Here are the pictures I promised showing 1992 Miata seats installed in my "driver" 1961 TR3A. I included pictures of the mounting brackets I fabricated from used angle iron and used 1/4 inch metal from old TR3 front bumper mounts. I wanted the Miata seat rails raised 3/4 inch off the floor for a better seating position, and I wanted to be able to remove the seats without having to struggle to get to the bolts holding the mounts to the original holes in the floor for the original TR3 seat mounts. Therefore, I welded some capture nuts (I got from McMaster-Carr a long time back) to the inner part of one of the pieces of angle iron I used for each main mount. I can then directly bolt the Miata seats to the mounts through the original Miata seat rails into the capture nuts. Note that I straigtened the front end of the Miata seat rails and cut off the big pointed "stud". I made the 1/4 "tab" on each mount relatively large to give each mount a good sized "footprint" on the floor to spread the weight and torque on the original seat mounting holes in the floor.
The seats really fit a lot better than I expected, although they are very close to the B post and to the driveshaft tunnel. I think the roll bar "frames" the seat head rest and helps to make the seat not look so large above the low cut doors. I think without the roll bar the seats may look too high for the car. The roll bar does limit the amount that the seats can be reclined but it does not limit the driving position I use. I prefer the headrest to be well in front of the roll bar so in a sudden stop my head hits the headrest and not the roll bar. Thanks to the TR6 web sites of Bob Danielson and Paul Rago for the help and inspiration they provided to me in figuring out how to install Miata seats in my TR3.
Regards,
Bob
The seats really fit a lot better than I expected, although they are very close to the B post and to the driveshaft tunnel. I think the roll bar "frames" the seat head rest and helps to make the seat not look so large above the low cut doors. I think without the roll bar the seats may look too high for the car. The roll bar does limit the amount that the seats can be reclined but it does not limit the driving position I use. I prefer the headrest to be well in front of the roll bar so in a sudden stop my head hits the headrest and not the roll bar. Thanks to the TR6 web sites of Bob Danielson and Paul Rago for the help and inspiration they provided to me in figuring out how to install Miata seats in my TR3.
Regards,
Bob