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
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