MX5 Seats Tight Fit!

[Blubayou]

Hi all,

Went to the Stony Stratford Classic yesterday, great informal meet, huge turnout, plenty of interesting triumphs too.

Anyway, this was also my first proper journey with my Mk1 MX5 seats in.

I must say it's the most comfortable journey yet in my Spitfire (my original seat foams were dust). My seats certainly didn't just bolt in lots of mods & welding on brackets needed, especially on the passenger side but well worth it. If you are a max of 5' 9" you'll love them, just right for me.

Big issue is the seat belts are pinched up against the seat squab, so much so I can't get the side trims on which may cause damage to the webbing. I have fitted them as far into the centre of the car as I can and it's darn tight. Anyone got any bright ideas, swap them side for side or something  :)

[Spitfire2500]

We've also got Mk1 MX-5 seats in our Spit - I didn't do the installation. One of my main complaints is that they don't go back far enough.

Been out and had a look at ours and I think you must mean the side trims for the seat recliner mechanism? If so then you've managed to get your seats much further back than ours. Any pics - might help to visualise what's going on?

The back of our seats sit about three to three-and-half inches in front of the heelboard and the side trim for the recliner mechanism sits in the door aperture and doesn't get in the way of the seat belts - but I can see that it probably would if the seats were further back.

Doesn't seem to be any easy fix -- moving the seats forward a bit would solve the problem but then you'd end up sitting too far forward.

[Blubayou]

Ok, easy fix ish - cut down the cover to suit as shown below.

The little tin reinforcer is cut to match the trim too. Only one screw left to hold it in position but it sits snugly on the carpet as shown.

Works well  :)

[Blubayou]

Before:

[Blubayou]

After  8)

The door shuts with about 6mm clearance!

[GT6 M]

Yes they are a tight fit.
I put the later High backs in, and although looked great, wer,nt very comfy at all.
I sat  ..on them,  not  .. in them.
I finally got round to making some mods to em,
1, cut oot about 2 inch plus, where me arsche ole sits, and this has transformed the seats.
the top foam was v v stiff, did nae sinkm into it at all.
but with this gone, they are noo v v comfy, and sitting 3inch  at least lower, the side bolsters now work even better.

2, the seats are limited in travel.  the culprit is the rear curve of the body on the inside chassis / floor pan.
O marked where the offend,n bit was, and got the ole grinder to work.
shaved off this bit only, which gave an extra inch backwards.  enough for me.
this , along wid the seat foam removal, means me wee legs no touch steering wheel noo, and me heed, dis nae touch the roof. as there is noo a full 3 inch or moer above me heed.
very happy noo
here some pics





cut the whole lot off, but re glued the front bit  back on







and ground this off, and wacked the seat pan wee,l back



may be of intrest to some.



M

[Deleted User]

Marcus lets see them fitted  :)

[Brendan The Spit]

I really don't quite get the MX5 seat thing. I just got new foam for my Spit seats and they're great, without all the hassle?

[GT6 M]

Here ye are Bob.
As can be seen, they are slightly less in hight than originals,  in the base seat dept,  BUTT, the seat bases / squab are much much harder, so this meks ye sit too high.









and in



Brendan, I fitted em cos my originals were dropping to bits.  thees ones i got now, originally I did no like, as
sitt,n farr to high up, and seat was too hard. and I got 2 fantastic seats for 60£,
a considerable amount of loot.  :)  so really had nothing to loose by trying em.

But noo I did the seat base mods,  and the cut out at the back to let it go back further, then they are  noo much much better than the originals
there moer support frae the big side bolsters, the backs are better for the head rest,
the base is now just right in firmness, and the deeper seat sides stops yer butt frae sliding aboot.
over all a much better proposition to the originals.
Word of warning, thee,s I got, I  div,nt think they will fit into a Spitty with a soft top, as they are very high backs, alot higher than other MX seats.

M

[jamespworth]

I'm in the process of fitting some after market seats, they were originally fitted on the runners supplied but sat too high. I am trying to fit them on the original spit runners which is going ok and saves over an inch in height will try and get some pics up when i'm done.

[Sheepy]

On the subject of other seats, I have just been to school for three days with work, and we have a few smart cars (for our customers mainly to use when they drop trucks off with us)

Anyway, they have small size seats, so they may be an option for a spit, they are quite small in width, and quite low.

Also they have an integrated seat belt into the seat.

The only downside for me, they feel a little too firm, perhaps because the cars are still quite new.
But I suppose they could be softened up like Marcus has done.

Just thought I'd give you another idea, cheers  :)

[jamespworth]

Quote:

On the subject of other seats, I have just been to school for three days with work, and we have a few smart cars (for our customers mainly to use when they drop trucks off with us)

Anyway, they have small size seats, so they may be an option for a spit, they are quite small in width, and quite low.

Also they have an integrated seat belt into the seat.

The only downside for me, they feel a little too firm, perhaps because the cars are still quite new.
But I suppose they could be softened up like Marcus has done.

Just thought I'd give you another idea, cheers  

From any Smart car? seem quite cheap on flea bay, doubt it will be long until someone gives it a go. Backs look very high though.

[DaveKent]

Also look at Aygo, 107, and C1 seats, I haven't measured them but they look similar in size (without seat base/frames) to MX5 seats.

[Sheepy]

Not sure about the smart roadster, as we only have the original small plasticky ones! (strange little things)

But as dave said, look at the Toyota and others, there are more small cars out there now, so more to choose from.

Go for a walk around the second hand car dealers with a tape measure!! Sit in them see what they are like also.  ;)

[DaveKent]

Had a quick measure yesterday; Aygo C1 107 seat bases measure approx 22" front to back, 18.5" widest part and 5" thick.
The bases have 4 threaded mounting holes in a metal plate that is the seat tray, so it shouldn't  be  too difficult to adapt them to fit spitfire runners. Only question is_ will theses dimensions physically fit in the spit space?
They have simple lever type backrest adjustment too, so no need to worry about getting your hand in to turn an adjustment wheel.

[CHRIS211083]

Two Words Suzuki Cappaccino. These seats will fit and wont be too high. Just a thought.

Chris.