Views on MX5 seats in a Spitfire

[jamespworth]

my seats crying out to be re fitted, they were always just a tad high on their own runners but are much better on the modified spitfire runners

[Paudman]

Freebird wrote:

MX5 seats fit very nicely in the Herald and Vitesse.

Thanks Freebird - I'll maybe keep an eye out for a black pair, but I've loads of time if the restoration continues at its' present pace.
Maybe I'll need a few years to save up, if eBay prices are anything to go by... black leather with red piping for over £400?????

[smithy]

Now I can post something definitive. Well, in my opinion, based on my experience of just this particular type of seat!

I got my re-trimmed Spitfire seats back today - very nicely done too I reckon - and I'm hoiking out the MX5 seats to swap back......
Here are a few comparison shots, and a sort of before and after. (Spitfire seats not bolted in yet. Will be in a minute).
Bearing in mind my car has that girly roll-bar in, and the seats would be fine(r) if it didn't - I'm sure - the difference is quite marked - for me anyway.

At a properly full grown 6ft tall, it's the difference between feeling a bit hunched, having difficulty getting in and out, and having my left knee no longer hitting the H-frame. Oh! And feeling "in" the car again, instead of somehow "on" it. Simples!

Any info you want please ask, or any shots or whatnot which I've not covered here, I'll get 'em.
The trouble is, really, you have to sit in the things to tell the difference. Looking at them you'd think it's not a lot, but it is. Really really.

[Hugh]

uksnatcher wrote:

Hi Hugh.....

Any mods to making them fit?
Pics??

I like these.....
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Toyota-MR2-Limousine-MK1-Leather-seats-/230785881338?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item35bbe914fa

Hi mate no just bolted the runners through some box section to the floor. ;)

[smithy]

4196 wrote:

I've got a pair of GT6 ones in my GT6. Its like they were made for it ;)

;D ;D

[black6osprey]

Very nice Mr Smith :)

Who did them for you?

and nice to see you got Tarka round to do your photos  :P

[Pete TR7]

Hi Smithy,

Lots of excellent information, your new pics show the differences between the MX5 and original seats well.  You have white centres on your seats I was thinking about red.

I am thinking that I will stick with the originals and retrim them this winter.

Ultimately what my current project is trying to achieve is to put back as many original items as possible whilst updating and subtle customising as suitable.

Thanks everyone, thread far more interesting than I expected.

[smithy]

Pete - a pleasure to be able to add something.
Blacky - Newton Commercial did them (the Spitfire seats) for me. Not cheap, but very nicely done indeed, I'm really chuffed with them.
The MX5 ones, a bloke near Newcastle whose name I now don't remember. I'll look it up for you if you wish.
Tarka didn't do the photos, I'm rubbish at taking them all by myself!  :)

[olib007]

I've got some mx5 ones which have had the frames cut and modified to better fit in a spitfire. They have been narrowed slightly and i'm looking forward to seeing how they fit in my car once it is ready to see the road again (restoration has been going on since 2009 and theres still a long way to go!)

Oli

[NC]

Can anyone recommend a place that could supply me with a pair of GT6 mk3 seats?

[smithy]

Harv, I think I'd buy a cheap set from Ebay and then p/ex them through Ebay again with that bloke who advertises rebuilds, or I'd get a kit in from Park Lane and rebuild them myself. I don't know of someplace to buy them in reasonable/new state without paying an arm and a leg for them... Others might.
Depends on the quality you're after I suppose, eh?

[bluespit]

I've been looking for a solution to my seat problem and there seems no option other than as said above buy a cheap pair needing work (£75) then have them rebuilt (£300). All plust postage or collection. S at approaching £500 is a non starter for me an part of the reason the missus want me to change the spitfire for something more comfortable

:(

[Clive]

You should be able to get a used set of frames for way less, tatty seats are cheap at autojumbles.
A rebuild set of foams and covers from park lane about £250? should all come in at well under £300 for uber comfy as new seats. OK, a couple of evenings effort to put them together, but a small price to pay.
Apart from that, a good set of seats should be about £150, but not many come up for sale.

[uksnatcher]

Sorted.... ;D  ;D  ;D

[smithy]

Nice!
I've just found this. I wish I had read it last year.  :-/
http://www.spitfires4fun.com/8.html

[uksnatcher]

No pics of the roll bar fitted tho.. :-/

Thats the bogie with the MX5/MGF/MR2 etc seats, i have driven the spit with no roll bar for 6 months then watched this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cd2UOK867zE&feature=related

Chilling viewing...Ordered roll bar the next day...! Made it fit and dont care if the MGF seats wont recline fully etc, as long as our bonces are somewere protected in a roll, thats good for me

[bluespit]

cliftyhanger wrote:

You should be able to get a used set of frames for way less, tatty seats are cheap at autojumbles.
A rebuild set of foams and covers from park lane about £250? should all come in at well under £300 for uber comfy as new seats. OK, a couple of evenings effort to put them together, but a small price to pay.
Apart from that, a good set of seats should be about £150, but not many come up for sale.

All I can say is that I've been trying since last autumn to find an economical seat solution and have pursued several enquiries an all have been over £450 when parts, materials and transport costs are accounted for. Trouble is I have very nice, smart, reupholstered non recliners that no-one seems to want (they must have cost well over £250 to do and are like new).

[lancepar]

Have a look at the Park Lane site, I've just recovered my seats in vinyl - £99.00 post free, see if the special offer is still on.
Covers only I already had some foams last year from Owen.

8)

[bluespit]

Yep but I need covers  foams and frames to convert my non recliners to recliners

[RedRooster]

1704 wrote:

Have a look at the Park Lane site, I've just recovered my seats in vinyl - £99.00 post free, see if the special offer is still on.
Covers only I already had some foams last year from Owen.

8)

Park Lane,
good bloke, good quality.
RR

[Pete TR7]

smithy wrote:

Nice!
I've just found this. I wish I had read it last year.  :-/
http://www.spitfires4fun.com/8.html

So it may be possible, I think I will think about it for a bit longer, no rush, no1 priority is the get the Spitfire mobile before the end of June.  New wheels will take priority over the seats.

[smithy]

Good thinking.
Memsahibs vote on going back to the original seats is that they're not quite as nice as the MX5 ones. They're not as comfy and they're not as supportive (especially for the shoulders) when turning in sharpish - but she says there's not a lot in it.
My vote's that I can now drive the car! No brainer! But once again, it's because I've got the roll bar in. Without the roll bar I reckon I'd stay with the MX5 seats, even though they do look quite "big".
Ebay gets my seats listed tomorrow, so someone's gonna get a bargain.  ;)

[Pete TR7]

Hi Smithy,

Just noted from another thread you mentioned Frocester, you must be local to me in Gloucestershire, Wotton-under-Edge.

Me thinks is it poss to have a look at the MX5 sedats before they are sold?  just to see what they are like.

[smithy]

Pete you're very welcome. I'll PM you.

[Hugh]

I hate to be the one who brings bad news but the roll bar will be okay but your windscreen frame will fold over and cut you in half and if you go off into the hedge no roll bar will save you chaps :P

I have been at a few roll over tests and even at a 30mph roll over test I watched at Mira one time on an SAS special vehicle with a full roll cage but no doors roof etc the two crash test dummies wearing full race harness ( no I was not one of them) had marks all over there heads and arms. It was shocking but when we rolled the vehicle off road at a 45 deg angle at 30mph it was fooking horrible to watch and the dummies were fooked. :'( :'( :o

Guess what I am driving at the moment an Audi TT Soft top so I never learn ;D ;D ;D