that includes almost all the electrical supplies you'll need and in pre-wired harnesses so there's no soldering or other difficult electrical tasks. They run about $60 for the kit, which is about $20 more than the above supplies will cost, but probably worth it unless you have a fetish for making electrical harnesses.
First off, this install is not as straight-forward as it could be. And I'm referring to the physical install of the button. Though it depends on where you're going to install it.
Most of us are probably going to want it where your Cigarette Lighter is. And that's how I'm going to write this. The problem is that there isn't sufficient clearance (at least with the Manual Transmission, and I doubt there is even with the ATX) for the back of the button to fit in the space provided. So you must hack something together.
If you don't know how to remove the Cigarette Lighter/Ashtray Assembly from the console, refer to my How-To located here: http://www.mazda6tech.com/index.php?option...id=36&Itemid=49
This is what the install looks like if you just widen the hole from the lighter and slide the button in:
As you can see, the button sticks out quite far. Too far to fit back into the car.
The solution is to slide the button up a bit, but that doesn't look very good and there's nothing preventing it from sliding back down. So we've got to solve that.
Cut a sheet of the styrene into a strip 0.75"x4" long. You want this as close to perfectly straight as possible. Roll it around the button, overlap it, tape it so it stays in a circle, then put the glue between the over-lapped segments being careful not to get any on the button. You don't want to glue that to the button. After giving it some time to dry, it should look like this:
Paint the outside of this piece Black. I used "Engine Black" and then Dull-Coated it just because I had that handy. Any Matte Black should work well.
Now remove the Cigarette Lighter from the assembly. It's pretty straightforward. It's just a couple of clips. A flat-head screwdrier helps.
Take the Dremel to the hole, widening it slightly. Keep attempting to fit the button into the hole until it fits all the way up to where the chrome part widens. We won't be putting the button in all the way (it's too long as mentioned above), so don't make the hole wide enough to fit the entire button, else it might be too wide for what we're doing and you'd be kind of screwed.
Now you can make a choice. If you want, you can just glue the button into the hole. Just use the little extension you made with the sheet styrene, slide the button through it, then slide it into the hole and glue. Problem is it's kind of stuck there. But if you don't glue you'll notice you can spin the button in circles and/or pull it out easily. That won't do.
My solution was to make a bracket for the rear of the button to hold it into the hole. If you look on the back of the ashtray assembly you'll notice that Mazda was nice enough (for whatever reason) to put three screw holes on the rear of the assembly and not use them. They're perfect for what we need to do.
Place the assembly onto the sheet of styrene and trace the pattern for the needed bracket onto the styrene. Do this three times then use the CA to weld all three pieces of plastic together so you get a thick strong piece.
Now you have to disassemble the button you got. Use a flathead screwdriver to seperate the white from the chrome pieces. The electrical assembly inside will slide out with the white part.
Drill holes into the bracket you made where it will go into the assembly. Temporarily screw the bracket down. Spray some of the spray paint onto some paper, then rapidly put the rear end of the chrome button into the wet paint, then slide it through the hole in the assembly just as if you were mounting it. In this way you get a tracing of the rear of the plug onto your bracket so that you can cut out the center properly.
Then take the dremel tool to the bracket you made and cut out the center. You want to get it as close as to possible to exactly what you need to fit the button through tightly. particularly the side that is a little hexagonal shaped -- getting that right prevents the button from turning. If you make the whole two big the button will just turn freely inside your bracket, defeating the point of making the thing.
When you're done it'll look something like this:
It doesn't have to be perfect, you'll never see it. And I've only got 2 test screws in mine in the picture. You should use all three holes. If you're using Styrene as I did, DO NOT OVERTIGHTEN. You don't need it to be tight, you're only using the piece to prevent the button from spinning circle, so the tightness of the screws makes no difference, just that they're in the holes.
Put the whole thing together and you're done. Slide the circle you made over the button, slide the button into the whole in the lighter assembly, the slide the bracket over the button and screw it down. The button can still slide out, but that's not a big deal since you shouldn't ever be pulling on it once it's installed unless you want to remove it. As long as it can't slide down (so it doesn't move when you press it) or spin in circles (so "Engine Start" is always straight) that's all that matters, and that's what the two plastic pieces we made are designed to do.
This isn't the greatest picture, but this is what it looks like when it's done. It's difficult to tell, but the button is 0.75" off the surface of the plastic; as opposed to flush like it is in the first picture I posted. It not only fits into the car that way, but looks better too:
I'll be posting up the How-To for the Electrical portion tomorrow. At least provided I can make it work at all
