can we use RX7 seat?

hare · Post by **hare** » Thu Nov 27, 2008 12:31 am

can the factory RX7 seat bolt on to our factory seat rail?

Psycho_Dad · Post by **Psycho_Dad** » Thu Nov 27, 2008 6:18 am

ive done a series 6/7 measure up and it wont bolt straight in without modding on a na mx5
id say since they are different they will all be different, you would have to get some rails made up or somthing
PEace
i forget what username i have here lol

poison · Post by **poison** » Thu Nov 27, 2008 9:52 am

I tried a lot of after market seats in mine and unless you are a short ass there are not a lot of options. The problem is height of the seat base. The MX5 seat is a pan shape that sits below the seat rails, most aftermarket seats and other cars will sit above the rails and you end up looking at the top of the windscreen. The only aftermarket option is fixed back bucket seats, as these are often narrower and can be fixed lower. Again Jif has some for sale on this forum.

Post by **jif** » Thu Nov 27, 2008 12:11 pm

I remember seeing on forum.miata.net about a guy who made FD seats
fit, but there was a fair bit of hacking involved. They should be
vaguely similar at least, since the Mazdaspeed seats can fit either.
oh, here ... http://forum.miata.net/vb/showpost.php? ... ostcount=3

MX5 seats are a bit odd... they're narrow across the shoulders and are
left and right handed (ie can't swap sides). The rails are also left
and right handed.

poison · Post by **poison** » Thu Nov 27, 2008 12:59 pm

I wonder how to deal with the seat belts on the NB, I am fairly sure the inner one is fixed to the seat.

bfamus · Post by **bfamus** » Wed Dec 31, 2008 9:49 am

Why don't you just work your brackets, it will let you choose any kind of seats you want, and it's not a big job ! Don't you think ???

poison · Post by **poison** » Wed Dec 31, 2008 11:40 am

Hey Bfamus

Welcome firstly. Sadly it's not that simple. I tried a couple of recliner type after market seat by sitting them directly on the floor without any rails at all and I ended up looking straight at the sun visor. The seat pan on the 5 is much lower/thinner than most cars. Using non-recliner buckets is better as the seat is much thinner at the base. If someone has any luck finding a recliner that fits, please let us know. I don't think much of the MX5 seats personally.

bfamus · Post by **bfamus** » Thu Jan 01, 2009 5:45 am

Tought I could help my friend...
Happy Hollydays and wish you good new year !

Hope I'm going to be allowed to post soon...

!!!

SLYDIT · Post by **SLYDIT** » Fri Jan 02, 2009 9:01 pm

i was chatting to Don from autoways and was looking at the seats he put in his rotary MX and they look great.

Two big thumbs up were the ability to get the seat back much further than ANY racing style seat ive seen...AND

they sit LOW even when using the factory seat runners! (infact Don had a foam pad in the bottom of his so he could see over the steering wheel!)

Also the seat back height is low meaning that the tops sit below the average style bar and dont look way to high as many setas do.

Give Don a call to see what they were.

hare · Post by **hare** » Sat Jan 03, 2009 6:43 pm

thanks for your help,end up brought a secondhand seat to replace the old one on my car.much easlier and cheaper.hehe

Timmo · Post by **Timmo** » Thu Sep 06, 2012 11:43 am

Thread revive
I've purchased some FD RX7 seats and will be modifying the MX5 rails to suit (i.e. keep the chassis mounting points the same and modify the seat rail to fit the RX7 seats)

I've measured most things up and come up with a plan- This involves welding tabs to the front and back of each seat rail to extend them length ways and change their width where necessary.
Others have modified the Rx7 seat rails by cutting off and realigning the mounting tabs.

By modding the MX5 seat rails and jeeping the chassis rails the same, the adaptation won't be visible because any welds will be underneath the seat. This means they won't be pinged for a cert (cars with airbags, such as mine, may need a cert when changing the seats....the RX7 seats are visually and functional similar)

The issue I haven't been able to solve just by 'looking' is determining how the seatbelts will work- I don't have the Rx7 buckle receivers so will have to make the MX5 ones fit somehow...hopefully I can do this by re-using the standard mounting locations on the outside of the seat but there may be some issue clearing the Rx7 hinge metal....

we'll see I guess!

Born_disturbed · Post by **Born_disturbed** » Thu Sep 06, 2012 12:08 pm

There should be holes in your trans tunnel for the seat belt stalks to bolt to if you cant get them to work on the rails

Timmo · Post by **Timmo** » Thu Sep 06, 2012 12:31 pm

Born_disturbed wrote:There should be holes in your trans tunnel for the seat belt stalks to bolt to if you cant get them to work on the rails

Good to know! (and I forgot to ask about that, so cheers)- edit, they are definitely still there in the NB?

I just need to ensure that my placement of the seat is going to work best when in the car..but I'll put up some pictures when it's done.

Born_disturbed · Post by **Born_disturbed** » Thu Sep 06, 2012 12:51 pm

SHOULD be, not 100% certain

Donovan · Post by **Donovan** » Thu Sep 06, 2012 3:51 pm

Just had a look at the NB bare chassis that I have, and they ain't there. I know for sure they are with the NA8C (my brother has one, and have retroffited the seat belt stalks to that) but there isn't any holes or anything to screw in seatbelt stalks on the NB

na6*dori · Post by **na6*dori** » Thu Sep 06, 2012 8:06 pm

Donovan wrote:Just had a look at the NB bare chassis that I have, and they ain't there. I know for sure they are with the NA8C (my brother has one, and have retroffited the seat belt stalks to that) but there isn't any holes or anything to screw in seatbelt stalks on the NB

get the welder and a drill and tack your own seatbelt mounts

Timmo · Post by **Timmo** » Thu Sep 06, 2012 10:04 pm

Donovan wrote:Just had a look at the NB bare chassis that I have, and they ain't there. I know for sure they are with the NA8C (my brother has one, and have retroffited the seat belt stalks to that) but there isn't any holes or anything to screw in seatbelt stalks on the NB

Ok thanks very much for that....hmmm

dynofiend · Post by **dynofiend** » Thu Sep 06, 2012 10:05 pm

I did a 'foamectomy' on my drivers seat and was impressed with the results. I wouldnt go back to a standard seat now.

Timmo · Post by **Timmo** » Sun Sep 09, 2012 10:16 pm

dynofiend wrote:I did a 'foamectomy' on my drivers seat and was impressed with the results. I wouldnt go back to a standard seat now.

Was this something you did yourself? After a heap of time measuring and thinking, I'm looking at other options rather than using these seats.

Basically, a couple of hundred $ for the seats....and possibly the same again in labour etc to get the rails modified...then I may need to source RX7 seat belt receivers to make the seat belts work. Position wise, they seemed to sit a little toward center which alters the driving position for the worse. So, factor in all that cost in return for only slight better bolstering....

Has anyone got any ideas how much it would be to get an NB seat modified with beefier side bolsters and then recovered at an auto upholsterer? If it's not to dear then maybe that is the better option...

brownie · Post by **brownie** » Mon Sep 10, 2012 11:10 pm

The NB 2.5 are beefier,See if you can park your butt in a later car to get the feel.
If i take out my bucket seat i think these will be what i will go for.
Should have kept the set i just sold thru work and put in my NA,Old style NA and early NB feel to much like lounge chairs now

punkoutnz · Post by **punkoutnz** » Tue Sep 11, 2012 8:50 am

You could probably buy them back. They're on MX5mart with a rather hefty markup. Feel sorry for the people bidding against him for them that missed out. I absolutely loathe businesses that buy stuff off trademe and then sell at a markup.

Angreal · Post by **Angreal** » Tue Sep 11, 2012 10:30 am

Ah well, I'm sure some more will come along

Timmo · Post by **Timmo** » Tue Sep 11, 2012 12:58 pm

Well the (admittedly only) one auto-upholsterer I talked to estimated $200-250 per seat to add extra bolstering and recover the parts that need recovering.....So it would be around the same cost as using the Rx7 seats. The benefit of the Rx7 seats is the ability to use a harness as it has a gap under the head rest, however, I only need a bit more lateral support for track days.

For that reason, I'm going to give a foamectomy a go.

brownie · Post by **brownie** » Wed Sep 12, 2012 12:34 am

punkoutnz wrote:You could probably buy them back. They're on MX5mart with a rather hefty markup. Feel sorry for the people bidding against him for them that missed out. I absolutely loathe businesses that buy stuff off trademe and then sell at a markup.

Those wern't the one's i had at work.
Got to admit i had ago at them myself ,going too cheap for what they were.
Can't blame the man for wanting to make a buck or 2 and earn a living.

The auction finished at a shit time for most people working,Maybe blame the vendor for not making it finish at a decent time when people are at home or near a computer,Would have gone for alot more.

"In my opinion"

dylann · Post by **dylann** » Wed Sep 12, 2012 1:27 am

punkoutnz wrote:You could probably buy them back. They're on MX5mart with a rather hefty markup. Feel sorry for the people bidding against him for them that missed out. I absolutely loathe businesses that buy stuff off trademe and then sell at a markup.

A dude on the nzhondas did this, except it was just a dude, not a business.

He bought a set of wheels for $250, then put them on nzh for $650 literally an hour after he won them. Called him out on it and everyone was like lol u mad, and i lol'd and continued my life.