I finally got a set of Miata (MX5) seats (from a 1990 Miata) and spent a frustrating Saturday unsuccessfully attempting to install the passenger seat. I never even got as far as the drivers seat. From searching the internet (and many thanks to those who shared the info!), it seems that there are three basic ways to bolt Miata seats into a spit.
-Modify the feet of the seat rails -Cut off the feet of the seat rails and fabricate new brackets -Fabricate custom brackets that span from the spitfire floor to the seat rails. I rejected option 3 because it appears to me that it will raise the seat to an unacceptable height. Options 1 and 2 are really the same thing and should give the same results. I chose 1 (from Paul Tegler's site mostly because I had the right tools for it!). My problem is after getting about halfway through the job and doing some test fittings, it appears that no matter what I do, the seat cushion is still going to be too high! There seems to be 3 reasons for this - first the cushion is simply thicker than stock, secondly the seat rails themselves are higher and finally when the seat is pushed all the way back, the prop shaft tunnel flares out at the back and lifts the seat up (it makes contact with the actual seat, not the rails). I'll admit that I didn't complete the job, however I did get as far as bolting in the front bolts and modifying the rear feet and did a test sitting. Unless I recline the seat uncomfortably far back, my eye level is about even with the top of the windscreen which is too high. I tried moving the seat forward but it didn't seem to help; if anything it made things worse by reducing leg room but not reducing height. I thought about removing the seat rails entirely and bolting the seat directly to the floor pan, but after a few trials, it appears that the shape of the seat bottom is not really conducive to this. Any suggestions? Am I being overly concerned about the windshield height? Should I just put the darn things in, recline 'em and learn to like it? For what it's worth, I'm six feet tall, which is 1.8 meters or 3.4 cubits. Thanks as always! Greg Your messages not reaching the list? Check out http://www.team.net/posting.html === This list supported in part by The Vintage Triumph Register === http://www.vtr.org === Help keep Team.Net on the air === http://www.team.net/donate.html === unsubscribe/change address requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED] or try === http://www.team.net/cgi-bin/majorcool === Other lists available at === http://www.team.net/mailman/listinfo === Archives at http://www.team.net/archive === http://www.team.net/the-local === Edit your replies!
