Miata (Mx5) Seats

[PerZee]

Greetings,

Someone asked me to post some pictures of the Miata seats I recently wacked into my '71, so here goes....

They're very similar in shape to the OEM seats, comfortable, have speakers in the headrests, and are *way* less likely to fry your thighs after a day parked in the Australian sun.

I used the Miata rails, drilling a hole in the front section to match up with the front mount on the floor pan. Then simply drilled 4 holes in the mounts (2 to match the new holes in the rails, 2 to match the existing rear holes), wriggled things about, and bolted them in. I've still got some overhang (the Miata rails are longer than is required) and will cut it off in due course.

Relatively simple exercise and a useful alternative for a DD.

[Saint]

Excellent. I've been wanting to compare these seats for a awhile. I'm in the process of doing up a 1971 myself and am after similar seats. Have you done any research into other types. The Porsche seats look quite similar especially the Posche Boxster. As I'm Europe based boxsters are a little more common in the scrap yards. Any thoughts.

[Rattfink]

I've heard that the seats from a Jetta Wolfsburg edition are a direct bolt in. Recarro's I believe. Nice seats and could pic 'em up fairly cheap.
L8-r
'Fink

[Saint]

Good call, I'll give them a shot. Cheers

[John72]

Rattfink, is there a specific year on the Wolfsburg seats? I can not remember if they made them more then one year. Thanks.

John

[owenk]

Does anyone have information on what year(s) fit the 240?

[Jarvo2]

Just wanted to provide a brief update on my experience with installing Miata Seats in my '72 240z. I ended up fabricating custom mounts and did not use the slider rails. Check my blog out for pictures:

Dave's 1972 Datsun 240z: Miata Seats Installed

[HermanM]

Thanks to this post, I just purchased 2 miata seats to bolt into my early 260. Im going to try to modify the bolt location like PerZee did to minimize any body work. I'll let y'all know how it works out later with some pics

[Sean240Z]

I decided on seats from the Honda S2000 and I love them. My install details are here:

http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/i...swap-240z.html

[tlorber]

I have Miata seats in my 240. They hold you in WAY better than stock and the cloth is much more comfortable.
I paid $40.00 at the wrecking yard for them , and around $12.00 for 2 cans of spray dye. I used stock 240 sliders and put a 1" tall aluminum shim under the rear of the seats since they sit a bit lower. I did not have to drill new holes into the seat base on the driver's side. On the passenger's side had to drill 2 new holes.

[awconroy]

i would opt for these: Corbeau: Sport Seat


plus a set of their brackets:
240 Z 69-74 C22011 C22011
260Z 74-75 D212T D212T
260Z 76-78 D214T D214T

but then i would have to find somewhere to store the original seats.

not cheap, but they're new, wouldn't look too out of place, and should be drop-in replacements.

[ktm]

Forget the early Miata seats. I ran with a pair for about 3 years until I got a screaming deal on a pair of 2008 MX-5 seats. They are just as easy to install as the early Miata seats though they do require a little bit more work.

[Travel'n Man]

Put these in a few years ago - would highly recommend! I put my original refoamed-reskinned seats in storage. Doubt I will ever put them back in the car.

[ktm]

Seat brackets I fabricated for the Miata seats.

[HermanM]

Seat brackets I fabricated for the Miata seats.

I did mine in kind of the same manor. I just didn't cut the stock Miata rails and just drilled a third whole to allow for the pin to go into the center. I was hoping for a more rigid seat with all the components secured

[TomoHawk]

Are the speakers in the headrest noticeable? Speakers in a headrest are fine for a convertible, but if in a closed-coupe, and there are holes, it would look odd.

[cygnusx1]

I have been looking at all these seat installs with custom plates and brackets but I find that, although they work, many seem too weak to hold the seat firmly fixed in an accident. As a back of the napkin suggestion, I would try to use at least 3/8" x 3" wide steel plates, and instead of flat bar, try to incorporate angle iron. Of course material size depends on the design of the mount... but whatever the case, you don't want that seat to move; the forces involved in a collision, can be enormous. The seat can't hold you in place if it's going to bend the mounting adapters. They should be strong enough to be able to yank the seat bolts right through the Datsun floor seat frames. They should not be the weakest link. Just my 2c.

[Sean240Z]

Dave,

I'm an engineer and I've studied crash survival investigation and ensuring integrity during an accident was of prime concern when designing my seat installation. I'm confident that my S2000 seats are more securely mounted than the original 240z seats. In my case, the adapter plates are made from 11 gauge steel (~1/8" thick) plates, bolted to the vehicle seat mounts in three locations per side where the stock seats are only bolted in two. The 11 gauge steel is much thicker than the Z's seat mounts. Additionally, the inboard fwd seat bolt is actually bolted through the fwd vehicle seat mount cross bar.





Though the S2000 seats include a seat belt receiver on the inboard sides of the seats, I removed these. I decided to use the original vehicle seat belt mount locations as I know that the vehicle structure there is designed to withstand the seat belt crash loads. I wasn't comfortable that the vehicle seat mounts would withstand crash loads if they also had to withstand seat belt loads.

During any aftermarket seat install, I would definitely not recommend moving the seat belt mounting locations to the seats.

[ktm]

I have been looking at all these seat installs with custom plates and brackets but I find that, although they work, many seem too weak to hold the seat firmly fixed in an accident. As a back of the napkin suggestion, I would try to use at least 3/8" x 3" wide steel plates, and instead of flat bar, try to incorporate angle iron. Of course material size depends on the design of the mount... but whatever the case, you don't want that seat to move; the forces involved in a collision, can be enormous. The seat can't hold you in place if it's going to bend the mounting adapters. They should be strong enough to be able to yank the seat bolts right through the Datsun floor seat frames. They should not be the weakest link. Just my 2c.

John Coffey inspected my setup when he welded in the Bad Dog frame rails. I wanted him to make any modification necessary if he thought there were unsafe. John took a look at them and told me that they were fine.

The forces you mention are large, but you are assuming that the ensuing momentum of the individual is being imparted into the seat. That's assumption is not entirely correct. The individual will be "thrown" forward until the seat belts lock. It is the seat belts that take most of the force, not the seats, unless it is a rear collision.

Also keep in mind that the stock seats are mounted the same way. The flat bar just extends the mounting point for the front seats. The weakest link, just like the stock seats, would be where the bar bolts to the front mounting location.

[grannyknot]

I'd like to know how you guys delt with that big hump on the bottom of the Miata seat pan that hits the seat mounting bar as you bring the seat forward? Did you just raise the seat enough to clear it? I tried that but found my head hitting the roof.

[TomoHawk]

What's the hump for? If there is nothing there, you could hammer it flat. Hopefully it's not a motor. Real sportscars "don't need no stinkin' power seats."

[HermanM]

I'd like to know how you guys delt with that big hump on the bottom of the Miata seat pan that hits the seat mounting bar as you bring the seat forward? Did you just raise the seat enough to clear it? I tried that but found my head hitting the roof.

I had no issue with the bump in the bottom of the seat. I lined up the back bolts into the factory holes on the factory brackets and then made an extended bracket to attach the front mounts to. The seat is able to slide fully forward, well at least as far as needed for anyone small enough to have to be that close, with no issue(s).

[grannyknot]

OK, that sounds like you just raised the front of the seat and left the back of the seat low, that would keep the height down and the knees a little higher like modern car seats do. That's a better idea then what I did and that's why it didn't work for me.
I have the Integra seats now and really like them but would love to try the s2000 honda seats, don't know how comfy they are but they sure look the part.

[Jarvo2]

For anyone who's installed the miata seats, I'd strongly recommend adding some headrest speakers. The cutouts are there & I ended up just using a cheapo set of speakers that I was going to throw away. Much better audio than the stock speakers.

Dave's 1972 Datsun 240z: Miata seat speakers

[Metalman5151]

Just wanted to provide a brief update on my experience with installing Miata Seats in my '72 240z. I ended up fabricating custom mounts and did not use the slider rails. Check my blog out for pictures:

Dave's 1972 Datsun 240z: Miata Seats Installed

What model year Miata are your seats from? Mid 90's?

[Jarvo2]

They call them "NA", which is the first body style fro the early to mid 90's. Any should work, but these early ones, in my opinion, are the most comfortable!