Mx5/Miata seats

[G-Slev]

Has anyone mounted an old Mazda MX-5/Miata seat to 8020 profile?

I picked up an old MK2 MX5 seat off eBay for £25 and it's in surprising good nick (or at least it is now I have steam cleaned it).

I'm still waiting for my aluminium profile from Motedis, but having looked at the seat rails, the mounting points are slightly angled, so I'm slightly concerned as to whether I can attach them securely to aluminium profile.

The options as far as I can see are -

1 try and attach them despite the angle to a horizontal slot

2 fabricate something to take account of the angle (possibly a wedge of wood)

3 bend the angles out

4 Saw off the ends and drill the rails

5 use angle brackets to attach the seat rails at a jaunty angle

Has anyone else had a go at this? I would be interested to hear any experiences.

 

[robt100]

Just fitted an Mx5 seat to my Omega GT rig.....

Although this is specific to the rig I have, the locating pins (which seem to have been ground off on yours) slotted perfectly into the bolt holes for the original GT omega seat, so I could locate the seat properly, then I've added a bit of angle Ali on the front of the chassis to extend the frame far enough, which sits about 10mm lower than the frame the runners are on. Then bolted through that using the front mounting points and a few thick washers, the rest of the runners sit on the original square/box frame for the original seat.

Theres no movement whatsoever even with Load cell pedals, and I haven't even secured the back down yet. (I did it in a bit of a hurry and budget haven't had time to finalize fixings).

So option 1 will work to a point.

Option 2 is probably your better option, though id recommend maybe getting a piece of angle ally bent to the right point to you have a flat mounting surface on both sides.

Option 3.....tried putting the mounting points in a vice to straighten, and it was a no-go. The rib in the framing stops any bend movement, which is to be expected when you think about it, its got to not move in an accident!

Option 4 may cause the seat to snag on the bolt/fitting in the runners.

option 5 is pretty much option 2 by another name?
I shall try and get a few shots of my temporary fix I've used.

 

[robt100]

Hopefully these help. I just had to use what I had on hand to make mine!

 

[G-Slev]

Thanks, that's really helpful! I cut the locating lugs off myself as there is no way it would sit right with 8040 profile and I don't have the gear to drill it.

5 is kinda another version of 2 - but my thinking is to put two rails of aluminium profile paralel to the seat rails and then snap the lugs off two angle brackets and sit those on the sides of the aluminium profile to seat the seat. I am in two minds as to whether it will take the weight though - seems unlilkely to me as it would be sitting my weight on four m8 bolts in effect.

That said then, I think using a block of wood to do what you did with a block of aluminium will be the way to go. But I will have a play around with it and see how I get on

 

[stigs2cousin]

I´ve googled Miata OEM seat sliders, and if I were you this would be the solution:

I´d grind off/ drill out the rivets which hold the angled mounting pieces to the Miata floor and use the holes to bolt the sliders flat to the profile.
The big protusion to the front of the sliders would have to go, too.

From what i could see ( no real good pictures in the classifieds) the sliders should than sit flat and stable on the profile.

If you don´t have an angle grinder/ electric drill a fabricator should make short work of it for a tipp.

Make it as simple and stable/rigid as possible, a loose seat is really annoying.

MFG Carsten

 

[pandadoudou]

I did install a NB seat in my custom motedis rig.
I used 4 corners bracket at an angle with the existing seat rail holes.
I used a passenger seat though (cheaper and in better shape)
Remind me tomorrow and I'll take some pics!

 

[G-Slev]

I did install a NB seat in my custom motedis rig.
I used 4 corners bracket at an angle with the existing seat rail holes.
I used a passenger seat though (cheaper and in better shape)
Remind me tomorrow and I'll take some pics!

Thanks! Sounds similar to what I am thinking of doing.

 

[pandadoudou]

Thanks! Sounds similar to what I am thinking of doing.

Ok, I managed to take some pics (front left, rear right, whole rig)
From what I remembered, I removed the seating rails to add a bolt through, remounted the rails and then added a nut through the corner bracket.

The biggest issue was to put a bolt through the rail : you have to disassemble them (easy) and you have to have a nut flat enough so you can still slide (pure luck or take the rails to your local bolt shop)

For reference you can see my rig with the seat.
Since I have a NB as well, everything is at the same distance and angle.

I have a stiffer brake spring so even under heavy load the seat did not move. Some creaks here and there but that's more the seat than the mount.

Feel free if you need other pics. I could not roll the rig but I can check if you really need to.

 

[stigs2cousin]

There are bolt forms with shallower headforms and "half nuts"which are half the height of normal ones,
but they are difficult to get in a home improvement store.

Maybe look for something like that:

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.obi.at%2Fproduct%2FAT%2F415x415%2F946978_1.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

If you get them short enough or can cut them to length with a hacksaw/dremel you can even bolt the rails to the profile with T-nuts.
Take care to use M8 or bigger, stiff brakes need a lot of force and every movement/noise is really annoying.

MFG Carsten

 

[G-Slev]

Ok, I managed to take some pics (front left, rear right, whole rig)
From what I remembered, I removed the seating rails to add a bolt through, remounted the rails and then added a nut through the corner bracket.

The biggest issue was to put a bolt through the rail : you have to disassemble them (easy) and you have to have a nut flat enough so you can still slide (pure luck or take the rails to your local bolt shop)

For reference you can see my rig with the seat.
Since I have a NB as well, everything is at the same distance and angle.

I have a stiffer brake spring so even under heavy load the seat did not move. Some creaks here and there but that's more the seat than the mount.

Feel free if you need other pics. I could not roll the rig but I can check if you really need to.

Personally, I would have mounted the 4040 rails inside the brackets, so that the seat sat on them, rather than seating all that weight on 4 brackets (and so 4 M8 bolts in effect).

 

[stigs2cousin]

Personally, I would have mounted the 4040 rails inside the brackets, so that the seat sat on them, rather than seating all that weight on 4 brackets (and so 4 M8 bolts in effect).

I asked a friend of mine who owns a fabrication/ milling shop and he said M6 is plenty strong.
( He literally said: you can hang a car from ONE M6.)

But you are right, doesn´t break by no means says it doesn´t move/ creak!

Since most of us don´t have weight concerns ( with the rig, man ) my personal rig is seriously overbuilt to avoid movement and noises.

So letting the sliders ride on the profile is an easy way to get the rig more rigid.

MFG Carsten

 

[G-Slev]

I asked a friend of mine who owns a fabrication/ milling shop and he said M6 is plenty strong.
( He literally said: you can hang a car from ONE M6.)

But you are right, doesn´t break by no means says it doesn´t move/ creak!

Since most of us don´t have weight concerns ( with the rig, man ) my personal rig is seriously overbuilt to avoid movement and noises.

So letting the sliders ride on the profile is an easy way to get the rig more rigid.

MFG Carsten

Cheers! I was watching a simpit video where the guy mounted the end brackets at an angle and then ran a length of 4040 off them, which I suppose distribiute the weight somewhat across two points. I am wondering if I could do that, and then support the centre with a short length of 2020. I measured it with my calipers this morning, and the void underneath the rails is just over 20mm - so allowing for some sort of fixing to fit it together, a bar of 2020 might be a good packer.

Trouble is, I want to solve this problem before the aluminium profile I've ordered arrives!

 

[G-Slev]

Here is a screenshot of that video:

 

[stigs2cousin]

If your seat sliders fit between the rigs outer profiles your could bolt two profiles flush under the sliders, to other in front or under these two and fix them to the rig like shown in the video.

It should be no problem to fix the "mounting square" in an angle with the corner brackets as long as they fit between the outer profiles.

Like the blue frame in this sketch:

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftse3.mm.bing.net%2Fth%3Fid%3DOIP.mhwKW2bHoBvwnsDiI2L8ZQHaE0%26pid%3DApi&f=1

On the other hand the mayority of rigs seams to use the sliders " free air" as most road cars seats do too.

Maybe I´m just overthinking the issue.

MFG Carsten

 

[pandadoudou]

It's been like that for 2 years, between 2 and 10 hours per day.
Nothing actually moved.

Just keep it simple. We always build our rigs like tank. If it was not solid enough you'd see it quite rapidly!

Just my 2 cents

 

[G-Slev]

Ok, I managed to take some pics (front left, rear right, whole rig)
From what I remembered, I removed the seating rails to add a bolt through, remounted the rails and then added a nut through the corner bracket.

The biggest issue was to put a bolt through the rail : you have to disassemble them (easy) and you have to have a nut flat enough so you can still slide (pure luck or take the rails to your local bolt shop)

For reference you can see my rig with the seat.
Since I have a NB as well, everything is at the same distance and angle.

I have a stiffer brake spring so even under heavy load the seat did not move. Some creaks here and there but that's more the seat than the mount.

Feel free if you need other pics. I could not roll the rig but I can check if you really need to.

Did you remove the rails completely from the seat to put the bolts through? I suspect a countersunk bolt may be the way to go to ensure the sliders clear it.

 

[stigs2cousin]

In my case it was enough to slide the seat all the way to the back to insert the front bolts and vice versa.
With the Recaro sliders M8 Allen bolts clear the bolts from the other side.
So no countersinking necessary.

If your bolts collide, a normal hex bolt head is a few mm shorter.
You might even be able to grind it down another 2mm without risking a break.

There are "half head" bolts available, but difficult to source for laymen.
Even my friend with the milling shop gets them from his neighbour who builds fabrication mashines.

MFG Carsten

Edith:

Just checked. M8 hexhead would only fit into the outer, bigger part of the slider and needs a
"thin socket" to tighten

 

[pandadoudou]

Did you remove the rails completely from the seat to put the bolts through? I suspect a countersunk bolt may be the way to go to ensure the sliders clear it.

I think I disassembled it also to clean it a bit.
I don't remember it well but I should not have been complicated.

 

[G-Slev]

So, resurrecting another old thread. In the end, I couldn't mount the seat with the sliding rails because I just couldn't get bolts with a flat enough head to allow them to move. I have kept the rails, but I might well look at some generic rails in the future.

Instead, I put two 4040 profiles in and put angle brackets at right angles and then directly mounted the seat to those angle brackets - and as stated above it is absolutely solid. Yes, it isn't adjustable, but I have just adjusted the wheel deck and pedals to my taste and now it is absolutely perfect and incredibly comfortable.

Here it is mounted to the rig:

 

[pandadoudou]

You did the right thing skipping the adjustment rail.
To be honest, I never move it.

I don't know if that's because I got a passenger seat and the rail has less travel but it isn't that useful.
Since I'm pretty big, I can't even really let my (rather small) wife try the rig since the seat has not that much travel.

Anyway, your last pic do validate what i'm planning to update on my rig : put the seat over some 40x80.
I'm currently on 40x40 at the same height than the pedals and I find it to be too low now I upgraded pedals.

Next thing is a camelback in the back pocket of the seat !