Jump to content

MX5 seats - speakers in the headrest ?


Recommended Posts

Hi, I've just spotted a pair of MX-5 seats going on the cheap on a local classified website. Could anyone ID whether this model on the pic has the speakers in the headrests ? Difficult to judge with the fabric cover...

Thanks

 

Edit: After googling it seems like yes: the zip around the headrest is for the speakers cover.

Edited by Geko
Link to post
Share on other sites

Folks, those were the right ones and in very good condition so I bought them today. 40£ for a back pain saver is a bargain I reckon. Now wondering what kind of bracket to fit. Criteria are strength and height (I'm 178 cm - 5.10).

I've seen a couple of mountings around and would like to go for the subframe type if possible. I need to get them made or modified locally so I would appreciate any advice and dimensions so as to prepare a drawing before welding/cutting/grinding.

Anyone?

 

Many thanks

Edited by Geko
Link to post
Share on other sites

Stef. I have recently fitted a pair of MX5 Mark 2 seats to my TR4A. Rather than buying brackets, I decided to make my own. Please note. I am not using the seat belt bracket that is welded to the seats themselves, but using the original seat belts that fasten to the tunnel. This means I did not have to build massive strength into the new brackets. The other criteria is to maintain the originality of the floor pan. I did not want to weld, drill or otherwise alter the car in any way.

 

The brackets consist of two small plates to match the rear of the seat mountings to the holes in the floor. This means that the rear of the seat is as close to the floor as possible. Although I am only 5' 9", I have a long back, so it was important that the back of the seat was as low as I could get it.

 

The front bracket is made from commonly available 1" square tubing.

Large holes were drilled in the top face to allow access by a socket to the original seat bolts that will hold the square bar to the car floor.

On the top face I welded a pair of bolts that aligned with the new seat mounts. A combination of washers and two nuts on each bolt provided some adjustment of the rake of the seat. On the drivers side, the access holes and the welded bolts are conveniently separated and easy to install. On the passenger side the floor plan captive nuts are in slightly different places, which means the tunnel side mountings almost coincide. However there is just enough to get a small socket in beside the top mountain bolt.

 

Two points to note.

The MX5 seat rails will need to modified to allow them to be beaten flat. Judicious cuts with an angle grinder on the rear mounting should weaken them enough to be bent flat. The front mounts will straighten without cuts.

The clearance between the B pillar and the seat is very small so adjustment must be built into the rear brackets to prevent the seat fouling the bodywork.

 

If you are interested, I will try to post some pictures of efforts.

 

Jerry

Link to post
Share on other sites

 

If you are interested, I will try to post some pictures of efforts.

 

Jerry

oh yes please, I'm looking at something simple and straightforward -flintstones like- so square tubing is within my reach... and yes my seat belts will remain bolted on the tunnel

 

If it's not too much to ask: dimensions please

 

Thanks

S

Edited by Geko
Link to post
Share on other sites

Jerry

 

I'm looking for seats too so all info greatly appreciated

 

You'll then have your patented seat brackets in three continents

 

Graze

Link to post
Share on other sites

oooerrr.....patents!!!. I don't think I will trouble with that. As there is so much interest....two replies in 5 minutes, I will take my seats out and measure the brackets. I have yet to figure out how to post images.

 

Does that work?

 

 

post-12379-0-73821000-1398854056_thumb.jpg

post-12379-0-16463100-1398854060_thumb.jpg

post-12379-0-10303300-1398854063_thumb.jpg

post-12379-0-15884100-1398854066_thumb.jpg

Link to post
Share on other sites

Ok that worked. I'll go and remove the seats and measure the brackets. I might be a while..........

 

Jerry

Link to post
Share on other sites

Jerry, since you have MK2 seat i'm not sure that the interaxis distance is the same than on MK1 seats. So i sketched the rails and measured the interaxis distance front and back.

 

Hope this helps

Link to post
Share on other sites

Ok. Job done. Whilst I had the seats out, I did a few bits that I was too rushed to do when I first installed them. I removed the MX5 seat belt brackets with the angle grinder. It looks much more factory now without a large bracket sticking out, and welded the bolts in the rear brackets to make them captive. It was only the carpet stopping them from spinning before!!

 

The dimensions are in the images, but they are very different 310mm as to Stef's 417mm. Never the less the general principle still applies, just alter the distances. I'm sure the TR4A bolt holes were consistent.

 

I'm surprised that the MX5 seats are so different. There must have been a floor pan redesign.

 

The app on my android device makes rather small .PNG files, so If you need to see larger, but un-annotated images, then let me know and I will post them here

 

Hope this helps.......

post-12379-0-69366200-1398872255_thumb.png

post-12379-0-02435700-1398872293_thumb.png

post-12379-0-44876700-1398872336_thumb.png

post-12379-0-52687200-1398872412_thumb.png

Link to post
Share on other sites

Made up my own brackets using two lengths of 2 1/2" x 1/8" plate with two 7/16" AF studs welded to each to pick up the holes in the seat runners and drilled to pick up the holes in the floor. These are bolted across the floor not along it. I used cardboard templates to get the seat and hole positions correct. They work really well allowing full movement of the seats, I'm 6' and have loads of leg room and they keep the seats low. TR Trader do similar ones I think.

Alan.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Alan, I guess that is ok, and I too considered that approach, but reckoned that I needed to lift the front of the seats to get some support under my knees and thighs, hence the 25mm square tube plus the welded bolt head and washer, so about 35mm lift at the front. We're all shaped differently, so you find what is most comfortable. Certainly I can spends hours in my seats, which I couldn't with the original seats.

 

Cheers,

Link to post
Share on other sites

 

I'm surprised that the MX5 seats are so different. There must have been a floor pan redesign.

 

 

Stupid me. Last month my son played with the steel measuring tape and broke it so I had to cut it shorter by 10 cm and the new "0" is actually "10" and I forgot about it. So it is 31,7 and 33 cm.... Good it happened now and not while cutting the very last piece of rare upholstery you can't find-anymore-because-the-cow-had-already-given-everything-it-could...

 

Pics are great and I should be able to make up something based on this. I don't really like the idea of weakening the original rails so might try to cook something with the tubing.

 

Thanks so much Jerry

 

S

Edited by Geko
Link to post
Share on other sites

Stef,

The runners are only bent to form a flat bottom at the front and rear outside mountings, so they don't really lose much strength. It is only the rear tunnel side which has to be cut, but bear in mind that these seats are designed to have the seat belt mounting attached, they are massively over-engineered for our application.

 

I have attached photo of the rear bracket. At this point I have not cut off the bracket along the crease where the label is applied, nor have I welded a bridge over the opening cut into the mounting.

 

I used an angle grinder to cut a triangular piece of metal from the runner, then bent it up to meet the runner. It is now welded across the opening.

 

The two bolts in the top of the picture screw into the seat, so I left them and cut through at angle along the crease to keep a straight line. Then sprayed the raw edge with gloss black.

 

Oh dear.... I can't upload a 29 kbyte jpeg. It says I have run out disk space.

 

I'll try again later if anyone is interested........

Link to post
Share on other sites

Neil,

 

Thanks for the info. So there must have been some change in floor pan design as the Mk2 runners are quite steeply angle down.

 

Cheers,

Link to post
Share on other sites

Please Note,

Mk1 Seat Runners don't need cutting as above,only the Mk2 Seat Runners need that Cut and then Rewelded.

noticed that, just need to clip the rails in the vise to straighten them up

Link to post
Share on other sites

Stef,

 

So they are angled down, but don't have the web that needs to be cut out then? Did my photo bucket image work? I'm not sure that I can test it as I will automatically login on my machine.

 

Cheers,

Link to post
Share on other sites

Stef,

 

So they are angled down, but don't have the web that needs to be cut out then? Did my photo bucket image work? I'm not sure that I can test it as I will automatically login on my machine.

 

Cheers,

That's right, much simpler than MK2. Yes photobucket worked. I already straightened and shaved the bolting eyes. Will do the tubing & brackets over the WE

 

Cheers

 

S

Link to post
Share on other sites

Stef,

 

Good luck. Let us know how you get on.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Done. Reflecting on the best possible fit before engaging, the motto is: The higher, the better. Raising the mechanism by about 3 cm saves a whole lot of hassle trimming/grinding/cutting and allows the seats to slide freely without rubbing about everywhere against the tunnel and doors posts. So I cut 4 pieces of hollow tubing - rectangle profile allows room to catch the existing hole in the floorboards- and bolted them to the floorboards, then bolted the seat rails to the tubing (need to add 2 washers to each of the rear bolting eyes otherwise the bottom of the seat will hit the rear tubing while sliding).

Passenger side: Almost a straight fit. Just had to cut-shape the rear tubing to pass over the floorboard to chassis bolting plate and play a little with the bolting system to the floorboard.

Driver side: Not a straight fit. a/ There's no way to get the seat aligned with the steering wheel without trimming the front left rail bolting eye to get it as close as possible to the gearbox tunnel. So I had to grind it along with the tubing; b/ had to cut-shape the tubing to pass over the floorboard to chassis bolting plate; c/had to drill two holes in the floorboard to fit the rear tubing.

Verdict: a/ Both seats are aligned and slide freely by about 25 cm; b/ There's a 1cm clearance between the seats and the door posts; c/ I'm lucky to have fabric bound seat belts because the seats are running so close to the tunnel that it would be very difficult with a cable bound seat belt - though possible; d/ In driving position the top of my skull is about 4 cm close to the roof. I reckon this setup would fit anyone whose height is below 6' or 183 cm. Above that this setup is really not advisable especially with a hardtop fitted; e/ the headrest speakers are connected and...toast

One full day of work and a new driving experience, really.

 

cheers and thanks

Edited by Geko
Link to post
Share on other sites

Stef,

Well done. They look great. I used what scrap metal I had in my junk bin, so 25mm square worked for me. The rectangle stuff looks good. I find that my seats run easily even with the rear mounted with just with the 3mm plates. However there may be slight difference with the overall dimensions with the MK1 seats, so making fine adjustments necessary. All you needed was a little shove and off you went....sorted.

 

Cheers,

Link to post
Share on other sites
  • 2 weeks later...

Stef, Jerry

 

Great resource thanks guys

 

I purchased seats from a NC car (series3) they arrive this week so my brackets may be different again but appreciate the lessons so I can adapt to my needs

 

Many thanks

 

Graze

Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Please familiarise yourself with our Terms and Conditions. By using this site, you agree to the following: Terms of Use.