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Miata Seat conversion

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mrv8q

mrv8q

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So I'm thinking of Miata seats to replace the thoroughly trashed seats in my '6, and I did a search of the archives for some info. For those of you who have done the conversion, what did you do for the seat-to-floor mating piece? Make up something, and from what, or did you use a ready-made piece? There was a answer suggesting a fellow who sold them on Bay from time to time; no luck there, either.... Joe Alexander, where are you?
 
I have a file on how to do it, but it is on my other computer. I have yet to do the conversion but I have the seats waiting. PM me your email and I will send it to you Thursday. Btw I have a nice set of tan TR6 seats if that meets your needs better.
 
I bought brackets for ebay UK from a vender simonabh .
You can go to ebay uk, hit community, type in simonabh, and email him. He does not currently have any listed. I paid $60-80 or so. They work great, but raise the seat an inch or so and could be an issue if you are tall. IF foxtrappers idea of bending the tabs and drilling new holes works I would have tried this first, as these have to be cut off to use the uk brackets anyway.Seats are extemely comfotable and provide a headrest. Purists don't like the idea but it is my car and........
Also, I had read that using the original miata seat bracket holes forced you to drill thru the frame in some areas, which may affect your thinking.
 
Can anybody confirm that you have to drill through the frame using the miata tracs on a TR6? I fabricated some adapters to use the tr6 brackets, but the seat is just too high (definitely can't use the tonneau cover). I'd like to try the miata brackets and drill into the floor, but not if I have to go into the frame
Joe
 
Roll bar sitiuation unclear as I do not have one, but I would think it would be very close, and depend on how far back the seats are placed. These seats are definatly taller, and while the tonneau cover is not an issue with me,it might be wise to test fit a seat if a roll bar was critical to you. If you look at scguys link to marks garage, you see the picture of the seat in the car. But that seat is way up towards the front. I am 5'11" and the back of my seat is almost to the back near the package shelf. Visualizing that seat location takes the back of the seat top right into the roll bar area.
 
My original seats barely fit with the rollbar now.
So I would assume the the larger Miata seats would not provide enough clearence...

aaa4.jpg
 
FWIW, Summit Racing has universal seat brackets on their site....any feelings about these?
 
The key to the miata brackets is 2 fold. 1. Most seem to want to keep the original holes to put back to stock in the future if desired, and not add additional holes in the floor.You have to decide if that is important to you.But also,(2) The shape of the bottom of the seats and factory sliders dictates the bracket design. I tried making my own as it really seemed simple, but the bottom of the actual seat has a large dish like shape in the center. Brackets have to be made to compensate for this, and to allow them to slide. This forces the bracket design to be raised about an inch over stock.Plus passenger and driver seat holes are different. Check the archives for past discussion on this as one of the Triumph books out there has info. The photos in the link provided by SCguy above show you the design. You will find the solution difficult to make on your own, which is why I gave up and bought the UK brackets. They work perfect. As soon as I get my dash wiring straight and put my interior back together I will post photos.
 
I've got Miata seats with a roll bar. They fit but because the seats are wider than the stock seats they bind against the side before they hit the roll bar. I'm 5'7" and this gives me the plenty of leg room. They hit the roll bar If I recline them more than a couple inches. Mine were installed by the previous owner so I don't know how difficult the install is.
I've had them out to redo the carpets and put them back in without trouble. One bolt on each seat does go through the frame. I don't know If there is another way to bolt them down but I would have done without the miata seats before drilling through the frame. They are comfortable but I never had any discomfort with the stock seats. I like the look of stock seats better and had someone at the carlisle show last year give me a set that need new foam and covers. I'm sitting on the fence of switching back.
 
Bolting seats through the frame is really not that bad a thing. One thing for sure, you will have a stronger seat mount. I had to bolt my Vicky Brit seats through the frame because they would not fit the original floorboard nuts. If you use 5/16" #8-grade long bolts that you can nut through the bottom of the frame, you won't weaken the frame at all.

That said, my OCD self couldn't stand having this setup. If is all you can do, it works. I was cutting out my floors anyway so I welded a removable jig to hold my VB seats and all is good.
 
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