Sparco Evo 2 in miata?

[the1jbh]

Hey all. I am working on fitting my seat in my ITA miata and have been running into some issues. Has anyone crammed a 14" Evo 2 into a miata? If so, please tell me how. I either run into a height problem, or I can't close the door because its too wide. HELP

[Rabbit07]

Hey all. I am working on fitting my seat in my ITA miata and have been running into some issues. Has anyone crammed a 14" Evo 2 into a miata? If so, please tell me how. I either run into a height problem, or I can't close the door because its too wide. HELP

I have been down that road with Customer cars in the past. The issue we keep running into was whether or not we could reach the bolts to secure the seat. As far as the wing of the seat hitting the door, I would just trim the door.

[StephenB]

I had that problem in my RX8. I lowered the right (middle of car) by one spot and had plenty of room. With my setup you cant tell at all, but that may be different in your application. It should be noted that I have a different seat as well.

Stephen

[lateapex911]

I had that problem in my RX8. I lowered the right (middle of car) by one spot and had plenty of room. With my setup you cant tell at all, but that may be different in your application. It should be noted that I have a different seat as well.

Stephen

Different car, different seat. Stephen, that's most helpful.... ;)
(Sorry, I just couldn't resist. You sure that this isn't Raymond posting on your login??)

[type r rocket]

Most Miata racers cut out the trans tunnel to make room for the bigger/wider seats and then weld in some metal.I did one myself last winter,I cut out the material,made a template out of poster board,cut and bent the new metal,pop riveted it in place and had a friend come over and do the welding,I didn't trust my welding skills on the thin metal.A little primer and paint and it looks pretty good.

[Rabbit07]

Most Miata racers cut out the trans tunnel to make room for the bigger/wider seats and then weld in some metal.I did one myself last winter,I cut out the material,made a template out of poster board,cut and bent the new metal,pop riveted it in place and had a friend come over and do the welding,I didn't trust my welding skills on the thin metal.A little primer and paint and it looks pretty good.

We do that on every Miata. We still have had issues fitting an EVO II.

[StephenB]

Different car, different seat. Stephen, that's most helpful.... ;)
(Sorry, I just couldn't resist. You sure that this isn't Raymond posting on your login??)

Well your post was helpfull to the OP wasn't it ;) I was just sharing an idea that someone shared with me when I was having fitment issues!

I am wondering how we are allowed to cut out the tunnel and put in new material under the rules in IT? Is this really allowed? I wouldn't mind moving some of my weight closer to the center of the car.

Stephen

[markn]

This sort of thing is pretty common in the SM world as halo seats are almost impossible to fit without notching the tunnel. This is one way to solve the problem, no idea if it is IT legal or not:

http://mazdaracers.com/topic/1743-modifications-to-the-dashboard-what-is-allowed-disallowed/page__pid__20238__st__20#entry20238

Mark

[lateapex911]

Well your post was helpfull to the OP wasn't it ;) I was just sharing an idea that someone shared with me when I was having fitment issues!

I am wondering how we are allowed to cut out the tunnel and put in new material under the rules in IT? Is this really allowed? I wouldn't mind moving some of my weight closer to the center of the car.

Stephen

Haha....not having a miata or a 14" seat I had noting productive to add,....but I did wonder the same thing as you about the opening up of the tunnel.

[Andy Bettencourt]

Most people fall back on the 'no other modifications to the interior may be done unless it's to facilitate safety equipment' when they do something like this. I agree that this is legal, but when people remove stuff that has to be there for OPTIONAL items like dash bars that could be positioned better etc, it gets grey.

[Chip42]

the AW11 (mk1) MR2 has a simillar problem in that the tunnel-floor curve pushes side-mounted seats on standard brackets ~2" off center WRT the wheel. door clearance is not a problem for us, I can't offer any advice there accept go wide on the door bars and trim the inner door skin.

I cut the tunnel similarly to the SM application linked above, but only for ~6", and fitted a steel patch with a more accute angle. I then tied a 1x0.5" box tube from the door bar, down to the floor, and accross to the tunnel patch, stich welded this to the floor, and mounted the front bolts of the seat brackets to it. Rear bracket bolts go through a 0.125" steel flat also stitched to the floor and tied tot he main hoop pad. doing this allowed me to get the seat lower and keep it aligned with the controls while still using off the shelf brackets.

seat bracketry "as part of the cage" is more or less open and does not count against the minimum and required attachment points. see if that opens anythign up for you.