Thanks to Chris, Nolan and Paul for their replies to my question about modifying Miata seat cushions. Chris's suggestion that I look at Miata owners web pages was spot on as I found a couple that addressed this issue (apparently tall Miata drivers have a problem with seat height as well):
http://www.villacorte.com/miata/seatfoam/ http://www.miata.net/garage/headroom.html I originally wasn't sure whether to remove foam from the top of the cushion or the bottom - I was leaning towards doing the bottom so that I could maintain the shape of the top. Once I dissembled it, I quickly changed my mind as the bottom of the foam sits in a metal pan with rather complicated contours that would have to be maintained. Much easier to reshape the top of the cushion! The articles above recommend removing foam using the electric carving knife from the kitchen. I tried that and my seat foam ended up looking like the surface of the moon. I got much better results using an angle grinder, it was not only many times faster, and more accurate, but you could make long smooth shaping strokes. If you don't have an angle grinder, likely a sandpaper disk chucked into an electric drill would work just as well (or better), but I was out of sandpaper. You may want to do this outside as foam dust will be shooting all over. The seat covering sits a little looser since the foam is lower, but it is hardly noticeable. Actually bolting the seat into the car was highly annoying as it is impossible to move the seat far enough back to easily access the front mounts so it was an awkward fraction of a turn at a time. I think next time I'm going to remove the welded nuts on the underside of the floor, so I can hold the bolt from the top while tightening it from the bottom. I've only modified and installed the passenger seat so far and am tolerably optimistic with the results, better than an unmodified seat, but I'm not sure if it's completely satisfactory. When I do the drivers seat, I'm not only planning to get more aggressive with the foam removal, but I may have a go at the seat pan as well with the aforementioned angle grinder, so I can move it further back. I'll let you guys know how it goes. Best! 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!
