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Miata Seats Installed with Instructions


xxjoeyxxeb

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Hey guys,

When it came time for me to look into new seats, there weren't many good instructions on how to install Miata seats into a Z so I didn't know how easy or hard it would be. Turned out about 2-3 hours of work to get both in and drilling about 8 holes is all it took. I attached, or am trying to attach a doc on my install for anyone else planning or anything. I was told these are 90-94 Miata seats, and my Z is an early 1974 260z.

 

Miata seat install into Z.pdf

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I just installed these seats in a 71 240Z using the stock Miata Brackets on the Z's floor directly (seat rails were removed to get the seats lower by PO.)

 

Basically, the Miata Seatback is 500mm wide, so using a centerline of 250 as a starting point, you can 'center' and 'get them straight' with a line. Using the stock Miata Brackets the REAR holes need to be 160mm forward of where the 240 Floor makes it's little 45 degree upward bend. This will allow the Miata Seats to fully go back as far as possible. Since the rails are pretty long, getting 'close enough' to the wheel is not an issue, even with the seats all the way back like this.

 

I made a template of the Miata Seat Bracket Holes (Had to pound the front of the bracket flat-they were about 15 degree angled) before making the template. Got centerline between the holes, lined up that centerline mark with the one I put on the Z's floor, and centered seat, and one that doesn't angle off in some ***** direction.

 

The brackets on the miata ARE DIFFERENT LEFT AND RIGHT! You need to make a template for EACH seat, you can not simply 'flop' the template for a mirror image hole setup.

 

They fit fine on the floor like that, and if you are like me with a helmet on the roof is a tad scratchy... so dropping the seats so you have a full hand's width between the roof and your head (in a helmet) is nice.

 

I used the Miata Brackets as that's what I had to work with. If the PO of the car hadn't tossed the original Z Brackets I probably would have set them on the stock sliders. But then I wouldn't have found the solution to my headroom with a helmet problem! :D

 

Nice PDF, I'm sending that to people who ask now...

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  • 8 months later...

Clean install, but nobody mentions that the miata seat makes you lose headroom. I just installed a NA Miata leather driver seat in my Z. It seems like everyone has a different way to install these seats. I bend the front mounting tabs flat with a large crescent wrench, then welded studs to the rear of the sliders to fit into the factory seat bracket bolt holes. I drilled the front inboard mounting hole in the chassis to line up with the miata bracket hole. I then cut off the excess mounts on the back of the sliders and also cut off the pokey sharp thing behind the front mounts for weight savings, and to make the area around the seat more accessible.

 

I think I lost about 1"-1.5" of headroom. This may not sound like much to you, but I'm 6'1" and have a very tall upper body. My head is about 1/2" from the roof now when I'm sitting in a slightly reclined driving position. I plan on doing the Miata seat "foamectomy" to regain head room and putting a new leather cover on this seat when I find a passenger side match for it.

 

Aside from that, this seat is AWESOME! It is leaps and bounds better than the stock seat. I have an injured back and this seat helps my driving comfort immensely. It has decent but not overwelming lumbar support and almost too much padding... The cloth miata seats hold you in better, but this leather seat is still much better than my OEM 1970 seat.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Depends on the condition, leather or cloth, with speaker on the headrest, color combination, and etc....

I got my early style miata seats for $80, but the driver seat has hole on it, so I end up switching the passenger side one and put on my driver side and modify the slider and the seat mount on the zed. Finally, put a miata leather seat cover on it and call it done......

With a decent leather miata seat, they run for upper $300. Then again, what type of miata seat are we talking about, that's the key question. Good luck with your hunt...... ;)

 

Ed

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  • 1 month later...
  • 2 months later...

what I really like is that these seats still have a "stock" look to them. Obviously they aren't and don't look the same, but they have that "feel" to them. I don't like how crx, etc seats make it seem ricy. Nice job, now to find black miata seats...

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looks great,...any chances that those seat will be reclining?

I have a 260 2+2 and cannot find any good seat which will give me the look and the good seating.

been looking on either the pots of seats or the one for the 2+2 but nothing fancy to me.

any ideas?

thanks

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Please dont take this as a negative comment, just an observation... Having owned a miata for more than a year, I dont see why you want those seats in another car. They are so unsupportive in both back comfort and side to side movement. But great job on the write up!

-Andrew

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I agree with ShakotanLife. Miata seats, at least from the first generation ("NA", 1990-1997) are a recurrent source of complaint on the Miata forums. A so-called "foamectomy" is recommended to improve head room, and/or to improve lumbar support. I've noticed that many Z owners are unusually tall; something about the car's ergonomics attracts tall drivers. Well, tall Miata drivers are especially discomfited by the lumbar support issue. I'm relatively short, but even I find bothersome the lack of lumbar support in my Miata (a stock 1991).

 

The other issue is side-bolsters. As with most "sporty" seats, Miata seats are tough on broad-shouldered people. The lateral bolsters dig into one's shoulder blades, leading to a sort of hunched seating position. I suppose that this is especially a problem if you are short and broad-shouldered. Tall, slender people are probably not bothered by it.

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