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Spitfire Spitfire Seats - Foam Repair ?

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The seat will be part of the project and I actually have been shopping for electric carving knives in advance of buying the foam. After giving Mark's comments some thoughts though, I believe he's right. I have bigger fish to fry than the seat at this particular moment (i.e. Install all new brakes, reassembly of various previous owner items, sorting out the boot leak, some minor body work... you know the routine). The seats will be on the list of future tasks.
 
The final seat decision was made last night, not by me but by fate.

Last night we came home from dinner out and found that something had hit the Spitfire windshield. We now have a nice set of radial cracks (non-repairable) extending top to bottom directly in front of the driver. Delightful. I've checked the usual sources for new glass and it looks like with the gasket $200 (+ shipping) will be spent on this repair (equivalent to one pair of seat foams). More drat.

If you know of a good source for inexpensive new glass or know someone who can safely ship used glass, please let me know!
 
I've got a windshield but I wouldn't have any idea how to ship it across the country.
 
Also, instead of attempting to recover the existing seats, take a look at sourcing a pair of used Miata seats. I picked up a pair for $100 from a NASS member that I plan to use until I decide if I like them better than the OE seats. I understand they can be had from junkyards for pretty cheap.
 
dklawson said:
If you know of a good source for inexpensive new glass or know someone who can safely ship used glass, please let me know!
Click to expand...

Post a request on NASS. I'm sure there is someone within driving distance who can help you out.
 
I'll look into NASS, check with the local Triumph club (TCOC), and look for Miata seats.

BTW, though I've had a GT6 for 15+ years I had never heard of NASS until your post. I Googled it. Eventually I found "North American Spitfire Squadron"... however, check out what comes up "higher" on a Google search:

National Agricultural Statistics Service
North American Spine Society
National Association of Secretaries of State
North American Sundial Society
North American Simulation Series
National Alliance for Safe Schools
Naval Academy Summer Seminar

It appears NASS is a very popular acronym.
 
Doh. Part of me thought of spelling it out, but then I thought, "eh... everyone on BCF who owns a Spitfire must know what NASS stands for..." That's what I get for assuming... :blush:

Paul Tegler has a write-up about installing Miata seats in a Spitfire.

https://www.teglerizer.com/triumphstuff/miataseats/index.html

I haven't installed mine yet, so I can't comment on the difficulty.
 
A coworker of mine bought a set of Miata seats for his Sprite but is having difficulty fitting them. I'm going to borrow a seat from him to see how well they fit our Spit. If they look OK I'll make him an offer. I'll check out the Teglerizer pages on Miata seats tonight. Thanks for the suggestion and link!
 
I'll warn ya now: It's not a "bolt-in". But all things considered, the install doesn't look bad. The guy I bought the seats from had another set in his Spit and let me sit in the car and look at the modifications. They fit tight, but the stock seats fit tight as well... the front bolt holes in the Miata rails line up with the OE holes. The rails have to be trimmed and drilled to fit the rear tub and OE holes.
 
Though there are some who are unhappy with the Miata seat. I'm one of them. I've done it twice, and didn't like it either time. The seats lean in to the center of the car, side clearance is extremely tight, adjustment is nill, and you're perched up several inches higher.

Each time, I've gone back to my tatty stock seats.
 
I will take all of your comments under consideration. Thankfully my friend is going to let me borrow his seats to check the fit before I commit to buying a pair.

Foxtrapper, which mounting method did you use? I have read a few of the web pages now. Several of the sites (such as Paul Tegler's) talk about modifying the Miata rails specifically to keep the seats "low". They also talk about pushing the seats in as close to the tunnel as possible and modifying the recliner lever for easier access.

I can relate completely to your comment about re-fitting your worn out seats. When we put our GT6 back on the road I realized the seats were falling apart and I bought a set of Corbeau GTA low-back seats to fit to modified Triumph seat rails. I got them to fit but the bolsters were way too tall to allow a good driving position. The steering wheel was always off to the side creating a strange driving position. Eventually I had the original seats repaired.

Again, I'll take all the comments under consideration and dry-fit my friend's seats before committing to buy anything.
 
Doug, I've mentioned this before here, but I don't like the Miata seats in a GT6. For one, they're larger and crowd the cockpit (which is already pretty small!).

Two, if you're taller than about 5'11" or so, Miata seats may noticably compromise driver comfort. I'm 6'2" and about 190 lbs., and had significantly less leg room, a major problem: your right knee gets squished against the tunnel, making a wierd angle for your gas pedal foot which causes cramping on long trips. Also, there's less head room, and your seated position, even if you cut the foams as Tegler suggests is about 2 inches higher. This makes it harder to see stop lights, etc., making the driver crane/twist his neck to see out of the top of the windscreen. Sound silly, but it's quite uncomfortable. In such a tiny cockpit, inches mean a lot.

But on the positive side, there's no head room problem with Miata seats unless you're very tall, and they are very comfy.

I tried every trick in the book to make the Miata seats fit: cut out about 2 inches off rails and welded them back together for extra rearward travel; cut the seat foams down, etc. No good. Still, legroom was significantly reduced and my seated position was too high for comfort.

Lotsa folks swear by the Miata seats, but I warn you, they aren't for everyone. And to me, the biggest factor may be the looks: they simply don't look right in the car IMHO. 40 year old car, modern seats = not good for originality.

Recondition the stock seats. Carefully restored, they're plenty comfortable and fit the car better than a handmade glove. No other seat sits as low to the floor pans as the stock seats, with the low profile design.

And, they're original to the car. Very important to some folks. :thumbsup:
 
Interesting comments...

When I sat in the car with the seats installed, I didn't notice them being overly tall or off-center, but I didn't drive the car and the top was down. I'm 5'10" and they were slightly farther back than I'd like, although I generally prefer a closer seat position than others my height. They are very tight in the tub and adjustment was difficult, so I didn't push the issue.

Mark apparently missed the part in the thread about not wanting to spend a lot money right now... For me, the Miata seats represent a cheap alternative until I gather the money to buy new foam and covers for the stock seats. After recently spending 100 miles in Baldrick and its refurbished stock seats, I agree there's nothing wrong with them and they're pretty comfortable. In a Spitfire, originality is irrelavent...
 
Thanks again for the comments and observations. Me... I'm short at 5'-7" (on a good day with plenty of sleep). However, my son will also be driving the car and he's close to 6' tall. When I get the Miata seat from my friend I'll dry fit it and have my son try out the general fit.

There are many other tasks to tackle on this car. The seats are just one of the items we need to sort out before the car is back on the road.
 
I took one of my friend's Miata seats home tonight. My friend had removed the original slider and placed the seat on wooden rails of the same thickness as the slider without the stock bent portion. This should place the seat in its lowest possible mounting position.

I could have made the seats work... for me. My head was just about brushing the convertible top and I was sitting in an awkward position relative to the steering wheel. When I had my son sit in the car the final decision was obvious. We can't use the Miata seats if he's going to drive the car. His head was going to rub on the convertible top and his legs could barely fit under the steering wheel.

The Miata seats were very comfortable but clearly they were not a good choice for our project. Still, it was a valuable exercise. Thanks to those who suggested it. Hopefully my friend will have better luck when he eventually gets around to fitting the seats to his Sprite.
 
When I installed the Miata seats I simply knocked the pins off the tracks, and bent the feet until they were flat. Then I drilled them to line up with the stock Spitfire mounting holes. Worked pretty easily, put the seats down as low as possible.

Something I did note is that Mazda doesn't mount the tracks under the seats the same way or in the same location always. Don't know the rhyme or reason for it.
 
The thickness of the wooden "tracks" my friend put on his Miata seats was to mimic the height of the Miata seat with the "bent" portion removed or pounded flat. The Miata seats were simply too tall for me to consider with my older son as a potential driver. It's a shame as they were very comfortable seats.

Last night I removed the passenger seat. I knew it needed repair of its slider tracks and the seat reclining mechanism. After degreasing the sliders of both seats I brought them to work today and sandblasted them. I thought the driver's seat and seat track were the bad ones. I was wrong. The passenger seat is worse and will be done first for practice. I've got both mechanical and foam rebuilding ahead of me.
 
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