Hi folks, have a week off so time to do something on my Fives…I would like to lower the seating position on my NA, already did a foamectomy which helps but i was wondering; is it possible to mount the oem seat straight to the floor? Can’t find anything regarding this on the web which seems to be an answer on itself…same for specific lowering brackets ; nothing on the web.
no one… ?:
As said before ; serious doubts if it would work (hence the question). Aftermarket solutions are mostly even worse as for example the Cobra Clubman seat will sit you even higher than oem…not sure about their (Cobra) classic range…would they sit lower? Again, even with aftermarket seats i wouldn’t mind floor mounting them if necessary . Would just like to sit a bit lower (i’m 1,85 m tall).
Hi,
If you search using miata rather than MX5 there are pointers to be found eg
DIY from grass roots motor sport
Lowering Miata Seat Rails| Grassroots Motorsports forum |
Ready made bracket (from the US and with all that involves)
hth
There are threads on the topic. Generally you have to cut the mounting rails out. ie removing floorpan reinforcement. Bad idea.
You could make up a mounting rail using quarter inch stock steel, bolting to the stock locations, then bolt the seat to the rails.
The problem is, with the seat attached to the rails, how you get to the 14mm bolts to fit. The fronts will be fine, the rears might be impossible to reach, assuming you mount the seat “all the way back”. You could weld a captive nut to the rails, open up the thread for the rear bolts, and put a bolt through the floorpan into the rail from underneath.
Track Dog’s Low seat mount, which won’t fit the stock seats, needs the rear mounts cutting out to gain 3/4".
Thx guys, usefull info here and…as i expected a confirmation of wat i thoughtought; Grass roots solution is “involving” , R theory is for aftermarket seats but i believe it would work for oem (mounting holes for Sparco seats are “close” to the oem dimensions) but issue here is that you’re not using the dip between the floorpan reinforcements meaning the hight drop will be about 2-3 cms maybe…third option is a no-go for Belgium as drilling trough the floorpan is a no-go for our TC (mot). I might have a chat with a welder and see what’s possible but fixing the rear bolts might remain the game-breaker. Thanks anyway for your posts.
Just buy aftermarket seats or shorten your legs
I thought the socket head bolts resolved that ?
Ooooh great, we have an expert here; and which aftermarket seats should i buy sir?
There are many aftermarket seats that can be fitted in the MX5.
Commonly, Lotus Elise seats, or equivalents.
I campaigned for a while with a Ligier G-Hold seat, on a Bride subframe, very low. Straight bolt in.
The Elise seats sound like a good option as they’re not to racy/extreme to my taste and suit the 5 nicely (as a matter of fact they might be my first choice). Point is ; they’re expensive (new) and hard to find secondhand. They’re also easy to adapt on the oem sliders. Found a company who does great retrims on Elise seats for if the used seats would be in the need of that
; https://allonwhite.co.uk/ .
There are aftermarket seats for the Elise.
There are also lots of Chinese made non-FIA seats for less than £200 if you are on a low budget. Living in Belgium, your options are limited.
Lits of threads on the various MX5 forums on Elise seats stretching back at least 10 years. Recommend miataforum for a read.
