Bodywork, Paint, Interior, Trim, & Wiring

Am making the brackets to install my seats today & did a quick search to look at how others have done it. I know there are lots of ways to skin this cat, but one of the 1st I came across was this... Very well written... I know I've seen Eclecticmotorworks as an id here or on the MGE site; should know who it is... anyway, I'll be sending him a thank-you -- probably saved me an hour or two of comtemplating how I want to do it.

Here's the link for anyone interested... [www.eclecticmotorworks.com]

Rob

That would be Carl Heideman.

There are actually 4 different Miata seats. They come in regular, taller, & tallest. Then there is the ultra rare separate headrest model.



Here's how I did mine:

I found no need to swap the driver & passenger seats. I used the stock mounting holes & bolts. Here's the way I did it:

I cut off the front Miata mounts & welded two 1.5" (approx) Ls for the front "feet" to give some rise for thigh support.

In the back, I straightened the rear Miata mounts to be parallel with the seat tracks. This lowers the seat but causes the seat bottom to hit the floorboard. The Miata seat bottom is thin mild steel so it was bashed in for clearance. The rear mounts are held on by two rivets. I removed the outer rivet & swiveled the mounts inward to work with the stock MG mounting holes. Welded them in place. Once the front was bolted in place & the rear was located, I welded fender washers on the rear mounts since the Miata mount bolt holes are much too large.

I probably should have read the article before posting it... like usual, i just looked at the pics... read it later & noticed it's instructions for installing a kit he offers to do the job.

I thought about just ordering it, but it's 3/8" plate... very heavy.

I'm 5'7" so want to raise the seats about an inch. I'm thinking of using some 1/8" 1x3 rectangular tube I have left over. Doing it similar to what you mention above except rather than cut the feet off or reposition them, I'll weld them to the 1x3 & mount that to the stock mounting holes.

That'll be tomorrow's job -- as soon as I finish reinforcing the door skins to hold my electric mirrors.

Here's a good write up posted by a MG Experience member.

[www.mgexperience.net]

And Crate Parts makes a great looking bracket --- if you don't feel like fabbing one yourself.

[www.crateparts.com]

Mark